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(Image: Earth candle via Shutterstock)Maybe you bought a hybrid automobile. Maybe you take public transportation instead of owning a car or truck. Maybe you have outfitted your home with the latest energy-saving gadgets in an effort to reduce your carbon footprint. These are laudable and effective ways to combat global climate change. And while those efforts do have an effect, there are other ways to make great strides in stemming the catastrophic effects of climate change.
In this “Truthout Interviews,” Bruce Melton and I discuss global climate change and the way in which the media tends to amplify climate change deniers out of “fairness.” We highlight a technology called “sky mining” that may be the best technological approach to making a lasting effect on reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. |
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new style of con is spreading across South Korea and it could cost you thousands of dollars.
Korean con artists carefully select a vehicle to run out in front of and pretend to get injured by the supposed collision with the car.
They make a scene, the police arrive, and it usually becomes the con artists word against the drivers.
Con artists target specific individuals who appear to be new drivers, those who drive as their job, those violating a traffic law such as speeding or failing to pay attention to the road, truck drivers, or ladies under the presumption the police will perceive as inferior drivers.
The more experienced scammers work in groups so that the person pretending to be hit by the car has witnesses that confirm their story. This forces individuals into a position where they pay the fraudster to prevent further legal action.
Many con artists have extorted thousands of dollars from unsuspecting drivers who usually want to avoid getting the police or courts involved.
“Police estimate one con group they arrested in Cheongju made 541.45 million won from using this scamming technique 81 times. That is nearly 6.7 million won scammed from each victim”
Police estimate one con group they arrested in Cheongju made 541.45 million won from using this scamming technique 81 times. That is nearly 6.7 million won scammed from each victim.
Another scammer in Chungcheong Province made 18.6 million won($17,200) by extorting from 16 victims. A more sophisticated group rented a car as a prop for this con and managed to extort 30 million won and repeat this scam 7 times before police caught them.
There are many more cases where the police have caught fraudsters such as these.
Dash-cam footage obtained by the Korea Observer from the public domain demonstrates men aggressively jumping onto the bonnet of a slowly moving car and smashing the windscreen with their hand before rolling off the bonnet and yelling as if they had been run into.
Other footage from YouTube clearly shows some lazy scammers who lack the enthusiasm to make a substantial effort. Several dash-cam clips show Korean scammers running toward a stationary car. They then lay on the bonnet or on the ground in front of the vehicle.
When the scammer tries to argue that they were hit, the driver often points at their dash-cam and the offender runs away.
One fellow who tried this scam was not so lucky. He can be seen to pretend to fall in front of a Korean lady driving a small car. She then accidentally drives over the top of him. He can be heard screaming in agony while she slowly continues driving in disbelief that a speed bump had somehow got under her car.
Those engaging in this scam face up to seven years imprisonment or a 15 million won fine.
It is essential that any expat driving in Korea have a dash-cam to avoid being unfairly sued for hitting pedestrians. |
PCHR Weekly Report: One civilian killed by right-wing Israelis; 6 wounded by Israeli troops
9:33 PM
In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 10 – 16 February 2011, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) found that a Palestinian civilian was killed by a gang of Jewish Israeli youth in Jerusalem. 4 Palestinian workers, including a child, were wounded by Israeli forces targeting Palestinian workers, farmers and fishermen in border areas in the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded by Israeli forces who used force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.On Friday morning, 11 December 2011, Hussam Hussein al-Rwaidhi, 24, from Jerusalem, was killed by a number of Jewish young men, when he was on his way home from work in West Jerusalem. While he was walking with his friend, Khader al-Joulani, on a street in West Jerusalem, a Jewish young man stabbed him in the face. Soon after, other Jewish young men gathered and violently beat him. He died of his injuries a few hours later.
In his testimony to PCHR, Khader al-Joulani stated: ‘When we left our work, we were surprised by two Jewish young men. They provoked and insulted us. One of them then took out a knife and hits Hussam on his face. More Jewish young men gathered and violently beat him and me. I was injured in the neck. When the attackers fled, I asked for help from a nearby restaurant, but the staff refused to help us. I called the police. An ambulance arrived then and evacuated Hussam to the hospital, but he died a few hours later.’
Israeli forces kept al-Rwaidhi’s body in the Israeli forensic medicine institute. The Israeli police called the victim’s father and informed him that they would deliver the body at Qalandya checkpoint at night. They also ordered him to bury the victim’s body with the presence of 10 relatives only. Israeli forces delivered the victim’s body to the family on Wednesday morning, 16 February 2011, and the body was buried at 04:30 on the same day.
Israeli attacks in the West Bank:
Israeli forces conducted 47 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and a limited one into the Gaza Strip, during which they abducted 19 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children and one woman.
In one example of the week’s 47 incursions, on Thursday, 10 December 2011, at approximately 06:30, Israeli forces moved into Beit Dajan village, east of Nablus. They patrolled in the streets and photographed a number of old homes, the building of the local council and the old mosque of the village. They withdrew later and no arrests were reported. On the same day, at approximately 18:00, Israeli forces moved into Beit Liqya village, west of Ramallah, and patrolled in the streets. A number of Palestinian children gathered and threw stones at Israeli military vehicles. Immediately, Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets , sound bombs and tear gas canisters at them. As a result, a number of Palestinian civilians suffered from tear gas inhalation. Israeli forces withdrew later and no arrests were reported.
There are approximately 585 permanent roadblocks, and manned and unmanned checkpoints across the West Bank. At least 65% of the main roads that lead to 18 Palestinian communities in the West Bank are closed or fully controlled by Israeli forces. There are approximately 500 kilometers of restricted roads across the West Bank. In addition, approximately one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without a permit issued by the Israeli forces. These permits are extremely difficult to obtain.
Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip:
On Saturday 12 February, at approximately 12:15, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the north west of Beit Lahia town fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting scraps of construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlement of ‘Elli Sinai’ used to stand. As a result, Mahran Rezeq Tanboura, 25, from Beit Lahia, was wounded by a bullet to the left knee, when he was nearly 200 meters away from the border. At approximately 13:00, Israeli soldiers fired at the workers again. As a result, ‘Aashour Mohammed Shkhaidem, 29, from Beit Lahia, was wounded by a bullet to the left knee, when he was nearly 200 meters away from the border.
In the evening of the same day, Israeli soldiers positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of Gaza City fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting scraps of construction materials in the east of al-Shuja’iya neighborhood east of Gaza City. As a result, Mohammed Sa’id Eshtaiwi, 16, from al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, was wounded by a bullet to the right leg, when he was nearly 800 meters away from the border.
On Monday, the 14th of February, at approximately 09:50, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the north west of Beit Lahia town fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting scraps of construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlement of ‘Elli Sinai’ used to stand. As a result, Suleiman Salem Abu Rkab, 20, from Beit Lahia, was wounded by a bullet to the left leg, when he was nearly 200 meters away from the border.
Israeli Settlement Activities:
Israel has continued its settlement activities in the West Bank in violation of international humanitarian law, and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.
On 13 February 2011, a number of Israeli settlers from ‘Bat Ain’ settlement to the north of Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron, uprooted 250 olive seedlings from lands belonging to ‘Aadi and Ekhlil families in the nearby Safa village.
On 14 February 2011, Israeli forces razed a one-donum area of land belonging to Nasser Khalil Abu Ta’a in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. At least 40 olive, almond and apricot trees, 7 grape trees and 20 cypress ones were uprooted. According to Abu Ta’a, Israeli police officers violently beat his son, 16-year-old Hamza, and cut his identity card. Israeli forces did not present a judicial order to raze the land, and claimed that the land leveling was for security considerations.
Also on 14 February 2011, Israeli forces handed notices to a number of Palestinian civilians ordering the evacuation of 20 donums of agricultural land near the annexation wall in Kharas village, northwest of Hebron, claiming that they are state property. These areas of land, which are planted with olives and almonds, are located nearly 300 meters away from the annexation wall.
On the same day, 14 February 2011, a number of Israeli settlers from ‘Halmish’ settlement, northwest of Ramallah, uprooted 12 olive seedlings in Wad Raya area in Nabi Saleh village. Israeli forces then moved into the area and evacuated the settlers.
Israeli Annexation Wall:
Construction on the Wall continued this week. When complete, the illegal Annexation Wall will stretch for 724 kilometers around the West Bank, further isolating the entire population. 350 kilometers of the Wall have already been constructed. Approximately 99% of the Wall has been constructed inside the West Bank itself, further confiscating Palestinian land.
During the reporting period, Israeli forces used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, two Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation or sustained bruises. Additionally, Israeli forces abducted 3 Palestinian civilians.
Following the Friday Prayer on 11 February 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Bil’in village, west of Ramallah, in protest to the construction of the annexation wall. Israeli soldiers stationed in the area fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at the demonstrators. As a result, two Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded. Additionally, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation.
Also following the Friday Prayer on 11 January 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Ne’lin village, west of Ramallah, in protest against the construction of the annexation wall. They clashed with Israeli troops positioned near the Wall. Israeli troops fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at demonstrators. As a result, a Palestinian civilian, who has not been identified, was hit by a tear gas canister to the right foot. Additionally, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation.
Also following the Friday Prayer on 11 February 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Beit Reema village, northwest of Ramallah, in protest against land confiscations in the Wad al-Raya area between the villages of Nabi Saleh and Deir Nizam. When the demonstrators attempted to reach areas of land seized by Israeli settlers near ‘Halmish’ settlement, Israeli troops fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at them. As a result, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation. Israeli forces also abducted 3 Palestinian civilians:
Recommendations to the international community:
Due to the number and severity of Israeli human rights violations this week, the PCHR made a number of recommendations to the international community. Among these were a recommendation that the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which considers the construction of the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank illegal, be implemented by international enforcement bodies.
In addition, the PCHR recommends that international civil society organizations, including human rights organizations, bar associations and NGOs, participate in the process of exposing those accused of grave breaches of international law and urge their governments to bring the perpetrators to justice.
For the full text of the report, click on the link below: |
A special “tax” for Jews.
Praise for Adolf Hitler.
References to “camps” for Jews.
And threats galore.
A time out of history, before World War II’s death and destruction rained down on Europe?
It’s all being heard today in Turkey, as anti-Semitism reaches new highs and Muslims appear to be organizing for a new caliphate, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The organization reported Friday that a recent survey in Turkey found that in just 24 hours, on July 17-18, 27,309 Turkish Twitter users sent 30,926 Turkish-language tweets in support of Hitler’s genocide against the Jews.
The report said anti-Semitic “incitement” by Turkish government officials is at levels not seen in years.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls Israel more barbaric than Hitler, and the media, which supports his party, regularly accuse Turkey’s Jews of “treason.” Other accusations include connecting Jews with the use of Ebola as a biological weapon and a professor tweeted about sending Jews to Treblinka.
Treblinka was one of Germany’s notorious World War II death camps.
See Turkey being transformed into Hitler’s Germany in Joel Richardson’s “End Times Eyewitness.” History is repeating itself as Turkey prepares to become the center of the Islamic Caliphate once again.
Calling anti-Semitism is an accepted part of Turkish government discourse, MEMRI also noted that in protests after the May mine collapse in Soma, Erdogan scuffled with a miner, calling him “sperm of Israel.”
In September, while Erdogan was insisting to the Council on Foreign Relations that neither he nor his government was anti-Semitic, members of his party back home were tweeting praise for Hitler, and shops in Istanbul were displaying signs reading ‘No Admittance To Jewish Dogs,” MEMRI reported.
The MEMRI report cited the writings of Muslim columnist Ibrahim Tenekeci of the daily Yeni Safak, who penned “Of Men and Jews.”
Read the fascinating report by bestselling author Ray Comfort on how Hitler misused Christianity in his rise to power that allowed him to exterminate millions of Jews, in “Hitler God and the Bible.”
He cited the work of 1960s writer Nurettin Topcu, who wrote that Jews are “the eternal curse of mankind.”
“‘No doubt, Allah has created the Jewish tribe as the curse to mankind,'” Tenekeci quoted. “‘The Jewish tribe has been sent to the world in order to destroy every good thing, every strong foundation, and all liberating truths. … It is an instinct of the Jew to do evil to men and to humanity. … The Jew cannot live without evil and troublemaking.'”
MEMRI also cited the writings of Karuk Kose, whose work also appears in the Yeni Akit.
“There is no way to remedy the loss of lives [in the Gaza war], but until we arrive at the ‘great revenge time’ we must keep the pain alive in our hearts and rebuild Gaza with no delay, and remedy [the Gazans’] material losses.
“The damages total $8 billion. This is a big number for a little territory such as Gaza … and its reconstruction will take 20 years,” the commentary continued. “Naturally the money needed to rebuild Gaza will come from the world’s Muslims. … With Muslim aid, Gaza will be rebuilt – until the ‘herd of murderers’ attack once again and ruin it.
“So should we not build Gaza out of fear that it will be destroyed again, and should we allow tens of thousands of our Gazan brothers to live in the Stone Age? Of course not! However, it is time for ‘Palestine-loving Muslims’ and the ‘father of Gaza’ [i.e. Erdogan] to put an end to this vicious cycle. It is time to make the ‘culprits’ and the ‘culprits’ helpers’ pay for the damages. ”
The idea being promoted was a “Gaza Fund” tax for all Jews and non-Jewish companies doing business with Israel.
“Since it is they who destroyed, let them pay for reconstruction.”
Ali Ihsan Goker, who teaches at Bilecik University in Turkey, tweeted recently, “Treblinka will be ready soon; [we are] constructing the railway to transport Jews at the moment.”
And the report notes that Bulent Yildirim, the leader of a pro-terror organization called IHH, said it was “increasingly difficult to restrain” the young members of the group “from attacking Jews.”
An alarming rise in anti-Semitism in Turkey has been noted by the U.S. State Department’s special envoy for combating anti-Semitism, Ira Forman, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“We are concerned when civil society or political leaders call on the Jewish community to denounce Israel,” Forman said.
“And we are concerned when we hear that someone posted a sign reading ‘to be demolished’ on Istanbul’s Neve Shalom synagogue,” Forman said.
Turkey’s president, Erdogan, and his Islamic party have been in power for a decade in Turkey. Of late, he has dramatically reduced interaction with Israel, even though they were close strategic partners.
He’s also accused Israel of “murdering babies.”
Further, Haaretz.com reported over the summer that regarding Turkey, “the level of hate speech directed at Jews has hit dangerous levels.”
Commentator Louis Fishman said, “For over a decade, I have lived on-and-off in Turkey, watching Turkish society diversify along with the new freedoms it enjoyed during the first years of Erdogan’s tenure.
“However, over the years, peoples’ comments and the Islamist press reminded me of the latent anti-Semitism there.”
He said the recent eruption was “characterized by widespread praise for Hitler in the press and social media.” |
Ever get the urge to get on your bike and just ride and then ride some more and just keep going for endless miles? If you’re like me, you’ll end up so far away from home that you’re completely lost and strangers will look suspiciously at you and say: “You’re not from round here are you?”
Photo: Anne Watson
It actually took me a long time to throw caution to the wind and do this. I’d spent years finding every mundane excuse why I shouldn’t go and ride as far and as long as I possibly could until, one day, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I locked up the house, told family and friends I was going away, and I never looked back.
Over night, I changed my daily routine into getting up before the sun rose and pointing my motorcycle in whichever direction I happened to like the look of. And that’s how I ended up on a remote, empty desert highway, somewhere either in Nevada, Arizona or it may have even been Utah. I was filthy dirty. My bike was even dirtier. I was out of drinking water and also out of gas. And do you know what? It was one of the best experiences of my life.
For once, I was master of my own destiny, and was actually enjoying figuring out how I was going to find some gas in the middle of nowhere and get going again, while all the time a couple of optimistic vultures circled over my head.
Apart from my own stupidity of trusting my bike’s fuel gauge, the reason why I ended by the roadside in an empty desert was all because of a ridiculous 1970s film called Easy Rider. As a kid I had an enormous poster of a still shot from the film of Peter Fonda riding his bike with a huge, wide open desert sky behind him. I would spend ages gazing at that poster, promising myself that one day, when I was old enough, I too would get on a motorcycle and ride into small town America to discover what was really there.
It took me a long time to finally seize the moment and while it may seem like a crazy man’s dream and throwing logic and responsibility to the wind, I was a fortunate enough to find a publisher that was interested in taking my experiences and turning it all into a book that would, one day, be published.
There was one big drawback in all of this. I have an appalling sense of direction and, despite studying enormous maps of the U.S., most of the time I had absolutely no idea where I was, where I was going or what I would find. But the former was probably the best part of all. To travel on a bike not knowing what’s precisely around the next corner was and still is the motivation for me to ride.
I traveled really light with just one extra t-shirt, a small bag of tools, a toothbrush and a map that I would occasionally glance at. There were no rules except that I wanted to stay away from freeways and ride the empty roads that seem to run nowhere and pass through towns with curious and compelling names. I budgeted enough money for gas and food and to stay at the cheap motels I found along the way.
The riding was spectacular. Every single mile of it. I still remember a section in Nevada where I had a highway entirely to myself for almost two hours. I saw nobody, not a car, not a truck or a single living thing and just rode my motorcycle towards the distant horizon.
Some days I’d ride up to 400 miles, following two lane roads that snaked through mountains and dark forests and across flat empty plains that seemed to go on and on forever. I’d go from freezing, snow-covered hills to 100-degree heat in the deserts below. I got rained on and, once, was so cold that I had to get off my bike to try and warm my hands on my bike’s engine cylinders.
I saw things that I never imagined in a hundred lifetimes that I’d get to see. I met some pretty crazy people too. But you know what? I never met a single soul who wasn’t friendly or interested in what I was doing so far away from home on a motorcycle.
What I hadn’t anticipated when I set out on this odyssey was just how big America is. This country is immense. What looks like a simple couple of hours jaunt between two towns on a map often turned into a full day’s riding of more than 300 miles.
I know where I went for the most part of this long journey and the astonishing things I saw and did. But, there are some gaps in my memory as I was literally riding from dawn to dusk. Not that I am complaining. To ride a motorcycle all day on some of the greatest roads I have ever seen, with occasional breaks to fill the tank with gas and grab something to eat and drink, is something I’d happily do for the rest of my life.
In the space of six weeks I managed to traverse eight states and covered more than 8,000 miles. On occasion I took my time and slowed the pace down so I could see as much as I could in case I never came that way again.
More than anything else from this entire experience I learned how to ride a motorcycle. Before I set off I was probably a very average rider. But when you’re out on the road, thousands of miles from home, it’s down to your decision making whether you ride through a thunderstorm or opt for 50-plus miles along a dirt road. I also learned a whole lot along on the way and about my bike.
Sure there were times when I would have gladly got off my motorcycle and walked away. Baking in the desert heat on an air-cooled V-twin is no fun. Being cold, wet, tired and often completely lost played havoc with my mind.
But above all I kept reminding myself how lucky I was to be doing this on a motorcycle. Not only that, I was riding across one of the greatest nations on earth. I guess you could say by my getting on a motorcycle and riding for the love of it mile after mile, I got a true sense of what being free means.
What's the best place you've ever ended up? |
UPDATE: And the winner is...
Jennifer Baumgardner Esquire
For the past week, a field of dearly and prematurely departed television shows have faced off in an epic battle to become the series deemed most worthy of resurrection. (Yeah, we said epic. Come on: Every epic battle in history has been decided via online voting.) In the process, some very worthwhile dramas and comedies lost their dogged fights, occasionally in unexpected upsets. Party Down, Deadwood, Chappelle's Show, Freaks and Geeks: You all tried your best. We know you did. But now it's down to the finals, the championship game, the Thrilla in Cancelled Showville-a... or something.
In one corner, we have upstart seven-seed Pushing Daisies, the 2007-2009 ABC series created by premature cancellation icon Bryan Fuller and starring Lee Pace, which exploded with the colorful weirdness of a Twin Peaks, the open-heartedness of a Friday Night Lights, and all the supernaturally-tinged mystery-solving of... well, a lot of shows on TV that are/were never quite as inventive as Pushing Daisies. It's long been a niche favorite, but as more time passes, perhaps the attachment to Ned, Emerson Cod, and Olive Snook is only growing stronger. We can only assume so, since Pushing Daisies pushed its way to victory in round after round, knocking off two top seeds in Chappelle's Show and Freaks and Geeks. (Admittedly, we wildly underestimated its fandom.)
But before winning it all, the Pie Man will have to get past Firefly, an even shorter-lived drama but one created by Mr. Joss Whedon, and starring cult faves Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk, among others. Infused with Whedon's trademark, whip-smart dialogue, a Star Wars-esque sensibility, and more than one relationship that crackled with sexual tension, the 2002-2003 sci-fi Western has not only earned a reputation as one of the most unjustly terminated shows ever, it also inspired a movie follow-up, an untold number of crocheted Jayne hat knock-offs, and an ongoing, admirable fundraising effort for Equality Now dubbed Can't Stop the Serenity. The hardcore Firefly fans, aka Browncoats, have proven again and again that they, too, can't be stopped. So can the, um, Pie Holers (that seems like a good name for Pushing Daisies fanatics, right?) really stand in their way?
You have until 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, when voting ends in this final round of Esquire's TV Reboot Tournament, to decide. |
Apple’s mysterious North Carolina data center may not be where the company plans to store user’s data for its soon to be unveiled iCloud service. Instead, the company might be planning to release an updated version of its Time Capsule network storage appliance to handle iCloud data storage.
Time Capsule may handle iCloud data
An anonymous source that’s apparently familiar with Apple’s Time Capsule and iCloud plans told Cult of Mac that an upgraded Time Capsule will make user’s Home folder backups available through the iCloud service, but data will be stored on the device’s own hard drive. Currently, Time Capsule offers 1TB or 2TB of storage for Time Machine backups over a local network, along with a built-in Wi-Fi router just like an AirPort Extreme Base station.
The rumored Time Capsule update will work much like the Dropbox service does, letting users store files in a centralized location that automatically pushes changes in files out to all of the devices that share the same data — which in this case will include Macs, iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch.
It will also manage photo and video syncing between devices, although it won’t store app updates for iOS devices, according to the source.
There isn’t any word on when Apple will introduce the new Time Capsule model. The company could, however, use its World Wide Developers Conference keynote event scheduled for Monday morning to show off the device and its new file storage and synchronization features.
Until Apple officially announces the new Time Capsule with iCloud features, information abou the device should be treated as rumor.
Be sure to check in with The Mac Observer for our live WWDC 2011 keynote coverage on Monday. The event is scheduled to start at 10AM pacific time, and TMO will be providing steady updates on our Web site and our MacObserverLive Twitter feed. |
How the PS4 survival horror will use livestreams to heighten the tension
The meek shine of a cell phone light provides precious little comfort in the dark halls of an abandoned hospital. Its glow throws menacing shadows across every wall and beneath long-abandoned wheelchairs. Creaking steps and whispers flutter down the passage, and the promise of a scare is never far off. But Daylight, which launches on PS4 this April, offers a different take on the classic genre. And with the developers at Zombie Studios taking a keen interest in streaming tech, the horror of playing alone could actually be a shared experience.
Crafted by a small team at Zombie, Daylight follows the frightened footsteps of Sarah Gwynn as she works her way through a series of haunting environs. While many horror games rely on finely tuned scares specific to the moment, Daylight uses procedurally generated play to keep every moment fresh. Levels and scares change for each player, meaning that no two sessions will be identical. And no player will know exactly when that foreboding whisper will turn into a howling spectre hungry for Sarah’s life.
In Daylight, players have no weapons – only flares to fend off the supernatural powers at work in the hospital. Sarah’s only hope is escape. Not fighting for her life, but running for it. And Daylight involves a lot of breathless running, as players guide Sarah through the labyrinthine corridors and thick forests in hope of finding a way home. Collecting items (often in the form of creepy notes) will progress the story forward, and inch players one step closer to the end.
But the team at Zombie has other plans for Daylight. Streaming has been a huge boon to the PS4 community, and the devs want Daylight to have an involved relationship with livestreams. The hope is to allow viewers to control the actual scares in a streamer’s experience, providing a much more interactive dynamic between player and audience. This new form of communal play has been showered with attention recently thanks to the Twitch community streaming a classic RPG as a group.
With harrowing sound effects, random scares, and even 3D support (offering an incredible degree of depth), Daylight is already damn scary. And there’s nothing more horrifying than giving the internet the ability to frighten you, too. |
More from Andrew Mitrovica available More fromavailable here
Like most teenagers, journalists believe they are invincible.
This is, of course, a dangerous delusion. To date, perhaps as many as nine journalists have been killed while telling the world the ugly truth about what is happening to the children, women and men enduring the daily, relentless shelling in Gaza.
Rami Rayan, a young Palestinian photojournalist, was the latest reporter to be killed. He was among at least 16 people reportedly killed after an Israeli air strike on a crowded market Wednesday during a supposed four-hour “truce.”
Like many of the pictures coming out of Gaza these days, photos of the 23-year-old photographer’s body on a stretcher are graphic and disturbing. What they make clear, however, is at the time of his death, Rayan was wearing a helmet and vest clearly marked “PRESS.” His camera – the tool of his profession – appears to have gone astray.
I have written a lot lately about the failure of Canada’s major political leaders to condemn the killing of civilians — so many of them children — in Gaza. Well, many Canadian journalists and the organizations that purport to represent them have been slow, or have failed, to utter a word of condemnation of the killing of journalists in Gaza.
The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), which claims to be “the national voice of Canadian journalists”, has been noticeably silent. If you check the CAJ’s website you won’t find so much as a perfunctory statement denouncing the killing of their colleagues in Gaza. Instead, the top item on its website is a story written by members of the association’s ‘ethics’ committee about that old saw: reporters getting too close to their sources.
The story, the CAJ says, was penned with the help of its “friends” at the Canadian Journalism Project, more popularly known as J Source.
J Source’s goal is to “promote national discussion about journalism as well as providing a source for news, research, commentary … for industry professionals, scholars and students.”
There isn’t a word of news or commentary about the killing of journalists in Gaza on J Source’s website. The big news at J Source.ca is the appointment of the Toronto Star’s new tablet editor. As for commentary, J Source has posted an old piece by the Star’s public editor about whether a local politician is “playing politics with the truth.”
PEN Canada hasn’t devoted so much as a syllable to the killing of journalists in Gaza. And it took until July 31 for the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) to stir from its apparent somnolence to send a letter to Israel’s ambassador.
PEN Canada hasn’t sounded the alarm either. Its raison d’être “envisions a world where writers are free to write, readers are free to read and freedom of expression prevails.” It’s also important to note that PEN Canada’s advisory board includes prominent journalists Naomi Klein and Charles Foran.
Still, just like the CAJ and J Source, PEN Canada hasn’t devoted so much as a syllable to the killing of journalists in Gaza. Perhaps Pen Canada’s aversion to speaking out on Gaza is connected to the odd decision by Revenue Canada to take a close look at its books. The Harper government’s push to audit charities’ political outreach may be having the intended chilling effect.
And it took until July 31 for the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) to stir from its apparent somnolence to send this letter to Israel’s ambassador to Canada denouncing the killing of journalists in Gaza.
In his sharp letter to Ambassador Rafael Barak, CJFE president Arnold Amber writes that the “CJFE condemns the killing of journalists and media workers by Israeli security forces in Gaza … (and urges) that Israel avoid targeting known media outlet locations. CJFE also calls on the Israeli government to respect its responsibilities and obligations under international law with regards to the protection of journalists.”
Amber also makes pointed reference to the recent attack on Al Jazeera’s offices in Gaza. “Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired at Al Jazeera offices in Gaza, forcing media workers within to flee the complex. This attack came soon after the pejorative remarks made by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman demonizing the media network.”
The assault on Al Jazeera was an attack on all journalists, but until yesterday it didn’t trigger much, if any, reaction among Canadian journalists and news organizations.
Indeed, to my knowledge the editorial boards of Canada’s major newspapers have been rather quiet about both the bombardment of the Al Jazeera office and the journalists who died doing their jobs in Gaza.
It’s a far cry from recent expressions by Canadian and international media of solidarity with three other Al Jazeera journalists — including Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy — who were jailed in Egypt for allegedly aiding the Muslim Brotherhood in their reporting.
The long sentences handed down against the three journalists prompted Toronto Star and CBC journalists, among many others, to duct-tape their mouths while holding a piece of white paper with the hashtag #freeAJstaff in silent protest. It was a laudable display of support for their imprisoned brethren.
The least Canadian journalists could do is to reach for the duct tape again to show their respect and admiration for their fellow journalists in Gaza who are being killed on the job.
Andrew Mitrovica is a writer and journalism instructor. For much of his career, Andrew was an investigative reporter for a variety of news organizations and publications including the CBC’s fifth estate, CTV’s W5, CTV National News — where he was the network’s chief investigative producer — the Walrus magazine and the Globe and Mail, where he was a member of the newspaper’s investigative unit. During the course of his 23-year career, Andrew has won numerous national and international awards for his investigative work.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics. |
I am teaching a technical course on the popular and ubiquitous version control system, Subversion, this Monday. I thought it might be fun to give my class a little “extra credit” reading from the O’Reilly book, Beautiful Code. In it, one of the original authors of Subversion, Karl Fogel, shares what he considers to be the most beautiful internal design within the codebase: the SVN delta editor. Though this API is not directly used in doing Subversion development, I thought it might be cool for students to have a deeper understanding of the thought that went into SVN’s codebase. But when trying to print up some copies of the chapter for the class, I got more than I bargained for…
I highly recommend the entire book. It is not so much a book about beautiful code as about passionate and opinionated programmers and their tastes. But this is a good thing. It was one of the few books about software that I have read in the last decade or so that actually gave me entirely positive feelings about my profession. There is so much raw creativity and thought captured in these few essays. What Brian Kernighan finds beautiful is entirely different from what Matz or simonpj find beautiful. And that’s the thing about a fundamentally creative craft like software. You put five software engineers in a room with a piece of code, and you’re lucky if you come out with only six different opinions about it. It’s like art, or writing. Taste matters.
I don’t recommend people read Beautiful Code to try to imitate some of the code described therein. Instead, I recommend you read it as a sociological or psychological study of what makes proud and bright software engineers tick. For example, for Kernighan it is the simplicity and minimalism that is embodied in UNIX. For Matz, it is the notion that the programming language should be as syntactically flexible as our real languages are. For simonpj, it’s that complicated can be made easy, given the right abstractions. And for Jon Bentley, in one of the more thought-provoking essays in the book, beauty and elegance was only perceived as the size of his code shrank.
The essay about the SVN Delta Editor not only illuminates the internals of SVN, but also illustrates the social dimension to software engineering and design. It is a story about programmers, debating an API, producing it, and then putting it into practice. It is about give and take, and an unteachable skill in problem size and complexity reduction. All this in C! There was a period of time in university where I actually programmed in C full-time, so I have a lot of respect for the elegance with which they crafted this powerful API. C gives you few tools (like OO or explicit interfaces) for doing this kind of work; they had to work in spite of the language’s features and plan carefully.
I have about twenty students in my class, so I was going to print up one copy and get it copied and stapled at a local print shop. (See note on copyright below.) I opened up my ebook PDF of Beautiful Code with acroread on UNIX. I navigated to the right chapter and realized that I wanted to print just that single chapter. I always remember being annoyed whenever I had to do this, for a number of reasons.
PDF ebooks sometimes lack the proper “bookmark” information to navigate to the right section to print Since ebooks were once print copies, they tend to have page numbers at the bottom of each page. But since the ebook itself has a different page numbering scheme, all sorts of psychic dissonance occurs. You navigate to page 30 (in the print copy) but have to note that it’s actually page 42 in the ebook. You then navigate to page 45 (in the print copy) but have to note that it’s actually 57 in the ebook. OK, now I know what I need to print… I think. So now I have to enter one of those print ranges in the “Print” dialog. Is it 30-42? No, wait, it’s 42-45… I mean, 42-57 — that’s it! Is that inclusive or exclusive? 🙂 Oh, my…
It’s really not that bad, and it’s only an occasional annoyance, but it’s always there. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
I had recently upgraded to acroread and noticed that the UI was all spiffed up. And I noticed that this ebook had the right metadata for the bookmarks. I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if acroread supported printing a chapter?” I right-clicked on the first entry in the chapter bookmark and was astonished. Lo and behold, my feature existed! (See the image to the right.) I clicked the “Print Pages…” button with a bit of discomfort. I don’t trust software too often, and am always suspicious when I find a feature I didn’t expect to be there. It’s like my inner programmer is saying, “Yea, right — too good to be true.”
A few minutes later, my chapter was printed. I looked it over, and brought it with my other materials to the local print shop. One hour later, I picked up my copies and brought them home to look them over.
I noticed something very strange. Instead of my copies containing pages 42-57, they contained pages 42, 43, 46, 51, 55, and 57. Damn it. There didn’t seem to be much of a rhyme or reason to the pages that were selected. What kind of sequence was this? I felt that there must be some pattern, some fibonacci-like, non-obvious sequence that applied to these pages. I suspected the first, and obvious, culprit: that the printer had made a mistake. Maybe it’s a human error. But then I looked over my original and indeed, the original only had those pages. Not a human error. I thought to myself, “How is this possible?”
Of course, I’ve probably given you enough information that you’ve already figured it out. Especially if you’re a programmer. We’re just wired to think this way. But in case you haven’t figured it out, I’ll indulge you.
When I went back into acroread, tracing back my steps, I noticed something about that menu item I clicked. It didn’t say Print chapter. Instead, it said, Print pages. Now, conceptually that seems like a small distinction, but I picked up on it.
I started to think like a programmer, rather than a user. This function with a for loop emerged from the program and hovered above it, almost magically. It said:
def print_pages ( self , selected ) : to_print = [ ] for bookmark in selected. self_and_bookmarked_children ( ) : to_print. append ( bookmark. page ( ) ) PrintSubsystem. queue_job ( to_print ) def print_pages(self, selected): to_print = [] for bookmark in selected.self_and_bookmarked_children(): to_print.append(bookmark.page()) PrintSubsystem.queue_job(to_print)
Then I realized the pattern in the pages it picked. There was no pattern. This was a beautiful little bug. A butterfly.
You see, within the narrow world of this Print Pages function, the “feature” works as expected. But from a user’s perspective, it makes absolutely no sense. Rather than printing everything from that bookmark to the next bookmark at the same level (that is, rather than printing a chapter), it printed each individual page that happened to be physically bookmarked (or ‘sub-bookmarked’) in the PDF, at or below that level. This resulted in a bunch of pages being printed that happened to be the pages on which subsections began. But this left out most of the chapter, somewhat randomly.
The worst traits of our profession come out when it is at its least social. I have no doubt that this function that prints these pages was written by a single programmer in a windowless room, without any peer review, pair programming, or other check on his logic. I am sure that he was given the narrow and ill-defined requirement to enable an action to “print bookmark pages”. He needed to think, but instead, he decided to code. And coding got “it” done, for some very weird value of “it”. He was probably under time pressure. But one thing is certain to me: he was alone. No two programmers, debating the design and implementation of this feature, would let each other make this mistake.
The behavior it exhibited truly caught me by surprise. Strange as it sounds, I admired how easily I had been duped by this feature. The human error — the anti-social error — made by that programmer exhibited an odd and enigmatic computer behavior. A human inelegance created a strange sort of cruel machine elegance.
I found it ironic that in trying to print a chapter about beautiful design from a book called Beautiful Code, I came across this beautiful bug. I call the bug beautiful because it managed to fool me, to get me to suffer its wrath while thinking I was getting some convenience. It exhibited behavior that challenged me to identify a pattern, where there was none. It was so clever, it even cost me money (the printing charges). And even though I was a discerning programmer — skeptical of the feature, and so unsure of the software’s operation that I checked the output, albeit too briefly — this little bug managed to outsmart me.
My students will have to live without the chapter, or read it online on their own. I’m not upset about it. There can be beauty, even in failure. |
Izvor: N1
Dragan J. Vučićević, glavni i odgovorni urednik Informera i njegova privatna kompanija koja je izdavač lista, obavezani su da Veranu Matiću, glavnom i odgovornom uredniku informativnog programa B92 plate naknadu štete u iznosu od 250 hiljada dinara sa kamatama od početka februara ove godine i troškove postupka u visini od 88 hiljada i šesto dinara.
Prvostepenom presudom Viši sud je Vučićevića obavezao i da presudu o svom trošku objavi najkasnije u drugom narednom broju Informera, kao i u elektronskom izdanju lista na internetu.
Tužba je podneta zbog serije tekstova o Veranu Matiću, objavljivanih u Informeru u periodu od avgusta 2014, do kraja januara 2015. godine, a tokom postupka raspravljalo se i o tekstovima objavljivanim u istom listu i nakon podnošenja tužbe.
Sud je utvrdio da su Vučićević i Informer prenosili neistinite informacije, što je, kako se navodi, obzirom na kontekst i odsustvo dobre namere, dovelo do ugrožavanja kredibiliteta Matića kao javne ličnosti i dugogodišnjeg novinara i urednika.
"U odnosu na deo tekstova kojima se implicira da je Matić navodno "ispod žita" pokušao da obezbedi za sebe u to vreme upražnjenu funkciju generalnog direktora RTS-a, sud je posebno ukazao da Vučićević i Informer za svoje navode, niti u tekstovima, niti kasnije tokom postupka, nisu predložili svedoke niti makar naveli na koji način, pred kim, ili u kojoj prilici je Matić, navodno, lobirao za ovu funkciju. Neistinite informacije su uporno prenosili i pored više puta ponovljenih Matićevih tvrdnji da neće da se kandiduje, da nije zainteresovan za tu funkciju i da čak i ne ispunjava zakonom propisane uslove za nju", navodi Veran Matić u saopštenju.
"Sud je našao da su novinari, pa i Dragan J. Vučićević, slobodni da iznose svoje stavove i mišljenja, ali da su kad objavljuju informacije o konkretnim pojavama, ličnostima ili događajima, obavezni da te informacije provere sa dužnom novinarskom pažnjom. Ono što je u ovoj presudi posebno značajno, to je odgovor koji ona daje na pitanje šta sud smatra dužnom novinarskom pažnjom. Ta pažnja je, kaže sud, poštovanje profesionalnih standarda novinarske struke; ta pažnja je poštovanje Kodeksa novinara Srbije. A Vučićević, u ovom slučaju, kako je našao sud, Kodeks i standarde nije poštovao", kaže advokat Kruna Savović, koja je zastupala Verana Matića.
Veran Matić navodi da je sudija veoma precizno utvrdila kako funkcioniše proces lansiranja lažne informacije, dezinformacije o nekome koga treba da diskredituju, lažno optuže, a onda se ta lažna vest ojačava dnevnim "analitičarima", dok se čestim ponavljanjem stvara nova realnost. |
large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent
The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is a large arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 17th largest desert, and the world's 9th largest subtropical desert.
About 85% of the Thar Desert is located within India, with the remaining 15% in Pakistan.[1] In India, it covers about 170,000 km2 (66,000 sq mi), and the remaining 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi) of the desert is within Pakistan. The Thar desert forms approximately 5%(~4.56%) of the total geographic area of India. More than 60% of the desert lies in the state of Rajasthan, and extends into Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana.[2] The desert comprises a very dry part, the Marusthali region in the west, and a semidesert region in the east with fewer sand dunes and slightly more precipitation.[3]
Geography [ edit ]
View of the Thar desert
The Thar Desert extends between the Aravalli Hills in the north-east,[1] the Great Rann of Kutch along the coast and the alluvial plains of the Indus River in the west and north-west. Most of the desert is covered by huge shifting sand dunes that receive sediments from the alluvial plains and the coast. The sand is highly mobile due to strong winds occurring before the onset of the monsoon. The Luni River is the only river integrated into the desert.[4] Rainfall is limited to 100–500 mm (3.9–19.7 in) per year, mostly falling from July to September.[1]
Salt water lakes within the Thar Desert include the Sambhar, Kuchaman, Didwana, Pachpadra and Phalodi in Rajasthan and Kharaghoda in Gujarat. These lakes receive and collect rain water during monsoon and evaporate during the dry season. The salt is derived by the weathering of rocks in the region.[5]
Lithic tools belonging to the prehistoric Aterian culture of the Maghreb have been discovered in Middle Paleolithic deposits in the Thar Desert.[6]
Desertification control [ edit ]
Acacia tortilis near Checking of shifting sand dunes through plantations ofnear Laxmangarh town
The soil of the Thar Desert remains dry for much of the year and is prone to wind erosion. High velocity winds blow soil from the desert, depositing some on neighboring fertile lands, and causing shifting sand dunes within the desert. Sand dunes are stabilised by erecting micro-windbreak barriers with scrub material and subsequent afforestation of the treated dunes with seedlings of shrubs such as phog, senna, castor oil plant and trees such as gum acacia, Prosopis juliflora and lebbek tree. The 649 km (403 mi) long Indira Gandhi Canal brings fresh water to the Thar Desert.[1] It was conceived to halt spreading of the desert to fertile areas.
There are few local tree species suitable for planting in the desert, which are slow growing. Therefore, exotic tree species were introduced for plantation. Many species of Eucalyptus, Acacia, Cassia and other genera from Israel, Australia, US, Russia, Zimbabwe, Chile, Peru and Sudan have been tried in Thar Desert. Acacia tortilis has proved to be the most promising species for desert afforestation and the jojoba is another promising species of economic value found suitable for planting in these areas.[1]
Protected areas [ edit ]
There are several protected areas in the Thar Desert.
Biodiversity [ edit ]
Blackbuck male and female
Chinkara or 'Indian Gazelle' is found across Thar desert
Fauna [ edit ]
Stretches of sand in the desert are interspersed by hillocks and sandy and gravel plains. Due to the diversified habitat and ecosystem, the vegetation, human culture and animal life in this arid region is very rich in contrast to the other deserts of the world. About 23 species of lizard and 25 species of snakes are found here and several of them are endemic to the region.
Some wildlife species, which are fast vanishing in other parts of India, are found in the desert in large numbers such as the blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), chinkara (Gazella bennettii) and Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) in the Rann of Kutch. They have evolved excellent survival strategies, their size is smaller than other similar animals living in different conditions, and they are mainly nocturnal. There are certain other factors responsible for the survival of these animals in the desert. Due to the lack of water in this region, transformation of the grasslands into cropland has been very slow. The protection provided to them by a local community, the Bishnois, is also a factor. Other mammals of the Thar Desert include a subspecies of red fox (Vulpes vulpes pusilla) and the caracal.
The region is a haven for 141 species of migratory and resident birds of the desert. One can see eagles, harriers, falcons, buzzards, kestrel and vultures. There are short-toed eagles (Circaetus gallicus), tawny eagles (Aquila rapax), greater spotted eagles (Aquila clanga), laggar falcons (Falco jugger) and kestrels. There are also a number of reptiles.
The Indian peafowl is a resident breeder in the Thar region. The peacock is designated as the national bird of India and the provincial bird of the Punjab (Pakistan). It can be seen sitting on khejri or pipal trees in villages or Deblina.Bishnois Dharmaguru Jambeshwar was an ecologist.
Flora [ edit ]
The natural vegetation of this dry area is classed as Northwestern thorn scrub forest occurring in small clumps scattered more or less openly.[11][12] Density and size of patches increase from west to east following the increase in rainfall. The natural vegetation of the Thar Desert is composed of the following tree, shrub and herb species:[13]
The endemic floral species include Calligonum polygonoides, Prosopis cineraria, Acacia nilotica, Tamarix aphylla, Cenchrus biflorus.[14]
People [ edit ]
Huts in the Thar desert
A girl from the Gadia Lohars nomadic tribe of Marwar , cooking her food
The Thar Desert is the most widely populated desert in the world, with a population density of 83 people per km2.[8] In India, the inhabitants comprise Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. In Pakistan, inhabitants also include both Muslims and Hindus.[15]
About 40% of the total population of Rajasthan live in the Thar Desert.[16] The main occupation of the people is agriculture and animal husbandry. A colourful culture rich in tradition prevails in this desert. The people have a great passion for folk music and folk poetry.
Jodhpur, the largest city in the region, lies in the scrub forest zone. Bikaner and Jaisalmer are located in the desert proper. A large irrigation and power project has reclaimed areas of the northern and western desert for agriculture. The small population is mostly pastoral, and hide and wool industries are prominent.
The desert's part in Pakistan also has a rich multifaceted culture, heritage, traditions, folk tales, dances and music due to its inhabitants who belong to different religions, sects and castes.
In the years 1965 and 1971, population exchanges took place in the Thar between India and Pakistan. 3,500 Muslim families shifted from the Indian section of the Thar to Pakistani Thar whilst thousands of Hindus also migrated from Pakistani Thar to the Indian section of the Thar.[17][18][19]
Thar in ancient literature [ edit ]
Course of Sarasvati river through Thar desert
The Sarasvati River is one of the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert.
Most scholars agree that at least some of the references to the Sarasvati in the Rigveda refer to the Ghaggar-Hakra River.
There is also a small present-day Sarasvati River (Sarsuti) that joins the Ghaggar.
The epic Mahabharata mentions the Kamyaka Forest situated on the western boundary of the Kuru Kingdom (Kuru Proper and Kurujangala), on the banks of the Sarasvati River to the west of the Kurukshetra plain, which contained a lake known as Kamyaka. The Kamyaka forest is mentioned as being situated at the head of the Thar desert,[16] near Lake Trinavindu. The Pandavas, on their way to exile in the woods, left Pramanakoti on the banks of the Ganges and went towards Kurukshetra, travelling in a western direction and crossing the Yamuna and Drishadvati rivers. They finally reached the banks of the Sarasvati River where they saw the forest of Kamyaka, the favourite haunt of ascetics, situated on a level and wild plain on the banks of the Sarasvati abounding in birds and deer. There the Pandavas lived in an ascetic asylum. It took three days for Pandavas to reach the Kamyaka forest, setting out from Hastinapura, on their chariots.
In the Rigveda there is also mention of a river named Aśvanvatī along with the river Drishadvati.[20] Some scholars consider both the Sarasvati and Aśvanvatī to be the same river.[16]
Human habitations on the banks of Sarasvati and Drishadvati had shifted to the east and south directions prior to the Mahabharata period. At that time the present day Bikaner and Jodhpur areas were known as Kurujangala and Madrajangala provinces.[16]
The Desert National Park in Jaisalmer district has a collection of animal fossils and plants 180 million years old.
Desert eco-system [ edit ]
Pakistan. Due to severe weather conditions, there are few highways in the Thar desert. Shown here is a road in Tharparkar District of Sindh
Agriculture [ edit ]
The Thar is one of the most heavily populated desert areas in the world with the main occupations of its inhabitants agriculture and animal husbandry. Agriculture is not a dependable proposition in this area because after the rainy season, at least one third of crops fail. Animal husbandry, trees and grasses, intercropped with vegetables or fruit trees, is the most viable model for arid, drought-prone regions. The region faces frequent droughts. Overgrazing due to high animal populations, wind and water erosion, mining and other industries have resulted in serious land degradation.
Mustard fields in a village of Shri Ganganagar district (Rajasthan, India).
Agricultural production is mainly from kharif crops, which are grown in the summer season and seeded in June and July. These are then harvested in September and October and include bajra, pulses such as guar, jowar (Sorghum vulgare), maize (zea mays), sesame and groundnuts. Over the past few decades[when?] the development of irrigation features including canals and tube wells have changed the crop pattern with desert districts in Rajasthan now producing rabi crops including wheat, mustard and cumin seed along with cash crops.[16]
The Thar region of Rajasthan is a major opium production and consumption area.[citation needed] The Indira Gandhi Canal irrigates northwestern Rajasthan while the Government of India has started a centrally sponsored Desert Development Program based on watershed management with the objective of preventing the spread of desert and improving the living conditions of people in the desert.[16]
Livestock [ edit ]
Camel ride in the Thar desert near Jaisalmer, India.
Cows in Thar Desert
In the last 15–20 years, the Rajasthan desert has seen many changes, including a manifold increase of both the human and animal population. Animal husbandry has become popular due to the difficult farming conditions. At present, there are ten times more animals per person in Rajasthan than the national average, and overgrazing is also a factor affecting climatic and drought conditions.
A large number of farmers in Thar desert depend on animal husbandry for their livelihood. Cows, buffalos, sheep, goats, camels, and oxen consists of major cattle population. Barmer district has the highest cattle population out of which sheep and goats are in majority. Some of the best breeds of bullocks such as Kankrej (Sanchori) and Nagauri are from desert region.
Thar region of Rajasthan is the biggest wool-producing area in India. Chokla, Marwari, Jaisalmeri, Magra, Malpuri, Sonadi, Nali and Pungal breeds of sheep are found in the region. Of the total wool production in India, 40-50% comes from Rajasthan. The sheep-wool from Rajasthan is considered best for carpet making industry in the world. The wool of Chokla breed of sheep is considered of superior quality. The breeding centres have been developed for Karakul and Merino sheep at Suratgarh, Jaitsar and Bikaner. Some important mills for making Woolen thread established in desert area are: Jodhpur Woolen Mill, Jodhpur; Rajasthan Woolen Mill, Bikaner and India Woolen Mill, Bikaner. Bikaner is the biggest mandi (market place) of wool in Asia.[16]
The live stock depends for grazing on common lands in villages. During famine years in the desert the nomadic rebari people move with large herds of sheep and camel to the forested areas of south Rajasthan or nearby states like Madhya Pradesh for grazing the cattle.
The importance of animal husbandry can be understood from the organization of large number of cattle fairs in the region. Cattle fairs are normally named after the folk-deities. Some of major cattle fairs held are Ramdevji cattle fair at Manasar in Nagaur district, Tejaji cattle fair at Parbatsar in Nagaur district, Baldeo cattle fair at Merta city in Nagaur district, Mallinath cattle fair at Tilwara in barmer district. Live stock is very important to the Thar desert people.
Agroforestry [ edit ]
Lopping of Khejri tree for fodder and fuel in Harsawa village
Forestry has an important part to play in the amelioration of the conditions in semi-arid and arid lands. If properly planned, forestry can make an important contribution to the general welfare of the people living in desert areas. The living standard of the people in the desert is low. They can not afford other fuels like gas, kerosene etc. Fire wood is their main fuel, of the total consumption of wood about 75 percent is firewood. The forest cover in desert is low. Rajasthan has a forest area of 31150 km2. which is about 9% of the geographical area. The forest area is mainly in southern districts of Rajasthan like Udaipur and Chittorgarh. The minimum forest area is in Churu district only 80 km2. Thus the forest is insufficient to fulfill the needs of firewood and grazing in desert districts. This diverts the much needed cattledung from the field to the hearth. This in turn results into the decrease in agricultural production. Agroforestry model is best suited to the people of desert. Some Institutes have done good work in Agroforestry.
The scientists of Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), have successfully developed and improved dozens of traditional and non-traditional crops/fruits, such as Ber trees (like plums) that produce much larger fruits than before (lemon-size) and can thrive with minimal rainfall. These trees have become a profitable option for farmers. One example from a case study of horticulture showed that in situation of budding in 35 plants of Ber and Guar (Gola, Seb & Mundia variety developed in CAZRI), using only one hectare of land, yielded 10,000 kg. of Ber and 250 kg. of Guar, which translates into double or even triple profit.[21]
Arid Forest Research Institute, (AFRI) situated at Jodhpur is another national level institute in the region. It is one of the institutes of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education ( ICFRE ) working under the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. The Objective of the Institute is to carry out scientific research in forestry in order to provide technologies to increase the vegetative cover and to conserve the biodiversity in the hot arid and semi arid region of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Dadara & Nagar Haveli union territory.
The most important tree species in terms of providing a livelihood in Thar desert communities is Prosopis cineraria.
Prosopis cineraria provides wood of construction class. It is used for house-building, chiefly as rafters, posts scantlings, doors and windows, and for well construction water pipes, upright posts of Persian wheels, agricultural implements and shafts, spokes, fellows and yoke of carts. It can also be used for small turning work and tool-handles. Container manufacturing is another important wood-based industry, which depends heavily on desert-grown trees.
Prosopis cineraria is much valued as a fodder tree. The trees are heavily lopped particularly during winter months when no other green fodder is available in the dry tracts. There is a popular saying that death will not visit a man, even at the time of a famine, if he has a Prosopis cineraria, a goat and a camel, since the three together are some what said to sustain a man even under the most trying condition. The forage yield per tree varies a great deal. On an average, the yield of green forage from a full grown tree is expected to be about 60 kg with complete lopping having only the central leading shoot, 30 kg when the lower two third crown is lopped and 20 kg when the lower one third crown is lopped. The leaves are of high nutritive value. Feeding of the leaves during winter when no other green fodder is generally available in rain-fed areas is thus profitable. The pods have a sweetish pulp and are also used as fodder for livestock.
Prosopis cineraria is most important top feed species providing nutritious and highly palatable green as well as dry fodder, which is readily eaten by camels, cattle, sheep and goats, constituting a major feed requirement of desert livestock. Locally it is called Loong. Pods are locally called sangar or sangri. The dried pods locally called Kho-Kha are eaten. Dried pods also form rich animal feed, which is liked by all livestock. Green pods also form rich animal feed, which is liked by drying the young boiled pods. They are also used as famine food and known even to prehistoric man. Even the bark, having an astringent bitter taste, was reportedly eaten during the severe famine of 1899 and 1939. Pod yield is nearly 1.4 quintals of pods/ha with a variation of 10.7% in dry locations.
Prosopis cineraria wood is reported to contain high calorific value and provide high quality fuel wood. The lopped branches are good as fencing material. Its roots also encourage nitrogen fixation, which produces higher crop yields.
Tecomella undulata tree in the village of tree in the village of Harsawa
Tecomella undulata is one more tree species, locally known as Rohida, which is found in Thar Desert regions of northwest and western India. It is another important medium-sized tree of great use in Agroforestry, that produces quality timber and is the main source of timber amongst the indigenous tree species of desert regions. The trade name of the tree species is Desert teak or Marwar teak.
Tecomella undulata is mainly used as a source of timber. Its wood is strong, tough and durable. It takes a fine finish. Heartwood contains quinoid. The wood is excellent for firewood and charcoal. Cattle and goats eat leaves of the tree. Camels, goats and sheep consume flowers and pods.
Tecomella undulata plays an important role in the ecology. It acts as a soil-binding tree by spreading a network of lateral roots on the top surface of the soil. It also acts as a windbreak and helps in stabilizing shifting sand dunes. It is considered as the home of birds and provides shelter for other desert wildlife. Shade of tree crown is shelter for the cattle, goats and sheep during summer days.
Tecomella undulata has medicinal properties as well. The bark obtained from the stem is used as a remedy for syphilis. It is also used in curing urinary disorders, enlargement of spleen, gonorrhoea, leucoderma and liver diseases. Seeds are used against abscess.
Ecotourism [ edit ]
Sunrise in the desert
Desert safaris on camels have become increasingly popular around Jaisalmer. Domestic and international tourists frequent the desert seeking adventure on camels for anything from a day to several days. This ecotourism industry ranges from cheaper backpacker treks to plush Arabian night style campsites replete with banquets and cultural performances. During the treks tourists are able to view the fragile and beautiful ecosystem of the Thar desert. This form of tourism provides income to many operators and camel owners in Jaisalmer as well as employment for many camel trekkers in the desert villages nearby. People from various parts of the world come to see the Pushkar ka Mela (Pushkar Fair) and oases.
Industry [ edit ]
Rajasthan is pre-eminent in quarrying and mining in India. The Taj Mahal was built with white marble mined from Makrana in Nagaur district. The state is the second largest source of cement in India. It has rich salt deposits at Sambhar. Jodhpur sandstone is mostly used in monuments, important buildings, residential buildings, and such. This stone is termed "chittar patthar". Jodhpur has also got mines of red stone locally known as ghatu patthar used in construction. Sandstone is found in Jodhpur and Naguar districts. Jalore is biggest centre of granite processing units.[16]
Lignite coal deposits are there at places Giral, Kapuradi, Jalipa, Bhadka in Barmer district; Plana, Gudha, Bithnok, Barsinghpur, Mandla Charan, Raneri Hadla in Bikaner district and Kasnau, Merta, Lunsar etc., in Nagaur district. Lignite based Thermal power plant has been established at Giral in Barmer district. Jindal group is working on 1080 Megawatt power project in private sector at village Bhadaresh in Barmer district. "Neyeli Lignite Barsinghpur Project" is in progress to establish two thermal power units of capacity 125 megawatts each at Barsinghpur in Bikaner district. Reliance Energy is working on establishing power generation through underground gasification technique in Barmer district with an outlay of about 30 billion rupees.[16]
There is large storage of good quality petroleum in Jaisalmer and Barmer districts. The main places with deposits of petroleum are Baghewal, Kalrewal, and Tawariwal in Jaisalmer district and Gudha Malani area in Barmer district. Barmer district has started petroleum production on commercial scale.[16] Barmer district is in the news due to its large oil basin. The British exploration company Cairn Energy started production of oil on a large scale. Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya are the major oil fields in the district. This is India's biggest oil discovery in 22 years. This promises to transform the local economy, which has long suffered from the harshness of the desert.
The Government of India initiated departmental exploration for oil in 1955-56 in the Jaisalmer area,[22] Oil India Limited's discovered natural gas in 1988 in the Jaisalmer basin.[23] Also known for their fine leather messenger bags made from wild camels native to the area.
The Thar desert seems an ideal place for generation of electricity from wind power. According to an estimate Rajasthan state has got a potential of 5500 Megawatt wind power generation as such it is in the priority of the state govt. Rajasthan State Power Corporation has established its first wind power-based power plant at Amarsagar in Jaisalmer district. Some leading companies in the field are working on establishing wind mills in Barmer, Jaisalmer and Bikaner districts. Solar energy also has a great potential in this region as most of the days during a year are cloud free. Solar energy based plant has been established at Bhaleri in Churu district to convert hard water into drinking water.[16]
Salt water lakes [ edit ]
There are a number of salt water lakes in Thar desert. These are Sambhar, Pachpadra, Tal Chhapar, Falaudi and Lunkaransar where Sodium chloride salt is produced from salt water. The Didwana lake produces Sodium Sulphate salt. Ancient Archaeological evidences of habitations have been recovered from Sambhar and Didwana lakes which shows their antiquity and historical importance.[16]
Water and housing in the desert [ edit ]
Water scarcity plays an important role in shaping life in all parts of Thar. Small, intermittent ponds, whether natural (tobas) or man-made (johads), are often the only source of water for animals and humans in the true desert areas. The lack of a constant water supply causes much of the local population to live as nomads.[citation needed] Most human settlements are found near the two seasonal streams of the Karon-Jhar hills. Potable groundwater is also rare in the Thar desert. Supplies are often sour due to dissolved minerals, and are only available deep underground. Wells that successfully bear sweet water attract nearby settlement, but are difficult to dig, possibly claiming the lives of the well-diggers.[citation needed]
Tanks for drinking water
According to 1980 housing census in Pakistan, there were 241,326 housing units of one or two very small rooms. The degree of crowding was six persons per housing unit and three persons per room. For most of the housing units (approximately 76 per cent), the main construction material of outer walls is unbaked bricks whereas wood is used in 10 per cent and baked bricks or stones with mud bonding in 8 per cent housing units. A large number of families still live in jhugis or huts which are housing units formed with straws and thin wood-sticks. These jhugis are susceptible to damage from the occasional high winds. But the poverty leaves no other option to these jhugiwalas (people living in jhugis).[citation needed]
The river Luni is the only natural water source that drains inside a lake in the desert. It originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer and ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, after travelling a distance of 530 km. The Luni flows through part of Ajmer, Barmer, Jalor, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali, and Sirohi districts and Mithavirana Vav Radhanpur region of Banaskantha North Gujarat. Its major tributaries are the Sukri, Mithri, Bandi, Khari, Jawai, Guhiya and Sagi from the left, and the Jojari River from the right.
The Ghaggar is another intermittent river in India, flowing during the monsoon rains. It originates in the Shivalik Hills of Himachal Pradesh and flows through Punjab and Haryana to Rajasthan; just southwest of Sirsa, Haryana and by the side of talwara jheel in Rajasthan, this seasonal river feeds two irrigation canals that extend into Rajasthan. It terminates in Hanumangarh district.[16]
The Rajasthan Canal system is the major irrigation scheme of the Thar Desert and is conceived to reclaim it and also to check spreading of the desert to fertile areas. It is world's largest irrigation which is being extended in an attempt to make the desert arable.[24] It runs south-southwest in Punjab and Haryana but mainly in Rajasthan for a total of 650 kilometers and ends near Jaisalmer, in Rajasthan. After the construction of the Indira Gandhi Canal, irrigation facilities were available over an area of 6770 km² in Jaisalmer district and 37 km² in Barmer district. Irrigation had already been provided in an area of 3670 km² in Jaisalmer district. The canal has transformed the barren deserts of this district into rich and lush fields. Crops of mustard, cotton, and wheat now flourish in this semi-arid western region replacing the sand there previously.
Besides providing water for agriculture, the canal will supply drinking water to hundreds of people in far-flung areas. As the second stage of work on the canal progresses rapidly, there is hope that it will enhance the living standards of the people of the state.
Recreation [ edit ]
Desert tribes near Jaisalmer, India
Thar Desert provides the recreational value in terms of desert festivals organized every year. Rajasthan desert festivals are celebrated with great zest and zeal. This festival is held once a year during winters. Dressed in brilliantly hued costumes, the people of the desert dance and sing haunting ballads of valor, romance and tragedy. The fair has snake charmers, puppeteers, acrobats and folk performers. Camels, of course, play a stellar role in this festival, where the rich and colorful folk culture of Rajasthan can be seen.
Camels are an integral part of the desert life and the camel events during the Desert Festival confirm this fact. Special efforts go into dressing the animal for entering the spectacular competition of the best-dressed camel. Other interesting competitions on the fringes are the moustache and turban tying competitions, which not only demonstrate a glorious tradition but also inspire its preservation. Both the turban and the moustache have been centuries old symbols of honor in Rajasthan.
Evenings are meant for the main shows of music and dance. Continuing till late into the night, the number of spectators swells up each night and the grand finale, on the full moon night, takes place by silvery sand dunes.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ] |
It's the key material found in superglue and airplane wings. It once coated the Apollo 8 capsule for reentry into Earth's atmosphere. And it currently insulates the electronics in your smartphone. Thermosets are the unsung heroes of materials science.
Cured thermosets are heat-resistant polymers that are often more rigid than bone and virtually impossible to break down. In your car or in your computer, an indestructible component isn't so bad. But on the manufacturing line, thermosets represent an engineer's point of no return—once you coat something in thermoset, you cannot make changes without starting over from scratch. A material that just won't melt—it decomposes long before its melting point—poses a unique problem for the recycling industry.
Researchers at IBM announced the first recyclable thermoset in a paper published in Science. Their new thermoset is just as powerful and heat-resistant as its predecessors, but its Achilles heel is acid: Dip a component into an inexpensive sulfuric acid solution, and it reverts to its original, puttylike state.
"This is the first example of a recyclable thermoset, to our knowledge," says Jeannette M. Garcia, research staff member at IBM Research and lead author on the paper. "Sulfuric acid is essentially free, and reworking thermosets is much more desirable than throwing them away. If IBM had this 15 years ago, it would have saved unbelievable amounts of money."
Of Computers and Chemistry
Garcia first stumbled across her new polymer by accident. She had been working on synthesizing a different polymer when she noticed the solution in her reaction flask unexpectedly harden. "We couldn't get it out," she says. "We had to smash the flask with a hammer, and, even then, we couldn't smash the material itself. It's one of these serendipitous discoveries."
Determined to figure out what she had made, Garcia enlisted help from the brains at IBM. "What's unique about Garcia's paper is that she used all of the computational expertise of IBM to develop new materials," says Timothy Long, a professor of chemistry at Virginia Tech, who was not involved in the research.
Garcia and her team used classic chemistry techniques, along with advanced computer models, to work backward from her final product and find the mechanism behind her surprise reaction. When she discovered that she had indeed synthesized a thermoset, Garcia used the IBM software to test whether there was an inexpensive, efficient way to recycle her new polymer.
"We were able to actually study the chemistry through our computational models, and then evaluate the final product for its reactivity," Garcia says. "We noticed that if you take the molecule and subject it to strong acid, like sulfuric acid, you would get complete chemical reversion back to the starting materials."
More Thermoset for Your Buck?
Prior attempts to synthesize a recyclable thermoset produced weaker, less heat-resistant plastics, unsuitable for industrial uses. But when Garcia and her team subjected their thermoset to a battery of lab tests, its performance was either comparable or superior to current industry standards. And, according to Garcia, her thermoset could be even less expensive than those currently on the market.
While the new thermoset's rigidity and cost may be above reproach, its heat resistance does pose a few problems. Up to 350 degrees Celsius, Garcia's thermoset performs just as well as any comparable polymer. But above that temperature it starts to break down. It's a problem, because thermosets often show up in extremely high-temperature environments. The redistribution layer of a computer chip, for example, which enables bonding between chips in an integrated circuit, can heat up to 425 C. For such applications, Hendrick acknowledges, a more heat-resistant thermoset or a blend of thermosets would undoubtedly be necessary.
"You could get around this by blending polymers," says James Hendrick, a research staff member at IBM who oversees the materials group. "But for our pure polymer, 350 degrees Celsius is the decomposition temperature."
Industrial Prejudices
IBM's new thermoset is a less expensive, recyclable alternative to many of the current market favorites. Nevertheless, manufacturers may be reluctant to adopt a new polymer on the line.
"Industry is always resistant to change," Long says. "Anytime new chemistry appears, we have to think about changing manufacturing operations."
One advantage of this new thermoset, Long notes, is that it makes use of starting materials that are already widely accepted in the industry. "That's an important element of their discovery," Long says of Garcia's team. "They try to use existing compounds and existing synthetic methods that the industry can quickly adopt."
For companies that do use Garcia's thermoset, Long notes, the advantages could be substantial. "Industries are looking for performance so, conceivably, if you're fabricating a new device and it doesn't turn out quite right, a thermoset that you can reverse would allow you to correct the problem."
And for us environmentally conscious techies, of course, a recyclable thermoset is the answer to our ever-present question of how to recycle our old hardware.
"We switch out laptops and iPhones every couple of years, and those thermosets are inherently not recyclable," Long says. "This thermoset will redesign our way of thinking about recycling." |
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David Beckham is trying to recruit Miami Heat star LeBron James as one of his investors in the Major League Soccer team he plans to launch in Miami.
“The two have had several secret meetings in the past few weeks,” a Miami source told me. “LeBron would be to the soccer team what Jay Z was to the Brooklyn Nets.”
Jay Z and Beyoncé were courtside regulars at the Barclays Center until the Brooklyn-born rapper had to sell his share in the Nets last fall when he opened his Roc Nation Sports talent agency. Fans were surprised to learn that, for all the hoopla around it, his stake was a measly 1/15 of 1 percent of the team.
Similarly, billionaire developer Steve Ross brought in Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Venus Williams and Serena Williams as investors in his Miami Dolphins.
Beckham is said to have put about $100 million of his $300 million net worth into the venture.
Said my source: “Beckham doesn’t need LeBron’s money. He wants him to create excitement and buzz.”
The soccer stud could also use the talents of LeBron’s marketing partner Maverick Carter, whose LRMR firm has signed the biggest star in college football, Johnny Manziel.
In March — when Beckham announced he had landed the Miami soccer franchise with “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller and Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure — he admitted, “LeBron is a friend, so we speak as friends about what we’re doing, but we’re also speaking as great businessmen.” |
Cannabis oil 'transformed life' of terminally ill brain tumour man Kieran McCrory BelfastTelegraph.co.uk A man suffering from a terminal brain tumour has told how his quality of life has been transformed since he started using cannabis oil for treatment. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/cannabis-oil-transformed-life-of-terminally-ill-brain-tumour-man-kieran-mccrory-34453098.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/article34453097.ece/6cf77/AUTOCROP/h342/2016-02-15_new_16890350_I2.JPG
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A man suffering from a terminal brain tumour has told how his quality of life has been transformed since he started using cannabis oil for treatment.
Kieran McCrory (37) has been advised by doctors he has between three and five years to live.
Last week in a BBC interview Kieran claimed that since using illegal cannabis oil in his drinks and food, doctors have told him that his tumour had stopped growing.
It has not been proven whatcaused his improvement, but Kieran insists that his daily quality of life has changed radically for the better.
Research in parts of the US has supported the use of cannabis in cancer treatment, but it's still something the UK Government, and charities like Cancer Research UK, refuse to endorse.
Kieran and his wife Sylvia have said they're well aware of the risks but have spoken about how their choice has affected their life and their hopes for the future.
"I've always been open and honest to anybody who's asked me about cannabis," said Kieran.
"I've even said to my local doctor, I'll never lie to you."
"The doctors that I've been speaking to all know I'm doing it. They've said if it's working for you keep doing it. Legally that's all they can say. They're not going to say they support my approach."
Read more
A man with a terminal brain tumour says he believes cannabis oil has helped prolong his life. Even though it is illegal 38 year old Kieran McCrory says he's going to continue using it. Elaine McGee reports. Posted by BBC Newsline on Thursday, 11 February 2016
Could cannabis oil reverse the effects of cancer?
After undergoing physically exhausting radiation treatment, Kieran said that he felt so sick he accepted an offer from a friend to try cannabis oil.
"When I don't have it, I lie in bed and think I'm going to die," he explained. "Once I got CBD [the cannabis oil] I started taking it in my coffee and cooking with it."
"Within the first 24 hours my whole game just picked up, I was walking around the next day, chatting and reading books. The day before I was lying in a hospital bed."
He said his wife Sylvia "dreads the day" he can't get the oil.
"It's not easy at all to get it because it's illegal, it's very risky. It's a situation that someone like myself shouldn't be in."
"I'm not asking to hurt anybody, I'm asking for something that nature has provided and I should be entitled to use."
Kieran is now paralysed down the left side of his body, and relies on Sylvia for everyday things like cutting his food and getting dressed.
"Having this available to me gives me back the power," he said.
"It gives you this burst of energy that you just didn't have lying in hospital after brain surgery."
Kieran's wife Sylvia, originally from Australia, said the improvement in his condition has had a huge impact on her life too.
Sylvia says that since Kieran has been taking the oil they have now been able to enjoy life together again. She says the couple's dream is now to move to Australia, where she has grown-up children, and for them to start a business.
"We've got our own aspirations and dreams that we want to push for, and we feel like we've got a chance now."
Belfast Telegraph |
— 30 April, 2014
So you know how to build a status bar to get informations about your computer? That's cute. How about bringing it to the next level?
Let's go through another way to display informations from your lovely computer: popup notifications !
What's that ?
Popup notifications (I'll call them "popup" from now) are a tiny window that will appear on your screen with an informative text on it, and then disappear after a certain amount of time, or a user interaction.
The important part is that the popups show up when an event occur, not upon user request (well, if the user request a popup, it can still appear, obviously).
Usefulness
Well, most of the popup we have to deal with are annoying most of the time (except those that notify me that I won an IPad by being the visitor number 1 000 000, it's nice to tell me!). But if you choose wisely the content and the event to pop it, it can become really useful, and help you to unclutter your desktop by removing useless informations.
Do you really need to know that your laptop battery is at 78% ? NO Do you really need to know that you have 0 new mails ? NO
This can apply to many other informations (RAM, CPU, current workspace,..). You don't need the information to be displayed all the time. You just need it when it's relevant, like battery under 10%, or new mail incoming.
But if you just LIKE to have it displayed all the time (Sometime, I enjoy a nice status bar with the fine infos in it), then it's okay! Remember that you can have both anyway ;)
Moreover, you can use popups to notify you when a task running in the background has finished, or that a torrent has finished downloading, or whatever weird usage you can find!
Existing software
There are in fact, many notification systems that you can use: libnotify, notify-osd, twmn, etc...
These are fine. But as always, it's just funnier to build your own! And in order to do so, we will need an important program: bar! (note that you can use dzen too)
I love this one, because it's really light and simple to use. Moreover, I contributed to it to complete the geometry setting. You can now create a window of any size and place it wherever you want!
Popup itself
This part is the most simple in fact. bar will do anything for us.
All you have to do is to create a script that will take a serie of argument and put them in a resized bar on your screen.
The simplest script I can think of is:
#!/bin/sh Create the popup and make it live for 3 seconds (echo " $@"; sleep 3) | bar -g 120x20+20+20
And it's working, already! After that, you can style it to make it look like you want:
#!/bin/sh # how long should the popup remain? duration=3 # define geometry barx=10 bary=10 barw=120 barh=20 # colors bar_bg='#ff333333' bar_fg='#ffffffff' # white is default # font used bar_font='-*-gohufont-medium-*-*--11-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1' # compute all this baropt='-g ${barw}x${barh}+${barx}+${bary} -B${bar_bg} -f ${bar_font}' Create the popup and make it live for 3 seconds (echo " $@"; sleep ${duration}) | bar ${baropt}
Obviously, that's not an informative popup at all (is it?). All you need now is to write some simple script to grab the informations you will need to display in your popup. I'll not develop it here, as I already wrote a not-so-tiny section on a subjet in my previous post.
You could then just pop notifications using:
popup $(~/bin/volume)
Automate the popups
The best thing about popups is that they spawn when it's relevent, eg: when a new mail arrived, volume is changing or battery is low.
To catch those event there are many way. We will run through three of them:
infinite loop
inotify event
key presses
infinite loop
This one is easy. We just check whatever we want at regular interval, and depending on some conditions, we raise a notification. That's what I use for my battery:
#!/bin/sh # # z3bra - (c) wtfpl 2014 # check battery level, and raise a notification if the capacity is # under a defined level LEVL=7 BATC=$(sed 's/%//' /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/capacity) test ${BATC} -le ${LEVL} && popup battery level: ${BATC}
Then run this every 2 minutes or so, and it will notify you when your battery is running low. You can put it in your .xinitrc or as a cron job:
# .xinitrc while :; do ~/bin/battery_check; sleep 120; done & # crontab */2 * * * * DISPLAY=0 ~/bin/battery_check
inotify event
Inotify (inode notify) is a Linux kernel subsystem that acts to extend filesystems to notice changes to the filesystem. That strange sentence means that you can catch an event when a node (file, socket, fifo, directory, ...) is modified. There are many events like modification, access to a node, node moved, etc...
To catch those event, there are really few tools.. I wrote mine, wendy, but there are other. Just take a look at this reddit thread to find out more.
So let's define the environnment. There is that directory:
$ ls ~/var/mail/INBOX cur/ new/ tmp/
I use fdm (see this blog post to retrieve my mails from my POP3 server. Each new mail creates a file in ~/var/mail/INBOX/new , so we will just need to watch file creation in that folder, and pop a notification at each new mail. It's done like this in my ~/.xinitrc
# .xinitrc # note that $MAIL is set to my inbox through my ~/.profile wendy -m 256 -q -f ${MAIL}/new -e popup 'new mail(s)!' &
And there we go. each time fdm will fetch mails to your inbox, a wild popup will appear!
key presses
The last type of popup I use is those that occur when a key is pressed. The best exemple for that are the volume keys. I don't know how you handle this, but personnally, I use xbindkeys for that. It's a software that let the user map commands to hotkeys, which is totally useful for everything. I know some people ( bspwm users, mostly) use baskerville's sxhkd to do so. I have nothing against this soft, but it will just not cut it here. For further explanations, see this comment @nixers.net. (/u/jumpwah pointed that sxhkd can run multiple commands using a single keybind, as show in examples/sxhkdrc ).
So, if you already use xbindkeys to change your volume level, probably already know what to do.
I personally have a script to manage my volume level:
#!/bin/sh # # z3bra - (c) wtfpl 2014 # Manage ALSA Master channel test "$1" = "-h" && echo "usage `basename $0` [+|-|!]" && exit 0 level() { amixer get Master | sed -n 's/^.*\[\([0-9]\+%\).*$/\1/p' | uniq } state() { amixer get Master | sed -n 's/^.*\[\(o[nf]\+\)]$/\1/p' | uniq } test $# -eq 0 && echo "`level` `state`" && exit 0 case $1 in +) amixer set Master 5%+ >/dev/null;; -) amixer set Master 5%- >/dev/null;; !) amixer set Master toggle >/dev/null;; state|level) $1;; *) amixer set Master $1 >/dev/null;; esac
It's quite simple. volume +|- will raise|lower volume, volume ! will toggle on/off, volume level|state will output the level or state, and volume whatever will execute whatever through amixer (exemple: volume on|off ).
Back to the topic. Here is my .xbindkeysrc
"~/bin/volume +" XF86AudioRaiseVolume "~/bin/volume -" XF86AudioLowerVolume "~/bin/volume !" XF86AudioMute "~/bin/popup volume: $(~/bin/volume level)" XF86AudioRaiseVolume "~/bin/popup volume: $(~/bin/volume level)" XF86AudioLowerVolume "~/bin/popup volume: $(~/bin/volume level)" XF86AudioMute
There, simple. The popup command is bound to my volume keys, so each time I press them, the notification comes up! It's quite simple.
Improvements
This system is not perfect at all, because popup overlap, the width and timing is fixed, ... But it's also a bare simple system, easily hackable. You could use it to build a more complex system on top of that. For example, you can easily write a simple daemon that will read messages from a fifo and stack popups together:
#!/bin/sh # # z3bra - (c) wtfpl 2014 # Popup wrapper used to stack notifications together # fifo that we'll use to feed the popups test -p /tmp/popup.fifo || mkfifo /tmp/popup.fifo # popup definition w=150 h=20 x=1930 y=10 # popup counter (starts at -1 so that the first popup has no offset n=-1 # get messages from the fifo tail -f /tmp/popup.fifo | while IFS= read -r message; do # increment the counter n=$((n + 1)) { # display the popup under the others ~/bin/popup -g ${w}x${h}+${x}+$((y + (h+y) * n)) $n ${message} # decrement the counter n=$((n - 1)) } & done
Then, write your messages to /tmp/popup.fifo to see your popup stacking together ( echo shblah > /tmp/popup.fifo ). It will probably require improvements, but it's a good starting point!
Here are a few other ideas I had (but did not bother trying :P):
Using txtw to change width dynamically
Make use of the clickable area of bar to get rid of the popup
to get rid of the popup Make long notifications scroll using skroll
shampoo / soap
4 apples
some fresh meat Ah, wrong list...
Ah, wrong list... ...
Be creative, as usual!
Good bye
I hope this will be helpful to someone. It's not meant to make you throw your status bar away, or switch from libnotify and such. It's just a bare simple alternative to those, as I like to have :)
Enjoy! |
Earlier in the week we had a chance to pay UFC welterweight Mike Pierce a visit at the Affliction Gym in Seal Beach, CA. Pierce was in town to do a bit of media and upon meeting him and speaking to him, came to a strong conclusion. Mike Pierce is perhaps one of the nicest and down to earth guys we have ever met. Why you may ask? In speaking with him, Pierce acted like a normal guy and related to things off camera that any normal young adult would talk about. Yes, we used the term young adult; though Pierce is 31 he still relates to that demographic of 21-35 when it comes to subjects of sports and other types of topics.
From behind the camera, Fight Hub TV correspondent Marcos Villegas spoke to Mike in depth about his upcoming matchup with Josh Koscheck as well as share his thoughts on the UFC on FOX 2 semi-main event between his friend Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping. Pierce puts it down very simple, if Anderson Silva could not knock out Sonnen, Michael Bisping has a slim chance in doing so himself. |
Ubasute no tsuki (The Moon of Ubasute), by (The Moon of Ubasute), by Yoshitoshi
Ubasute (姥捨て, "abandoning an old woman", also called obasute and sometimes oyasute 親捨て "abandoning a parent") is the mythical practice of senicide in Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die.[1] According to the Kodansha Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japan, ubasute "is the subject of legend, but [...] does not seem ever to have been a common custom".[2]
Folklore [ edit ]
Ubasute has left its mark on Japanese folklore, where it forms the basis of many legends, poems, and koans. In one Buddhist allegory, a son carries his mother up a mountain on his back. During the journey, she stretches out her arms, catching the twigs and scattering them in their wake, so that her son will be able to find the way home.
A poem commemorates the story:
In the depths of the mountains,
Whom was it for the aged mother snapped
One twig after another?
Heedless of herself
She did so
For the sake of her son
In popular culture [ edit ]
Places [ edit ]
Ubasute Mountain
Ubasute Mountain
Similar practice in other cultures [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Japan, An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo, 1993, p. 1121
Coordinates: |
Is it safe to double atmospheric Carbon Dioxide over a 200 year period?
Posted on 24 December 2010 by fingerprinter
We are on track to double pre-industrial atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. In assessing the risk, the above question is much more fundamental than asking how much the climate warmed over the 20th century. So what’s the answer?
Society has standard approaches for assessing risk and safety. When it comes to assessing risk for major intervention, this approach entails a null hypothesis, or base assumption, that things are unsafe until proven safe. Examples occur in medicine, engineering and just about every human activity. In medicine, a drug company can not assume that a new vaccine is safe, with the burden of proof on others to prove it is unsafe. Note that this is different to determining whether the vaccine is effective, where the null hypothesis could be that there is no association between the vaccine and immunity. Rather, the null hypothesis for the risk assessment relates to the question, can I use this vaccine for a major public vaccination program?
When it comes to carbon pollution, the normal convention for risk assessment goes right out the window. The scientific null hypothesis that there is no association between carbon dioxide and climate change is easily broken. But the public risk question really relates to doubling the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration in 200 years. In other words, is altering atmospheric chemistry in that manner safe? In the weird world of greenhouse policy, we would like everyone to assume that putting 3.6 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere is entirely safe, with the onus on climatologists to prove otherwise.
Taking the wrong null hypothesis has serious implications for the way the science is assessed. Going back to our medical analogy, even a relatively small amount of evidence that the vaccine is unsafe is enough to inform a risk assessment. In other words, the null hypothesis stands. You need to produce a great deal of evidence to satisfy authorities that the vaccine is safe.
In the assessment of carbon pollution, we have this the wrong way around. Small uncertainties in the conventional science are used to reinforce the notion that doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide is entirely safe. Most importantly, and somewhat amazingly when you stop to think about it, major polluters and proponents of continued carbon pollution have never proved that their product is safe. Not only that, they haven’t even been asked, by governments and the public alike, to prove that their product is safe.
This means that, to date, we have no studies demonstrating that the climate system is insensitive to such increases in carbon dioxide, and a mountain of evidence indicating that doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide will result in dramatic climate change. Yet still, we refuse to really accept the risks. One of the biggest reasons for this is that the skeptics have been successful in limiting public discussion to 20th century global mean temperature. In reality, the case against doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide is well established before we look at the 20th century climate record.
One of the most certain things in climate science is that increasing carbon dioxide warms the climate system. Doubling atmospheric concentrations is sure to cause significant warming of the climate system. And doubling a over a 200 year period represents one of the most rapid changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide in the history of the Earth.
The certainty that carbon dioxide warms the climate system does not rely on any 20th century climate observations, such as employed in fingerprinting studies. These studies seek to determine how much the 40% increase in carbon dioxide over the 20th century has already affected the climate. Rather, the evidence against increasing carbon dioxide is much more fundamental.
The first place to look is of course the paleoclimate record. Over the last several decades of research, the sensitivity of the climate system to changes in carbon dioxide has been established through ice core samples and other proxy climate indicators. In short, past climates with high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were very warm, unless incoming solar radiation was low. Rapid changes in carbon dioxide (such as due to planetary volcanic activity or asteroid strikes) resulted in rapid changes in the climate system. The literature on this topic remains unchallenged; in the Earth’s geological history, if carbon dioxide concentrations increased, the planet warmed.
The second and more important place to look is the fundamental physics and chemistry- using mathematical modelling. Models used in climate come in different shapes and sizes. Some of the most basic models, such as the behaviour of gases exposed to radiation of different wavelengths, are well established physical models.
Far from being controversial, numerical models are used in all modern fields of science. Mathematical models are implicit in our understanding of the universe. For example, the governing equation for the gravitational effect is also 'just a model'. In fact, it’s the very definition of a model, since we do not actually understand how gravity works. However our mathematical model of the nature of gravity has been verified through countless observations. We are quite certain that our mathematical model of gravity accurately describes the Newtonian universe. These principles are not negotiable like the tenets of social sciences or economics. They are fundamental laws. The universe doesn't fudge fundamental laws of scale.
Similarly, the mathematical model of the organisation of an atom; neutrons, protons, electrons, is just a model. We cannot actually look inside an atom. But the model has been verified and it holds as a fundamental certainty.
The mathematical model of how atoms absorb and re-emit radiation in discrete energy packets and in discrete wavelengths is also a model. It also faithfully describes the universe. A whole heap of technology is built on the certainty of this model. If these models did not work, then most of the appliances in your house would also not work, including the microwave oven and the television.
Therefore we can faithfully model how radiation passing through layers of radiative gas will be absorbed and re-emitted. There is nothing speculative about this either. This is fundamental physics and chemistry, text book material rather than brand new science.
(Image created by Robert A. Rohde / Global Warming Art)
If anyone seriously thinks that our understanding of radiation is wrong, then could they please publish that alternative theory in a proper scientific journal so we can all absorb a new reality? You will need to overturn more than 100 years of physics in the process. You will also likely win a Nobel Prize for your efforts. The incentive is there.
You see, you can't just say you don't agree with the fundamental laws of physics, or that you are not convinced by them, and leave it at that. At least, not if you want to be taken seriously in the scientific community (as opposed to simply confusing the public with red herrings). As an aside, I suspect that being taken seriously by the science community has never been a key priority for the skeptics. By publishing almost exclusively on blogs and in the opinion sections of newspapers, and eschewing peer-reviewed scientific journals, they have staked out their real audience. Contributing to science has nothing to do with it.
Now where were we? Oh yes, we understand entirely how radiative gases like carbon dioxide absorb and re-emit radiation from physics, quantum physics and chemistry. We also understand the physics of radiation (for example the Stephan Boltzmann relationship). We understand entirely that if you increase the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, you will warm the surface of the planet. This result is repeatable (you get the same answer) using a simple model of radiation physics alone (just a couple of lines of code) or using a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea-ice model with turbulent mixing. People have been trying to break this result for fifty years and have not. That’s how science works.
The sensitivity of the atmosphere to greenhouse gases can also be observed on nearby planets (Mars and Venus) and is consistent with the maths. The maths is also supported by the observed feedback mechanism between temperature and carbon dioxide in the ice-core record and other paleo indicators. If you double or even triple atmospheric carbon dioxide, which we will do sometime this century or early next, you will significantly warm the climate system. This is well above a 95% probability, and is hence a near certainty. No one has disproved any of this in the literature. No drug would make it onto the market with that kind of evidence running against it.
The climate system is complex, so the fundamental physics operates over many interacting variables. As such, many things can act to slow down the rate of warming or amplify it, such as the warming-water vapour feedback mechanism. But the system is not that complex, and is certainly far less complex than the human body. And the complexity of the system cannot change the radiative properties of carbon dioxide. Hence, over time, and given the rate of carbon dioxide increases that are proposed, warming will be set in train and is assured from the fundamental physics. Hence we are certain from all the science that the mean trajectory we are now on is a warming trajectory. Small uncertainties in the rate of future warming are irrelevant to the risk assessment. That’s like pinning the risk assessment associated with childhood exposure to UV radiation to uncertainty in the exact age that skin cancer is most likely to occur.
The climate of the deep past has shown that we are nowhere near the natural limits of warming for planet Earth. In other words, the current state of the climate has more things that can amplify warming than it does things that will keep a lid on the warming. There are mechanisms that limit warming, but we have plenty of room to warm given that the level of pre-industrial carbon dioxide was very low in relation to extremely warm climates in the distant past. This level of warming is more than enough to elevate sea level and change the predominant patterns of global climate. The uncertainties in the context of the enhanced greenhouse effect are actually more worrying than they are reassuring. This is a concept that the public does not understand very well.
Guess what? I haven’t even talked about a 20th century thermometer reading, and we already have heaps of evidence against the safety of rapidly doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide. The matching greenhouse fingerprints in the 20th century climate record are really the final nail of evidence. If there is some study that contradicts the fundamental science, then where is it? No one has managed to find an alternative solution after decades of trying. While the skeptics will throw up the occasional vaguely set-out paper from fringe (and mostly non peer-reviewed) journals, they can not produce a set of key papers which demonstrate that doubling atmospheric chemistry has no significant effect on the climate system. And that is what they wish to prove is it not? It is certainly what they should be required to do.
So people should ask the skeptics their own set of questions. Why have they never produced a repeatable formulation of the physics as they see it? Why have they never developed their own climate models, and performed their own model experiments? Why have they never produced their own paleoclimate reconstructions? Why have they never compiled their own record of surface temperature? Apparently, the lack of published research showing the inert nature of atmospheric carbon dioxide changes is the result of a long running, worldwide scientific conspiracy.
But that too doesn't stand up. With all the money supposedly at stake, the complete lack of credible research by the skeptics points to a complete inability to successfully argue their case in scientific circles. If destroying the conventional science was as easy as they suggest, the major polluters would have funded such research twenty years ago, and moved on. Again, the incentive is there, and large companies are more than capable of funding and producing credible research. But, importantly, they have not attempted to do so. |
A SUMMER internship to learn more about astrophysics turned into a stunning coup for Monash undergraduate Amelia Fraser-McKelvie when she helped solve one of the big mysteries of science.
Astrophysicists have long been baffled by a belief that the universe must have a greater mass than is visible in the planets, dust and stars that make up much of what can be seen. But they had no way of proving it. They estimated that about half the mass required to keep the universe functioning as it does was ''missing''.
Looking to the heavens: undergraduate Amelia Fraser-McKelvie. Credit:Wayne Taylor
Ms Fraser-McKelvie found some, and her discovery will aid the development of telescopes in Australia.
The 22-year-old aerospace engineering student, who works with Monash astrophysicists Kevin Pimbblet and Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway, explained. |
The hero phone. (Apple Daily)
You know what they say: Never bring a sickle to a gunfight. But if you do make sure you have an enormous phone in your front pocket.
Let us explain.
The phone’s owner and another man began arguing in a restaurant and stepped outside to fight, Apple Daily reported (via Shanghaiist). Armed with only a sickle (yes, a sickle), the victim proved no match for his gun-wielding aggressor and was promptly shot down.
The fallen man was carted to the hospital by friends. Medical staff and police discovered that because the shooter was using a “modified” and less powerful gun, and because the bullet first hit the victim’s shielding hand, the sturdy Samsung Galaxy Mega phablet — which is Samsung’s largest phone, featuring a 6.3-inch screen —in his chest pocket had stopped the bullet cold.
Not a bad feature, Samsung: life-saving phone, no third-party app necessary. Maybe they should have called it the Samsung Galaxy Shield.
iPhone fans, however, might say that this is yet another copycat job by the makers of the Galaxy line.
For example: In 2012, a man in the Netherlands told De Telegraaf (via Tuaw) that he was spared a bullet to the heart while driving thanks to the chest-pocket placement of his iPhone. Of course, full credit couldn’t be given to the phone in this instance, either, since the bullet broke through the man’s windshield first.
Even Windows Phone and BlackBerry, the little brothers of the smartphone field, have had their heroic moments. A Nokia Lumia 520 this year saved a Brazilian military soldier from being shot in the rear, and a BlackBerry Curve in 2010 blocked an accidental shot from injuring a woman in Ohio.
All of this goes to show that it doesn’t matter how out of date or uncool your phone or your weapon (a sickle? really??) might be: Bringing it along to a gunfight is never going to be a bad idea.
Also not a bad idea: Avoid all gunfights. Peace.
Have questions, comments, or just want to tell me something funny? Email me at [email protected]. |
This 1994 Range Rover County LWB is a well-maintained example with 55k kilometers (~34k miles) that is powered by a 4.2 liter Rover V8. The truck was sold new at Lone Star Mercedes-Benz Range Rover in Calgary, Alberta, and has been registered in Vancouver, British Columbia since 1995. The seller is the third owner and purchased the truck four months ago. He replaced the headliner, tires, and a few minor worn items, and enjoyed a 750 mile road trip through British Columbia over Labor Day weekend with no issues. Cosmetics are in good order with the paint and interior looking well-preserved, and the truck features numerous factory options like brush guards and running boards. The Rover has no modifications from stock, and the A/C system and air suspension are fully functional. The seller describes the truck as running well, but has decided to sell since he rarely drives it and is limited on space. The sale includes service records from previous owners, receipts from work done by the seller, clean Carfax and Carproof reports, and a clean British Columbia title.
The Cornish Cream paint appears glossy with no noticeable scratches or blemishes, and the truck received a nearly $1k detailing on November 3rd. There is no history of any accidents on the Carfax, though the seller reports that a small dent was recently removed. Records also show a $478 vandalism claim in November, 1996 and a $454 comprehensive claim in June, 1997. The aluminum body panels are straight, and the steel bonnet and tailgate show no signs of corrosion.
This truck was equipped with several factory options including:
Wraparound brush bar with lamp guards ($1,116)
Rear lamp guards ($456)
Fog lamp covers ($114)
Running boards ($1,058)
Loadspace protector ($384)
Rubber floormat set ($279)
Trailer hitch kit ($254)
The County LWB variant increased the wheelbase of the Range Rover to 108 inches long, which offered more legroom for rear passengers and a larger cargo area. The seller notes that the air suspension works as it should, and the front shocks were replaced at 24k miles by the previous owner. The stock 16″ wheels are in good condition and wear new Yokohama Geolandar tires that were installed on August, 25th (including spare). Exterior rubber is in good condition with no major UV damage, and all of the lights are working correctly.
The interior looks sharp with Light Stone Connolly leather upholstery and burled walnut trim. This was the last year of the classic dash for the Range Rover, with the 1995 model using a dash lifted from the Discovery.
The leather on the seats shows little wear with no cracks, creases, tears, or damage to the piping. The seller added a new headliner after purchase, and the carpets and floormats appear clean with no wrinkles.
Interior plastics have held up well, and there are no cracks on the dash. All of the gauges, lights, power accessories, sunroof, A/C system, and cruise control are said to function properly. The clock is currently not working and the seller notes that the original radio occasionally cuts out.
The 4.2 liter Rover V8 sits in a tidy engine compartment and features Lucas 14CUX electronic fuel injection. The permanent four-wheel drive truck utilizes a 4-speed ZF automatic transmission coupled to an LT230 transfer box. The engine looks clean with organized wiring, and was advertised at producing 202 horsepower and 251 lb.ft. of torque when new.
The thermostat was replaced by the previous owner less than 10k miles ago, and the seller recently replaced the radiator hose, water pump pulleys, trackrod end links, and the daytime running lights relay. The motor runs strong and provides even power through all gears, and the truck is said to offer a smooth ride with no abnormal sounds.
All of the original owner’s manuals are included, as well as a working fob, three keys, and the original off-roading instructions VHS tape. The original service booklet includes dealer stamped scheduled maintenance, service records from the previous owner, and receipts from the seller for the tires, headliner, and detail also come with the truck. |
JERUSALEM — In an extraordinarily brazen assault early Friday, three Arab citizens of Israel armed with guns and knives killed two Israeli police officers guarding an entrance to Jerusalem’s holiest site for Jews and Muslims, an emotional and volatile focal point of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Security camera footage showed the armed assailants emerging to attack from within the sacred compound in the Old City of Jerusalem that Jews revere as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Police officers pursued the assailants, who fled back inside the compound and exchanged fire; all three assailants were killed.
The police identified the slain officers as Advanced Staff Sgt. Maj. Hayil Satawi, 30, who was married with a 3-week-old son; and Advanced Staff Sgt. Maj. Kamil Shnaan, 22, the son of a former parliamentarian. Both officers were members of the country’s small Druze community and came from towns in northern Israel.
Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, identified the assailants as residents of Umm el-Fahm, a large Arab town in central Israel, near the border with the West Bank: Muhammad Ahmed Jabarin, 29; Muhammad Hamid Jabarin, 19; and Muhammad Ahmed Mufdal Jabarin, 19. It was not immediately known if the three were related, but their names indicated that they belonged to the same large clan. |
According to the Firefox 2012 roadmap, Mozilla plans to introduce some major changes and new features this year, including a new default theme called Australis:
Firefox - default GNOME 3 theme
Firefox - Ubuntu (Ambiance theme)
Firefox - OSX
Firefox - Windows 7
As you can see in the images above, Firefox will use Chrome-like curved tabs on all platforms, the bookmarks star will be separated from the locationBar and merged with the bookmarks menu and apparently, the menu will be moved next to the locationBar. Further more, a new built-in download panel should finally replace the separate Firefox download window. There's already a Unfortunately, there are still no plans to support tabs in the titlebar for Linux (because of GTK limitations), but most other UI changes should be available for Linux too.As you can see in the images above, Firefox will use Chrome-like curved tabs on all platforms, the bookmarks star will be separated from the locationBar and merged with the bookmarks menu and apparently, the menu will be moved next to the locationBar. Further more, a new built-in download panel should finally replace the separate Firefox download window. There's already a custom Firefox build that comes with an initial version of the new download panel:
If you want to try the new theme, there's an unofficial Australis theme HERE (but it needs some work, at least under Linux). (but it needs some work, at least under Linux).
Besides the changes mentioned above, there are many other new features that should land in Firefox this year:
a new tab page (an initial version is already available in the latest Firefox Aurora builds - screenshot above) powered by the Awesomebar, with a new "speed dial" and new home tab which lets you access the Firefox preferences, etc.
Chrome migration
Web Apps (-webapp mode) and WebApps Marketplace integration
reworked session restore and a new Firefox restore which lets you restore bookmarks, passwords, etc.
Firefox Share: share links / update status across social networks
Firefox Login: user-centric site logins - one login for all the websites you us
in-line Preferences Manager
seamless plug-in install and update experience
built-in PDF viewer
more!
For more info, visit the Firefox roadmap page. |
No matter how many superhero comics you read, there's one thing we all take for granted: Superheroes wear costumes. Superman has his blue leotard and (sometimes) red underwear, Batman has his cowl, every superhero has something. It's what separates the superhero from the alter ego. It's what keeps people from figuring out that Clark Kent isn't the awkward, clumsy Kansas boy he appears to be.
Now, DC revealed one of their superheroes isn't wearing a costume, Comic Book reports.
In "Justice League #35," Wonder Woman revealed to the world what she wears isn't a costume, uniform or super suit. It's a religious garment.
After the previous issue saw a nun killed by a terrorist wielding Wonder Woman's sword, Diana is called in for questioning. The interrogating officer refers to Wonder Woman's iconic outfit as a costume. She cuts him off to correct him.
(Photo: DC Entertainment)
"It's a habit," she says. "A religious garment. I do not wear a costume." The officer also calls her Diana Prince, and she corrects him once again. Her name is " Diana of Themyscira. Daughter of Hippolyta." |
The Campaign to Diminish Men’s Social Status to Slave Class in Western Culture
Author’s note: This is not intended to be an attack on women. I am friendly with women, some of whom consider themselves feminists. This is an analysis of what I and others have identified as a disturbing trend throughout society. As a career artist, teacher, and divorced father, I have always shunned New Age jargon, paranoid conspiracy theories, or any cultish group mentality. I had very little awareness of or regard for the organized Men’s Rights Movement before writing my first draft of this essay in virtual isolation. My assumption was a common one that men’s groups were comprised of a few ragtag misfits who got together in the woods to bang bongos, whine about their lives, and atone for the perceived sins of their fathers.
Since then however, I have found an impressive collection of intelligent work by some very well-informed and accomplished authors who write with great clarity and objectivity about these disturbingly overlooked men’s issues. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was not the only man (and even a few remarkable women) to draw similar conclusions about the organized campaign to denigrate and subjugate men in Western culture. In this piece, I touch on many facets of the subject that will be well-known to readers who are already familiar with the MRM. However, I probe a little deeper than merely identifying the symptoms into some informed speculation about the sinister origins and ultimate goals of this insidious trend.
–Gabriel Raphael, 2012
* * * * *
It’s A Man’s World?
All women’s issues are to some degree men’s issues and all men’s issues are to some degree women’s issues because when either sex wins unilaterally both sexes lose. –Warren Farrell
We have lived for so long with the cliché that it is a man’s world that we rarely question what it means. So I’m asking. Does it mean that a disproportionate majority of men enjoy freedoms, advantages and benefits that women are denied? If that’s what it means, then it is one of many absurd fallacies regarding men’s and women’s status in this day and age here in the Western world. It has been anything but a man’s world for most of my lifetime since the late 1960s and I know for most men of my generation here in America, whether or not they have the awareness or nerve to admit it. Like a hapless frog boiling to death in a slowly heated pot of water, we never saw it coming. The apparatus of feminism has seen to that. In the politically-correct-osphere, it has become taboo for anyone, male or female to even question the motives, tactics, or ultimate consequences of the feminist agenda. However, as a man to whom it would never occur to question the notion that the sexes deserve equal rights, I definitely do question the feminist agenda. In my lifetime of experience, I must objectively conclude that true gender equality and the goals of feminism as it is practiced are anything but synonymous.
My beautiful daughter attends a successfully integrated public school where we live in Northern California. She has never witnessed racial discrimination but is taught about it in school, especially around the time of MLK day. When she was only about eight, I asked her if she understood what it was all about. She innocently replied, “Yeah but it isn’t like that anymore, so why do they still have to make such a big deal about it?” Hesitantly, I answered her that some people think that it’s the only way to prevent it from happening again. And yet while offering this explanation, I had misgivings about how it felt disingenuous. Even though it was the stock answer, didn’t really make much sense to me or to my daughter. Contrary to its intended purpose of being preventative, it instead seemed more likely to perpetuate the resentment. They are teaching children about a time of hate to whom it would never otherwise occur. I’m not suggesting that we should deny historic facts either, but such sensitive subjects must be kept in proper perspective. I mention this as a parallel to what I now see happening in the so-called battle of the sexes.
With the same paradoxical logic that would put the American Cancer Society out of business if a cure for cancer were found, I submit that the apparatus of feminism actually reinforces and depends on the fallacy that it’s a man’s world in ways that actually diminish the dignity of both sexes. In science, including social science, any good theory or procedure must withstand the test of objective scrutiny. So let’s put feminism to the test. In this case, as simple thought experiment. Like most men of my generation, I can’t even imagine having the motive or power to oppress women. It is an empty accusation. And yet feminism depends on that premise. Therefore, I must conclude that feminism fails the credibility test— catastrophically. Why? Not because men are threatened by the idea of gender equality or “strong” women, a familiar accusation so often claimed by feminists. We’re not. Really. Yet most men become baffled by this accusation just long enough to lose their focus. That is a typical ad hominem logical fallacy that effectively obfuscates the real problems and usually derails any meaningful conversation before it begins.
Feminism Knows Best
It would be futile to attempt to fit women into a masculine pattern of attitudes, skills and abilities and disastrous to force them to suppress their specifically female characteristics and abilities by keeping up the pretense that there are no differences between the sexes. –Arianna Huffington
Another reason that feminism fails is because it has rampaged far beyond its alleged goal of gender equality and spawned some other very hostile and inequitable conditions for men, women and children. It has elevated women not to equal status but to special status, while promoting a universal perception of men as clueless buffoons or violent criminals by a grossly disproportionate measure. Hand in hand with the self-righteousness of “therapy culture”, feminism has diminished the quality of life for everyone by destroying the values that once sustained the stability and bonds of the American family. This is no accident or side effect, nor is it good for anyone including women. It can’t be denied that this brazenly indefensible objective is at the core of feminism’s purported nobler goals of equality. Yet radical feminists will still try to defend it with the absurdly paranoid assertion that the traditional family is nothing more than a male invention designed to oppress women. This theory is even hostile to women who find fulfillment as wives and mothers as being naively brainwashed by a tyrannical patriarchy.
If a tenet of feminism is that women have choices, then this is yet another example of hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance. What feminists are really saying is that women are free to do whatever feminism says they should do because feminism presumes to speak for all women and that it knows what’s best for them; better than they even know for themselves. Amazingly, too many Americans have already accepted such rhetoric and readily ignore the fact that the family unit is our greatest asset and source of strength as individuals and as free citizens. Without the support and strength of the intact family, we are weakened and reduced to proletariats of the state. This, I believe is no mere coincidence. Women— the so-called nurturers and caregivers have been the unwitting foot soldiers this destructive campaign; and men— the proverbial protectors and providers have passively stood by and allowed it to happen. We are all equally accountable for allowing our natural instincts as protectors and nurturers to be so easily perverted.
What began as a seemingly honorable movement to insure legal, financial, and social equality between men and women when war widows were left with no means of support, has now degenerated into a grotesque caricature that backfires far more than it accomplishes any true gains toward its presumably virtuous purpose, or as other authors have identified it: feminism’s “cover story.” A minority of angry, vocal women have hijacked and franchised the feminist movement into a disturbingly destructive force while sheltered under its original banner of righteousness. Yet we dare not question their rhetoric lest we are branded as hostile to their seemingly noble cause, so most men comply or assume the obsequious role of championing the feminist cause.
Even if some women really do have legitimate personal grievances with specific men, I would point out that these exceptions to the rule are personal and unique; and not justification for a universally hostile social trend. Thousands of people are killed in car accidents every year but we don’t outlaw cars. I love dogs even though I’ve been bitten once or twice in my life. In fact, I love women despite all of their shortcomings and ways that I have witness few of them have behave with depravity or unjustifiably extreme cruelty toward me and other men. Most young women are now systematically taught that there is a sinister conspiracy among all men against all women with nothing more than a tiny percentage of isolated transgressions to justify this claim. This is mobilizing a political agenda through fear and loathing of the proverbial boogeyman which most women have never personally experienced.
And yet despite the finger pointing, the vast majority of actual men have been anything but unsympathetic. On the contrary. Millions of men just like me have done as much or more to support and abide by the demands of feminism as the women that it is supposed to benefit. In an effort to be deemed as “acceptable” by the feminist sensibility, a whole generation of men spend most of their lives bending over backwards to suppress their better judgment and male instincts while apologizing for simply being male (which ironically further incurs women’s contempt.) It begins and ends with this militant faction and their unrelentingly vitriolic characterization of men as their oppressors or abusers. It may seem counterintuitive, but the explanation is that like so many human institutions, feminism would have no cohesion without a scapegoat. I will therefore submit that feminism’s raison d’être is a phantom— but that its effects are dreadfully tangible.
A few so-called “moderate” feminists may attempt to distance themselves from these radical extremists, but their voices are drowned out by all the noise. And even they can’t evade the truth that feminism even exists at all because of a contrived fallacy that a hegemony of men opposes their freedom. Here in America in the 21st century… really? By that definition, any feminism is akin to radical fundamentalism. Eliminate that unjustified core theory and feminism has no unifying meaning or purpose. For a little perspective, all we need to do is look at some Arab and African countries to see what it really looks like for women to be oppressed by men. Despite enjoying advantages and freedoms above almost any other class of people in the world, American women, like spoiled children, aren’t embarrassed to keep right on complaining. Yet perhaps they should complain— not for anything that they have been denied, but for the tragic consequences of what they themselves have wrought: the unmitigated betrayal of their men, their children, and ultimately, themselves.
Plunder and Slander
I remember Nazi election propaganda posters showing a hateful Jewish face with crooked nose. –Jack Steinberger
All of this may come as no surprise. Any social trend that gains enough momentum will always attract a few fanatic extremists who undermine its true spirit. They are to feminism what suicide bombers are to Islam. These “squeaky wheels” always opt for a rage-fueled tirade over logic against their manufactured adversary. Such fanatic hyperbole inevitably becomes the manifesto for the whole movement. Declare war and then justify it by accusing the identified enemy of initiating aggression for displaying the slightest hint of defense at the attack. Assassinate character instead of seeking accord. Rather than graciously recognizing the willingness of the other party to be reasonable, they default to the most adversarial position possible and employ the same strategy as price bantering in a Cairo street market: aggressively demand more than is reasonable, take as much as they can get, demand more still, give nothing back, and never apologize. This strategy may achieve some petty gains, but the net result is a severely diminished quality of life for all concerned from an increased atmosphere of antagonism and distrust between men and women. The strategy being, “screw him before he screws me.” It is the equivalent to the short-sighted greed of corporate raiders who plunder the assets of an old beloved company and lay off all of its loyal employees rather than reinvesting in its long term potential. A small minority benefits while most suffer. Starting to sound familiar?
Radio pundit bullies like Rush Limbaugh and Tom Leykis have been called out for making the regrettable comparison of feminism and Nazism: “Feminazis”. In so doing, they undermine their own credibility by stooping to the same low level of inflammatory name calling, and yet I believe the core point that they clumsily make is how feminists demonize men just as Nazis demonized Jews so as to justify their hostility. If so, then I’m afraid to say that even they got that part right. Of course, these are rare examples of the kind of man that feminists love to use as poster boys for what’s wrong with all men. They depend on each other to define themselves. Such polarization is inevitable. Like a law of physics, for every radical feminist, there must be an equal and opposite male “pig” to serve as a yardstick by which they measure their own limits. If the moniker “feminazis” is going too far, then it may not be going too far to compare feminism to McCarthyism. At least McCarthy didn’t massacre millions of people that he falsely accused of communism, but the similarity is that he did foster an unnecessarily antagonistic atmosphere for a period of this country’s history based more on a personal paranoia than on any legitimate or widespread threat.
“Displacement” is a well-recognized psychological phenomenon in which the subject redirects their rage toward any convenient target while repressing awareness of the true cause. If they can justify their antagonism by indoctrinating as many others as possible, then they feel validated in their delusion.
And so, in the last 40 years, men in America and a few other Western nations in the northern latitudes have been the target of one of the most insidious slander campaigns ever waged against any minority, and it hides in plain sight. It is not just against the tiny minority of genuinely “bad guys”, but toward all men through guilt by association and the questionably paranoid logic of always erring on the side of caution. In many cases, the easiest targets—the proverbial “nice guys” are the recipients of the most egregious injustices. Why? Because they offer the least resistance. They are the weakest link.
So, if women aren’t really oppressed by men in this country, then why all the sound and fury? All we need to do is look at the effects. Skyrocketing divorce rates, children raised in broken homes and daycare, and the “ghettoization” of the middle class. Nothing is an accident. What we may dismiss as a collection of unfortunate side effects is the purpose. Who would possibly benefit from such social devastation? I’m getting to that.
Riding the Civil Rights Bandwagon
We live in a society of victimization, where people are much more comfortable being victimized than actually standing up for themselves. –Marilyn Manson
“White guilt” became part of our vernacular since the civil rights movement as whites began to have a collective awakening of conscience about the centuries of black suffering in America. Jumping on this bandwagon, comfortable, well-educated, middle and upper class women sought to extend this sentiment to include “male guilt” by comparing their situations as wives and mothers to the conditions of black oppression. And thus began their campaign to demonize men— all men, in exaggerated ways that even exceed the animosity that blacks expressed toward whites for incomparably more legitimate reasons. Thus, the “victim culture” was born and suddenly everyone had a new tool for manipulating the system to their favor. However, unlike our new found sensitivity to racism toward ethnic minorities and sexism toward women, this reactionary form of bigotry toward men is regarded with nothing more than a chuckle during any romantic comedy or primetime sitcom.
Men are the one minority that is banned by definition from playing the “victim card”. If a man complains, then he is not a real man. However, I submit that as real men, we can set a better example for improving our station than by resorting to the same crybaby strategy so overused by other groups. No more crying wolf. You can’t get respect by whining for it. Being a man is not something that requires a feminist’s permission or approval.
The implications are much farther reaching than these venues. Substitute the word “woman” or “black” or any other minority for the word “man” or “dad” in any derogatory joke commonly made at men’s expense and then see if you still think it’s funny or inconsequential: “It’s so simple, even Dad can do it.” Harmlessly funny, right? Now try: It’s so simple, even a woman can do it.” Still laughing? We usually shrug off “male bashing” as a relatively trivial footnote in daytime talk shows and women’s studies college courses. And yet, regarding the latter, the editorial board of the Canadian newspaper National Post has argued:
The radical feminism behind these courses has done untold damage to families, our court systems, labour laws, constitutional freedoms and even the ordinary relations between men and women. Women’s Studies courses have taught that all women — or nearly all — are victims and nearly all men are victimizers. Their professors have argued, with some success, that rights should be granted not to individuals alone, but to whole classes of people, too.
Justifications for Male Discrimination
The anger that appears to be building up between the sexes becomes more virulent with every day that passes. And far from women taking the blame… the fact is that men are invariably portrayed as the bad guys. Being a good man is like being a good Nazi. –Dave Thomas
The rationale goes something like this: Men have always had all of the advantages, so now it’s OK to level the playing field by denigrating any man, anywhere, anytime, in any situation. What this logic conveniently ignores is that only a tiny percentage of men at the very top of the social pyramid have these mythical advantages. The rest of us are all in the same boat. And yet the remaining ordinary, hard-working men who do dutifully work difficult or dangerous jobs that women don’t want to do in order to support their families are vilified as oppressors, predators, or as immature buffoons, making it open season on the proverbial boogeyman. In any conflict, men are almost always seen as guilty until proven innocent, while women’s virtue is always given the benefit of the doubt, even when evidence to the contrary is irrefutable. Where exactly is the oppressive patriarchal system that I have been hearing women complain about my whole life? I don’t see it. Not here in America— at least not in my lifetime. This is the classic cognitive dissonance that many men live with every day. Is it any wonder that a few snap under the stress? How much hand wringing are we doing in the hope of understanding them compared to when a woman snaps?. Men are held 100% accountable for their actions regardless of extenuating circumstances while women are infantilized, analyzed, coddled, and excused under identical circumstances. The fact that so-called “empowered” feminists insist upon this is hypocrisy in the extreme.
It has already been demonstrated that statistics regarding earning disparity are misleading due to the failure to take into account the fact that men tend to work longer hours and more days per year at many jobs that women simply don’t want to do. And yet, feminists cherry-pick the final tally of their own choices as the prime example of discrimination against them. And we’ve been buying this nonsense for a generation now.
The news media is insidiously complicit. Every leading story on the eleven o-clock news begins with some atrocity committed by a “man”, while the feel-good human interest stories refer to men merely as “personnel”, “coalminers”, “soldiers”, or any other gender-neutral euphemism.
Others have already written at length about exaggerated or fabricated statistics on atrocities like rape and DV perpetrated by men against women. In a nutshell, the fact is that violence is initiated equally by men and women and that women abuse children (including sexually) at more than twice the numbers than men. And yet, we behave as if only men are perpetrators and only women are victims. Once again, acting as if things are the way we think they should be instead of how they really are.
All of this amounts to being the ultimate straw man fallacy, and the true cause for such widespread insistence upon it goes even deeper than almost anyone really understands.
Of course, there will always be some bad eggs among any demographic group that deserve the scrutiny that they receive, but that includes both men and women. Neither gender owns the monopoly on virtue. However, for the same reason that racism is wrong, condemning an entire category of people for the shortcomings of a few is ultimately far more damaging than the behavior that it presumes to denounce.
Propaganda
This idea that males are physically aggressive and females are not has distinct drawbacks for both sexes. –Katherine Dunn
This phenomenon has its tentacles in every important aspect of modern life including education, the job market, retirement, health care, the economy, the media, journalism, literature, the arts, law enforcement, criminal courts, dating, marriage, raising children, family courts, and divorce. In all of these arenas, there is a profound pattern of discrimination against boys and men, and preferential “kid glove” treatment or portrayal of girls and women— which is only possible because of a baseless but persistent myth that the bias favors men.
We say that women can do anything men can do, but then force men to pay alimony to women in the vast majority of cases when it is awarded in a divorce. The assumption of course, being that the poor, helpless woman can’t fend for herself without a husband to support her— even if she left him. Suddenly, pride in being a strong, independent woman is conveniently set aside. In such cases, it is presumed that life with him was so unbearable that she had to “escape”, which is something that doesn’t require any proof. She is then “owed” compensation for the excruciating ordeal of having to sleep with her husband for the years that they were married as if she were a prostitute or sexual slave with no choice in the matter. If it is an insult in the extreme to call a woman a whore, then you’d think that more of them would be embarrassed to behave in a way that invites such characterization.
In any case, the man is expected to continue supporting the woman; an outdated vestige from the time when most men worked and most women stayed home to raise the children. While feminism has ravaged that traditional model, they have staunchly defended the disproportionate alimony and child support awards in family courts that originated in a time when most women didn’t work. The legalese is: “in the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed”. In higher income cases with children, outrageous amounts of child support are granted that far exceed what is required to comfortably raise a child. As “discretionary” income, the custodial parent (the mother) is free to spend this jackpot on anything she wants. This stunning hypocrisy is still boilerplate practice in divorce courts. The spectacularly insulting double standard goes unnoticed, dismissed, or rationalized as “evening the playing field”. And yet, it can be demonstrated that we have grossly overcompensated for something that was never as far out of balance as it has now become. It happened only after the natural differences in gender temperament and predisposition became falsely branded as inequality and injustice. The implications of all this are much farther reaching than a few hurt feelings.
Boys Taught Early
The differences between the sexes are the single most important fact of human society. –George Gilder
In subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways, boys are now taught from an early age that their maleness is a flaw to be suppressed or punished. Anyone who has observed young children play can easily see the obvious natural differences in the temperaments of most children of each gender. There are always some exceptions but most boys are naturally more competitive, active, and fascinated by things that can be thrown or ridden, while girls tend to more often sit quietly and “pretend” play. These are not learned behaviors— they are instinctive. However, in many experimental new educational environments, young boys are deterred from their more naturally boisterous instincts by hyper-sensitive adults who deem boys’ natural behavior as disruptive and sometimes even going so absurdly far as to deem it oppressive of the girls’ well-being.
We’re talking about politicizing children’s natural behavior.
A whole generation of boys are now being chemically castrated with Ritalin and other drugs, presumably to curb their so-called “hyperactivity”, or what was once called, you know, “being a boy.” In some “progressive” educational environments, young boys are even directed to play quietly with dolls along with the girls. The message is that the educators are attempting to break down natural gender behavior under the insane theory that it is unnatural— before the children can possibly understand why they are being discouraged from behaving normally. This symbolic gender reassignment goes far beyond the need for a reasonable degree of discipline and order when children really do behave disruptively.
The fact that girls often enter puberty a little earlier than boys has spawned a myth that they mature intellectually sooner as well, and yet there is no evidence at all to support this belief. In fact, girls’ school performance sometimes drops sharply at the onset of puberty, with far less of this effect observed among boys. Statistically, it’s no surprise that girls’ aptitude skews a little more toward verbal and language skills while boys skew a little more toward analytical and math skills, but there is no significant difference in overall performance except when one group is favored over another, which is exactly what’s been happening in the last 30 years. Boys’ tendency to assert themselves a little more than girls has been branded as damaging to girls’ self-esteem. So, instead of dealing with each child according to their innate temperaments, boys are admonished for their natural enthusiasm. Being born male has taken the place of “original sin”, and boys learn to feel guilty just for being boys, especially when most elementary school teachers are women who consider themselves feminists.
Boys see their own fathers marginalized in their lives and fathers in media portrayed as inept buffoons instead of the stable, wise heroes that they once were. No longer is the protector, the provider, the decision maker respected or even acknowledged. In domestic disputes, the man is almost always arrested even when the woman was the aggressor, which is far more frequently than reported, for the same biased reasons. Men are blamed for all the evils of the world with a naïve dream that all problems would be solved if only women ran the world. None of these biases are absolute, but they are now commonplace enough to have a cumulatively negative effect on how boys learn to see themselves. This far exceeds the seriousness of any complaint about how women are portrayed in the media. Once again, all of this reinforces the absurd and dangerous idea that the only way to “empower” girls is to emasculate boys, even at very young ages.
In the Workplace
The sexes in each species of being… are always true equivalents – equals but not identical. –Antoinette Brown Blackwell
In the professional world, women often complain that their male colleagues don’t take them seriously. Having worked for several large companies, I have often heard the complaint but never actually witnessed the alleged cause. On the contrary, I have seen many women in positions of authority, surrounded by mild-mannered beta males who would never dare question them even if they had good reason— out of fear that any challenge whatsoever to a woman would be misinterpreted as the deadly sin of sexism. These are the young men who were raised in the generation of feminism.
Nevertheless, even if it still sometimes happens that a few old-school men don’t take their female colleagues or subordinates as seriously as they’d like, one very important reason for it is rarely acknowledged: women actually have more options than men, despite a common assumption to the contrary. Every working man knows that he has no choice. He has no safety net. He must work, period.
For men, working for a living is not a privilege, group therapy, or a liberating expression of his individuality, creativity, and freedom, as feminists have been taught to see it and envy it. For men, work is merely an inescapable and necessary burden whether he likes it or not. A man must work his whole life because he knows that no one is ever going to take care of him, and he will have to work extra hard, long hours that most women won’t if he is going to be considered successful enough to attract a woman and support a family.
A woman in the workplace on the other hand has many more choices, especially if she’s attractive. Whether we care to admit it or not, she can flirt or screw her way up the ladder if she wants. She can threaten to sue for sexual discrimination pretty much any time she is challenged for any reason by a male colleague or superior. That is not to say that every woman does these things, but some do. That is a fact, and everyone knows it. Every man in the professional world knows that even if a woman doesn’t do these things, the threat that she could always looms, while he will never have such options. It’s not difficult to see how this knowledge could influence even fair-minded men to begin seeing working women as mere career dabblers or hobbyists who are exploiting unfair advantages compared to their more serious male colleagues who have only their hard work and dedication to earn credibility.
Also, most women can still opt-out and revert to the traditional role of housewife pretty much whenever they want, if they want, unless they wait until it’s too late. There should be no shame in this option, but it is there. In such cases when they do wait too long, only then do some women begin to think that the grass is greener on the path not taken. They then long to be wives and mothers often long after the optimal time to start a family has passed. Like men, such women finally realize that being responsible for themselves is not a mere test of self-esteem to prove like a precocious child, but after a certain point, it becomes a hard, inescapable reality. Some even admit to feeling as if they had been “suckered” into pursuing careers that they only later realize that do not bring them the fulfillment that they were promised by their women’s studies professor in college. So until that day of reckoning, no matter how hard a woman works to prove herself equal to her male colleagues in a professional environment, the unspoken knowledge that she has a safety net that he lacks has an unavoidable affect on her credibility as a serious employee compared to her male colleagues.
If there is one attractive woman sitting in the boardroom at a meeting with her male colleagues, then everyone including her is acutely aware of the proverbial pink elephant in the room that no one dares to talk about. Everyone is uncomfortable and she can use that fact to her advantage. While this may not seem fair, it is foolish to pretend that it’s not true. But we do pretend. We pretend that things are the way we think they should be, instead of how they really are. This head-in-the-sand reflex does not bring about positive change. It only fosters more tension and distrust. Consequently, the workplace has become a minefield of hyper-vigilance against the slightest perception of harassment, which stems more from a fear of lawsuits than from any actual behavior that rises to a reasonable interpretation of being genuinely offensive. Talk about a hostile work environment!
An attractive, successful business woman that I once dated told me that as an artist, I was a refreshing alternative to the stodgy men in suits that she worked with all day. She actually complained to me that they didn’t take her seriously even though she was just as competent and hard working as any of them. Without hesitation, I told her why I thought that was so, and her jaw dropped. Not in offense, but to her credit, in recognition of the truth. She replied, “Oh my god, you’re right. I never thought of it like that.” We eventually parted on good terms but I know that she will remember that conversation.
Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll
No one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there’s too much fraternizing with the enemy. –Henry A. Kissinger
Before the 1960s, the American male archetype was admired for being strong, and stoic, with grit and moral fiber. Women chose men carefully based on these qualities— with good reason. In the time before the pill and legal abortion, unwanted pregnancy was a serious concern, so a stand-up man was valued and appreciated. Strong, smart, heroic men were a staple in literature, television and movies.
Enter: JFK’s assassination and the Viet Nam war. Suddenly, all bets were off and a new young generation dared to seriously challenge the status quo through an explosion of creativity in music, literature, film, and personal exploration of new ways of thinking and living. This posed a far more serious threat to the incumbent establishment than most people realize. In ancient Rome, the powers of the time realized that they couldn’t stop Christianity, so they co-opted it and formed the Roman Catholic Church in order to maintain power over a growing population of Christians. This is not a discourse about religion but a similar thing happened here in America in the wake of the 60s. The hippie movement was completely derailed with the pacifying temptations of sex and drugs, courtesy of your friendly CIA. Contrary to popular belief, the sexual revolution was actually part of the arsenal to sabotage a movement that could have otherwise had a real chance of overthrowing the corrupt establishment. Like giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native American tribes, hippies were given unrestricted sex and recreational drugs with the idea that these were expressions of their rebellion, when they were actually the elements of their demise. Indeed, my parents’ generation naively and eagerly partook of these temptations without having any idea of the intended consequences. An entire generation of rebels was anesthetized into docility with very little bloodshed except for isolated incidents like Kent State.
The pill was developed and Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. One of feminism’s dictates was that women should no longer be ashamed to be single mothers if they chose not to terminate their pregnancies. The lid blew off sexual restrictions. Promiscuity was no longer shameful, women no longer needed to be coy about their sexuality, and men no longer needed to be strong or responsible. The androgynous rock star replaced the chiseled leading man. We invented absurd new euphemisms like “polyamory”, to legitimize behavior that was once taboo, which of course has nothing to do with real love. Qualities like commitment, responsibility, character, and virtue became synonymous with the rigid, oppressive establishment of the previous generation. Motivated by the temptation of easy sex, most men eagerly adapted to these new mores. The American male archetype transformed from stoic and masculine to the non-threatening man-child anti-hero. As a friend suggested, men went from “pull out artists” to “pick up artists.” This may all seem like good fun, but at what cost? Skyrocketing statistics of single mothers, uninvolved fathers, broken homes, and tension between the sexes.
Like trying to live on a diet of nothing but hot fudge sundaes, all this non-committal sex eventually led to an inevitable breakdown of trust or respect between the sexes. “Free love” was anything but free. Sex as recreation demands the suppression of the natural intimacy and bonding that normally accompanies it. But suppression begets perversion, jealousy, resentment, disillusionment, and rage. By the 80’s, the AIDS epidemic struck, rehab clinics became commonplace and the party was over. Having forgotten any sense of the traditional values and respect that once existed between the sexes, it was too late to turn back. All we were left with was animosity, distrust, and a tidal wave of blame.
Fast forward to today and sexual relationships have come to resemble tense diplomatic negotiations during a temporary cease-fire between warring nations that are considering the benefit of temporarily lifting a trade embargo. People are torn between their natural instincts and the legacy of a generation of promiscuity. Confusion predominates; consumerism and convenience prevail. With absurdly oversimplified theories like “The Rules” and “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” gaining traction among most of the population spoon-fed on pop culture, men and women have abandoned their own common sense and decency. Instead, they have come to see each other as alien specimens to be analyzed and manipulated through a scripted and choreographed series of disingenuous interactions, or as disposable consumer products to be traded in at the first sign of boredom or imperfection. Relationships and marriage are more frequently than ever based on short-sighted whim and superficial convenience more than on genuine love, trust, respect or devotion. No commitment is deep enough to withstand the opportunity to “trade up”. The slogan “I want it all now” from Cyra McFadden’s satirical book “The Serial” has lost its irony and become the mantra for a whole generation. Scratching the surface of these trends reveals some interesting underlying causes.
We are now surrounded by overt sexual imagery everywhere in the media. Despite our professed abhorrence toward child pornography, we allow our children to become inured to sexualized imagery, attitudes, and styles at increasingly younger ages. Worldwide pornography industry revenues are now far in excess of $100 billion annually, which is more than double that of Microsoft and more than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. When natural sexuality becomes unavoidably confused with the caricature of pornography, it is not unusual for men to be ridiculed as pigs or perverts merely for expressing any sexual desire at all, whereas women’s sexuality is seen as almost a divine sacrament, even when it really is perverted.
The mixed messages are enough to drive anyone mad. Men are bombarded with the admonition that they are supposed to be kind, honest, chivalrous, respectful, and gentle, but men who are naturally like this find themselves rejected time and time again, only to watch women run into the arms of thugs. Why? Because most women now resent the non-committal dandy that they invented. They instinctively revert to their desire for a strong, stand-up guy, but there are very few good models for this type of man left these days. So, women settle for any superficial display of strength or power as the next best thing. Of course, attraction to wealth never went out of style, but good character is seen as weakness and usually ignored, despite protests to the contrary. Actions do indeed speak louder than words. The exceptions to this rule are the relationships comprised of a domineering woman and her male lap dog. These men either lack or have suppressed their natural male traits in order to be deemed worthy of the woman’s acceptance. These variations tend to be regional but the net effect is a profoundly diminished quality of life for all.
Parenthood
I could not point to any need in childhood as strong as that for a father’s protection. – Sigmund Freud
Loving fathers are systematically torn from their families, branded as deadbeats, and treated like criminals in family courts. We accept this as if it’s just the natural order of things. It isn’t. And yet we still hold the notion that papa was a rolling stone, when in fact a much larger percentage of women actually initiate divorce than men, forcing the fathers of their children out of his own home. In the minority of cases when men leave their marriages, we assume that he’s a jerk for abandoning his wife. When the woman leaves, we still assume that she had no choice because, once again, he must be a jerk. All of this is accepted with absolutely no evidence; just an automatic assumption that flatters women and insults men. Men are the targets of this “damned either way” bias in almost every kind of situation. Even more shockingly, more than twice as many women than men neglect, harm and even kill their own children, especially after moving in with a man other than the biological father. Yes, you read that right.
Despite these facts, we do not err on the side of caution by systematically taking children away from the majority of decent mothers. Instead, we ignore the statistics and do the reverse, because we mistakenly assume that it must be the reverse. Why? This is justified in part by a baseless theory about the breastfeeding bond between mother and child superseding any possible bond between fathers and children, even long after children have long since moved on to solid food. It is also regarded with a nod and a wink as a kind of ad hoc reparation for perceived injustices against women elsewhere in society, such as the aforementioned debatable wage discrepancies. And so children become the bargaining chip, with the insulting justification that such decisions are made in the children’s best interest. Wink, wink.
However, reverse the genders and there would be riots in the streets. Take children away from a mother simply because the father decided that he needed to leave his wife to go “find himself” along with his kids in tow? Laughable, unless the mother is caught selling crack on the schoolyard— and even then we would wring our hands trying to understand what unbearable stresses could push a poor woman to do such a terrible thing, when even a good man would receive no such consideration. Instead, decent, loving fathers are forcibly removed from their children every day without as much as a shrug, often for no better reason than the woman’s whim. Ask any man who has experienced this if it is any less heartbreaking than it would be for a woman and you are likely to see a grown man break into tears, not to mention his children. This is how callously and systematically the family court system not merely permits, but is actually geared to goad already fragile families into devastation, and is really at the heart of the whole matter.
Also, birth control options for women far outweigh the options for men. Choices in birth matters is regarded as the woman’s alone; and yet still the man’s burden depending on the choice that she makes without his wishes carrying any weight whatsoever. Yes, it is her body that will or will not be pregnant for nine months, but his desire to be a parent or not for the next eighteen years and to bear the financial burden or not is completely disregarded depending on her whim. When a sperm bank becomes an equally viable or even preferable alternative to an involved father, then clearly no one any longer takes the consequences of raising fatherless children very seriously. But the results are in and the naïve social experiment that elevated single mothers from shame to glorified sainthood can be declared an unmitigated disaster.
There was once a good reason why it was considered shameful for an unmarried woman to get “knocked up” and raise children on her own. Now, women should never feel shame for anything they do, however careless or selfish. Where single motherhood was once considered a tragedy, it is now considered a perfectly viable or even admirable choice. However, the epidemic rise of drug use, teen pregnancy, gang violence, depression and suicide all correlate precisely with the increased absence or marginalization of biological fathers from the lives of their children. Once again, this is not a coincidence or an unintended side-effect. I assert that it is undeniable case of calculated and predictable cause and effect, and raises the disturbing question of who really benefits. I’m still getting to that. In the meantime, I contend that the system is critically broken and that we can do so much better.
Rite of Passage
Ah, yes, divorce… from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man’s genitals through his wallet. –Robin Williams
As mentioned, most children are raised in broken homes because far more women than men are abandoning their marriages. I can almost hear the feminists cheer at this “victory” but, but the noble cause of equality is just a decoy and the ramifications are much farther-reaching. The devil really is in the details. Of the aforementioned majority of divorces initiated by women against their first husbands, only a very small percentage of those are for serious reasons like abuse or infidelity by the man. In most cases, “irreconcilable differences” is a meaninglessly vague euphemism for “she’s liberating herself from the institution of patriarchal oppression.” But is that really what she’s doing?
It has instead become a rite of passage for women… an initiation to womanhood. You’re not really a liberated woman until you’ve abandoned at least one devastated beta male in the dust to either “trade up” or go “find yourself”, with or without kids in the picture. Even if he was the most loving, supportive husband in the world, simply claim that he was “controlling” and that you felt “trapped”, or that he left the toilet seat up, and the sisterhood will all nod in unison, “just like a man.” I guess it just wouldn’t be as satisfying or meaningful to find herself before ruining a few other people’s lives in the process. This is accepted and even encouraged as the woman’s prerogative to change her mind without moral accountability to anyone that her almighty whim might harm. The fact that she never thought of this before willingly entering the marriage is ignored or explained away as her having been too young and naïve to know what a terrible trap she was getting herself into… you know: stuck with a hard-working man who loves her and provides for her. She can’t execute the symbolic act of liberating herself until she has first willingly entered a union that she can only then vilify as her prison. The fact that she may cause irreparable harm to others in the process is an acceptable casualty at best; or perhaps it is even a badge of honor at worst.
However, the question has never really been whether a woman has the right to choose. The real question is (or should be) how well she chooses. If women truly want to see themselves as equal to men in society (as they should), then they must be held to the same standard of accountability for the choices they make as men are held, and not expect to be forever coddled like children taking their first baby steps into the real world.
Pop Culture
All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach. –Adolf Hitler
There are countless examples of propaganda in the media that reinforce these skewed views. Despite feminists’ complaint about unrealistic images of thin, sexy women in the media, every romantic comedy is about some immature rogue who can’t commit until he meets the right woman. Every sitcom (and commercial) is about an overweight idiot married to a beautiful, mature, intelligent, sophisticated woman who treats him like a child. Practically every Disney movie since the 70s has been about a plucky, independent young heroine proving herself in some way.
Recently, the bestseller book “Eat, Drink, Pray” and subsequent 2010 film starring Julia Roberts was lauded as a landmark of feminist aspirations but what was it really all about? An attractive, successful, married, middle-aged woman abandons her perfectly decent, loving husband to go on a year long quest to “find herself”, only to ultimately learn that she has selfishly pushed away every man who ever loved her. At least she had a great time in the process while her poor ex was left in anguish— but who cares? It was her adventure and a vicarious fantasy for every married woman in the audience who ever felt a twinge of restlessness. Now, reverse the genders and make the main character the husband who does what Julia did. He would be seen as an irresponsible, selfish villain and everyone would sympathize with the ex whose part is pretty much over after the first 20 minutes.
In the blockbuster 2012, John Kusak asks his ex-wife Amanda Peet if she really loves her new husband. She answers, “I love him enough”, which clearly means that she tolerates him because he’s a better provider than the father of her children, whom she left. This is considered to be a perfectly reasonable answer. Now reverse the genders. If a man gave the same answer when asked if he loves his wife, then that would not definitely not fly with modern audiences as an acceptable reply for a likeable guy. He’d be a real jerk for admitting that he married a woman for convenience. Like so many double standards that give women a free ride that men are denied, it is accepted as a small retribution for some other contrived offenses.
These are only a couple of examples that recently caught my attention out of countless others. For anyone interested, I suggest counting how many television commercials for a wide variety of products and services follow this formula. Apart from selling products, what’s the overarching message?
The Rhetorical Trap
Anger is never without an argument, but seldom with a good one. –Indira Gandhi
Like a religious devotee suffering from a crisis of faith when exercising a bit of common sense, any man who raises these questions is immediately attacked for challenging the politically correct status quo. He is branded a chauvinist, or as a whining, humorless crybaby who can’t take a joke and doesn’t know how good he has it compared to women, or as a loser venting his sour grapes. After all, if you are presumed to have all of the advantages, then you should be able to take a few hits and have no reason to complain, or so the reasoning goes. And if you do complain, you are not being “manly”. Men should be stoic. Men should take their lumps. Men’s feelings don’t get hurt, or at least don’t matter compared to women’s feelings. Men are the oppressors, and so have no credibility to complain. There’s no vacancy in the victim hotel, and men are to blame. It is the classic ad hominem logical fallacy designed to keep men silenced about any injustices they endure.
Instead, you have the occasional hard working quiet family man who just snaps one day and shoots up the post office. Now let’s do a little soul-searching to really understand what terrible stresses could push this poor guy to the edge: Perhaps if he only had the opportunity to voice his frustrations just once in the way he heard the women around him do every single day, then such tragedies might be averted. Just a thought.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
All I ever seek from good deeds is a measure of respect. –Walter Annenberg
Despite being the target of all this hostility from women, most men silently nod and continue to say and do whatever it takes at all costs to appease women’s bottomless well of demands. They will go along with the common platitude that “she’s always right”, even with all the derogatory jokes about what clueless pigs men are. They will not question the notion of how much more sensitive, nurturing, intuitive, intelligent, and spiritually enlightened women are compared to men, who are always presumed to be inept, immature, knuckle-dragging goobers who lie, cheat, and need to be treated like one of the children by their flawless wives— if they are lucky enough for a woman to tolerate them at all. And so, in either ignorant bliss, the desire for acceptance, or fear of ridicule, most men play along with the burden of trying to impress women, while women maintain their posture of trying to remain unimpressed without even the courtesy of showing up on time, or at all. And which men get the shortest end of this stick? The ones who offer the least resistance… the “nice” guys who least resemble the negative stereotype.
Women often seem to do this with smug, almost perverse satisfaction as if they are cashing in their retribution chips against men— against any man, and yet for exactly what offenses, and to what end? Such small victories ring hollow. There are a lot of bitter, divorced, middle-aged women out there who have never once let down their guard to show genuine appreciation for the decent men in their lives. Let’s not underestimate how much they are suffering too— not because of how awful men are, but because of how awful they think men are. This myopic view becomes their own personal hell. Unwittingly, a woman who believes that she is justified in “getting one over” on the men in her life ends up suffering just as much, if not even more in the long run, and worse: causing her children to suffer too. No one wins. Well, almost no one.
Life Out of Balance
There is more difference within the sexes than between them. –Ivy Compton-Burnett
All of this preferential treatment toward women on the surface would seem to be with good intentions. But if you really think about it, the message actually undermines everything that feminism would logically advocate. Rather than women being able to do anything men can do, it actually reinforces the message that women are helpless victims who need to pressure men into feeling guilty so that they will grant special concessions to women— presumably because women are incapable of succeeding otherwise. The false message is that men’s power is the only power, so women should feel inferior unless they can pilfer men’s power and become more like men. This is actually the opposite of “empowerment”. It negates women’s true feminine power and natural dignity as women, as well as attacking men’s masculine power. It’s like a social short circuit.
Paradoxically, men are now also made to feel guilty and inferior for the very same traits to which women now aspire. So, the bizarre logic is that it is a virtue for women to be more like men, but it is shameful for men to be like men or like women. This is obviously no good for men, but it really doesn’t help women either. They may claim some petty victories, but this ultimately keeps women dependent, in a childlike fantasy world where they can get whatever they want (or what they think they should want) by being aggressive, whining, manipulative, or insisting on changing the rules; and it keeps men in a constant, weakened state of guilt, confusion, and contrition for their natural instincts to be manly. If women can’t compete successfully with men in arenas where men excel, then we must rig the game.
In conversation with women friends about men’s frustration about never knowing what women want, some of the more sympathetic ones have admitted to me, “I don’t blame men for being frustrated since we don’t even know what the hell we want most of the time.”
The hidden message in the jargon of “empowerment” is that you are powerless until someone else rigs the game for you. It’s like affirmative action and special Olympics for women. You’d think that any self-respecting woman would see through the insulting condescension of this, but they don’t because it offers the path of least resistance toward an artificially contrived goal, under a banner of false righteousness. It’s like the trifecta of manipulation. Madison Avenue would be proud (or should I say is proud?)
The net result of all this actually undermines both men’s and women’s dignity, strengths, self-awareness, and autonomy over their own lives to follow their true nature as long as they accept the fallacy that each gender should suppress their natural instincts and strive to be more like the other. Sure there will always be some exceptions to the majority, which is fine for them, but we now act as if the exceptions must be the rule for everyone. As far as we may think we have “evolved” intellectually or socially, we are still biological creatures operating to a great extent on instinct. This is not a bad thing. It is a supreme conceit of human ego to think that gender is an arbitrary contrivance to be methodically altered based on some passing social trend. Rather, it is our nature; it is DNA, hormones, biology, and instinct. We are suffering by attempting to suppress it based on some misguided social theory.
As Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, “Nature finds a way.”
Acknowledging Skepticism
Do not let yourself be tainted with a barren skepticism. –Louis Pasteur
So, as a man who believes that this subject is in dire need of closer examination, how can I present my case without inviting the same kind of derision directed at every man who has ever attempted to voice similar ideas? I’m not sure that I can. But I can anticipate the ridicule and point out what I believe really motivates it. This extends far beyond my personal experience with a sympathetic view toward all concerned: men, women, and children alike. My purpose is not to complain or to make an appeal for sympathy. It is to shed some light that I believe will benefit all concerned.
Why?
Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. –Mark Twain
If you begin to even consider the validity of this entire premise, then the next question to ask is: why would a presumably enlightened, modern society that has made such great strides against racial discrimination so systematically undermine the natural dignity and respectability that both genders once took for granted? A militant feminist will predictably assert that men have brought this upon themselves and declare that the end of the argument. Now, let’s look at it from a non-dogmatic perspective. My theory is not for the faint of heart. In fact, it is rather chilling and based on well-documented historic facts. It may seem at first like a long leap of logic, but the parallels between past and present are uncanny, so please bear with me.
Historic Precedent
Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty. –Plato
Back in 1712, a man named William Lynch gave a seminal speech to a coalition of Southern Plantation owners on the bank of the James River. The speech was titled, “The Making of a Slave”. In it, Lynch described in explicit detail a systematic approach to psychologically “breaking” a population of people so that they will remain obedient and docile.
The simple premise was “divide and conquer” at the level of the most intimate family bonds.
The first and most important step was to weaken the strongest link. Remove the father from the family unit and brutally humiliate him in front of his woman and children. We’ve all seen “Roots”. Remember?
The next step was to give the woman more decision-making power than the man, especially regarding children, yet always under the control of the master. Children raised under these conditions were deprived of any strong male influence except the master. Women learned to despise their own men’s weakness and consequently form a stronger allegiance to their captor, the master. Sex between masters and female slaves was commonplace. Whether it was forcible or consensual was ultimately usually irrelevant under the circumstances. Much later, this phenomenon was recognized as the Stockholm syndrome in which a group of kidnapees grew to identify with their captors. The first generation of male slaves were killed or maimed beyond any ability to fight back, but the next generation of boys grew to be more compliant, usually through brutal “whippings” from their own mothers, inflicted to avert even worse beatings from the masters.
This became a mindset and a way of life so deeply instilled that it persists in black American culture today, 300 years later. How many African American women really respect African American men, even in this day and age? Very few. This is the legacy of Lynch’s system that he actually predicted. And now, this malignant mindset has spread far beyond the descendents of African slaves throughout all of society in America.
The Conspiracy
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. –Frederick Douglass
Fast forward to the Civil War, emancipation, and then further to the civil rights movement. Slavery is abolished. The economic system that built this nation and depended on slavery was on the verge of collapse. Bankers and wealthy land owners needed to think fast. They figured out that they could continue a form of legal economic slavery as long as they didn’t call it that. Just employ the same techniques that Lynch taught, but in more subtle ways throughout the whole society, not just against a single minority group. Open Ellis Island to the largest influx of poor, immigrant worker classes in history with the lure of a chance at a better quality of life in America. Undermine the dignity of the father in the family unit, if not through torture, then through industrial mechanization, economic oppression, and seductive propaganda. Make the ordinary man obsolete as an authority, even in his own family and useful only as an obedient worker… all legally. The dystopian visions of Orwell and Huxley were not that far off the mark. The only subtle but important difference is that we have replaced the chilling bleakness Orwell’s cautionary tales with Huxley’s placebo of banal consumer comforts and dream of a shot at the glamorous life. “You can never underestimate a population’s appetite for distraction.”
And yet the ultimate irony and insult to women is that much of the feminist agenda that they so religiously espouse is really part of a sinister plot devised by a very small group of very powerful men to control the masses by undermining the family unit. They simply planted the seed, and let it play out. Divide and conquer, just like prison guards maintaining their authority by fueling hostility among the inmates. So yes, the real oppressor probably really is male, but it is a very small, elite group of powerful men whose existence and directives are far below most people’s radar. The rest of us ordinary men in women’s lives however, are not the enemy. We’re really all in the same boat.
The Cost
It is the logic of consumerism that undermines the values of loyalty and permanence and promotes a different set of values that is destructive of family life. –Christopher Lasch
The scheme is working. A vast population of the working class is keeping the top fraction of a percent of the wealthiest elite in power, with the recent exception of the Occupy movement. We are the 99%. However, the general public is usually too docile and distracted by consumer media to recognize their own plight or to ever consider a revolt. Instead, most wave their banners in blind allegiance to the powers that be. At what cost? At the cost of the most basic and fundamental social unit upon which the pursuit of happiness depends: the intimate bonds of the intact family. The only difference now is the vast scale and that the “master” is now the faceless godlike entity of corporate capitalism and consumerism. In contrast, husbands and fathers who were once the heroes of their families are now reduced to a punch line.
We believe in things more than we believe in each other. We cheer for our sports teams, for our armies, for our movie stars, for our politics, for our religions, and for our precious cars, fashions, and gadgets— but not for each other. We are allowing our greatest asset— our families— to be sabotaged from within. This is undeniably the brave new world that we live in today. It has not always been this way, nor must it remain so.
As Krishnamurti said, “It is no measure of mental health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Conclusion and Prediction
The sexes were made for each other, and only in the wise and loving union of the two is the fullness of health and duty and happiness to be expected. –William Hall
Now, here we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the great depression, an epidemic of foreclosed homes, broken homes, and a general atmosphere of malaise and mistrust between the sexes. None of this is an accident. We have been led like sheep to this much weakened place. How can anyone with a merely average sense of decency look around and fail to see that something has gone seriously wrong?
Now, the question is whether it is possible for us to gain the collective awareness to recognize it, to see the bigger picture, and as a population of intelligent and decent men and women, reclaim our dignity and the family bonds that once made us strong as individuals and as a nation? The present course is clearly unsustainable. I predict that the pendulum must start swinging back. There will be a shift in coming decades back toward a healthier respect and appreciation for men’s strength, dignity, wisdom, and roles as beloved husband, father, provider, protector, wise authority, and hero, at least in some sectors. When critical mass is reached, then this reawakening will become universal.
Just like the apologetic state that men are in today, there may even come a period of female atonement in which they will express contrition for their formerly misguided hostility toward the men in their lives. Mutual empathy, compassion, and respect between men and women for our strengths as well as for our differences will become the norm and families will once again become strong and stable. This is the true source from which social and economic recovery will “trickle down.” Of course, there must always be acceptance for alternative family models including blended families, single parent families, and gay couple families. However, the standard prototype of husband, wife, and children will resume its rightful status in the pantheon of stable family models. Feminism will dissipate and be replaced by the more inclusive “humanism.”
For all the die-hard feminists who will misinterpret this as some veiled attempt of reinforcing their imagined shackles of female subservience, please. You were never a slave to men and certainly no one is forcing anything on you now. Are you so insecure as to think that any positive relations with men must be synonymous with oppression? Is that what you call empowerment? If you are really happier alone with your cats, or at least without any positive relationships with men, then that’s always your choice. But as the minority, you don’t have the right to speak or choose for all women. In your own philosophy, women more than anything else have the right to choose what’s best for them. Those many choices must include the choice to take the most natural path in the world: to become truly invested in creating a healthy, happy, strong family… to know the contentment of finding herself right there, without shame, and to stay, for better or worse.
We have mustered the collective mobility to occupy Wall Street. It is now time for the 99% to turn that collective focus back to our homes and families. |
PARK CITY — Park City police are joining other departments across the country as they upgrade dash cameras in police vehicles to body cameras on police officers.
This month, about 20 of the more than 30 officers with the Park City Police Department will start wearing body cameras on their person during responses and traffic stops. The cameras are about the size of a pager and, when recording, show a lime green circle around the lens.
The new equipment comes at a time when many of the department’s dash cams are in need of replacement, said Park City police Capt. Phil Kirk, which in part, motivated the switch. Each body camera cost the department $865, whereas dash cams can cost up to $5,000 and offer only a limited view of a traffic stop. The department was able to secure the funds through a grant and it continues to look into other grant opportunities to fund more cameras.
“There are some distinct advantages of having a camera mounted on the officer’s person rather than just in their vehicle,” Kirk said. “It’s a lot more versatile.”
Not only will the cameras document traffic stops, emergency responses and other evidence gathering, but the department hopes the cameras will put both the officer and the public on their best behavior during interactions, keeping both parties safer and holding each accountable.
“It’s pretty clear when you move the lens cover that the camera is on,” Kirk said. “We hope officers most of the time will tell citizens that they’re being recorded. We’re hoping that that makes it safer for everyone involved, including the officer, and that people will be totally accountable for their actions because it’s going to be recorded — similar to people in the community recording police officers and making them more accountable. … If somebody is maybe thinking of being difficult or maybe going to fight or attack the officer, maybe they will have second thoughts about it.”
The police department of Rialto, Calif., found that body-mounted cameras on its officers resulted in an 88 percent decrease in complaints filed against officers and a 60 percent decrease in officers using force, according to a study conducted by PoliceFoundation.org.
The recordings can be also utilized in training, giving trainers and trainees the officer's view of a situation.
“We can review situations, debrief on them when we actually handled a real situation,” Kirk said. “(We can) learn from that, use it as a training video to decide what went right and what didn’t go so well. Being able to see exactly what the officer saw and reviewing those tapes will be very invaluable as a training device.”
Throughout the country, as departments have started using body cameras, some have expressed concern about privacy.
Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union recommended that, “deployed within an appropriate policy framework that includes strong privacy protections for officers and the public, (body cameras) should be mandated and funded." Kirk said the department had developed special policies for the use of body cameras.
Kirk said in addition to the cameras, the department is utilizing a server the department already had to store the cameras’ recording. The memory of each device will store up to four hours of video and audio.
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Photos |
This year we celebrate 55 years since the first human spaceflight in history. Tyler takes on the role of a Soviet space program chief designer and commemorates the event in a stunning couple of spacecraft — Vostok-1 and Soyuz — classic craft from the early days of putting cosmonauts into orbit.
Take a moment to notice the choice of pieces. Pretty unpretentious, yet with ordinary slopes and wedges Tyler magically creates curved shapes of various diameters, which look fascinating even in plain grey colors. The aerials and dishes are especially heartwarming as they resemble the style of the legendary Discovery sets from 2003. What is so outstanding about the Soyuz model is the use of studs of various colors under trans-blue tiles — a simple and amazingly effective solution. These solar panels look even cooler than stickers from the said Discovery sets. |
With three minutes and 21 seconds to go, the leading No. 5 Toyota TS050 that was on pace to take the win came to a halt in front of the pits, ceding the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans lead to the No. 2 Porsche 919. It’s an unbelievable end for a car that was so reliable for the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of the race.
The Toyota lost power out on track in the last 10 minutes of the race only to finally come to a halt. Everyone had been so prepared to welcome only the second Japanese manufacturer in history to win Le Mans, but then Toyota suffered a crushing failure.
The moment was absolutely heartbreaking to watch.
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Like Toyota’s No. 5 entry, Porsche’s No. 2 car was its most incident-free car, eventually winning Le Mans by turning many incident-free laps and staying out of the pits as much as possible.
Porsche’s No. 1 car had spent too much time fixing gremlins that led to a lengthy disassembly and reassembly in their own garage. Meanwhile, the No. 2 and the No. 5 swapped for the lead many times throughout the race.
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Toyota driver Kazuki Nakajima’s radio message to his team after he finally got the No. 5 started again was gut-wrenching. He—and the rest of us—just wanted to know what happened and why.
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Porsche won its 18th 24 Hours of Le Mans as a constructor today. Toyota TS050 No. 6—not No. 5—was classified as winning second place. The No. 5 was able to be restarted and crawl in, but was not officially qualified as a finisher. The final podium spot was given to the No. 8 Audi R18 instead.
No. 5 was listed in 45th place overall after getting bumped, only ahead of the other cars that retired or did not complete the final lap.
Elsewhere in Le Mans prototypes, the No. 36 Signatech Alpine claimed that number one spot in the LMP2 class once and for all. The experimental Garage 56 entry of SRT 41 by OAK Racing completed a total of 315 laps—with quadruple amputee driver Frédéric Sausset taking the checkered flag.
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[Update: We originally reported that the No. 5 TS050 was classified as finishing the race, but it was later revealed that they were not.] |
CUSTOMIZER CHALLENGE CONTEST WINNER - Artistic Category This is a 100% printed customizable music box! Only 3D printed parts are used in the design and it can be assembled and disassembled via printed snapping mechanisms. The project originated when a friend of mine said that he'd only be interested in 3D printing once he can print a music box ;) Videos http://youtu.be/LUlovenI9xQ http://youtu.be/K_c3p24RRtQ (made by banthafodder7400) http://youtu.be/exNeQDz7f3g I'll try to keep the .scad file on this page updated but to help me to manage the design and to make it easier for others to contribute: https://github.com/wizard23/ParametrizedMusicBox
Updates
2018-03-28 Updated URL to generate parameters (was offline)
2016-09-20 Spreadsheet to help you to get the parameters right: https://goo.gl/sKWWDk (created by: Ben Horner)
2013-11-24 Updated link to generator page (old webserver is offline)
2013-03-10 (V3) Added optional Name of Song on top/bottom of MusicCylinder; fixed build plate positioning of pulley that messed up smaller customized versions; cleanup and clarification of descriptions; implemented work around for customizer hickup when strings start with a '.'
2013-03-08 (V2) removed "work in progress status", fully test printed
It's very important to put the music box on a sounding box to get good sound quality. I found that large cardboard boxes and some tables make good sounding boxes. A guitar or a piano should work even better!
A complete music box consists of 6 parts:
Case: the large thin walled part that holds the vibrating teeth and holds everything together
Music Cylinder: the large cylinder with the pins (that encode the music) sticking out
Transmission gear: sits between the crank gear and the music cylinder
Crank gear: drives everything, connects to crank (insert it through the round hole in the case)
Crank: for manually driving the box, connects to crank gear and crank pulley
Pulley: for holding the crank while turning it
With the default parameters you get a complete building plate that can play one full octave range (13 half notes from C to C) in a medium footprint that should fit in most printers. You can enable each part individually to make smaller print plates.
I customized a "FrÃÂère Jacques" music cylinder that is compatible with the default parameters: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:59242
How to adapt the snapping mechanisms
I printed this in PLA. So if you print it in ABS (or if your printer is differently calibrated than mine) you might have to adapt the snap fit:
If one of the gears are too hard to snap in you have to lower "crankAxisHolderH", "midAxisHolderH" or "musicAxisHolderH" depending on which gear causes the problem.
If one of the gears seem to sit too loose once they are snapped in you have to lower "snapAxisSlack"
Ways to get notes that you can then use in Customizer
1. Manual (read this anyway to understand how the music is encoded)
The "pins" variable contains characters that encode the pins on the music cylinder. These pins pluck long teeth that then vibrate and emit a certain note. The number of available different notes/vibrating teeth is given in "pinNrX". The number of time slots/length of the song is given by "pinNrY". For each time slot the "pins" string contains "pinNrX" many characters that determine if a pin should be generated for this specific note at this specific time slot. If the character is an 'X' there will be a pin (and the note will be played) any other character means: no pin. The actual frequency of the vibrating teeth are described in "teethNotes".
Be careful with long songs: If the pins are spaced too close together, i.e. if you try to fit a long song on a cylinder with small radius (derived from the number of teeth of the gear on the bottom of the music cylinder) then the closely spaced pins collide with the teeth and you hear a snare sound. While it's an interesting sound effect you generally want to avoid it by adapting the size of the music cylinder to the length of the song ("pinNrY"). For the default parameters I recommend at least 5mm distance from pin to pin. Tune this distance by adapting "musicCylinderTeeth".
A tip if you want to make a new Music Cylinder for an already printed music box: Don't change any other parameter except the "pins" and "pinNrY"! Well some other parameters can be changed but it's tricky...
2. JavaScript to generate the Pins-String
Stefan (the mentioned friend of mine) wrote this nice little JavaScript application for converting Tabs to the format described above. Here is an example of what I mean with tabs:
C4
C#4
C4 E4 G4
try it out (sound output quality might vary from browser to browser) at:
http://musicbox.magicshifter.net/musicbox.html
For tuning the instrument you simply cut away material from the side of the vibrating tooth. Don't cut away material from the tip since that would change the way it interaction with the pin. If you want it to get a higher frequency remove material from the side of the tip (therefore making it lighter). If you want it lower the frequency remove material from the bottom (making it more flexible).
Credits
The gears I use are adapted versions of the ones made by emmett for his Automatic Transmission Gear Model so I added this as an ancestor. I really love this sharing of ideas on thingiverse :)
For calculating the lengths of the vibrating teeth I used the formulas from this Wikipedia article: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durchschlagende_Zunge#Berechnung_der_Tonh.C3.B6he (sorry it's in German). I don't think I chose the right material properties for PLA. But it sounds right to me at least relatively. To get exactly the right frequencies one would have to measure the real frequencies by somehow running a fourier transformation over an recording of the picked teeth. Then one could adapt the density and modulus parameter up or down and try again. A simple test cylinder would be one that just plays some notes sequentially so that we can make a recording for comparing the modeled to the measured frequencies. So I included such a test music cylinder (defined in the "Pins" and the "TeethNotes" default parameters) which just plays each note available and some accords. |
PHILADELPHIA -- Bill Cosby's criminal sexual-assault case appears to be headed toward an evidence hearing after a judge denied his latest effort to throw the charges out.
In a ruling Tuesday, the judge who refused to dismiss the case earlier this month denied Cosby's appeal of that decision.
Judge rejects Bill Cosby's immunity deal with former DA
The 78-year-old TV star is accused of drugging and violating an ex-Temple University employee at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004 and could get 10 years in prison if convicted.
The defense insists Cosby had a promise from a previous district attorney that he would never be charged over the 2004 encounter.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill, though, found the evidence of such an agreement lacking after hearing from the ex-prosecutor and others at a two-day hearing. He said the issue doesn't warrant an immediate appeal that would delay the scheduled March 8 preliminary hearing.
"An immediate appeal from these orders would not materially advance the ultimate termination of the matter," the judge wrote in a brief order.
A spokesman for Cosby's lawyers said it was unclear if they would appeal to the state Superior Court.
"Today's ruling was not a rejection of Mr. Cosby's appeal which is not within the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas but instead will be filed in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania," a statement said. "Today's ruling denied our request for the lower court to amend its order denying Mr. Cosby's Habeas Petition to include specific language certifying the appeal."
What's next in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case?
Cosby's lawyers have argued that the charges stem from a political feud between former District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., who had declined to arrest Cosby a decade ago, and Kevin Steele, who invoked the case as he campaigned against Castor last fall. Steele won the race for district attorney and filed charges against Cosby in December, days before the filing deadline expired.
Dozens of women in recent years have come forward and accused Cosby of sexual impropriety spanning decades. Cosby, who played Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show" from 1984 to 1992 and has been married for decades, has denied the women's accusations. The statute of limitations has expired in most of the cases against him.
Cosby, whose legal residence is in western Massachusetts, remains free on $1 million bail. |
Artistic impression of what a psittacosauras, a 'parrot-lizard' dinosaur looked like
They also found other remains including limbs and feathering of both herbivorous dinosaurs and predators.
The trawl in a dinosaurs graveyard on the banks of the Olov River includes body parts from the smallest such creatures ever found by paleontologists.
They found tails with scales and a three fingered limb.
Top to bottom: Kulinda site, where dinosaurs remains were found, Dr. Sofya Sinitsa of Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology, Chita, Trans-Baikal region, and Dr. Sinitsa's assistant working on the site.
The feathering discovery is seen as highly significant if confirmed as belonging to the Compsognathus, a dinosaur roughly the size of a turkey - since such feathers, though suspected, have never been unearthed before.
'We are working in this area for third year. There are really a lot of dinosaurs remains, and every year we are finding something unique,' said
Dr Sofya Sinitsa, a specialist of Geo-Mineralogical Sciences at the Chita-based Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.
'We have more than ten preserved bits of skin. It remained untouched because of the volcanic ashes from eruptions 30-40 km away, which covered the skin and acted like a time capsule.
'During three seasons of our work there we have gathered a very good collection of dinosaur remains.
'Their bodies were about a metre long, they weighed from 3 to 4 kgs.'
The finds come from a lower valley in an area known as Kulinda.
Top to bottom: Joseph Oberndorfer acquired this fossil of compsognathus in Bavaria, Germany, in 1859; an artistic impression of what the dinosaur looked like and as compared with human body
'We found both herbivorous dinosaurs and predators - the smallest of all ever found by paleontologists', Dr. Sinitsa said.
'There is no information about such a dinosaurs' site anywhere else in Russia. There is a similar one in China, where scientists have been working for more than 10 years.'
Describing the finds as 'very rich', she said: 'We found a three-fingered limb, and feathering. This year we got a lot of scaled tails, as well as numerous hip and shoulder bones.
'We aim to keep working on the site', Dr. Sinitsa added. She is now seeking sponsorship for her intriguing dinosaur hunt, stressing the need for a bulldozer to dig down deeper where even more significant remains may exist.
'We are hoping to get sponsorship for next season and be back there summer 2013.'
Psittacosauras, an amasing-looking 'parrot-lizard', here given in comparison with human body
The two main dinosaur types they found remains of are the Compsognathus and the Psittacosaurus.
The lizard-eating Compsognathus lived around 150 million years ago. Previously discoveries have been made in France and Germany. It is believed to be related to various birds.
The Psittacosaurus - from the Greek for 'parrot lizard' - lived 130 to 100 million years ago and fossils have been found previously in Russia as well as China and Mongolia.
With various different species, they were 'gazelle-sized bipedal herbivores characterized by a high, powerful beak on the upper jaw', said Wikipedia.
There are many more fossils in existence than for the Compsognathus.
This year Chita regional government gave a sum of 350,000 roubles to gather the remains of Comsognathus dinosaurs. |
Riley MacDonald, the Yarmouth, N.S., teen who snapped a photo of her high school friends posing on a deck at the very moment it began to collapse, wants to set the record straight about the day's events after a flurry of criticism on Facebook.
Riley MacDonald, 17, was at a friend's house on Hanf Road in Brazil Lake for Senior Skip Day 2015 on June 12.
The majority of students at the party were Grade 12 students, including her best friend. But what should have been a day of celebration and relaxation ended with blood and tears in the afternoon. The memory keeps MacDonald awake at night.
She said the day started off on a happy note.
"There was no drama," she said. "Everyone was getting along and stuff. We were just sitting around in camp chairs in a circle, just talking and having a good time."
How it happened
About an hour into the party, one of the graduating students suggested they all pose on the deck for photos since their handmade posters were already taped to the deck's glass.
MacDonald said she stood on the lawn, with another student's phone, and snapped two photos of the group of about 40 students in rapid succession. The homeowner's wife was also taking photos at the time.
"I got one good picture, and I got the picture with the bend in the middle, like one second after," she said.
The first of the two photos MacDonald took. This one was taken just a moment before the deck began to give way. (Riley MacDonald)
In the second photo, the crucial moment was captured: surprised faces, wood splintering and shattering beneath those posing.
MacDonald said by the time she lowered the phone, she was in shock. Her friends were sprawled on the ground, some crying out in pain.
"I can't really tell you what I did immediately after, but I probably stood there for about a minute and then called my mom."
MacDonald said her mother told her to calm down, hang up, and help as many people as she could.
"In my head, one of my first thoughts was, 'Where's (my best friend) Alyssa?' But where she landed, she wasn't hurt," MacDonald said.
"So, once she got up, she was like me. We were just trying to help people … running around frantically with water and paper towels for the blood and stuff."
'We're being bullied'
MacDonald calls the collapse "a freak accident" in which alcohol was not a factor.
About a dozen students were taken to hospital with cuts and bruises and one had a broken ankle.
In the two weeks since the incident, MacDonald said she's had trouble sleeping.
"I just kept hearing the crunch of it collapsing and I just kept seeing it over and over. And I'd wake up every hour through the night."
On June 20, MacDonald's photo was posted to the Facebook page for EMS1, a paramedic news network based in San Francisco. The post was captioned, "Have you responded to a deck or balcony collapse? What are your lessons learned for other EMS professionals?"
Since its posting, there have been 80 comments from multiple users, a large number of whom were critical of how the incident was handled and the common sense of those who were there that day.
MacDonald said the responses have made her angry, and she wants to set the record straight.
"[They] don't realize the damage they're doing to us. All over again. And like, we're being bullied. Everyone just needs to be thankful that everyone is alive today. And that all those students will walk across the stage, come graduation next week," she said.
"I just want people to realize the true story of what happened. I want people to stop judging on what they think they know."
MacDonald said she doesn't know how EMS1 found the photo.
"They must have took it from a share off someone's wall. I never gave them permission to use the picture," she said. |
Charlotte power forward Mike Thorne has received a scholarship offer to play basketball for Kentucky next season, and he would be eligible immediately.
Thorne already has announced that he plans to transfer after he graduates from Charlotte next month. The 6-foot-11, 270-pound prospect averaged 10.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in 26.1 minutes a game for the 49ers this season.
Trinity Christian (N.C.) head coach Heath Vandevender told the Herald-Leader that he spoke to UK Coach John Calipari on Monday afternoon. Calipari is trying to arrange a visit with Thorne and his father in Charlotte before the player visits Lexington.
Thorne also is considering Pittsburgh, Illinois and Kansas.
He visited Pitt this past weekend and has trips to Illinois and Kansas planned for the next two weekends. A visit to UK would probably happen after that.
Vandevender said that playing time would be a major factor in Thorne’s decision, because he has only one year of eligibility remaining. UK’s losing seven players to the NBA Draft — including four in the frontcourt — should help the Wildcats’ chances. The stay-or-go decision of Kansas forward Perry Ellis also could affect Thorne’s recruitment.
Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee are expected to return to the UK frontcourt next season, and they’ll be joined by five-star 7-footer Skal Labissiere. UK also is recruiting Stephen Zimmerman, Cheick Diallo and Thon Maker for the class of 2015. |
Comment Andy Warfield, Coho Data's cofounder and CTO, thinks Pure Storage's FlashBlade design is misconceived.
Warfield says Coho's engineering team went down a very similar route, found it to be wrong, and refocussed elsewhere.
What happened was that, in 2013, the team thought it a good idea to build the densest network-integrated hardware platform that it could to run the software Coho was developing. They were building around PCIe flash and saw that it needed more compute and connectivity than SSDs, and the compute should be separate from the flash because falling flash prices meant you should buy it separately from your compute hardware.
In fact compute, network and storage all needed to scale well, and Coho looked to pack all three into a single hardware chassis.
Their idea was to use an Intel Seacliff Trail 10Gbit, top-of-rack switch as a blade server backplane. Half the ports would interconnect storage blades in the proposed SwitchStore system, with the other half being used for external access devices and exposed as an Ethernet switch.
The storage blades (FlashBlade precursors of this had come to fruition) would be PCIe flash cards hooked up to a server card, and then to the Seacliff Trail backplane.
But the Coho engineers decided this elegant idea was in fact a design cul de sac, because for one thing, you simply should not bet against commodity hardware as, compared to proprietary designs, it has shorter cycle times, lower costs, and smaller challenges in getting validation and QA right.
Commodity hardware benefits enormously from the sheer volume of its deployment. Warfield says: "The idea of being stuck with the delivery lifecycle of proprietary hardware scared the crap out of us."
With software-driven products, you can focus on innovation there and take advantage of fast-developing compute, storage and networking commodity hardware as they occur.
A second point counting against the SwitchStore concept was that it can feed to so many servers that network access to it could be a choke point, involving much cross-rack storage traffic.
It's better, Warfield argues, to provide top-of-rack storage and keep the bulk of storage networking traffic inside a rack. He sees FlashBlade as being so powerful in storage terms that it could seriously affect a data center's core network performance with the amount of inter-rack traffic it generates.
He thinks the scale-out storage concept should include the flexibility to adapt to emerging hardware, to buy hardware as it's needed, and to maximize hardware's efficiency in your data center. These things run counter to the complexity of traditional enterprise storage systems, and Pure's FlashBlade is not really a scale-out array in his view.
It's "an expensive, proprietary, blade chassis-based array," while also being "a really interesting, impressively complicated, proprietary piece of enterprise storage hardware."
You can read his argument in more detail on Andy Warfield's blog. ® |
Senate Democrats have been desperately trying to move the national conversation away from Obamacare to just about anything else before the midterm elections — “paycheck fairness,” the minimum wage, even the Koch brothers.
But President Obama’s choice of Sylvia Burwell to replace Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services thrusts Obamacare right back into the national spotlight — and with it Obama’s false promise that “if you like your health-care plan, you can keep your health-care plan.”
The agency Burwell heads, the Office of Management and Budget, is responsible for the president’s budget. But OMB also has another, lesser-known responsibility: fact-checking presidential speeches. Every proposed presidential utterance is scrubbed for accuracy by OMB.
When speechwriters finish a draft presidential address, it is circulated to the White House senior staff and top cabinet officials in what is known as the “staffing process.” As part of that process, nonpartisan career policy experts at OMB review the speech and are responsible for attesting to the factual accuracy of everything the president says.
So thanks to Burwell’s nomination, Americans may finally get to the bottom of how the biggest presidential lie in recent memory made it though OMB’s fact-checking process — not once but dozens of times.
The first time the lie surfaced — when Obama told the American Medical Association on June 15, 2009, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what” — it wasn’t on Burwell’s watch.
But Burwell was OMB director when Obama declared on Sept. 26, 2013: “Now, let’s start with the fact that even before the Affordable Care Act fully takes effect, about 85 percent of Americans already have health insurance — either through their job, or through Medicare, or through the individual market. So if you’re one of these folks, it’s reasonable that you might worry whether health-care reform is going to create changes that are a problem for you — especially when you’re bombarded with all sorts of fear-mongering. So the first thing you need to know is this: If you already have health care, you don’t have to do anything.”
Burwell should explain to Congress and the American people how her office allowed blatant falsehoods to get into presidential speeches, including whether political aides overruled career policy advisers who warned that the president’s claims were untrue.
This isn’t just a rehashing of ancient history, because the worst impacts of Obama’s lie are still to come. While some 6 million Americans lost their individual market plans last fall, tens of millions of Americans will see their employer-based health plans canceled or changed dramatically when the employer mandate kicks in. Obama has delayed the mandate for a year in an effort to prevent cancellations before the midterm elections. But on Burwell’s watch, he has also falsely promised that those with employer-based plans have nothing to worry about.
In October 2013, Obama declared: “Keep in mind that the individual market accounts for 5 percent of the population. So when I said you can keep your health care, I’m looking at folks who’ve got employer-based health care.” But “folks who’ve got employer-based health care” are going to lose their coverage, too — in fact, some businesses like Target, Trader Joe’s and Home Depot are already canceling plans and scaling back health benefits before the mandate kicks in. Burwell should be forced to explain how that Obama lie made it thought the OMB fact-checking process.
If Senate Democrats are smart, they will be the ones pushing hardest for this information — especially the 12 up for reelection this year who repeated the Obama lie. Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.) pledged, “If you like the insurance that you have, you’ll be able to keep it.” Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.) said Arkansans want to know “are we gonna be able to stick with our plan? The answer is yes.” Sen. Kay Hagan (N.C.) promised, “If you like your insurance and your doctors, you keep them.” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) swore, “Everyone will have the freedom to keep their health plan if they like it.” Sen. Mark Begich (Alaska) vowed, “Alaskans who have health insurance now, and are happy with it, can keep it.” Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) declared, “I’m not going to support a health-care reform plan that’s going to take away the health care you’ve got right now or a health-care plan that you like.” The rest made similar pledges.
Burwell should not be confirmed until she explains how OMB allowed the president of the United States to lie — repeatedly — to the American people. If Democrats don’t demand answers, they can be sure that Republicans will. Since avoiding the subject is not an option, her hearings will be a fascinating insight into the Democrats’ 2014 strategy on Obamacare. Vulnerable Senate Democrats have two choices: Come to Obama’s defense, or use the Burwell hearings to separate themselves from the president and blame him for misleading them like he misled the rest of America.
We’ll soon see which one they choose.
Read more from Marc Thiessen’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. |
Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, renowned for Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense, and Philadelphia, has died, IndieWire reports and a representative for Demme confirms. He was 73 and died this morning from complications from esophageal cancer. Demme was best known for 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Director. He also directed Talking Heads’ iconic concert film Stop Making Sense, as well as the Oscar-nominated movies Philadelphia and Rachel Getting Married. In addition, he made three documentaries for Neil Young (2006’s Neil Young: Heart of Gold, 2009’s Neil Young Trunk Show, and 2012’s Neil Young Journeys), as well as a film for Justin Timberlake—2016’s Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids. As a music video director, he made visuals for Bruce Springsteen, New Order, the Feelies, and others.
Demme's family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Americans for Immigrant Justice in Miami.
“Jonathan taught us how big a heart a person can have, and how it will guide how we live and what we do for a living. He was the grandest of men,” Tom Hanks said in a statement.
Meryl Streep said of Demme: “A big-hearted, big tent, compassionate man in full embrace in his life of people in need and of the potential of art, music, poetry and film to fill that need. A big loss to the caring world.” |
Image caption The last week has seen a number of anti-Roma rallies across Bulgaria
About 2,000 Bulgarians have marched in the centre of the capital, Sofia, in an anti-Roma protest.
The demonstrators said they were against corruption and organised crime, which they linked to Bulgaria's Roma or gypsy ethnic minority.
There have been protests and sporadic violence since the death a week ago of a youth hit by a car driven by relatives of a Roma clan boss.
President Georgy Parvanov has called for "an end to the language of hatred".
"We are marching against all parasite communities, against the mafia," a protester named Filip told Reuters news agency.
"We stand against this government and the political elite, against the impunity and the corruption," said another protesters.
'Extreme language'
The unrest prompted Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and President Parvanov to call a meeting of the national security council.
Afterwards, Mr Parvanov called on the media and politicians to "put an end to the language of hatred pushed to the extreme", AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
The rising tension comes ahead of presidential elections on 23 October.
In Sofia, the far-right Ataka party's candidate, Volen Siderov, spoke to several hundred supporters outside the presidential palace.
He called for the death penalty to be reinstated and for Roma "ghettos to be dismantled", AFP said.
Some of the crowd wore shirts that read: "I don't want to live in a Gypsy state."
The unrest began on 24 September after a van carrying family members of Kiril Rashkov - nicknamed "King Kiro" - ran over and killed a 19-year-old man in the southern village of Katunitsa.
An angry crowd of about 2,000 people then gathered and attacked three houses owned by the Roma leader in the village, shouting anti-Roma slogans.
Small but at times violent demonstrations by nationalist youth then spread to other towns over the week.
The violence is thought to be the worst since 1997, when an economic crisis and hyperinflation brought Bulgarians onto the streets.
The Roma make up around 5% of Bulgaria's population of 7.4m.
The unrest highlights tensions in Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union, as it struggles to emerge from deep economic recession. |
Six years before he published his breakthrough novel, Naked Lunch (1959), William S. Burroughs broke into the literary scene with Junky (sometimes also called Junkie), a candid, semi-autobiographical account of an "unredeemed drug addict." It's safe to say that the book wouldn't have seen the light of day if Allen Ginsberg hadn't taken Burroughs under his wing and edited the manuscript. The book, originally published under the pseudonym "William Lee," was distributed by Ace Books, a publishing house that targeted New York City subway riders. You can listen to Burroughs, the famous beat writer, reading a three-hour abridged version of the text over at UBUWeb.
Junky has been added to our list of Free Audio Books. And, on a related note, Burroughs fans will want to watch The Junky's Christmas, a short claymation film written and narrated by Burroughs in 1993. Other films based on his writing appear in our collection of Free Movies Online.
H/T @maudnewton |
IC3RE has started a collaboration with the IOTA Foundation as part of the Outlier Venture research and development programme.
The College will work with the IOTA Foundation in two key ways designed to bring the IOTA protocol closer to real-world adoption and to increase the utility of this breakthrough new approach to distributed ledger technology.
The Imperial team of students and leading professors will work with the IOTA Foundation to conceptualise and build new Proof of Concepts on top of the IOTA protocol. Work will be undertaken in areas such as mobility, infrastructure and of course Internet of Things innovation.
Building on initial work by the IOTA Foundation, teams from Imperial will focus on visualising transactions occurring across the IOTA Tangle. The Tangle is the IOTA protocol’s innovative, non-linear, distributed ledger architecture. The team will focus on visualising the IOTA ‘Mainnet’, which is in live operation today as well as visualising a range of planned stress-tests focused on running thousands of transactions per second across the IOTA network.
Dr Catherine Mulligan, Co-Director for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering at Imperial commented: "The IOTA protocol is an extremely exciting new approach to distributed ledger technology that promises huge scalability and economic improvements over traditional blockchains.
"Imperial is home to some of the brightest young minds in cryptocurrency that will relish the opportunity to help build IOTA's capabilities further."
Imperial has proven its leading massive-scale data visualisation capabilities having created a real-time data visualisation of Bitcoin, showing the global adoption and topology of Bitcoin globally as transactions occur.
Unlike traditional blockchains, transactions occurring across the Tangle network are not sequential and are not based on ‘blocks’. This is key to IOTA's ability to scale dramatically using its innovative Distributed Acyclic Graph technology to handle thousands of transactions per second, dwarfing the scalability of both the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains.
Today, the Bitcoin network is capable of processing circa five transactions per second and the Ethereum blockchain around 20, which is severely limiting the utility of both networks. Recently, SatoshiPay announced its intention to switch from Bitcoin to IOTA in order to handle micropayments based on a truly scalable solution.
William Knottenbelt, Professor of Applied Quantitative Analysis at Imperial College explains what this means for students: "Our students want to be working with the very latest Open Source technology to hone their skills and contribute to projects that have the potential to change the world. I’m already receiving requests to begin investigating IOTA." |
Polling takes place against background of hacking that is ‘clearly an attempt at democratic destabilisation’
France goes to the polls as country decides between Macron or Le Pen
Voting is under way in the final round of France’s presidential race after a massive online dump of frontrunner Emmanuel Macron’s campaign data delivered a final dramatic twist to the country’s most bruising, divisive and significant election in decades.
The French election watchdog warned that it could be a criminal offence to publish the tens of thousands of hacked emails and other documents – some reportedly fake – amid an electioneering blackout lasting from midnight on Friday until polls close at 8pm on Sunday.
The twists and turns of France’s strangest ever presidential election Read more
The interior ministry said turnout at 5pm was 65.3%, noticeably down on 71.96% at the last election in 2012 but in line with pollsters’ projections ahead of the vote. The final abstention rate is set to be 25-27%.
The hack, on which neither Macron or his opponent, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, were allowed to comment publicly, was “clearly an attempt at democratic destabilisation, like that seen during the last presidential campaign in the US”, according to his En Marche! campaign team.
The divisive election to choose the Fifth Republic’s eighth president has turned the country’s politics upside down, with neither of the two mainstream centre-right and centre-left movements that have governed France since the second world war making it to the runoff.
Seen as potentially the most important electoral contest in many years for France and the European Union, it has pitted against each other two candidates with diametrically opposing visions for the future of their country and the continent.
Macron, a 39-year-old former banker and economy minister running as an independent centrist, is economically liberal, socially progressive, globally minded and upbeat. Le Pen is a nation-first protectionist who wants to close France’s borders and possibly leave the euro and the EU.
Macron voted in the coastal town of Le Touquet in northern France alongside his wife, Brigitte, smiling and stopping to pet a black dog as he stepped out of his holiday home in the seaside resort.
For security reasons, he was driven to his nearby polling station at Le Touquet town and shook hands with a large crowd of supporters before entering the building. Le Pen her ballot in Hénin-Beaumont, a small northern town run by her Front National.
She arrived at the polling station with the town’s mayor, Steeve Briois, who took over as the far-right party’s interim leader when she stepped aside last month to concentrate on the campaign.
Feminist activists were briefly detained a couple of hours earlier on Sunday for hanging a big anti-Le Pen banner from a church in the town.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Marine Le Pen emerges from a pooling booth. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Final polls published on Friday suggested Macron had widened his lead over Le Pen to between 22 and 23 percentage points following an ugly TV debate in which she was widely considered to have spent more time attacking her opponent than engaging with policy.
“The commission calls on everyone present on internet sites and social networks – primarily the media, but also all citizens – to show responsibility and not pass on this content so as not to distort the sincerity of the ballot,” the election commission said on Saturday.
Many television news channels opted not even to mention the hack, while Le Monde newspaper said on its website it would not publish any of the nine gigabytes of leaked data before the election – partly because there was too much, and partly because it had clearly been released with the aim of affecting the vote.
“If these documents contain revelations, Le Monde will of course publish them after having investigated them, respecting our journalistic and ethical rules, and without allowing ourselves to be exploited by the publishing calendar of anonymous actors,” the paper said.
Macron is en route to the Elysée, but may find it hard to govern Read more
The data was posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin, a site allowing anonymous document sharing. En Marche! said it was not alarmed by the content, adding the documents “reflected the normal operations of a campaign” but had been mixed with fakes to “sow doubt and disinformation”.
Intelligence agencies in the US said in January that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had ordered hacking of Democratic campaign officials before last year’s presidential election in a bid to boost the chances of Republican candidate Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.
Mainland France’s 47 million voters began casting their ballots at about 70,000 polling stations around the country at 8am (0700 BST). Usually reliable estimates of the result, based on a representative count of actual votes cast, will be released as the last stations close at 8pm (1900 BST).
Voting began in France’s overseas territories on Saturday, starting with Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, an archipelago near the Canadian island of Newfoundland, and continuing in other far-flung overseas territories and French embassies abroad.
Up to a quarter of the electorate is expected to abstain, with some supporters of the centre-right candidate François Fillon and the hard-left veteran Jean-Luc Mélenchon, both defeated in the first round on 23 April, saying they would not be voting for either candidate. |
Honesty is Hard; Rudeness is Easy June 20, 2012
Posted by wfenza in Culture and Society
Editorial Note: This post was written by Wes Fenza, long before the falling out of our previous quint household and the subsequent illumination of his abusive behavior, sexual assault of several women, and removal from the Polyamory Leadership Network and banning from at least one conference. I have left Wes’ posts here because I don’t believe it’s meaningful to simply remove them. You cannot remove the truth by hiding it; Wes and I used to collaborate, and his thoughts will remain here, with this notice attached.
—–
Wes here.
On Sunday, I wrote about how honesty is hard in a sexual/dating context. My previous post was an attempt to address what I see as a problem, where people hide their true intent in social interactions due to politeness, social expectation, fear of punishment, or maliciousness. Today, I’d like to highlight one of the misconceptions of that post, namely, that I advocate cold-propositioning in inappropriate situations. The previous post was meant to address what happens in social interactions, which is why the focus was on dishonest behavior.
A few people have suggested to me that the arguments that I make could be used to justify things like catcalling, interrupting, and other rude/unacceptable behaviors, all in the name of “I’m just honestly communicating.” I do not feel that I made any arguments advocating in favor of such things, but if anyone disagrees, I invite reasonable, calm discussion on the topic.
The difference between what I’m advocating and something like catcalling is that catcalling is rude for reasons other than the sexual content. Yelling “nice tits” at a woman on the street is rude because (a) it interrupts whatever she is doing, and she’s given no indication that she is interested in socializing, or that she is interested in your opinion; (b) it’s not designed to start a conversation; (c) it’s clearly meant to intimidate, not actually to compliment.* This behavior is rude because it involved showing nudity to a non-consenting person, and because it violated the conference’s policy on propositioning (but not for any of the other reasons set forth in the post).
Propositioning someone for sex is rude in any case where propositioning someone for any other activity is rude. If it’s rude to ask someone if ze’d like to go ice-skating, it’s rude to ask for sex. Conversely, if it is NOT rude to ask someone to go ice-skating, then I don’t believe it’s rude to ask hir to have sex (unless of course, that person has made clear that ze wishes not to be propositioned in that manner).
What is also rude is saying “wow, that’s really interesting” when you mean “you’re really hot.” It’s rude to say “I would love to, but I have plans” when you mean “I don’t want to.” It’s rude to pretend to care about someone’s problems when you really just want to get in hir pants. In short, it’s rude to communicate things that you don’t mean and/or take active steps to hide the way you really feel/think. They key, of course, is ACTIVE steps. There’s nothing rude about seeing an attractive person and NOT telling hir that you think ze’s hot (and, depending on context, it can be very rude to just go up to someone and announce that). It’s only rude if you’re actively concealing that fact.
When a woman says things like “I would love to, but I have a conflict” or “I wish I could,” (especially to a sexual invitation) these are generally understood by all parties as clear refusals. Some people have taken this to mean that there is no miscommunication involved in such a refusal. But the fact that it’s a refusal is as far as the clarity goes. All refusals are not created equal. Saying “no, I’m not attracted to you” sends a much clearer message than “I would, but I’m very tired.” The former sends the message that sex is not an option for the foreseeable future, the latter send the message the woman in question would like to have sex under other circumstances. Both are refusals, but both contain different information in addition to the refusal.
Couching a refusal in terms of being unable to do something as opposed to being unwilling is generally seen as polite. I do not see it this way. I see it as a lie, and a very unfriendly thing to do to someone. As I said in my last post, hurting someone’s feelings by telling them the truth is a brave and awesome thing to do.
There is, of course, a grey area in between catcalling on the street and admitting your intentions once conversation has been started. It’s hard to say exactly when it’s ok to approach a person, and when reasonable boundaries are being crossed. What I propose is that sexual desires are given the same treatment as any other desire to participate in an activity with someone. I’m serious about the ice skating thing. Interrupting someone reading a book to ask if ze’d like to go rock-climbing (or bike riding, or going for a walk in the park, or playing video games, etc.) with you is rude; just as doing the same thing with an invitation to sexual activity is rude. Asking someone you just met to go rock-climbing is not rude if you’re already engaged in mutual socializing. However, asking someone if ze’d like to have sex in such a situation is often considered rude, which I don’t agree with. It’s also considered rude to see a person as merely a means to partnered rock-climbing, and not as a human with independent desires of hir own, just as the same thing is rude with sex.
I’m not advocating unbridled communication of sexual desires. I’m just saying that if you’re going to communicate, communicate honestly and bluntly. If someone is going to be creeped out by your desire, hiding your desire is not the answer. Ze should be creeped out by your desire if you have creepy desires. Masking them in subtlety and politeness might make you appear less creepy, but really you’re just hiding them.
In conclusion, I’d like to highlight this comment from Ginny:
part of approaching people respectfully is making yourself the vulnerable one. I highly advocate beginning a sexual advance with, “I’m very attracted to you,” rather than putting the other person on the spot by asking if they’re interested. Stating your own attraction puts yourself in the vulnerable position, and doesn’t instantly demand something of the other person.
Good advice! I heartily agree.
_________________________
*this is a non-exhaustive list. There are probably a lot more reasons why such behavior is rude and/or unacceptable.
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Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE's campaign is encouraging its Republican Party surrogates to double down on the narrative that the presidential election is likely to be stolen by voter fraud.
While Trump now says he will accept “a clear election result,” his campaign is urging allies who defend Trump on television to sow doubts about vote counting in swing states.
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In campaign talking points sent out Wednesday and obtained by The Hill, the Trump team told Republican surrogates to cite examples of voter fraud in North Carolina, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Under a headline 'Must make points on rigged system,' the Trump campaign encourages surrogates to say, “We have also seen very significant recent voting irregularities across the country from Pennsylvania to Colorado and an increase in unlawful voting by illegal immigrants.”
Another Trump talking point reads: “Non-citizen votes may have been responsible for Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaWith low birth rate, America needs future migrants 4 ways Hillary looms over the 2020 race Obama goes viral after sporting black bomber jacket with '44' on sleeve at basketball game MORE’s narrow margin of victory in North Carolina in 2008.”
And another states: “CBS Denver affiliate found dead Coloradans were still voting. A dead World War II veteran voted in a 2006 primary election, and a woman who died in 2009 cast ballots in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Dead people were registered to vote in Virginia.”
The Trump campaign is also encouraging surrogates to invoke the threat of undocumented immigrants manipulating election results.
“More than 14 percent of non-citizens surveyed in 2008 and 2010,” one bullet point states, “said they were registered to vote.”
Multiple studies have found that cases of voter fraud are rare and unlikely to cause significant problems in national elections.
Several Republican lawmakers criticized Trump’s answer during the final debate Wednesday, when he told moderator Chris Wallace that he’d keep Americans in “suspense” about whether he’d accept the result on Election Day.
Trump has since clarified that he wants to reserve the right to contest close results; but he continues to sow broader mistrust among his supporters about the election process.
When pressed, several of Trump’s top allies, including his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence Michael (Mike) Richard PencePence meeting with Senate GOP ahead of vote to block emergency declaration 'And the award for best political commentary by an Oscar nominee goes to...' UN nuclear watchdog: Iran maintains compliance with 2015 pact MORE, declined to endorse the theory that the election is likely to be stolen by fraud at the ballot box.
They’ve tried to shift the conversation to one exclusively concerning the “rigged” media. And, indeed, Trump’s campaign talking points also include the accusation that the “liberal media and the Clinton campaign have coordinated their personal attacks on Mr. Trump in order to rig the election on behalf of Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE.”
A Republican source who received the Trump talking points was “puzzled” by the campaign’s decision to double down on the idea of rigged elections
“It’s unprecedented,” the source said. “Usually at this time of the year, we talk about getting our vote[ers] out and volunteers and getting lead on the target, not trying to convince people that this thing’s fixed.”
Asked about the talking points, Trump spokesman Jason Miller told The Hill: “These talking points articulate our position perfectly.
“Mr. Trump is committed to breaking up the rigged system in Washington and ensuring that the people — this grassroots movement fueling Mr. Trump's campaign — have a voice in how we govern going forward.” |
Every morning when Mark Mandica opens the door, he feels a pit in his stomach. He knows that today could be the day that he discovers the last Rabbs' Fringe-limbed tree frog has passed away. When that day comes, his species will be extinct forever - another in a long and growing list of animals that are disappearing at an alarming rate. He will close his eyes, and his kind will vanish from the face of the Earth forever. Many of these species will disappear without even a mention from the media.
"It's kind of nerve-racking taking care of him, knowing he's the last one of his kind," says Mark, the Amphibian Conservation Coordinator at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. He admits he was not much of a conservationist when he first became fascinated with amphibians. "I was more interested studying how fast their tongues move to catch prey, not much to do with conservation. Since then it has become harder and harder to find frogs and amphibians and so now I feel obligated to help conserve these amazing and vital creatures. It's sort of an 'all hands on deck' situation."
It was Mark's young son Anthony who nick-named the frog "Toughie." When asked why he picked that name, six-year-old Anthony exclaims, "Because he's the only one that made it!"
Toughie is originally from the lush rainforests of Panama, where he used to spread his large webbed hands and could glide for up to 30 feet from his home in the forest canopy above. Toughie must have felt like he was flying. But Toughie's gliding days are long gone. He will spend his last days here, in this unassuming grey shipping container called the FrogPOD, set in the back southwest corner of the Atlanta Botanical Garden. He is far from his home, and he is utterly and completely alone in this world.
The shipping container is bio-secure, protecting eleven rare species of frogs saved from Panama on the same rescue mission in which Toughie was collected. All the species are critically endangered, but none more than Toughie. After changing our shoes to slippers kept in the lab so as not to introduce any dangerous bacteria or fungus, we enter the FrogPOD. It is warm and humid, consistently kept at a temperature near 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I make a beeline straight to Toughie's small home.
As I look at this frog resting in his log, I try to imagine Toughie gliding through the air, high above the floor of the rainforest, steering his way down with outstretched arms like Superman. Now, he sits in this log perhaps wondering where his forest went, where his family is. I wonder if he can even remember. It's been almost ten years since he saw his real home.
In the wild, Toughie would have raised his own young - the males are the stay-at-home parents for these frogs - but being a father in the rainforest canopies of Panama was not in the cards for Toughie. The fate of his species was written when the last female in captivity passed away in 2009.
Toughie now sits silent in his log; he stopped calling shortly after being taken into captivity. He had already been silent for years before Mark first began caring for him in 2009. The call of the Rabbs' Fringe-limbed tree frog was lost forever when Toughie silenced his voice. Their call was never recorded, and the only people who ever heard it cannot describe or imitate it. The last time one was heard in the wild was 2007. It was a male whose calls were heard, but he was never seen. He may have been calling for a female that was never to come.
Most of Toughie's relatives were wiped out by a fungus in Panama in 2005. Researchers went in to rescue as many of the rare frogs as they could and collected a handful of adults and a handful of tadpoles. The rest have all died of natural causes, and the tadpoles never fully developed in the lab. Toughie is the only survivor. He must be the loneliest frog on Earth.
I wonder if people know that to see this small, brown frog is like seeing a unicorn - would they flock to see him? or would they react with indifference? Unlike the elephants, the polar bears, the dolphins, the whales, the tigers - there is nothing majestic about Toughie. He is just a small, brownish frog with hands that look like Gollum's. Appropriate, because he too is precious.
Toughie is now at least ten years old, quite old for a frog. His status used to be recorded three times a day, but his caretakers felt it was too intrusive for the old frog, so now they record it once per day. An old frog needs his rest. He is weighed once per week by a vet to be sure his health is steady. Mark knows the day he dreads is marching closer. There is nothing he can do to stop it. No breeding program or campaign can save this little guy or his species. It's too late for Toughie. But it's not too late for others like him.
Last week I was part of a team of activists from the Oceanic Preservation Society who lit up the United Nations in New York City to raise awareness for endangered species. It was a project we did for an upcoming documentary film called Racing Extinction, about the sixth mass extinction. There have been five major mass extinctions previously on our planet. This is the sixth, and it is called "The Anthropocene," which translates to "The Age of Man."
As images of incredible animals from the smallest bioluminescent phytoplankton to the grandest of large cats gazed hauntingly from the side of the 500-ft building, Jane Goodall's voice echoed onto the street and crowd below. "In 200 years, people will look back on this particular period and say to themselves, 'How did those people at that time just allow all these amazing creatures to vanish?'"
One of the images we projected onto the United Nations was an image of Toughie. National Geographic photographer and author Joel Sartore, who photographs endangered animals for his project Photo Ark, was there to witness it. He got misty-eyed seeing his images thirty stories high projected in front of the crowd at the United Nations.
"Seeing my photos up on the side of the UN building was overwhelming. For many of the species shown that night, being in the Photo Ark is the only chance they have to be seen and heard before they go extinct," said Joel, "With half the world's species at risk of extinction by the turn of the century, the Ark has the potential to be so much more than just a roster of what we squandered." He hopes that the public will be drawn in, learn, and be moved to save endangered species while there's still time - and not just the high-profile ones. "After all, when we save other creatures, we're actually saving ourselves. It's really how we treat the least among us that will determine our own fate as well," he added.
While majestic creatures draw more attention than this small brown frog, Toughie's story is one that is being repeated across this globe thousands of times over. Scientists estimate we are currently losing approximately 30,000 species per year. They are disappearing faster than we can record that they are here. This story is not just to shine a light on our loss of Toughie and his species, but to shine a light on the thousands of species blinking out every year without us even acknowledging their loss.
After over 300 million years on this planet - amphibians arrived before the dinosaurs - we are losing them at an alarming rate. Nearly forty percent of all amphibians are imperiled or already extinct in the wild.
"What is frightening is that we are losing them in pristine habitat, not just urban areas," said Mark. "We need to pay attention to what these amphibians are trying to tell us. I think they are telling us something bad is happening in our environment. We need to listen - if not for their sake, for ours."
It's time for us to go. I say goodbye to Toughie, quietly wishing him frog dreams that bring back his distant memories of gliding over the rainforest canopy - the tiny brown Superman sans cape. We change our shoes and leave the FrogPOD. Mark closes the door behind him. He has made it through one more day, and the Rabbs' Fringe-limbed tree frog is not extinct - not today.
The small, brown gliding frog will have peace and quiet for the remainder of his days in this shipping container. Mark will care for him until the last day when quietly, without any media hype, another species will silently disappear from our planet. His loss will go unnoticed by most, but not by Mark Mandica. |
ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.siteground.com/go/blackfriday-cybermonday-2018\n\nHome\n\nDownload\n\nForum\n\nWiki\n\nIRC Chat\n\nIsis\n\nLanguage selection\n\nEnglishItaliano\n\nMain Menu\n\nHome\n\nWhat is Osiris\n\nCitations\n\nDownload\n\nOur sponsors / Donation\n\nContact us\n\nIsis\n\nTranslations\n\nStatistics\n\nHelp\n\nNeed support\n\nFaqs\n\nDocumentation\n\nForum\n\nWiki\n\nIRC Chat\n\nHow to contribute\n\nDevelopment\n\nChangelogs\n\nRoadmap\n\nGuide\n\nWho's Online\n\nSoftpedia\n\nHome\n\nserverless - anarchist - anonymous - unbreakable\n\n\"L'anarchia è una forma di società dove tendenzialmente si annullerebbe qualsiasi forma di autorità imposta; gli anarchici credono nella capacità naturale dell'uomo di autoregolarsi in società. L'esistenza di regole e convenzioni sociali nell'anarchia non è esclusa a priori a patto che le regole e le convenzioni vengano liberamente determinate e accettate dalla comunità interessata e non rappresentino un'imposizione derivante dal maggiore potere di alcuni rispetto agli altri.\"\n\nOsiris is an engine that makes possible to build anarchic forums and portals where members directly choose rules and conventions by themselves.\n\nOsiris portals are serverless, so they spread through the P2P network members. This allows the portals to be independent of central servers, free and indestructibles since they are supported by every portal member.\n\nMoreover, all the sent contents are anonymous, enabling a strong privacy protection and ensuring that no one can overwhelm this experiment of free thought and knowledge distribution.\n\nOsiris can also build monarchic portals for a traditional moderation.\n\nFree Download\n\nscreenshots - documentation - forums\n\nOsiris will become an open-source project\n\nWe announce that Osiris will become an open-source project, released under GPL.\n\nSources are not available yet, because we need to check them for understanding if a fork can be used to attack the system.\n\nWe are planning to release sources in few months.\n\nWe hope that this choice may help to raise the interest about our project, because we have many incompleted works without collaborators.\n\nWe are here in our forum for questions, also about technical details.\n\nOsiris 0.13\n\nThe Osiris Team is happy to announce a new version of Osiris.\n\nOsiris 0.13 gives many new improvements over every features: features, security, speed, stability.\n\nOsiris is a freeware software made to build completely shared portals through p2p ( serverless ).\n\nThe software doesn't need any other pre-installed component to work, and it is distributed as installable software or portable, it's useful for external hardware.\n\nYou can download Osiris from the download-page\n\nTo register to a portal it's needed only to click on invite-link, or copy and paste the link into the browser. It's available a dedicated forum to spread invite links, here you will find and publish link to portals made by the community.\n\nTo surf portals where you have been registered, by running Osiris, click on the right arrow-button: you will see the main page showing all your subscriptions.\n\nTo made new portals is available a Video Tutorial that shows how to made a new one, manage contempt and publish it on the dedicated forum.\n\nWe kindly ask to report any problems on the official forum.\n\nA special thanks is given ( as usual smile.gif ) to all the support team for the contribution to the release of this version, thanks!\n\nClick here for the forum discussion\n\nOsiris 0.12\n\nThe Osiris Team is happy to announce a new version of Osiris.\n\nOsiris 0.12 gives many new improvements over every features: security, speed, stability and moreover this is the first Osiris version that introduce a native support of GNU/Linux.\n\nOsiris is a freeware software made to build completely shared portals through p2p ( serverless ) and the new version 0.12 add the gateway Isis feature that gives the read-only access, to all content available on the Osiris p2p network with just a common web browser.\n\nThe software doesn't need any other pre-installed component to work, and it is distributed as installable software or portable, it's useful for external hardware.\n\nYou can download Osiris from the download-page ( eDonkey & Torrent links available )\n\nTo register to a portal it's needed only to click on invite-link, or copy and paste the link into the browser. It's available a dedicated forum to spread invite links, here you will find and publish link to portals made by the community.\n\nTo surf portals where you have been registered, by running Osiris, click on the right arrow-button: you will see the main page showing all your subscriptions.\n\nTo made new portals is available a Video Tutorial that shows how to made a new one, manage contempt and publish it on the dedicated forum.\n\nWe kindly ask to report any problems on the official forum.\n\nA special thanks is given ( as usual smile.gif ) to all the support team for the contribution to the release of this version, thanks!\n\nClick here for the forum discussion\n\nRilascio versione preliminare ai beta-testers della 0.12\n\nE' stata rilasciata la versione 0.12 ai nostri beta-testers interni. Sia la versione Windows, che la versione nativa per Linux. Verrà rilasciata al pubblico quando sarà stabile.\n\nTools per le traduzioni\n\nE' disponibile uno strumento online per aiutarci a tradurre i software Osiris / Isis / Anubis. Maggiori informazioni qui.\n\nMore...\n\nIntervista a p2pforum.it\n\nOsiris 0.11\n\nPremio WWW Il Sole 24 Ore\n\nOsiris 0.10 Beta\n\nOsiris 0.9 Beta\n\nOsiris 0.8 Beta\n\nOsiris 0.7 Beta\n\nOsiris 0.6 Beta\n\n<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>\n\nResults 1 - 13 of 19\n\nTalk with us\n\nDevelopments Meter\n\n5%\n\nLastest available version:\n\n0.13 (17/03/2010)\n\nDevelopment status for next version:\n\n0.14 (5%)\n\nDiscuss in forum\n\nDonations Meter\n\n2%\n\nCosts covered: 445€\n\nCosts sustain: 19500€\n\nDonate!\n\nPromote!\n\nPromote!\n\nCommunity portals\n\nDasPorn\n\nItalian AnonymShare\n\nServerless News\n\nUnited colors of Peer to Peer\n\nThe Animated River\n\nL'isola dei torrenti\n\nEnkeywebsite\n\nLa Ciurma del Mulo\n\nPeerHarvest\n\neMule Italia\n\nLatest discussions\n\npartito operaio\n\nNuovo utente: domande\n\nLuci a San Siro\n\nparametri nell'istanza quick search\n\nRotta verso Osiris 1.0\n\n... E ora affondate questo!\n\ndiscrepanza nel mio osiris ta interfaccia e barra strumenti\n\nproposte per chiarire il funzionamento di osiris ai nuovi utenti\n\nutenti nei portali con lo stesso numero\n\nServerless Friends!\n\nImportant legal information - Other copyrights" |
The Upside Of Slower
The insanity of the new MacBook making you angry
M.G. Siegler Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 12, 2015
Two steps forward, one step back. In the history of Apple product iteration, we see this time and time again. The iMac gets insanely thin, but no optical drive. The iPad 3 gets a retina display, but is slightly heavier. The iPhone 6 gets extremely thin and maintains a great camera, but the bulge. Etc.
The latest such trade-off was unveiled this week. The new MacBook is almost impossibly thin, but it only has one port, an older front-facing camera, and a slower processor. And so on. In quite a few peoples’ minds it seems to be one step forward and two steps back.
Which is insane.
This is the price of progress, people. Would I like a MacBook that is as thin as possible and weighs two pounds but is as powerful as a MacBook Pro? Of course. And we’ll get that in a few years. But it takes time. So we can either wait, or accept certain trade-offs now. Sadly, you still cannot have your cake and eat it too.
The good news is that you don’t have to buy the new MacBook now if you don’t want to. Apple is not only still selling their MacBook Airs and Pros, but they upgraded them as well with some newer, faster internals. They’re even available now (versus a few weeks for the new MacBook); have at it!
Me? I’ll be getting the new MacBook. Performance specs aside, it seems like the exact laptop I’ve been waiting for. Do I care about the one port? Not really. I mean, it’s always nice to have more, of course, but I’ll gladly make that trade for a machine this small and light.
Do I care that the Intel Core M chip is likely to be slower than the Intel i5/i7 chips in my two-year old MacBook? Maybe a little, but not really. The vast majority of what I do on my machine is through a web browser. I can’t recall the last time I used a machine that wasn’t powerful enough to handle everything on the web (*insert Adobe Flash joke here*), but it was definitely more than two years ago. I’m sure I’ll be fine with this new machine.
And I’m sure 99% of the rest of the public will be as well. Graphic designers? Maybe opt for the MacBook Pro. Video editors? Maybe get the Mac Pro. But you and they already know that. Still, we’re outraged for some reason. How dare there be a trade-off!
What’s funny is that I’m wondering if there won’t be an actual upside to this trade-off beyond the usual iterative path to progress. By introducing a machine with Intel’s slower Core M chipset, might Apple also be moving us closer to a world where their own mobile chipset, the A(X) line, can step in?
We’re clearly not there yet, or you have to believe Apple would have done it. But you’d be crazy to think Apple hasn’t been experimenting with running OS X on their own chips. Remember, years before Apple made the jump from PowerPC to Intel chips, they had OS X working on those chips. Undoubtedly, the same is true here.
I’m no chip expert, but it sure feels like Apple is improving the A(X) chips faster than Intel is improving their own processors. Plus, the reliance on Intel is one of the few major dependencies Apple has left. When they can move everything fully in-house, we may see performance improve on the laptop end even faster.
And a further convergence of MacBook and iPad. Of OS X and iOS.
Unfortunately, for now, the trade off is a bit of speed, fewer ports, and a weaker camera. I’ll shed some tears for those of you up in arms about such things while staring into my glorious 12-inch retina display.
Like this guy: |
I am a self-publisher and this is my manifesto.
If you’re a reader, a simple lover of books, someone with no aspirations of ever writing or publishing, then there is a very good chance you’re unaware of the culture war that has been going on within the world of publishing for what feels like forever. The war is between the large publishing houses, primarily found in New York, and self-publishers (or independent publishers). For almost as long as the publishing industry has been a relevant cog in the entertainment machine, publishing houses have served the purpose of finding, publishing and, essentially delivering to the literary world the best authors they could find. But they didn’t do this alone. Literary agents—who not only represent authors, but also serve as gatekeepers for the large publishing houses—helped them.
Most any writer who has ever aspired to get published has learned the hard way that finding a literary agent to represent you is harder than actually getting your manuscript accepted for publication by a large publishing house. And this is not by accident. As gatekeepers, the literary agents weed out the “bad” talent and wrangle in the “good” talent, making it easier for the large publishing houses to pick which handful of writers they’ll be publishing during any given year.
Of course, getting a literary agent is no guarantee of getting published. They still have to try and sell your manuscript to a publishing house. There are plenty of authors who have secured literary agents, only to find out that the agent couldn’t sell their books. But if you are one of those rare authors who have cleared all the hurdles and have had your book published by a large publishing house, one of the first things you will learn is that you’re going to be on your own when it comes to promoting and marketing the book. Publishing houses have limited budgets for marketing their authors and first-time authors aren’t likely to get much support. Ironically, if your book doesn’t sell, then the publisher will be less likely to buy your next book.
So, if you’re that first first-time author, you’re going to have to do some significant legwork—from creating a presence on the Internet to setting up readings and book signings—which is fine, especially if you’re serious about your writing and want to make a career of it. And while you’re putting in this work, it might occur to you that since you’re doing all the legwork yourself, what’s to stop you from publishing yourself. Up to now, the main thing stopping you was the stigma of self-publishing.
By having agents, editors and publishers making it so hard to break into the publishing world, it creates the perception that only the very best authors get their work published. This perception has put a stigma on self-publishers, a stigma akin to taking your cousin to the prom. The impression is if you weren’t good enough to get published through a traditional publisher then you must not be a very good writer. And the publishing houses have benefited from this, because it means they haven’t had to compete with self-publishers.
In the last couple of years, the publishing industry has been struggling. Truth be told, it’s always been tough to make money selling books when you consider Americans in general aren’t all that keen on reading. But in the face of a struggling economy, the publishing industry has been hurting more than usual. In their desperation to sell books (which, mind you, is a totally reasonable desperation) the major publishers have invested more and more money into selling personalities, rather than authors. This means when you walk into a bookstore, you’re more likely to see a book “written” by a reality TV star or a trendy politician. Even actors and recording artists are publishing novels. All of this is fine, except that, if you’re a major publishing house, you now have little-to-no money left to invest in first-time authors. Not to mention the fact that they’re a risky investment, unlike a celebrity who has name recognition and a built-in fan base.
This all makes sense from a business standpoint, but what if you’re a writer who has dedicated years and years of your life to learning and honing your craft? Are you supposed to just accept that some contemporary pop star and their ghostwriter have a book published and you don’t? You can keep knocking on the door of the literary agents and the big publishing houses (heck, you can even try the small publishing houses), but they can’t afford to take a chance on you. The best option for you then is self-publishing. Except, there is that stigma about self-publishers that still hasn’t quite gone away.
Only now there is progress being made in eradicating the stigma. A big part of the stigma being eliminated is technology. Now, more than ever, it is easier for an author to publish their work without having to go through a large publishing house. Especially with the growing market of e-books, self-published authors are seeing their books being sold side-by-side with traditionally published books. And if you’re a reader, chances are you’re not making any great distinctions between self-published books and traditionally published books; you’re just happy to find a book that entertained you while you were tanning by the pool or waiting for your doctor’s appointment.
So if the readers aren’t holding onto this stigma, then where exactly is it coming from? Unfortunately, the answer is it’s coming from the writers themselves. But it’s not their fault. If you’re a writer who has been working at getting published for at least the last ten years or so (and for most writers, it’s much longer than that), then you’ve more than likely bought into the stigma. You’re a writer who, despite all the hard work you’ve put into your writing, feels like your work can only be validated by going through the traditional system of acquiring a literary agent and selling your book to a major publisher.
You would just as soon let your brilliant work go unread on your hard drive (or your freezer, depending on how long you’ve been writing) before you self-published. You’ve dreamed of signing books in Barnes & Noble and doing readings at universities, giving interviews on morning talk shows and whisking around the country on national book tours. The stigma tells you that self-published authors don’t get to do these things. And, for the most part, it’s true. But neither do most traditionally published authors either.
More and more quality authors are figuring this out and the world of independent publishing is benefiting from it. Just because the large New York publishing houses are publishing fewer and fewer quality authors doesn’t mean there are no quality authors out there. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. And just because these authors aren’t being published doesn’t mean they simply go away. Many of them are discovering that self-publication is a viable optional. The more quality writers who enter into the world of self-publishing, the more credible it becomes.
Even J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter dynasty, has turned to self-publishing. Now why would she do that? There is not a publisher anywhere in the world who wouldn’t kill to have Rowling on their roster of authors. And that’s exactly the point. From a business standpoint, Rowling stands to earn more money by self-publishing, rather than sharing her literary fortune with a traditional publisher. Business-wise, this is true even for the relatively unknown self-publisher.
Whatever advance you get from a traditional publisher, in all likelihood, is going to be the same amount of money you stand to earn on your own if you have a quality book and are willing to work hard to find and connect with readers, which is to say all the things you’d be doing anyway if you take your writing seriously.
So if you’re a writer out there who is tired of being rejected, don’t fret. Just publish your work yourself.
If you’re a large publishing house doing business as usual, good luck to you. You’re a business and you’re simply trying to stay viable. I can appreciate that.
And if you are a writer or a publisher or anybody who is still holding onto or perpetuating the stigma of self-publishing, let it go. Release it from your grip and accept the dawning of a new era, a better one even.
I am a publisher and this is my manifesto. |
Stimulate Constructive Political Debate “My side is right!” “ Their side is wrong!” “They lied!” “Blah! Blah! Blah!” This is no way to run a country. More nuance is in order. The Enhanced-Precision Political Quiz makes it clear that there is a wide range of possible options for every issue. And the Nolan Chart on which it is based makes it clear that there are at least two ranges of possible opinion overall. At least two. Though the Nolan Chart is a huge improvement over the limited Left-Right spectrum, it is still a projection of a wider space of options. The Quiz herein samples that wider space with creative possibilities outside the usual debates, ranging from more universal military service without a draft to unconditional government money as a replacement for most welfare programs. The result screens reveal yet more possibilities ranging from easy ways to stop global warming to voting systems which allow us to consider more options at the polling place. This site now exists not to push any particular party or ideology, but to stimulate creative political thought. If you are an educator teaching social studies, history or political science, have your students take the test and prepare for lively discussion afterwards. Likewise, if you are on a forum and want to uplift your discussions out of parroting the usual talking points, use this quiz as a poll. Finally, if you know of a political party, organization, or think tank which deserves mention in some of the result screens, contact me. |
Conservative leaders are saying President-elect Donald Trump will be held to his campaign promises about immigration policy, according to The Hill.
"This was, along with trade, the issue that allowed Donald Trump to mow down 16 other viable and talented and capable contenders in the primary process," Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told The Hill.
"Nobody can bring out, in rally after rally, Americans who lost loved ones because these immigration laws were not enforced … or Americans who lost jobs because of unfair labor displacement," and not follow through on his promises, he added.
According to The Hill, organizations like FAIR, NumbersUSA and the Center for Immigration Studies, are calling on Trump to reject Rep. Michael McCaul as a candidate for Homeland Security secretary because they believe he would be too close to the Republican establishment to go along with their ideas for immigration reform.
Stein and Mark Krikorian, executive director of the CIS, say McCaul has supported "weak" immigration proposals.
Krikorian said those who support immigrants, the "anti-borders activists," have grown stronger under President Barack Obama's administration and the Homeland Security chief must push back.
"There are going to be human chains around (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) offices. It's going to be that kind of violent opposition. And I hope whoever is DHS secretary won't go wobbly," he said.
McCaul, a Texas Republican, is close with House Speaker Paul Ryan, The Hill notes, and one source close to Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's attorney general nominee said, "You could choose an establishment person for any position but that one."
Trump supporters believe Ryan, Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who are seen as allies politically, could exert too much influence over Trump on immigration issues.
McCaul's spokeswoman Lizzie Litzow told The Hill he "stands staunchly against any form of amnesty" and he also wants to cut off funding to sanctuary cities.
Trump's allies want Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to lead Homeland Security because of his hard-line stance on immigration. Supporters say Kobach would work to limit legal as well as illegal immigration.
Some churches across the U.S. said they would, if necessary, become sanctuaries for illegal immigrants, according to The Daily Beast.
California lawmakers are looking ahead to Trump's potential deportation plans, introducing measures to protect undocumented immigrants, Fortune reported. |
(Reuters) - The state of California sued Morgan Stanley on Friday, accusing the bank of hiding the risks of complex mortgage debt and other securities it sold, causing big losses for the state’s public pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS.
The corporate logo of financial firm Morgan Stanley is pictured on the company's world headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Kamala Harris, the state attorney general, said Morgan Stanley concealed or downplayed the risks of toxic residential mortgage-backed securities and “structured investment vehicles” it marketed from 2004 to 2007, sometimes encouraging credit rating agencies to award unjustifiably high ratings.
She said the bank’s conduct reflected “a culture of greed and deception” that fueled the 2008 financial crisis and caused the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and California State Teachers Retirement System to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
California accused Morgan Stanley of violating the state’s False Claims Act and various state securities laws. It seeks a variety of damages plus civil fines. The lawsuit was filed in the state superior court in San Francisco.
Morgan Stanley said it believes the lawsuit has no merit.
“The securities at issue were marketed and sold to sophisticated institutional investors and their performance has been consistent with the sector as a whole,” it said. “It is also worth noting that the alleged victim in this case elected not to pursue its own lawsuit against the firm.”
CalPERS had previously recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements with agencies such as McGraw Hill Financial Inc’s Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Corp’s Moody’s Investors Service over alleged inflated ratings.
Among the securities over which CalPERS sued was Cheyne, a structured investment vehicle that failed in 2007.
A large portion of Friday’s lawsuit challenges Morgan Stanley’s conduct in marketing the Cheyne SIV.
Shares of Morgan Stanley closed up 52 cents at $25.53 in Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The case is California v. Morgan Stanley et al, Superior Court of California, San Francisco County, No. CGC16-551238. |
ANAHEIM – Karley Sweer wanted only one thing for her birthday: a “Frozen” makeover. At half past 10 on Monday, the 8-year-old from Litchfield, Ariz., got her wish when her hair was styled and sprinkled with glitter, her lips dabbed with gloss and her nails painted pale blue, all inspired by the characters of the animated blockbuster.
It was opening day for Anna & Elsa’s Boutique at Downtown Disney, the only store/salon in the world devoted to all things “Frozen.” The boutique offers beauty services including $35 packages that can turn girls into Elsa and Anna lookalikes, plus official costumes, clothes and accessories. Disney officials want to gauge consumer response before considering opening similar stores elsewhere, according to Michelle Harker, manager for merchandise marketing at Disneyland Resort.
All things “Frozen” appear to still be hot, if the line of about 50 people waiting outside the store on any given hour was an indication. “Frozen” has turned into an international juggernaut, with about 2.6 million kids planning to dress as characters from the movie for Halloween, according to a National Retail Federation survey released last week.
Kaycee Knapic, 5, of Gilbert, Ariz., was ready with her Elsa costume. After her hair was braided, tiara in place, she told her mom, “I want the Elsa power in my hands.” That’s something Disney doesn’t offer. Yet.
Contact the writer: [email protected] |
‘Don’t mind his plámásing.’
I heard someone say this on the Promenade in Salthill recently. It means: ‘Pay no attention to his flattery.’ Don’t and mind were merged, so the phrase sounded like /do:’maɪndɪz ’plɔ:mɔ:sən/.
Plámás /’plɔ:mɔ:s/ [‘plaw-mawse’] is an Irish noun and verb used in Hiberno-English; it means empty flattery, ingratiating talk, disingenuous praise. I’ve seen it anglicised as plaumause, plamause, and plawmass, or simply by dropping the accents.
It’s a word familiar to me since childhood, but I hear it only occasionally. A plámáser or plámásaí /’plɔ:mɔ:si:/ is a person engaging in plámás, while plámásach /’plɔ:mɔ:səx/ (‘flattering’) is the adjectival form. Here are some examples of its use.
Christopher Nolan, in The Banyan Tree:
now his big plámásing smile was back on
A photo caption on a travel blog:
Eoghan plamasing the local women to get a cup of butter tea…
The Laois Nationalist:
On her re election as assistant treasurer Evelyn Dunne had words of support from her chairman Dick Miller: ‘She wont go out of her way to plaumause you or endear herself to you but I guarantee you she does the work.’
The blog Hunter S. Thompson Books:
Hunter S. Thompson a friend of the Mitchell brothers drifts in and out of this story. Reading it I can imagine him bounding around with his usual bow-legged gait, doing what he did best – plamasing everyone in sight, looking like he owned the place.
A quip on the IrishDogs community forum, in response to someone looking for a lift for a dog:
yeah plamause your way in there ;-)
A comment at the Irish Left Review:
Instead of the usual plamasach self-pitying oul’ guff which passes for analysis on the Irish Left…
A comment at Indymedia Ireland:
Concealing your argument with vague allusions and references without ever clarifying your point might impress and plaumause those already on your side, but it will only alienate everybody else.
Tom Mac Intyre in The Charollais, cited in Bernard Share’s Slanguage:
‘We are, in no sense, boasting.’ ‘Shur I know ye’re not, m’lord — I always knew ye’d go places, an’ I’m not just plawmassin’ ye now.’
The origin of plámás is unknown. One suggestion is that it’s a corrupted form of blanc-mange, but the link seems tenuous. There’s a related word plásaí /’plɔ:si:/ (plausy, plauzy, plausey, plossey), which can mean either flattery or flatterer. See the previous link for examples.
When plámás was mentioned in the London Review of Books (1999), it prompted a letter with this amusing comment:
It is a word my Irish mother often uses in a verbal mode. I’d always thought it was ‘plum-arse’, as in ‘You’d think that Tony Blair could plum-arse them all into agreement, he’s certainly got the mouth for it.’
I wonder if this line was borrowed verbatim. Plum-arse probably qualifies as an eggcorn, but it’s unlikely to gain any currency given the original term’s scarcity. Even in Ireland, plámás isn’t in common usage: an enthusiastic commenter on Boards.ie from Gorey, Co. Wexford thought plámás was a word his mother had invented.
.
(To mark long vowels in IPA, I’ve used ordinary colons instead of the standard triangular marks, because WordPress isn’t rendering the latter clearly.)
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By Ben Cohen
For those of you still wedded to the idea that private health insurance is the best way to get people the health care they need, please take the time to watch this fascinating interview with former head of corporate communications for CIGNA Wendell Potter (h/t Chez Pazienza).
Bill Moyers talks with Potter on the structure of the industry that puts profit over people and denies sick people crucial care. Here's an interesting exchange on why the insurance industry is so opposed to a public plan:
WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely right. It's the way the American system has evolved, the political system.
But it does offend me, that the vested special interests, who are so
profitable and so powerful, are able to influence public policy in the
way that they have, and the way that they've done over the years. And
the insurance industry has been one of the most successful, in beating
back any kinds of legislation that would hinder or affect the
profitability of the companies. BILL MOYERS: Why is public insurance, a public option, so fiercely opposed by the industry? WENDELL POTTER:
The industry doesn't want to have any competitor. In fact, over the
course of the last few years, has been shrinking the number of
competitors through a lot of acquisitions and mergers. So first of all,
they don't want any more competition period. They certainly don't want
it from a government plan that might be operating more efficiently than
they are, that they operate. The Medicare program that we have here is
a government-run program that has administrative expenses that are like
three percent or so. BILL MOYERS: Compared to the industry's-- WENDELL POTTER:
They spend about 20 cents of every premium dollar on overhead, which is
administrative expense or profit. So they don't want to compete against
a more efficient competitor.
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ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
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So, the private sector is afraid of the public sector because it would be more efficient? It goes to show you how ridiculous the idea that the 'free market' works best in providing people health care. It doesn't, and the private sector knows it. That's why they're spending millions of dollars convincing everyone that it is. For more on how to help fight the corporations, go here:
Health Care For America Now |
A man has been arrested after remains — reportedly including a severed head and foot — were tentatively identified as those of a Seattle-area mother of three, authorities said late Monday.
Ingrid Lyne, 40, was last seen Friday night before going on a date to a Seattle Mariners game, Q13 Fox reported. She was reported missing the following morning after she failed to collect her three daughters from her ex-husband as scheduled.
John Robert Charlton, 37, was arrested in connection with Lyne’s disapperance and booked into King County Jail for investigation of homicide. The Seattle Times reported that Charlton has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for misdemeanor assault in 1997 and misdemeanor battery in Idaho in 2009. Q13 Fox reported that Charlton was also arrested for felony theft in Montana in 2009. The Associated Press reported on a negligent driving arrest in Washington State in 1998 and a second-degree felony for aggravated robbery in Utah in 2006.
"We used some forensic evidence dealing with telephone calls and cell towers and the usual investigative shoe leather, utilizing those we were led to a suspect early on," said Seattle Assistant Police Chief Robert Merner.
The station, citing friends of Lyne, reported that she had met Charlton online in either February or March and the two had been dating since. It was not clear on which website the two had met.
The King County Medical Examiner's Office will make the final determination of identity. However, the Seattle Times reported that Lyne's head was among the body parts found in a recycling bin in Seattle's Central District, enabling detectives to identify her.
Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole said that investigators don't believe there are any other suspects in the case.
Homicide detectives still searching for silver 2015 Toyota Highlander # AUW3230 (similar to pic). Call 911 if seen pic.twitter.com/i8fVnSNHQH — Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) April 12, 2016
Investigators also located Lyne's silver 2015 Toyota Highlander SUV, which had been reported stolen along with her disappearance. A statement said the vehicle had been found in downtown Seattle, but did not elaborate further.
Investigators determined the remains, which were packaged in plastic bags, had been placed in the bin late Friday or early Saturday. A police spokesman said the bin would have been empty because recyclables were collected on the block on Fridays.
"The purse, the telephone and everything was in [her] house," Lyne's neighbor Edward Franceschina told Q13 Fox.
Franceschina told the Seattle Times that detectives had converged on the quiet middle-class neighborhood about 11 miles southeast of downtown with a mobile crime lab early Sunday morning.
"I saw them doing their thing,” he said. “They came out with boxes and were here a couple of hours. I finally went to bed at 3 a.m. when they left."
Seattle's Swedish Medical Center confirmed Lyne was an employee. Her children reportedly are staying with a family friend.
Click for more from The Seattle Times.
Click for more from Q13 Fox.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
Take-Two is taking its best shot at escaping a multi-million dollar lawsuit for depicting the tattoos of NBA superstars like LeBron James, Eric Bledsoe and Kenyon Martin in its NBA 2K video game franchise. On Wednesday, the publisher submitted a motion for judgment on the pleadings and argued that it has every right to showcase players as they appear in real life. The motion sets up a first-of-its-kind ruling from a New York federal judge, and Take-Two is warning of the stakes.
"In essence, Solid Oak argues that these public figures must seek its permission every time they appear in public, film or photographs and that those that create new works depicting the players as they actually appear (with their Tattoos) should be enjoined and pay damages to Solid Oak," writes Take-Two attorney Dale Cendali. "Yet, no case has interpreted copyright law as providing such a right, and doing so here would inhibit copyright’s purpose of encouraging the creation of new works. This is particularly troubling at a time when tattoos are becoming increasingly popular."
Solid Oak is the plaintiff in the case filed back in February 2016 after acquiring rights from various tattoo artists. The company, derided as an "opportunist" by Take-Two, argues that tattoo designs "easily satisfy" a standard for originality and are fixed in a tangible medium (the skin of humans).
At the moment, the copyright-ability of tattoos isn't the subject of debate.
Instead, Solid Oak and Take-Two have agreed to first put before the judge the defendant's question of whether the video game publisher's use of tattoos is either de minimis or fair use.
Take-Two's de minimis argument is rather straightforward.
"The Tattoos rarely appear in NBA 2K as they only are displayed when the players on whom they are inked are selected from the over 400 other NBA players that are available," states Take-Two's memorandum. "Even when the Tattoos appear, they are not prominent as the game camera generally uses a full-court shot with the players’ avatars appearing as small images, and the Tattoos thus appearing even smaller than they would in real life. This makes the Tattoos difficult (if not impossible) to see even when the players appear in the game."
The argument will only be a winning one if U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain agrees that the qualitative or quantitative significance in the video game is what matters. Perhaps an example of the coming counter-argument comes from a decision four years ago in a case over sampling on the Beastie Boys' album, Paul's Boutique. There, a New York judge ruled that whether listeners could detect samples was irrelevant as what really mattered was the portion taken of the original. (The Beastie Boys eventually won the case anyway.)
Alternatively, Take-Two urges the judge to declare it has engaged in fair use.
The defendant goes through the four factors. For the purpose and character of the use, Cendali argues that while the tattoos were originally created to serve the NBA players' self-expression, Take-Two is using them for authenticity. To the nature of the copyrighted work, she argues that any creativity must be weighed against the fact that tattoos were copied to depict real-world subject matter realistically. Factor three measures the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and here, Cendali echoes some of the points over de minimis.
What arguably separates this case from other potential ones, possibly limiting any precedent if the judge chooses to focus on it, is the fourth factor that examines the effect of the use upon the potential market.
"Solid Oak’s license agreements with the tattooists expressly disclaim 'the right to tattoo a permanent tattoo rendering onto a person’s skin,'" states the brief. "Moreover, Solid Oak has admitted that it has never licensed to any party 'the ability to ink the Tattoos on other people.' Thus, it has no rights in or to the original market for the Tattoos (i.e., inking them on people)."
Anticipating a rebuttal over a licensing market for these tattoos, Take-Two's summary judgment motion warns the judge not to heed the theoretical and adds that Solid Oak has admitted to not obtaining the publicity or trademark rights "necessary" to depict the Tattoos on merchandise.
"Solid Oak’s lack of licenses in these overlapping intellectual property rights prevents Solid Oak from commercializing the Tattoos," states the brief.
It's an interesting argument, but also an odd one given that Take-Two itself has fought cases — like a battle with actress Lindsay Lohan — over whether publicity rights are really necessary. Other video game companies like Electronic Arts over Madden NFL have too and presumably lack such rights. Perhaps it's the word "merchandise" that leaves Take-Two some room to make some creative and commercial distinction. Nevertheless, Solid Oak appears to have eyes on licensing in the creative market.
Take-Two ends its brief with a few words that showcase why others might wish to pay attention here.
"If Take-Two’s motion is denied, Solid Oak will be able to use that decision to shakedown each of the publications and television programs in which those players have appeared, as well as any other video game publisher that depicts the Tattoos," states the brief (read in full here). "It would be illogical to allow Solid Oak to seek rents each time that a player bearing one of its tattoos commercializes his likeness, or worse, appears in public, and therefore arguably 'publicly displays' the Tattoos under copyright law. We know of no case reaching such a result. Doing so here would set a bad precedent affecting all bearers of tattoos and the companies that creatively depict them."
Solid Oak's response will be filed in court soon. |
Major security alert over ‘heartbleed’ eavesdropping bug that could have infected TWO THIRDS of sites
Experts urged server owners to upgrade to latest version of OpenSSL software
Flaw allows hackers to eavesdrop on communications and steal encryption keys
Believed over 66% of web sites could be affected - and experts say all web users will be at risk in some way
Servers believed to be affected include those run by Twitter, Yahoo and Tumblr
A major online security alert has been issued after experts found a bug in one of the web's most common security systems.
Called the 'heartbleed' bug, it allows hackers to eavesdrop on supposedly secure communications.
The vulnerability was found by Google researchers in the OpenSSL cryptographic library, which is believed to be used in some way by roughly two-thirds of all websites on the Internet and is part of the most common server software in use.
The code was added on New Year's Eve in 2011 and no-one spotted the mistake until earlier this month. Experts say the bug could leave up to 66% of sites vulnerable to hackers if their encryption software is not updated. It compromises secret keys used to encrypt web traffic
WHAT IS OPENSSL? OpenSSL is open-source software that is widely used to encrypt web communications. It is used to protect websites, instant messaging, email servers, virtual private networks and other communications. It is used in two of the most widely used Web servers, Apache and nginx.
It is claimed heartbleed can reveal the contents of a server's memory, where the most sensitive of data is stored, including private data such as usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers.
The flaw also allows an attacker can get copies of a server's digital keys, which can be used to impersonate servers or to decrypt communications from the past or potentially the future, too.
The flaw was introduced in OpenSSL in December 2011, and was been 'in the wild' until yesterday, when a new version fixing the flaw was released.
Experts have confirmed the flaw is real.
'We were able to scrape a Yahoo username & password via the Heartbleed bug,' tweeted Ronald Prins of security firm Fox-IT, showing a censored example.
Developer Scott Galloway, 'Ok, ran my heartbleed script for 5 minutes, now have a list of 200 usernames and passwords for yahoo mail...TRIVIAL!'
The problem was uncovered by a team of researchers from Google Security and Codenomicon.
Research by analytics firm Netcraft says almost 500,000 websites could be affected.
'The serious overrun vulnerability in the OpenSSL cryptographic library affects around 17% of SSL web servers,' it says.
Its research found Twitter, GitHub, Yahoo, Tumblr, Steam, Flickr, HypoVereinsbank, PostFinance, Regents Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and the anonymous search engine DuckDuckGo are all affected.
The bug means hackers can eavesdrop and leave no trace in server logs. The flaw was introduced in OpenSSL in December 2011, and was 'in the wild' until Monday, when a new version fixing the flaw was released
Researchers have even given the bug its own logo
'The heartbleed bug allows anyone on the internet to read the memory of the systems protected by the vulnerable versions of the OpenSSL software,' according to a website the researchers who found the flaw set up to explain their find.
'This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content.
'This allows attackers to eavesdrop communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users.'
The vulnerability has been dubbed the Heartbleed Bug because it was discovered 'in the OpenSSL's implementation of the TLS/DTLS (transport layer security protocols) heartbeat extension (RFC6520),' the team said.
'This bug has left large amount of private keys and other secrets exposed to the Internet," they warned.
'Considering the long exposure, ease of exploitation and attacks leaving no trace this exposure should be taken seriously.'
HOW DANGEROUS IS IT? The Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of the systems protected by the vulnerable versions of the OpenSSL software.
This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content.
This allows attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users.
Daniel Foster of hosting firm 34SP.com warned firms with eCommerce capabilities to be extra cautious.
'With potentially all web users affected by the recent ‘heartbleed’ security bug that has hit OpenSSL software, which is the software that protects credit card transactions - it is important that eCommerce businesses contact their web hosting providers to check that they have taken necessary actions to avoid their customers being affected by spying and eavesdropping,' he said. |
If you love spending money every month on going to the gym, this product is not for you. If however, you’re like us and want to get killer abs, a toned butt and svelte legs, but prefer being in your living room and watching your TV (as opposed to at a crowded gym) and would rather drop cash on something besides an overpriced membership, this product is most definitely for you.
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The elliptical (order it by clicking on the product image below the video or going here) goes for $139, but if you enter our exclusive discount code (PEOPLE10), you can get it for 10% off (on orders $50 or more) — and it’s shipped free.
It weighs just 24 pounds and is 24 by 18 inches so it’s easy to move around, plus it’s quiet, features adjustable tension controls to change the resistance, foot pedals that go forward or in reverse to target different muscle groups and a monitor to track your calories and distance. Basically, you’re getting everything those mega-ellipticals have, only you don’t have to spend over a grand to get it.
A handful of PEOPLE.com editors already have the elliptical and while each uses it while watching a different show, they all love it for the same reason: One moment you’re stepping on the machine, then the next, you realize Scandal (or House of Cards or Real Housewives) is over and you’ve been working out for a full hour.
–Zoë Ruderman |
Image copyright Angélica Gonzalez Image caption The plants, pictured here by co-worker Angélica Gonzalez, underpin a whole ecosystem
It is hard to imagine you could reconstruct a record of fog dating back thousands of years, but this is exactly what Chilean scientists have done.
The low-lying cloud is seemingly so transient and intangible, and unlike rivers and glaciers it leaves no easy-to-read impressions on the landscape.
And yet, a Santiago team has been able to trace the fog history of the Atacama Desert by studying Tillandsia plants.
Their chemistry suggests strongly that this local fog has increased over time.
It is a period covering the last 3,500 years.
"I don't think there's any other place in the world where I've actually seen a record of fog, even spanning the last hundred years," said Claudio Latorre Hidalgo from the Catholic University of Chile.
"What little we know about fog is from measurement instrumental data that we have, and from satellite data that only spans the last 20 years.
"So, this is actually a unique opportunity to study the evolution of a fog ecosystem over the Late Holocene, and what are the major drivers and controls of the mechanisms that produce that fog in the long term - the very long term."
The palaeoclimate expert was discussing his team's research here at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union - the world's largest annual gathering of Earth scientists.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Claudio Latorre Hidalgo: "The fog is the plants’ only source of water and nutrients"
The Atacama is famous for its super-arid conditions; there are places where it has not rained for years.
But life can eke out an existence if it can exploit the fog that rolls in off the Pacific. Tillandsia are a perfectly adapted opportunist.
These wiry, grey plants have no roots. They clutch weakly at sand dunes, but arrange themselves at every spatial scale to maximise their capture of the fog.
They derive everything they need from the damp air - not simply the must-have water, but also all the chemical nutrients required to underpin their biology.
Dr Latorre Hidalgo and colleagues have dug deep into the dunes to uncover a multi-millennia succession of Tillandsia; and they have described a pronounced trend: the younger the plants, the more of the lighter type, or isotope, of nitrogen atom that they have incorporated into their tissues.
Image copyright Claudio Latorre Hidalgo Image caption The structure of Tillandsia maximises fog capture – by growing in a mesh (Top-R) and using appendages on the leaves called trichomes (Bottom-R) to corral the water
Analysis of modern fog suggests this lighter nitrogen is favoured, and so the observed trend in the Tillandsia would strongly indicate the fogs of the Atacama have increased over time… with some complications.
"How the nitrogen gets into the fog is a much more complex question," said Dr Latorre Hidalgo.
"I suspect a lot of that nitrogen is of marine origin. There is a huge oxygen-minimum zone off the coast of northern Chile, where there is a lot of denitrification going on.
"So, there is a lot of molecular nitrogen going into the air and a lot of nitrous oxide as well.
"We know there is both ammonia and nitrate in the fog. So, you get both organic and inorganic forms of nitrogen."
Oxygen-minimum zones are mid-water regions in the ocean that are extremely low in oxygen abundance, in part because marine organisms are removing it very fast and also because the waters that move into the zone fail to replenish the oxygen as they themselves are depleted. This is usually cold, upwelling water. And, again, this fits the overall picture because cold coastal waters will produce more fog.
"Our monthly fog collector data shows there is a significant trend with the coastal sea-surface temperatures and the fog. So, when you get El Niño events (and local surface waters warm), this warm water dissipates the thermal inversion that's holding in the low-lying cloud and this dissipates the fog.
"We think that over the last three thousand years, the coastal waters have gotten much colder, much more productive and that's releasing nitrogen from this oxygen-minimum zone to fertilise the plants."
And it is more than just the Tillandsia that are benefiting.
The plants' success in trapping and using fog anchors a whole ecosystem that supports creatures as diverse as beetles, scorpions, spiders and even lizards.
Image copyright Claudio Latorre Hidalgo Image caption The team has dug down through the dunes to find and analyse the ancient plants
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos |
What if the same was possible to hack computers to steal data using Sound waves?
Imagine, If a remote hacker could steal classified information from a targeted computer without having to physically and Internet access to it.
A team of security researchers has demonstrated exactly the same by developing a new hacking technique called Funtenna that uses sound and radio waves to siphon data from computers even without Internet access.
Ang Cui of Red Balloon Security, the Funtenna radio signal hack has the potential to turn Internet-connected devices (printer, washing machine and air conditioner) – popularly known as the Internet of Things – into bugs that can transmit data out of a network using sound waves that can not be heard by a human ear. According to a lead researcherof Red Balloon Security, the Funtenna radio signal hack has the potential to turn Internet-connected devices (printer, washing machine and air conditioner) – popularly known as the– into bugs that can transmit data out of a network using sound waves that can not be heard by a human ear.
How Funtenna Works?
The attacker only needs to install malware on a target's device such as a printer, office phone, or a computer.
The malware overtakes the control of the electronic circuit of the device (general-purpose input/output circuits) and vibrates them at a frequency (which transmits radio signal) of the attacker's preference.
An attacker then can pick up these signals using an AM radio antenna (Funtenna) from a short distance away.
"You have network detection, firewalls… but this transmits data in a way that none of those things are monitoring, this fundamentally challenges how certain we can be of our network security," said Cui.
Here, the hacked devices are themselves acting as transmitters. Therefore, the new Funtenna technique bypasses all conventional network security methodologies.
You can also watch a video demonstration of how Funtenna works below:
Funtenna is actually using a technique known as "Hardware Agnostic," which is generally available to operate with all modern computer systems and embedded devices.
The team showcased its new technique in action at the Black Hat security summit in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It will also release a "proof-of-concept" code for researchers and hackers. |
SAFETY FIRST: Ask an adult to help with tools you haven't used before.
With a tin can and paper clips, make a mini disc-golf basket. To play, toss bottle caps into the basket to score points!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
28- to 32-ounce tin can
Can opener
Ruler
Fine-tipped marker
Tin snips
Work gloves
Drill
1⁄4″ and 1⁄16″ metal drill bits
1⁄4″ x 6″ carriage bolt
Three 1⁄4″ nuts
Adjustable wrench or pair of pliers
Utility knife
Screw-on plastic bottle cap
60 paper clips
About 12″ of small rubber tubing
Several metal bottle caps
WHAT YOU’LL DO
1. Put on your gloves and remove the lid of the can, cutting it from the side so there are no sharp edges. Empty and clean the can.
2. Measure 2″ from the bottom of the can. Draw a line around the can. Use the tin snips to cut off the bottom.
3. Drill a 1⁄4″ hole in the center of both the bottom and the lid. Drill another 1⁄4″ hole in the center of the plastic bottle cap.
Figure: 1/4″ holes drilled in the center of the bottle cap, lid and can bottom.
4. Drill 12 1⁄16″ holes around the outer edge of the lid.
Figure: 12 1/16″ holes evenly spaced and drilled into lid.
5. Push the carriage bolt up through the bottom.
Figure: Side view of inserted bolt.
6. Slide the plastic bottle cap down the carriage bolt. Screw the first nut down until it is snug against the top of the plastic bottle cap.
Figure: Side view of nut tightened on top of bottle cap.
7. Make a strand of paper clips by connecting five. Make 12 strands. Bend one paper clip into a circle that fits loosely around the carriage bolt. Attach all twelve strands to the circle.
Figure: 12 strands of five paper clips attached to the paper-clip circle.
8. Slide the circle down the carriage bolt until it rests on the plastic bottle cap.
9. Screw the second nut onto the carriage bolt until it is about 1⁄2″ down the bolt. Place the lid on the carriage bolt. Screw the third nut onto the bolt until it is flush with the top of the bolt. Screw the second nut against the bottom of the lid.
10. Connect the paper clips to the holes in the lid.
11. Cut the rubber tubing with the utility knife so you can fit it onto the top edge of the can bottom. Your bottle-cap toss game is complete!
HOW TO PLAY DISC-GOLF
Disc Golf (sometimes called Frolf or frisbee golf) is game in which individual players throw a flying disc at a goal. Like traditional golf, the object of Disc Golf is to complete a course in the fewest number of disc throws.
More about Disc Golf from the Professional Disc Golf Association |
A group of top tech and finance companies including IBM, Wells Fargo and the London Stock Exchange Group, are joining forces to develop a new open source blockchain separated from the Bitcoin blockchain, Bloomberg Business reports.
The group will work with the Linux Foundation to create a public network that lets blockchain applications built on top of it communicate with each other. The open-source software will enable others to transform the way business transactions are conducted, according to a statement released by the Linux Foundation. The statement, not yet available in the open at the time of writing, has been shared on the Pastebin social sharing site.
The group also includes Accenture, ANZ Bank, Cisco, CLS, Credits, Deutsche Börse, Digital Asset Holdings, DTCC, Fujitsu, IC3, Intel, J.P. Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MFUG), R3, State Street, SWIFT, VMware.
“Distributed ledgers are poised to transform a wide range of industries from banking and shipping to the Internet of Things, among others,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “As with any early-stage, highly-complex technology that demonstrates the ability to change the way we live our lives and conduct business, blockchain demands a cross-industry, open source collaboration to advance the technology for all.”
Digital Asset Holdings is contributing the Hyperledger mark, which will be used as the project name, as well as enterprise grade code and developer resources. Digital Asset Holdings bought San Francisco-based Hyperledger in June. The hyperledger.com URL now redirects to blockchain.linuxfoundation.org.
“The blockchain for business is ready in 2016,” states the brand new website. “Linux Foundation has united industry leaders to advance blockchain technology with a new open ledger project to transform the way business transactions are conducted around the world.”
“We are delighted that The Linux Foundation is providing a broadly-supported vehicle through which we can contribute the Hyperledger brand and enterprise grade blockchain solutions to the open source community,” said financial superstar Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset Holdings. “The resulting impetus will benefit our clients and the entire global financial services industry who are seeking to build business applications on a trusted foundation."
IBM intends to contribute tens of thousands of lines of its existing codebase and its corresponding intellectual property to the open source project. R3 intends to contribute a new financial transaction architectural framework designed to specifically meet the requirements of its global bank members and other financial institutions. “These technical contributions, among others from a variety of companies, will be reviewed in detail in the weeks ahead by the formation and Technical Steering Committees,” notes the statement.
"Deutsche Börse group sees great potential in blockchain technology, and is delighted to join this initiative,” said Jeffrey Tessler, a member of the executive board of Deutsche Börse AG. “As a market infrastructure covering the entire value chain, we believe that the true value of the blockchain will only materialise as part of industry initiatives such as Hyperledger project.”
It seems plausible that the global payments innovation initiative recently announced by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) could be related to the Hyperledger project.
“The current blockchain is a great design pattern,” said IBM Vice President Jerry Cuomo, CTO of IBM’s software group, as reported by Wired. “Now, how do we make that real for business? What are the key attributes needed to make that happen? That’s what this organization is about.”
Cuomo added that the group intends to create something that is like the blockchain but separate. “We are very excited about blockchain, less as a once-and-only-once implementation of an idea, but as an idea that can be implemented and extended in ways that are consistent but enhanced,” he said. Wired notes that, by backing a new project separated from the Bitcoin blockchain, the group can exert more control over blockchain technology. |
High-end, "fusion" Chinese food gets a bad rap around town. It makes sense. Angelenos can get the real thing for half of the price point -- just trek on over to the San Gabriel Valley for proof. There's a repertoire of high quality dishes there: tea-smoked duck that takes a grand seven days to make and finely pressed noodles soaked in a dark, earthy beef broth.
These traditional dishes are great, but there are a handful of innovators out there rolling out unique riffs on traditional Chinese food items, and their wares are both respectable and overlooked.
Here are our five favorite picks that can't be found at your typical mom-and-pop Chinese eatery:
Sweet Flatbread with Vanilla Ice Cream from Pingtung Eat-In Market ($4.95)
Pingtung is an Asian fusion joint on Melrose sporting dim sum, Taiwanese plates, and Japanese specials like sushi rolls and tonkotsu ramen. Skip straight to their dessert menu and order the sweet flatbread. The bread is essentially a laobing (ç??é¤?) -- rolled and layered unleavened bread that is fried to a crisp, and normally a savory dish. Pingtung tops theirs off with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and a sprig of mint. Order to share.
Crab and Uni Yang Chau Xiao-long Bao from Chi Lin ($15)
The price on this dish will undoubtedly leave a dent in your pocket, but if there's a xiaolongbao that screams fine dining -- this is it. The bao is stuffed with crab and pork meat and topped with uni mousse, of all expensive things, and finely sliced pieces of ginger. On the side is a pink ginger vinaigrette in a pipette. No this isn't a lab experiment, but the eating process is admittedly a five-step process. How to eat this gem: Plop it on your spoon, top it off with a couple drops of pink vinegar, bite off a piece of the skin, suck the soup out, and enjoy the rest. The soup has a mild hint of sweetness to it, which is always an indicator of a xiaolongbao done right.
Minced Lamb with Pickled Mustard Green Shao-Bing from Chi Lin ($17)
Shaobings (ç??é¤?) served Taiwanese-style are traditionally large, baked flatbreads decorated with sesame and stuffed with thinly sliced flank steak, cilantro, and julienned scallions. It's the Chinese equivalent of a breakfast sandwich. In his version, Taiwanese chef Yujean Kang transforms this item into miniature hot pockets without compromising the classic crisp texture. It's not sandwich anymore -- it's a pocket and you stuff them yourself with Northern wok-fired minced lamb, garlic, and pickled mustard greens. Add chili sauce for an extra kick.
Alcoholic Boba from Boba 7 ($8)
Boba are dark, chewy tapioca balls used in tea-based drinks. It's a Taiwanese-born concoction with infinite amount of variations and flavorings, but few places spike it with liquor. Entrepreneur Elton Keung is making a niche for himself by doing just that. His bar is called Boba 7, a hidden "speakseasy" located in the back of Thai restaurant Soi 7 in downtown Los Angeles. The drink in question is the Bobagasm. It's similar to the Screaming Orgasm (a.k.a the White Russian) but there's a twist. The difference? Soju and boba. The Bobagasm is one of Boba 7's specialty drinks. It's topped with Kahlua and Irish cream-flavored milk, with brown sugar and honey boba on the bottom. You drink it with a boba straw and no, take-out orders are not allowed.
Sea Urchin Buns from The Bazaar ($13)
A list of unconventional dishes in Los Angeles wouldn't be complete without a mention of at least one of Bazaar's quirky offerings. These miniature buns are a modern and seafood-centric take on the gua bao (å?®å??). Gua baos are traditionally stuffed with fatty slices of pork, pickled vegetables, and cilantro. The Bazaar instead adds fresh uni and creamy slices of avocado. One bite into this fantastically creamy sandwich and you'll taste the subtle heat of the chili complemented with a slight hint of ginger.
Aforementioned Restaurants:
Pingtung Eat-In Market
Chi Lin
Boba 7
The Bazaar
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Restaurateur George Yu Talks Cantonese Food and Sleep Deprivation |
Phil Jackson and Steve Kerr have more in common than the 1990s Chicago Bulls. (AP)
The legal use of marijuana, whether it be medicinally or recreationally, is gaining steam in the NBA.
First, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted last week to using legally prescribed marijuana during his recovery from a 2015 back surgery, questioning how a league could encourage prescription painkiller use for players healing from injury while listing marijuana among its banned substances.
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Now, New York Knicks president Phil Jackson has followed Kerr’s admission with tales of recreational marijuana use during his own recovery from back surgery as a player in 1969, suggesting the recent legalization of cannabis in several states will force the NBA to address a rule now in conflict with law.
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In an appearance on CBS Sports Network’s “We Need to Talk” on Tuesday, during which he touched on several subjects, including a non-apology for his controversial “posse” remarks on LeBron James, Jackson was asked about Kerr’s recent comments on marijuana. This was his response, in its entirety:
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“I don’t know about its medicinal ability. I know that when I had back surgery, the year I was off I was smoking marijuana during that period of time. I think it was a distraction for me as much as a pain reliever, but I never thought of it as ultimately a pain medication for that type of situation. I know for ocular things, stomach digestive issues and other things I think it is regarded quite highly. “We’re in a situation that’s in flux. We have states — Washington, D.C., Colorado — that have legalized marijuana. Those are going to raise issues. We also have a testing regiment that we go through in the NBA, so we’re kind of in conflict with what is going to be the law. I see that as a decision that’s — I don’t know if we can equate it to gay marriage or whatever else — but it’s a decision that’s going to be made by our population at some point. They’re going to come out and make that decision for us, I think, instead of legislators trying to make the decision. “I think we’ve tried to stop it in the NBA. I don’t think we’ve been able to stop it. I think it still goes on and is still a part of their culture in the NBA, and I think it’s something we either have to accommodate or we have to figure out another way to deal with it.”
As others have noted, Jackson already discussed his 1960s and ’70s marijuana and LSD use in both his 1975 autobiography, “Maverick,” and 2001 biography, “Mindgames: Phil Jackson’s Long Strange Journey,” weighing perceived mind-altering benefits of such substances against the inherent dangers.
Phil Jackson admitted to using marijuana while recovering from injury as a player in 1969. (Getty Images)
Jackson did not elaborate on any potential personal marijuana use after the 1969-70 season, when he missed the entirety of New York’s championship campaign following spinal fusion surgery, but he did suggest marijuana was still prevalent among today’s players. In 1997, when Jackson and Kerr’s Chicago Bulls were in the midst of winning six titles, The New York Times famously reported roughly 60-70 percent of the league smoked marijuana, and that number may be higher now, if Jay Williams’ 75-80 percent estimate this past May is accurate. In other words, marijuana is not a new issue for the NBA.
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According to the 2011 collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and its players’ association, all players are subject to as many as six tests per year, randomly scheduled by a third-party entity — four during the season from October 1 to June 30 and two more in the offseason months between.
Players cannot be suspended until a third violation of the marijuana policy, which includes court convictions for use or possession in addition to positive tests, at which point they face a five-game ban (10 for a fourth violation, 15 for a fifth, etc.). The NBA’s enforcement of its policy is widely considered lax, and Adam Silver suggested as much in an interview with GQ in 2014, when Chuck Klosterman asked the commissioner if Colorado’s legalization of pot would force the NBA to adjust:
“It doesn’t force us to change our policy. Plenty of employers have rules against employees drinking, which is perfectly legal. This is a policy matter, and it’s our strong preference that our players do not consume marijuana. We believe it will affect their performance on the court. That said, marijuana testing is something that’s collectively bargained with the players’ association, and we adjust to the times. But we’re much more concerned about HGH testing and designer performance-enhancing drugs. Among our many priorities going forward, marijuana is not at the top of our list.”
Still, two players have been slapped with drug suspensions as a result of marijuana use in the past three seasons, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Mitch McGary and Milwaukee Bucks big man Larry Sanders, both of whom are no longer in the league, and they offer interesting case studies in the debate over policy vs. productivity. Would Sanders, a rising star, still be in the league if he were allowed to use marijuana? And would McGary, a relative bust, still be in the league if he never used marijuana? The answers to those questions could shape the NBA’s marijuana policy moving forward.
However, the league did not expect in mid-November to drastically alter its policy in the forthcoming 2016 CBA, according to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor. This despite eight teams (Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards) playing in cities with legalized recreational marijuana and an additional 12 (Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors) in states with legalized medical marijuana. That’s two-thirds of the NBA.
With Kerr and Jackson now publicly addressing the subject, you wonder if both the NBA and its players’ association will take another look at it before the CBA’s expected final approval later this month. After all, if Kerr can admit to consuming edible marijuana in the same season he won NBA Coach of the Year honors, without repercussion from the league, it does seem hypocritical to hold players to a higher standard — to say nothing of a team doctor allegedly prescribing painkillers as an alternative to marijuana for a player who ultimately left the league over mental health issues.
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None of this is to say abolition of the marijuana policy is a universally held belief among NBA players and coaches. Between Kerr and Jackson raising the issue over the past week, Suns head coach Earl Watson and Houston Rockets player development coach John Lucas expressed their concerns about such a policy change, specifically for the message it might send to still-developing youth athletes.
Those worries should also hold weight in the NBA conversation, even if Watson and Lucas do not have the championship resumes of Kerr and Jackson. We can debate the merits of arguments for or against marijuana — its addictiveness, effect on the brain, reputation as a gateway drug and relatively mild influence in relation to NBA-legal alcohol and prescription drugs, among other sources of contention — but the point here is that this debate has become increasingly difficult for the league to ignore.
Jackson suggested there was a tipping point for the NBA once enough of the population voted in favor of legalized marijuana, and you have to wonder — now that two-thirds of the league’s teams play in cities that have passed some form of it into law and an estimated three-quarters of its players use the substance — whether we’ve surpassed that tipping point. Maybe they should put it up for a vote.
– – – – – – –
Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! |
Dick Grayson (Nightwing/the first Robin) is also highly prepared. In the first volume of the threepart series Trinity a villain by the name of Swashbuckler steals Nightwing's mask. Which Grayson promptly has destroyed via an explosive charge set for voice activation. The command phrase was only "Autodestruct."
Batman has attempted to be prepared in case of the inevitable superhero FaceHeel Turn, most notably in two infamous incidents. In Justice League of America: Tower of Babel, it was mainly confined to the League. The second was shortly after Identity Crisis where Batman decided to secretly tab every superhero/metahuman on Earth he could, so he built the Brother Eye program to monitor them. Both blew up in his face horribly (Ra's found and used the files and Brother Eye was hijacked by Max Lord and, later, Alexander Luthor). That being said, while they did indeed blow up in his face, they did so by incapacitating every member of the League, who all needed to be saved by the backup plans to THE BACKUP PLANS! Yes, indeed; Batman is so prepared, he even prepared for his contingency plans to get stolen.
Tim Drake, Robin III, is similarly prepared. In his own comic, while fighting another vigilante, they fall through the roof into a bowling alley, with Tim landing on an enormous display bowling ball. He stands up, and uses his feet to start rolling it toward his opponent, thinking, "Believe it or not, I actually trained for this. I told Bruce it was stupid at the time. We'll have a good laugh when I get back home."
Tim defeated Lady Shiva. Lady Shiva who's the best Assassin in the world, and (aside from Bronze Tiger and Richard Dragon) probably the best martial artist in the world. You wanna know how? He had poisoned some complimentary chocolates from the hotel she was staying at, before she wrote the letter challenging him. The poison was a paralytic triggered by an increased heart rate. Like in a fight. Against Robin.
In one issue of Young Justice, the new team goes on a camping trip to get to know each other better. Around the campfire they start a game of "truth or dare," and Superboy promptly dares Robin to remove his domino mask. He does... revealing another domino mask underneath. He admits that he had put the extra mask on before they left, figuring that this game would come up. Arrowette: You were toilet trained at six months, weren't you...
In an issue of Red Robin Tim is able to drop himself Stephanie and Prudence into the hidden basement of one of his safe houses right before it's blown up by the League of Assassins because he's already installed his own explosives under the floor in sets designed to drop out a circle of the floor without blowing up whoever was standing on it.
In an issue of The Batman Adventures, a criminal "artist" named Kim escapes from Arkham and begins leaving clues at crime scenes in a manner reminiscent of the Riddler. Riddler is furious that someone is stealing his gimmick and tracks Kim down himself. As they fight, Riddler asks what all the "clues" were supposed to mean. Kim reveals that they were actually references to an art film by a foreign director, and he was merely making an artistic statement. Riddler rants about how that is completely pointless, as nobody will ever understand such a reference, and the point of leaving clues is to give your opponent a fighting chance. Whereupon Batman shows up and reveals that he understood the clues just fine. When asked why he would watch random films and memorize the biographical information of their directors, Batman replied "In case I had to."
In one issue of JLA, the Martian Manhunter has shapeshifted into a Japanese woman using the name Hino Rei. Batman recognises J'onn instantly, and mentions that "the name is a giveaway". Yes, Batman knows enough about Sailor Moon to spot the name of Sailor Mars. Amusingly, this is because the author got pranked; he asked a friend for a Japanese woman's name that would translate out to 'Poet of Mars', thus establishing Batman's linguistics genius; instead his friend deliberately gave him the secret ID of Sailor Mars, and so the author inadvertently established Batman's otaku cred.
Batman's crazy preparation is shown to an extreme in the Batman R.I.P. storyline, in which we find that in case of psychological attack , he has created a backup personality known as "The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh". Said personality might actually be crazy, making this a literal example. hypnotizing himself to essentially strip the Batman part of his identity and leave only the Bruce Wayne part, in case someone found out and he needed to take extra measures to convince them (and others) otherwise.
In Batman #666, it was shown that in a possible Bad Future, Damian Wayne would become Batman. However, since he knows he's not as skilled as his predecessors, he makes up for it by booby-trapping every major building in Gotham in case he has to fight there.
Rather infamously in JLA 59 Batman engineered the defeat of Polaris to end with the JLA victorious, Superman's healing accelerated by the hole in the ozone layer and himself standing on a teleportation disk he had hidden in the Arctic for just such an occasion. Appropriately he ends the comic with the words "always plan ahead".
In an issue of Superman/Batman, it is revealed that Batman carries around a lead-lined mirror just in case Superman ever turns evil and Batman can't avoid his heat vision. Because, you know, that situation comes up so often.
During the Hush arc of Batman, it is revealed that if he is ever knocked unconscious, his helmet will release tear gas on anyone brave enough to reach for his mask, as well as his suit tasering anyone stupid enough to touch him. The taser shows up in The Dark Knight.
Lampshaded by Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle, in a teamup with Batman in The Brave and the Bold. An enemy has just ambushed them by essentially spawning an arctic blizzard ramped Up to Eleven above them, causing them to get buried in a few meters of snow. After Beetle breaks out and stops the blizzard by scaring off their attacker... Blue Beetle: Batman! Hold on! I'll find you and get you out! Can you break out the Bat-Snowblower or something?
(minor explosion)
(Batman digs his way out of the hole caused by the explosion)
Blue Beetle: (in awe) Please don't tell me you actually have a Bat-Snowblower...
Batman: Heating flare capable of melting through ice in a hurry. You'd be surprised what you pack after going up against Mr. Freeze enough times.
Further demonstrated in an issue of Superman/Batman where the world is under the control of Gorilla Grodd except for Batman. Batman's arm is robotic and Superman is gone in space because the atmosphere has Kryptonite in it. By the end of some long convoluted scheme that proves enough how Crazy-Prepared Batman is, it turns out that it was just a simulation of that potential scenario just in case and Batman reveals to Alfred that he does these all the time.
There was an Elseworlds comic called JSA: The Liberty Files which had alternate reality versions of Batman, Hourman, and Dr. Mid-Nite on a train in their civilian identities. They were simply eating dinner when they were suddenly attacked by a villain. Batman, as Bruce Wayne, opens his jacket and throws two grenades. One of the heroes remarks, "You brought grenades to dinner?" to which Bruce replied, "I needed them, didn't I?".
In The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Batman is well prepared for Superman coming to pay him a visit. He has The Atom punch Superman's inner ear to keep him off balance, then has the Flash place small charges all over Supes, after which Green Arrow shoots him with a Kryptonite arrow, all before Batman then hands his ass to him with Green K gloves. And then for the clincher, Superman tells the Bat he only came to talk, to which Batman replies, 'We're done talking. Get out of my cave.'
In one issue of Gotham Adventures, Harley Quinn writes a trashy romance novel that controls the mind of whoever reads it. Tim and Barbara were controlled while Bruce wasn't. Why? He wore leather gloves while reading it.
Batman Does Not Like Guns, but he still takes his proteges to the firing range. When asked why, Batman explained that it's useful to know as much about guns as possible even if he doesn't use them.
In one The Brave and the Bold comic, Batman reveals that he keeps a one-way one-shot handheld teleporter preset to the vicinity of a black hole in his utility belt. Just in case.
Jean-Paul Valley, during his time as Batman, was certainly this. Emphasis on "Crazy": he rigged the Batmobile to self-destruct and set up lethal dart launchers in the grandfather clock entrance.
In the New 52, a plot point in Forever Evil is that Batman created contingency plans in case he ever needed to take down the Justice League. He and Catwoman end up having to recycle the plans to use them against the Crime Syndicate, the JLA's Mirror Universe counterpart.
In Batman: Endgame, Bruce finally ends up having to put his contingency plans to use when the members of the Justice League are taken over by The Joker.
In Secret Six Deadshot is speaking to a priest, trying to understand why he has recently felt such strong urges to just kill everybody he sees, and he relates the story of the first time he fought Batman. At the climax he has Batman dead to rights at point-blank range and shoots him the chest, but Batman does not die as planned and then disarms and apprehends Deadshot. The priest then asked how Batman survived the encounter. Did Deadshot miss? Did the bullets bounce off him? No, he explains that the answer is actually scarier than a person who can dodge bullets or withstand gunshots: Batman had foreseen an eventual confrontation between the two of them, gotten to his gear before the fight and replaced his bullets with blanks!
As of DC Rebirth, it's revealed that Batman has a Batcave on the moon to store particularly special equipment including the Hellbat suit he raided Apokolips with. It works out in the Kent family's favor when Lois discovers the suit and subsequently uses it to defend her son from the Eradicator. |
This is the actual boarding pass I got from Delta. It's a nightmare. Note all the random alignments and spacing issues.
Update on Sunday, January 3, 2010 at 1:40PM by on Sunday, January 3, 2010 at 1:40PM by Tyler Thompson Here is an Illustrator file template with some of the elements and text, the fonts most likely wont come across unless you have them installed ( Titling Gothic and Gotham Book ) but it should help speed up mocking things up.
Update on Monday, January 4, 2010 at 6:51AM by on Monday, January 4, 2010 at 6:51AM by Tyler Thompson A great point was brought up by Samuel about the fact that boarding passes are printed with thermal printers. This would, in effect, ruin the colored designs, although you can print one other color besides black via thermal printers, most commonly red. Here is some more info on thermal printers.
Update on Monday, January 4, 2010 at 7:07AM by on Monday, January 4, 2010 at 7:07AM by Tyler Thompson Here is a shot of a Virgin Airlines boarding pass. I would settle for an offset printed backside and a better thought out thermal printed front side.
Update on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:38AM by on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:38AM by Tyler Thompson
Matt Davey (
@mattdavey ) gives us our first foreign attempt. Apparently, foreign flights have huge ass barcodes. Nice and straight forward, thanks Matt. It's interesting to note that the foreign pass he shows has knocked out text on black and an image behind it. So either this isn't thermal printed or it is pre-printed then thermal printed.
Update on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 9:11AM by on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 9:11AM by Tyler Thompson
Yoni De Beule has compiled almost every point into this beautiful example. I think I would add the boarding time, but other than that, this looks great.
Update on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 11:00AM by on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 11:00AM by Tyler Thompson
Designer
Designer Louie Manta gives us his attempt.
Update on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 7:14AM by on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 7:14AM by Tyler Thompson JJ sent this shot of a current Air New Zealand boarding pass.
Update on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 7:18AM by on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 7:18AM by Tyler Thompson Great redesign by JJ at Graphicology (Squarespace site!). He takes into account the printing restrictions and adds a human touch. This is a really, really interesting approach.
Update on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 7:25AM by on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 7:25AM by Tyler Thompson From Brent Gentile. He puts emphasis on the phonetics of your name and the airport codes. I think the phonetics part is important given the rich diversity of most airport travelers.
Update on Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 7:56AM by on Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 7:56AM by Tyler Thompson "Hi, I loved your blog about boarding passes, and here is my idea. You know, I think having a "vertical" orientation will give it a lot more clarity, like when you need to know quickly what a book is about, and you start reading from the top certain words. I tried to take the thermal printing into consideration when designing. " - Julian Montoya
Update on Monday, January 18, 2010 at 8:55AM by on Monday, January 18, 2010 at 8:55AM by Tyler Thompson Wallet sized pass from Davin Yoon
This all started on a recent flight aboard a Delta Airlines plane. I was heading back from New York where I had met up with fellow designer Dustin Curtis . If you are not aware of Dustin's take on American Airlines, go read this . Anyway, I was inspired by Dustin and his attitude towards shittily designed things, to say the least. I was bored so I started rummaging through my stuff trying to find something to read when I grabbed my boarding pass. So I stared at it for a while. Rubbed my eyes, then stared at it some more.It was like someone put on a blindfold, drank a fifth of whiskey, spun around 100 times, got kicked in the face by a mule (the person who designed this definitely has a mule living with them inside their house) and then just started puking numbers and letters onto the boarding pass at random (yes, I realize that a human didn't lay this out, if a human had, judging by the train-wreck of design, they would have surely used papyrus). There was nothing given size or color importance over anything else, it was a mess. So I took out my Moleskine and started sketching. I tried to remember my previous trip through John F. Kennedy Airport and when and why I needed to reference my boarding pass. It seemed like I first needed to know which flight I was on. I put the gate right next to this, but made the flight number first because gates tend to change quite often. Next came my seat which I always look at a few times while boarding the plane. After that I put the zone, which is how they board the airplane initially and always seemed like the biggest cluster-fuck of people not knowing what zone they were in or how to find it on their pass. I also did something with the time I think might help, when it was a P.M. time, it was white text on a black box and when it was A.M. it was black text on a white box. Below is what I initially came up with.After looking at my initial design for a while I really wanted to add some color. This would be a great way to help add some branding and give some instant visual recognition of which carrier you are on.Once I added some branding I thought this layout could work for basically every airline. Below is Jetblue. I haven't researched many other boarding passes, international boarding passes etc. So please feel free to sprinkle the comments with any knowledge, insight etc on the issue.Here is another design I came up with as well.If anyone has any ideas on how to make this better, please put together a design and email it to me here: t at squarespace dot com. If I get some interesting or good designs, I will update this post with them. |
Morro Bay officials shut down business competitors of council members
February 17, 2014
By JOSH FRIEDMAN
(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series about allegations of abuse of power and selective enforcement of laws in Morro Bay. Several videos, showing police and planning staff interacting with people who have business interests in the city, are attached at the bottom of the story.)
Morro Bay officials have targeted new start-ups in the city that would have competed with businesses operated by current and past city council members, several businessmen say.
Morro Bay’s planning and permitting offices, city attorney’s office and the police department have taken part in the effort to restrict competition, the businessmen said.
The Morro Bay Police Department set up a plan to shut down a proposed arts center in the old Morro Bay Sun Bulletin building, a department memo obtained by CalCoastNews shows.
The arts center was the brainchild of Jim Davis and Rick Holliday. The two signed a master lease for the 8,000 square foot Sun Bulletin building at 1149 Market Avenue in May 2011. They planned to create a center for the arts, which would incorporate music, an art gallery, offices and some type of eatery.
When they tried to submit their building permit and business license applications, city staff called them into an impromptu meeting with then-Planning Director Kathleen Wold. Wold refused to accept their applications and architectural plans and instead ordered them to construct a tavern or hotel at the Market Avenue building, Davis and Holliday said.
“I remember distinctly her saying you can’t do music. You have to do a tavern or hotel,” Davis said.
Wold then threw the plans down on a planning table and ordered the pair to meet with the city attorney and police chief, Davis and Holliday said.
Davis and Holliday then met with Rob Schultz, who was Morro Bay’s city attorney, and then-Police Chief Tim Olivas. John Weiss, owner of Coast Electronics, who was present at the meeting, confirmed that the meeting occurred.
Schultz also ordered Davis and Holliday to put in a bar or motel, the two men said. No options were allowed.
“It felt intimidating,” Davis said. “The tone was harassment.”
Schultz went so far as to warn them about going into competition with established business owners in Morro Bay, Holliday said.
Schultz denied the allegations, calling them ridiculous.
Holliday said a councilwoman, who owned a business across the street from the building, too, threatened him about going into competition. Carla’s Country Kitchen owner Carla Wixom, then known as Carla Borchard, sat on the city council from 2008 to 2012, when she unsuccessfully ran for mayor.
Shortly after signing the lease, Holliday was eating breakfast in Wixom’s restaurant, he said. Holliday told Wixom that he and Davis were thinking of putting in offices, hosting bands and creating some type of eatery.
“She said straight up that will never happen,” Holliday said. “She said you will never get a competing business there.”
Wixom denies the conversation occurred, saying she never spoke with Holliday about his business plans.
But, Holliday said she told him several times that he would never open a competing business and made jokes about him being unable to get permits and a business license.
By the end of 2011, Holliday ended his lease, saying it was impossible to operate a business at the location.
Davis continued his efforts to start up the arts center. In early 2012, he was joined by Los Osos Mexican Market owner Rey Diaz. Diaz moved into the downstairs, with Davis retaining the upstairs. Diaz planned to open a Mexican market in Morro Bay. His Los Osos location sells groceries and includes a grill, where customers eat Mexican food.
On Jan. 14, 2012, Diaz arrived at the building to move in his belongings. Just after Diaz arrived, police officers did too, according to graphic artist Toby Schultz, who was working in the building at the time.
The officers said they were responding to a report of an illegally parked car but proceeded to question Diaz about the business he was putting in the building, Schultz said. An officer then asked Diaz if he would be going into competition with Wixom.
“‘So, you’d be in competition with Carla?’ That was exactly what he said,” Schultz recalled.
After questioning Diaz, the officers walked over to Wixom and spoke with her for at least ten minutes, Schultz said.
A second witness, who asked to remain anonymous because of fears of retaliation, said the officers spoke with Wixom for about 20 minutes following the interaction with Diaz. Before the police went to question Diaz, Wixom was pointing them in the direction of Diaz, the source said.
Wixom said she does not recall the incident and that she would not have directed the officers to Diaz. She said, though, that she is close to police officers and talks to them frequently.
Diaz would not comment on the incident. Diaz does not want to upset city officials, several sources said. Diaz is concerned that it might jeopardize his use of the building.
The Morro Bay police log for the day shows that officers were responding to a “suspicious person incident.” City Attorney Anne Russell did not provide the names of either the person who was considered suspicious or the complainant when CalCoastNews requested the records under the California Public Records Act.
Since then, Diaz had begun to construct the market and gained preliminary approval to open the business. He has not received permission from the city, though, to operate a grill.
As Diaz flirted with opening the market, Davis continued to pursue his dream of hosting bands in the upstairs for private video production and small performances. Davis managed to host several bands in the building and even shot a music video there. City officials said he could only use the property for storage.
On Oct. 31, 2013, the Morro Bay Police Department issued a memorandum planning a raid on Davis’ activities. In the memorandum, Police Commander Bryan Millard wrote that Davis and Holliday had been hosting parties with live bands and that a disturbance would likely take place that evening. Millard directed the officers who would respond to the party to obtain a signed noise complaint from a neighbor, issue a citation and call the city building inspector and fire marshal, who had volunteered to come out to the scene after hours.
Although Holliday had been gone from the building for nearly two years, Davis hosted performances and had planned a Halloween party with a live band that night.
Paula Radke, who lives in a nearby commercial building called the police to complain about the noise. Radke told CalCoastNews that she had been instructed by neighbors to make the call before the event began. Radke says she lives legally in the building, but city files show that she applied for, but never obtained a permit allowing residential use.
Police officers Gene Stuart and Sue Gomes responded to the noise complaint and told her to sign a noise complaint, Radke said.
Stuart and Gomes called building inspector Brian Cowen and waited outside the building for more than 20 minutes before approaching Davis, a video made the night of the raid showed. While waiting for Cowen to arrive, Stuart ordered the band’s drummer to continue playing music.
“Go rock one more,” Stuart said on video. “Just do the song.”
Stuart and Gomes later issued Davis a disturbing the peace violation, charging him with a misdemeanor.
When Cowen arrived, Davis would not allow him to enter the building. Then, without inspecting the building, Cowen declared the entire 8,000 square foot structure unsafe and ordered everyone to leave, the video shows.
“They essentially shut us down,” Davis said. “It’s a total violation of property rights and free enterprise.”
Cowen said that the building tenant and party host had violated state codes. But Cowen did not cite the particular codes, the video shows.
“Per state law, you can’t use this building for any use other than storage,” Cowen said to Davis on the video. “By having these people in the building, you are endangering them.”
But Cowen refused to explain how he had made the determination that the building was unsafe.
Cowen red-tagged the building. Red tagging requires the city to shut off the water, gas and electricity and bar the public from entrance. Cowen later posted a notice citing state building and fire codes.
A few months later, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office dropped the disturbing the peace charge against Davis. Millard, though, said in an interview that his officers acted appropriately.
“We do work with the planning department as a partner agency in enforcing the laws,” Millard said.
The memo resulted from a meeting of the code enforcement committee, Millard said. The committee, which is comprised of representatives from different departments, including police and planning, meets to discuss code enforcement issues in the city, Millard said.
Code enforcers do not act on behalf of council members, Millard said.
“There is no direct action where a council member would talk to an officer and action would take place,” Millard said.
Building owner Clark Kayler, a Sacramento-based woodworker, said having his building red tagged was like getting slapped with a scarlet letter.
“They are allowed to just label a building unsafe,” Kayler said.
Kayler said the city has selectively enforced legal codes against him since he purchased the property in 2009.
Morro Bay planners have denied all business proposals for the Sun Bulletin building that occupy a cumulative total of more than 2,000 square feet. The city cited parking requirements as the primary reason for the occupancy restriction, even though the property includes an adjacent gravel lot.
Additionally, city records show that businesses have occupied the entire building on multiple occasions, dating back to its construction in 1969. The original business, a marine supply manufacturer and retailer, even used the parking lot for business activities, according to Morro Bay resident and former store employee Eddie Sylvester.
“When we were there, no one could park in the lot because we had it full of equipment,” Sylvester said. “The city uses parking against people when they want to.”
Other businesses on the block have grandfathered status and have no parking requirements. Radke’s business relinquished its parking lot in a property sale and remained open. Still, about one half of the parking spaces on Market Avenue are unoccupied during business hours.
Morro Bay has singled out his building, Kayler said.
“The scrutiny is not there for some people, and the scrutiny on my property never ends,” Kayler said.
Both Kayler and Morro Bay Councilman Noah Smukler, point to a 1986 city plan as evidence that the building owner has the right to make use of his property. The Beach Street Area Specific Plan calls for the protection of commercial activity in the area despite the existence of neighboring housing.
“It clearly shows that building has a right to be utilized,” Smukler said. “We have a specific plan that was approved and the community has adopted.”
The plan also called for the city to create parking stalls perpendicular to the sidewalk on Market Avenue to increase the amount of on-street parking. The city created the parking stalls on bordering Surf Street but never did so on Market Avenue.
One resident in the adjacent neighborhood is Councilwoman Nancy Johnson. Johnson’s Morro Avenue house with an adjacent vacation rental looks down on Kayler’s building.
Several individuals involved with the building allege that Johnson, also a political ally of Wixom’s, has frequently surveyed the property and rallied neighbors to oppose business activity there.
“I heard Carla and Nancy were really active down there in trying to fight that,” Smukler said.
Johnson said she never opposed businesses at the building and rather worked to lure them in.
The building is currently vacant, with the exception, of containing some Mexican market equipment. No new tenants have arrived since Halloween night when the building was red tagged.
Holliday and several associates have filed suppression of business and harassment claims against the city. Davis plans to do so as well, he said.
Audio and videos of the Halloween night incident:
Audio of Morro Bay Police officer Gene Stuart telling a man wanting to attend the Halloween party at the Sun Bulletin building that he gets a free pass to urinate in the street. Stuart does not want the man to tip off the building tenant that police are outside.
Video of Morro Bay Police officer Gene Staurt explaining that he has been up 36 hours and knows something is going on, but he is not sure what that something is because of his lack of sleep.
Morro Bay Police officer Gene Stuart says he is going to give a noise violation, but then orders the band to play one more song.
Morro Bay building inspector Brian Cowen says Jim Davis is violating state code though he will not divulge what code is being violated. He then red tagged the building.
Like CalCoastNews on Facebook and get updates on Josh Friedman’s Morro Bay series.
MB Police Memo by CalCoastNews
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Public Square’s big-ticket greening, updating and newfound popularity may shape the future of a 22-story office building bordering it that Optima Management Group has started to market for sale.
The Miami Beach-based property owner has listed 55 Public Square for sale, potentially as a redevelopment property with CBRE, said David Browning, the real estate brokerage’s Cleveland managing director. Browning also confirmed prior reports that CBRE has a listing to sell the AECOM Building, 1300 East Ninth St. “Optima made a huge (financial) commitment to Cleveland,” Browning said. “Right now is probably a great time to bring some things to market. With 55 Public Square’s location and the renovation of the square, we’re very excited about being involved with it. We’ve had a lot of interest, both from the usual local suspects and capable local groups as well as regional and out-of-town developers.” If Optima succeeds in unloading the properties, it may be able to execute the classic play in real estate: buy when few are buying and sell when prices are climbing. However, changes in office building fundamentals due to the trend of office downsizing and slow office-job growth may make that difficult. Optima also will have to see how much a developer wants to pay for a building such as 55 Public Square that needs substantial repairs as well as the expense of converting it to residential use. AECOM Centre, which has some vacancy, will have to find an owner willing to work on the property and not just collect rent checks, always a bigger challenge in the Midwest than on the coasts. An affiliate of Optima paid $34 million for 55 Public Square in 2008. That is a big number to beat to essentially rebuild the property. Another Optima-linked firm paid $46.5 million for AECOM in 2010. Alec Pacella, managing partner of NAI Daus, said selling each building will take some hard negotiating. “Big picture, it’s a good time to sell. The national spotlight is on Cleveland with the Republican National Convention,” Pacella said. “It’s a good time for Optima to recycle some capital. 55 Public Square has a great location as an apartment conversion. AECOM also has some vacancy. It’s hard to get paid for vacant space. Sellers can get paid as much as possible for leased space, but getting paid for empty bricks and sticks means finding a different kind of value. Which building will be easier to sell? It’s hard to say.” Pacella pointed out Optima is not marketing its One Cleveland Centre office building. “That’s no surprise. It’s their best performing building,” he said. Continued ownership of One Cleveland and a big stake in the Westin Cleveland make it technically incorrect to say the low-profile, media-shy Florida investor is exiting Cleveland. Chaim Schochet, Optima’s Cleveland investment executive, did not return three calls about 55 Public Square and has left a total of seven calls unreturned this month. The 55 Public Square building, once the home of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., which now is part of FirstEnergy Corp of Akron, dates from 1958 and signaled what is regarded as the beginning of Cleveland’s modern office building era. It was the first multitenant office building erected with air conditioning in Cleveland. Its vintage also means that it may qualify for federal and state historic preservation tax credits to help finance renovation and conversion expenses. |
“Wow, I’m kind of stunned, I’m thinking Sputnik,” said Chester E. Finn Jr., who served in President Ronald Reagan ’s Department of Education, referring to the groundbreaking Soviet satellite launching. Mr. Finn, who has visited schools all across China, said, “I’ve seen how relentless the Chinese are at accomplishing goals, and if they can do this in Shanghai in 2009, they can do it in 10 cities in 2019, and in 50 cities by 2029.”
The test, the Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA, was given to 15-year-old students by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development , a Paris -based group that includes the world’s major industrial powers.
The results are to be released officially on Tuesday, but advance copies were provided to the news media a day early.
“We have to see this as a wake-up call,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview on Monday.
“I know skeptics will want to argue with the results, but we consider them to be accurate and reliable, and we have to see them as a challenge to get better,” he added. “The United States came in 23rd or 24th in most subjects. We can quibble, or we can face the brutal truth that we’re being out-educated.”
In math, the Shanghai students performed in a class by themselves, outperforming second-place Singapore , which has been seen as an educational superstar in recent years. The average math scores of American students put them below 30 other countries.
PISA scores are on a scale, with 500 as the average. Two-thirds of students in participating countries score between 400 and 600. On the math test last year, students in Shanghai scored 600, in Singapore 562, in Germany 513, and in the United States 487.
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In reading, Shanghai students scored 556, ahead of second-place Korea with 539. The United States scored 500 and came in 17th, putting it on par with students in the Netherlands , Belgium , Norway , Germany, France , the United Kingdom and several other countries.
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In science, Shanghai students scored 575. In second place was Finland , where the average score was 554. The United States scored 502 — in 23rd place — with a performance indistinguishable from Poland , Ireland , Norway, France and several other countries.
The testing in Shanghai was carried out by an international contractor, working with Chinese authorities, and overseen by the Australian Council for Educational Research, a nonprofit testing group, said Andreas Schleicher, who directs the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s international educational testing program.
Mark Schneider, a commissioner of the Department of Education’s research arm in the George W. Bush administration , who returned from an educational research visit to China on Friday, said he had been skeptical about some PISA results in the past. But Mr. Schneider said he considered the accuracy of these results to be unassailable.
“The technical side of this was well regulated, the sampling was O.K., and there was no evidence of cheating,” he said.
Mr. Schneider, however, noted some factors that may have influenced the outcome.
For one thing, Shanghai is a huge migration hub within China. Students are supposed to return to their home provinces to attend high school, but the Shanghai authorities could increase scores by allowing stellar students to stay in the city, he said. And Shanghai students apparently were told the test was important for China’s image and thus were more motivated to do well, he said.
“Can you imagine the reaction if we told the students of Chicago that the PISA was an important international test and that America’s reputation depended on them performing well?” Mr. Schneider said. “That said, China is taking education very seriously. The work ethic is amazingly strong.”
In a speech to a college audience in North Carolina , President Obama recalled how the Soviet Union’s 1957 launching of Sputnik provoked the United States to increase investment in math and science education, helping America win the space race.
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“Fifty years later, our generation’s Sputnik moment is back,” Mr. Obama said. With billions of people in India and China “suddenly plugged into the world economy,” he said, nations with the most educated workers will prevail. “As it stands right now,” he said, “America is in danger of falling behind.”
If Shanghai is a showcase of Chinese educational progress, America’s showcase would be Massachusetts , which has routinely scored higher than all other states on America’s main federal math test in recent years.
But in a 2007 study that correlated the results of that test with the results of an international math exam, Massachusetts students scored behind Singapore, Hong Kong , South Korea , Taiwan , and Japan . Shanghai did not participate in the test.
A 259-page Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report on the latest Pisa results notes that throughout its history, China has been organized around competitive examinations. “Schools work their students long hours every day, and the work weeks extend into the weekends,” it said.
Chinese students spend less time than American students on athletics, music and other activities not geared toward success on exams in core subjects. Also, in recent years, teaching has rapidly climbed up the ladder of preferred occupations in China, and salaries have risen. In Shanghai, the authorities have undertaken important curricular reforms, and educators have been given more freedom to experiment.
Ever since his organization received the Shanghai test scores last year, Mr. Schleicher said, international testing experts have investigated them to vouch for their accuracy, expecting that they would produce astonishment in many Western countries.
“This is the first time that we have internationally comparable data on learning outcomes in China,” Mr. Schleicher said. “While that’s important, for me the real significance of these results is that they refute the commonly held hypothesis that China just produces rote learning.”
“Large fractions of these students demonstrate their ability to extrapolate from what they know and apply their knowledge very creatively in novel situations,” he said. |
NVIDIA’s speedy GPUs and Machine Learning software have unquestionably become the gold standard for building Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. And today, NVIDIA added TenCent to their list of cloud service providers that offer access to NVIDIA hardware in their clouds for AI and other compute intensive applications. This marks a significant milestone in the global accessibility of the hardware needed to build AI applications, from drones to medical devices to automated factories and robots.
TenCent (whose Chinese name roughly translates to “Soaring Information”) is one of China’s largest Internet companies and the world’s largest gaming platform, having recently announced 2016 revenues that grew by 48% to $21.9B. Many companies, perhaps most, opt to access GPUs in the cloud instead of buying and deploying the hardware directly. AI startups alone are a big market; over 2300 investors have now funded over 1700 startups, according to data compiled by Angel List, and the vast majority of these cash-conscious firms use cloud based NVIDIA GPUs to develop their innovative products and services. The exception is the world’s largest datacenters, aka the “Super Seven” (Alibaba, Amazon, Baidu, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Tencent) whose server farms probably crunch proprietary machine learning algorithms with thousands, or even tens of thousands, of speedy GPUs, 100% of which bear the bright green NVIDIA logo. (Advanced Micro Devices, the “other” GPU provider, has intentions to enter this market with a Vega GPU later this year, but does not yet offer optimized AI accelerators that can compete with NVIDIA’s Pascal.)
With this announcement, NVIDIA is now able to claim that every significant cloud service provider is a customer and supplier of GPUs as a service, including Amazon, Google, IBM Softlayer, Microsoft, Allyun (Alibaba Cloud), and Nimbix. And using GPUs in the cloud is the easiest and most cost effective on-ramp to building applications that require acceleration. “There’s been very strong demand for our GPUs in the cloud with consumption models expanding quickly as the AI era takes hold,” said Ian Buck, NVIDIA VP and GM of Accelerated Computing. “Companies everywhere in the world are increasingly turning to the cloud to develop and host their most demanding workloads, particularly for deep learning, inference, high-performance computing and advanced analytics.”
But Tencent didn’t just throw a bunch of GPUs into servers and call it a day. They built custom servers that support up to 8 high-end NVIDIA Tesla P100 (Pascal) GPUs interconnected with NVLINK, the first major cloud provider to do so. While Tencent did not disclose details on the server design, it is likely that Tencent is the 1st cloud provider to adopt and deploy one of the two newly announced open chassis designs (Big Basin and HGX-1) from the Open Compute Program (OCP), designs led by Facebook and Microsoft respectively.
It is also important to note that Tencent’s adoption of the Pascal-based P100 is one of the first cloud properties to offer access to this generation of GPU technology. Other cloud providers have kept PASCAL for their own internal development teams, only offering older Maxwell and Kepler generations as cloud accessible GPUs. I expect other cloud providers to fall quickly in line, since the Pascal architecture is now stable, available in volume, and offers a massive performance advantage over its predecessors.
The virtuous cycle of innovation in Artificial Intelligence will be built in the cloud, and not just in the USA, but especially in Asia, where Tencent-hosted NVIDIA GPUs stand to help accelerate that cycle globally, adding even more momentum to the AI flywheel. Now the rest of the world needs to catch up, or be left behind.
Disclosure: Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms, provides or has provided research, analysis, advising and/or consulting to many high-tech companies in the industry, including some of those mentioned in this article including NVIDIA. The author does not have any investment positions in the companies named in this article. |
By Maher Nazeh and Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than half a million Iraqi children are estimated to be at work rather than at school as violence and displacement hurt the income of millions of families, according to the United Nations childrens' agency UNICEF. The number of children currently working, more than 575,000, has doubled since 1990, the year when Iraq attacked Kuwait, setting off a chain of events that led to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the sectarian strife that continues to this day. Recommended Slideshows 4 Pictures PHOTOS: Singapore's treasures star in NY Botanical Garden's 2019 Orchid Show 4 Pictures 36 Pictures Oscars 2019: Red carpet looks and full list of winners 36 Pictures 36 Pictures All of these celebrities have had their nudes leaked 36 Pictures More picture galleries 16 Pictures These photos of Trump and Ivanka will make you deeply uncomfortable 16 Pictures 4 Pictures Inside Brooklyn's Teknopolis is tech that makes us more human 4 Pictures 4 Pictures Inside The Strand's Fight Against Being Named a New York City Landmark 4 Pictures "I used to go to school and work here for half a day with a low salary,'' 12 year-old Ali Hussien Khudhair, who works the angle grinder in a blacksmith's shop in Baghdad, said. ``I quit school and started working full time here and he (the owner) gives me full wages," he told Reuters TV. UNICEF said since the beginning of 2014, almost 10 percent of Iraqi children – more than 1.5 million – have been forced to flee their homes because of violence. In 2014, the Islamic State group took control of large areas in northern and western Iraq. Nearly one in five schools is closed due to conflict and almost 3.5 million children of school-age are missing out on an education, UNICEF said in a report on June 30. Related Articles Test your sex IQ Omar Sy: The 'Intouchable' man Omar Sy: An unlikely friendship In total, at least 3.6 million children in Iraq are at risk of death, serious injury, sexual violence, abduction and recruitment into armed groups, an increase of 1.3 million since the past 18 months, according to UNICEF. "I wish to go back to school and play with my friends,'' Khudhair said. ``I would be glad to go back and learn to read and write; I will be ashamed to have to say that I can't read when I grow up." About 4.7 million Iraqi children need humanitarian aid, while many families now face deteriorating conditions following military operations against Islamic State, according to UNICEF. "I'm working and learning the craft, it's better than school. What rights do graduates have? They are selling water on streets," 14 year-old Karrar Jaffar, who works in a carmechanic's shop, said. "Thegovernment does nothing. It's better for me to learn a craft," he said, his hands smeared with brake fluid. (Reporting by Saif Hameed. Editing by Jane Merriman) |
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Jon Stewart managed to do something with his Rally to Restore Sanity that hasn’t been done in a long time. He confused the mainstream media to the point of a near collective nervous breakdown. The media couldn’t figure out what this rally was about, and it was only when Stewart explained it to them that they realized that it was about them.
Here are CNN’s TJ Holmes and Kate Bolduan trying to describe the rally:
Holmes introduced Bolduan by saying, “Washington D.C. is gearing up for… something right now, and asked what is this thing?” Bolduan set a tone by trying to put this into the political box, only to leave confused. She said, “It seems that the rally and the people attending here are a little harder to define than many of the other rallies that we’ve covered.” She tried to tie it to the 2010 election only to have attendees tell her that this isn’t about the election.
A report on NBC’s Today show echoed the what is this thing question and called the rally and intersection of politics and entertainment:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Over at Fox News, they asked people if this was a political statement, people said no, and Fox continued to shade the rally as a pro-liberal pro-Obama event:
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
The media just didn’t get it. In fact, the whole point of the rally eluded them until Jon Stewart told them during his speech to close the event. Stewart explained that the media themselves were part of the point of the rally. Cable news’ approach is part of the problem, “But unfortunately one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24 hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying up to our problems bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic. ”
He continued, “If we amplify everything we hear nothing. There are terrorists and racists and Stalinist and theocrats but those are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe not more. The press is our immune system. If we overreact to everything we actually get sicker and perhaps eczema.”
Television news was paralyzed and confused when they had to cover an event that did not fit into their polarized partisan model. The idea that a rally would be held that wasn’t about politics or supporting a particular candidate or party left them stunned. They were equally dumbfounded by the idea that hundreds of thousands of Americans would show up to an event that had no political motive. They couldn’t figure it.
The corporate media didn’t expect anyone to catch on to their role as the dissemination system for partisan polarization. The media may not be to blame for the partisan divisions in our country, but they definitely help to spread and reinforce them by tilting their coverage towards conflict and sensationalism, while completely neglecting information and rational discussion. I think this rally was reflection of the extremist fatigue that most people feel. People want to feel good and like they can come together for something.
On this one day regular people wanted to show that media may be broken, but America isn’t. The American people came calling today, and their message was loud and clear. They not only want their country back, but they want their sanity back as well. What the media could not figure out was that Jon Stewart had a message that was bigger than politics. His message was that America is fine. It is our media and hyper partisanship that is broken, and Stewart advocated for everyone to work together to solve our problems. The media won’t like it, but this rally was about how great America can be, and how much of a problem they have become.
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A Russian internet investor who quit his PhD in physics and made a billion dollars from social networking and other investments has established the most lucrative annual prize in the history of science.
Yuri Milner, who made his fortune from investments in Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and Groupon, has launched a clutch of awards to recognise advances in the obscure field of fundamental physics, which aims to understand the basic laws of nature.
With each award worth $3m (£1.9m), the monetary value dwarfs that of the prestigious Nobel prize, which last year stood at $1.1m.
Milner, who has homes in Silicon Valley and Moscow, announced nine immediate winners of the prize, which is worth a combined total of $27m. The nine will now form a committee to select a winner, or winners, for next year. The prize will be given in the first quarter of each year, unlike the Nobels, which are awarded in October.
In an interview with the Guardian, Milner said the prize was for the "greatest minds working in the field of fundamental physics", and specifically for recent advances. In emphasising fresh achievements, Milner hopes the prize will help physicists who are still highly active in research and capable of major contributions in the future.
When the Nobel prize is awarded for fundamental physics, the recipients are often at the end of their careers – or worse – because it can take decades for theoretical advances to be proved right by experiments. The discovery at the Cern physics lab in Geneva this year of what looks like the Higgs boson came 48 years after the particle was first proposed by Peter Higgs, who is only now in line for a Nobel prize, at the age of 83. His name is absent among the prizewinners announced by Milner because his work was done so long ago.
According to Milner, the new prizes are not intended to compete with the Nobels, and differ in crucial ways. They can go to younger researchers because experimental verification of theoretical breakthroughs is not required. And, unlike a Nobel prize, which can be shared by three scientists at most, the Milner prize imposes no limit.
The prize differs in other ways, too: anyone can nominate a winner online, and the selection panel is public, in contrast to the secretive gathering and closed voting process that decides the Nobel prizes each year.
Alongside the main prize, Milner's foundation will give two further awards, the first being an annual New Horizons in Physics prize for promising junior researchers, and a special ad-hoc fundamental physics prize that can be awarded at any time, forgoing the usual nomination process. Milner said the latter prize might, for example, recognise experimental results that are clearly and immediately groundbreaking.
Milner, 50, left Moscow State University in 1985 with an advanced degree in theoretical physics. He later abandoned a PhD at the Russian Academy of Sciences for an MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Asked if the prizes intentionally trumped the Nobels, at least in monetary terms, he said: "The best minds in fundamental physics deserve that level of recognition.
"There's no mathematical formula of how I came up with that number, but I wanted to send a message that fundamental science is important, so the sum had to be significant."
On whether the awards made amends for his departure from physics, he added: "There's definitely an element of that. It's hard to deny."
The prizewinners are encouraged to give annual public lectures as part of a concerted effort to raise the profile of fundamental physics and communicate the real meaning of the advances to as wide an audience as possible.
The nine prizes recognise work that is often as difficult to pronounce as it is to explain. Maxim Kontsevich, at the Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies, near Paris, was honoured for the development of "homological mirror symmetry and the study of wall-crossing phenomena". Alexei Kitaev, at California Institute of Technology, won for work on using "topological quantum phases with anyons and unpaired Majorana modes".
Four physicists at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton – the former home of Albert Einstein – earned individual prizes, with three going to string theorists, who work on a model of reality that casts particles as vibrating strings of energy. The fourth, Nima Arkani-Hamed, was recognised for "original approaches to outstanding problems in particle phsyics".
Speaking of the prize, Arkani-Hamed said: "Obviously, I'm biased, but I think it's a fantastic thing for the field. It puts a spotlight on the subject of fundamental physics, which we all have a sense is important.
"Prizes don't motivate people to do physics. The rush of discovery is typically the greatest pleasure we have in this game, but this will be an opportunity to really showcase the subject."
When asked what he planned to do with the $3m, Arkani-Hamed said: "I need to think about it some more."
Two winners, Alan Guth at MIT and Andrei Linde at Stanford University, won separate awards for their work on the inflationary model of the universe, which proposes that the newborn cosmos expanded at a spectacular rate before slowing to a more sedentary pace. Though widely accepted among cosmologists, the work has not earned either scientist a Nobel prize.
Reached at his home in the US, Guth said he hoped the new prize would raise the profile of fundamental physics research, as societal attitudes had an impact on young people's career choices. He pointed out that, had the prize been around a century ago, Albert Einstein might have won it for relativity, his greatest contribution to physics. He won the Nobel prize instead,for the photoelectric effect, in 1921, after it was confirmed by experiment.
Guth, whose own work describes why the universe is the way we see it today, said he was unsure what to do with the $3m prize money. "It's awfully hard to think about," he said. "It took me a while to get accustomed to thinking about the inflation of the universe, and it will take me a while to become accustomed to thinking about this."
The winners
Nima Arkani-Hamed, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. For original approaches to outstanding problems in particle physics, including the proposal of large extra dimensions, new theories for the Higgs boson, novel realisations of supersymmetry, theories for dark matter, and the exploration of new mathematical structures in gauge theory scattering amplitudes.
Alan Guth, MIT. For the invention of inflationary cosmology, and for his contributions to the theory for the generation of cosmological density fluctuations arising from quantum fluctuations in the early universe, and for his ongoing work on the problem of defining probabilities in eternally inflating spacetimes.
Alexei Kitaev, California Institute of Technology. For the theoretical idea of implementing robust quantum memories and fault-tolerant quantum computation using topological quantum phases with anyons and unpaired Majorana modes.
Maxim Kontsevich, Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies near Paris. For numerous contributions that have taken the fruitful interaction between modern theoretical physics and mathematics to new heights, including the development of homological mirror symmetry, and the study of wall-crossing phenomena.
Andrei Linde, Stanford University. For the development of inflationary cosmology, including the theory of new inflation, eternal chaotic inflation and the theory of inflationary multiverse, and for contributing to the development of vacuum stabilisation mechanisms in string theory.
Juan Maldacena, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. For the gauge/gravity duality, relating gravitational physics in a spacetime and quantum field theory on the boundary of the spacetime. This correspondence demonstrates that black holes and quantum mechanics are compatible, resolving the black hole information paradox. It also provides a useful tool for the study of strongly coupled quantum systems, giving insights into a range of problems from high-temperature nuclear matter to high-temperature superconductors.
Nathan Seiberg, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. For major contributions to our understanding of quantum field theory and string theory. His exact analysis of supersymmetric quantum field theories led to deep new insights about their dynamics, with fundamental applications in physics and mathematics.
Ashoke Sen, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad. For uncovering striking evidence of strong-weak duality in certain supersymmetric string theories and gauge theories, opening the path to the realisation that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory.
Edward Witten, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. For contributions to physics spanning topics such as new applications of topology to physics, non-perturbative duality symmetries, models of particle physics derived from string theory, dark matter detection, and the twistor-string approach to particle scattering amplitudes, as well as numerous applications of quantum field theory to mathematics.
• This article was amended on 31 July 2012 to give the correct spelling of Maxim Kontsevich |
Barcelona "If Barcelona want to make history, we'll have to come back"
Iniesta calls on cules to believe comeback is possible
Luis Enrique: It was a disastrous night
As difficult to swallow as the 4-0 defeat was, Luis Suarez is not giving up on the tie, Luis Enrique or the season as there is still plenty left to fight for Barcelona.
Andres Iniesta too has called on cules and the team to believe a comeback is possible, and the Uruguayan striker will be hoping that is the case as he won't be able to feature in the Copa del Rey final.
"If Barcelona want to make history, we'll have to come back," he said. "We are all guilty, same when we win as when we lose.
"The team has to convince itself it is possible - we won the treble so we must believe in ourselves."
Suarez didn't want to dwell on his two yellow cards that mean he'll miss the Copa del Rey final vs. Alaves, with the Appeals Committee rejecting his appeal.
"What is said is done," the striker stated. "Few times do players get two yellows back to back in just a few minutes, and one of my cards was for a foul in midfield, of which there are many like it."
Finally, Suarez was asked about whether Luis Enrique should continue as coach and whether the club should sign a right-back, two of the most pressing issues for the Catalans.
"If we need a right back is for the coach to decide," Suarez said. "Not at all have we lost faith in Luis Enrique.
"We've enjoyed ourselves thanks to him and now we suffer altogether as a team.
"We aren't listening to those that are saying there are internal problems.
"It isn't surprising that people are calling it the end of an era. We are the best team in the world. We get criticised win or lose so this isn't new and we shouldn't pay it too much attention." |
Soon we may get the first ever glimpse of the dark side of the sun.
Well, no, there's no actual dark side of a luminous ball of burning gas, but there is an effective dark side, as in, the side of the sun we can't see at any given time.
Scientists aren't content to get just half of the picture, so they've launched the STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories) mission, a pair of NASA spacecraft that will orbit the sun simultaneously to provide a complete view of all sides of the star at once.
"Then there will be no place to hide and we can see the entire sun for the first time," STEREO project scientist Michael Kaiser of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center told Wired.com.
The perfect spherical view will come on Feb. 6, 2011. Right now the satellites, which were launched in October 2006, are about 90 degrees apart, which allows a picture of about 270 degrees of the sun — the fullest view yet.
"The whole goal of all of this is to try to get a better handle to try to predict solar storms, which cause cell phone disturbances, and disruptions to communications and power." Kaiser said. "We'd like to be able to predict these things as far in advance as possible to give us a longer warning time."
Solar storms are magnetic disruptions on the sun that release violent sprays of charged particles into space. These storms can produce magnificent displays of the Northern Lights. But some past storms have also cost airlines and satellite communications industries millions of dollars, and have led to large scale power blackouts (including one across the entire province of Quebec, Canada). Being able to reliably forecast these tempests in advance could make a huge difference in preventing disturbances on Earth.
Predicting solar weather is also important for the future of manned spaceflight. If astronauts are exposed to the intense radiation from solar storms while traveling beyond the protective magnetic field of the Earth, they could suffer serious harm. Even astronauts close to home who venture out for a spacewalk during a storm are put in danger.
"For future missions going to the moon and Mars, that's very important," Kaiser said. "Some of these solar storms can be very intense. If the astronauts were completely exposed to one of these storms the radiation could be high."
The STEREO mission also aims to improve our basic scientific understanding of the dynamics within the sun, which could shed light on the workings of stars in general.
See Also:
Image: One of the first photos taken by STEREO of flares on the sun. Credit: NASA |
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HILLARY UNIVERSITY. BILL CLINTON SCORED $16.46 MILLION FROM FOR-PROFIT COLLEGE.
Woops. Hillary bashes Trump for Trump University as she and her husband are guilty of the same thing.
Breitbart broke the news that in 2015, Bill had to quickly (and quietly) resign from his post as honorary chancellor of Laureate Education, a for-profit college company, which has been involved in its own controversy in the past.
Bill’s abrupt departure was due to Laureates funneling of $16.46 million over five years, all the while Hillary’s State Dept. threw at least $55 million to a group run by Laureate’s founder and chairman, Douglas Becker, a man not surprisingly connected to the Clinton Global Initiative.
Smells fishy to me.
But wait, there’s more!
Who else is a major financial backer to Laureate Education? None other than billionaire George Soros. You know, the guy who also helped back Ted Cruz. The same guy that Glenn Beck had for years trashed, but when George was backing his man Cruz, Beck said nothing. But I digress.
The Washington Post reports, “Laureate has stirred controversy throughout Latin America, where it derives two-thirds of its revenue.” Over the course of Bill’s tenure, Laureate spent over $200 million a year on over the top marketing, such as internet banners, telemarketing, and billboard ads to lure poverty stricken students to enroll to the for-profit school.
Classy!
Remember folks. Those in glass houses should not throw stones. Yet Hillary and team seem to be throwing all the stones they can possibly get their hands on. Hillary University is nothing more than a scam. How can she possibly point fingers at Donald Trump?
It’s simple. She’s a politician. You know. A career liar. This is the same Hillary who has been surrounded by controversy her entire political career. Yet somehow, she’s the likely favorite in the Democratic race. It’s time to wake up. It’s time to elect someone who’s in it for us. The U.S.A. Someone who will, Make America Great Again.
Continue the conversation. Follow us on twitter : @trumpwallnow |
ALEPPO, Syria — Skin diseases, in particular scabies and head lice, are raising concerns among residents and medical staff in the rebel-held part of Aleppo. Head lice, which first appeared in October in the al-Sukkari neighborhood, has now spread to most of the city’s neighborhoods, especially those close to the front lines.
This prompted a team of activists from the National Campaign to Combat Epidemics in Aleppo to declare Dec. 17 that scabies and lice have reached “epidemic” proportions in the areas controlled by rebels. The team called on all health and relief agencies and other organizations to intervene to fight this “humanitarian catastrophe.”
The campaign to fight these afflictions began around a month ago, but it has so far been limited to schools. Al-Monitor visited a school in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood where activists were examining students for scabies and lice and providing instructions on how to avoid them.
While examining the hair of a student with lice, Samar Ayoubi, a campaign supervisor, told Al-Monitor, “Scabies and lice are quickly spreading, especially in schools. Two weeks ago, the rate of scabies was 35% and 25% for lice in this school. Today, it has reached 45% for both diseases even though we distributed medicine to the affected students.”
Ayoub added, “We need a huge quantity of medicine to distribute to the residents to completely eliminate these diseases and prevent them from reappearing. The Red Crescent promised to provide the needed medicine after the medical storage provided by Medical Relief for Syria ran out.”
On Dec. 3, the Red Crescent transported a shipment of medicines for combating scabies and lice through the Bustan al-Qasr crossing, which separates the areas controlled by rebels from those controlled by the regime. The shipment included 2,800 packets of medicine that were distributed to hospitals and medical centers in opposition-controlled areas. This shipment appears to be rather small, however, in light of the extent of the spread of scabies and lice in Aleppo.
A Red Crescent volunteer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor, “4,000 bottles of benzyl benzoate lotion for scabies and body lice are going to enter through Bustan al-Qasr crossing.” The volunteer also said that the International Committee of the Red Cross is hoping to provide an estimated 35,000 bottles of medication, but “processing the shipment and getting authorizations might take a while.”
The situation on al-Tom Street in al-Sukkari, where scabies first appeared, is horrific. Because the neighborhood lies near the Ramouseh and Sheikh Said fronts, it has been exposed to continuous shelling, which led to basic services being cut. There is no water and no electricity. The piles of rubble from bombings have become garbage dumps. The residents share one water well for drinking and washing. It is a breeding ground for skin diseases like scabies and lice.
A resident of al-Tom Street carrying water to her home said, “I have a 10-year-old child, and so far he has not been affected by either scabies or lice. I shower him every day, but most of our neighbors have scabies, and this is why I do not allow him to play with the children here.”
Staving off the skin diseases that have spread throughout her neighborhood will be an ongoing battle. The mother lamented, “No one cares about us. Medicine was distributed once, but there was not enough for all the patients. If water is not provided, and garbage is not taken care of, the diseases will appear again.” |
Surprise, surprise: Last month was the hottest August ever recorded, marking the 11th straight month that global heat records have been shattered, according to NASA data.
The agency broke the bad, though perhaps not entirely unexpected, news on Monday. August had a global average surface temperature of about 1.76 degrees Fahrenheit above average, NASA said. It also tied with July as the warmest month ever recorded since record-keeping began in 1880.
“We are well on our way to the warmest year recorded,” the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote in an email to The Huffington Post this week.
If deemed the hottest year ever, 2016 will be the third year in a row to boast this unfortunate title.
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
But though every month — and each year — appears to bring the same news about “hottest” this and that, experts are warning against apathy and fatigue regarding record-breaking temperatures.
“While there may be a tendency to be complacent about the recurring record temperatures, with each month come more climate-related consequences that cannot be ignored,” wrote UCS climate scientist Astrid Caldas in a blog post.
Jonathan Bachman/Reuters Climate change makes occurrences like the devastating August floods in Louisiana -- the worst natural disaster in the U.S. since Hurricane Sandy in 2012 -- at least 40 percent more likely, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Climate change is not a future problem, but rather one that we are actively dealing with.
“We are feeling climate change impacts right here, right now,” Caldas continued. “From wildfires and droughts to devastating floods, climate change fingerprint is all around us and does play a role in making events more extreme. An example are this summer’s floods in Louisiana, caused by intense rains which were “at least 40 percent more likely to happen because of climate change,” according to research.
NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, stressed this week that it’s long-term trends, rather than monthly readings, that “are the most important for understanding the ongoing changes that are affecting our planet.” |
The clock is ticking on marijuana legalization initiatives in Oregon. There are currently four different initiative campaigns underway, but at this point, four months away from when signatures must be handed in, only two look like they have any chance of success this year, and both of them are still tens of thousands of signatures from getting on the November ballot.
view of Mount Hood from Portland (photo from usgs.gov)
If one or both of them makes the ballot, the Pacific Northwest could be a real hotbed of marijuana reform activity this fall. An initiative to tax and regulate marijuana is already on the ballot next door in Washington, and nearby, sparsely populated Montana is also the site of an active initiative signature-gathering campaign for legalization with at least decent prospects of making the ballot.The two best positioned Oregon initiatives are the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act of 2012 (OCTA) and the Oregon Marijuana Policy Initiative (OMPI), which are well into their signature-gathering campaigns. Essentially serving as placemarkers for the next electoral cycle are the Control, Regulation, and Taxation of Cannabis Act (CRTC), which was just approved for a draft title, and an initiative from Sensible Oregon , which has yet to be approved for a draft title.The initiative currently furthest down the path toward the ballot box is the OCTA (Initiative Petition #9), sponsored by veteran activist and medical marijuana entrepreneur Paul Stanford. It would allow adult Oregonians to possess and grow their own marijuana. It would allow Oregon farmers to grow hemp. And it would license Oregon farmers to grow marijuana to be sold at state-licensed pot stores. An earlier version of OCTA failed to make the ballot last in 2010. OCTA campaign spokespersons said it had so far collected more than 50,000 signatures. It needs some 87,000 valid voter signatures to make the ballot, so OCTA's goal is to gather about 130,000 to have a comfortable cushion to account for invalid signatures.Also well-placed is the OMPI, a constitutional amendment (Initiative Petition #24) to repeal the state's marijuana laws. It is supported by numerous in-state groups. "Except for actions that endanger minors or public safety, neither the criminal offenses and sanctions nor the laws of civil seizure and forfeiture of this state shall apply to the private personal use, possession or production of marijuana by adults 21 years of age and older," the amendment says. "The State may enact laws and regulations consistent with this amendment to reasonably define, limit and regulate the use, possession, production, sale or taxation of marijuana under state law."The OMPI campaign, operating as Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement , reported 46,200 signatures handed in as of Sunday. But because it is a constitutional amendment, OMPI must meet a higher signature threshold than other initiatives. It needs 117,000 valid signatures to make the ballot, and the campaign is aiming at turning in 185,000.The CRTC (Initiative #44) would remove marijuana from the state controlled substances act and give the legislature the ability to enact laws to control, regulate, and tax commerce in marijuana and industrial hemp.The Sensible Oregon initiative "would remove existing civil and criminal penalties for adults twenty one years of age, who cultivate, possess, transport, exchange or use marijuana" and require the legislature to come up with a regulatory scheme.The Sensible Oregon initiative has gathered 746 of the initial 1,000 signatures needed to win a ballot title. Activists are gathering them on a volunteer basis.Doug McVay, a long-time activist now (again) working for Voter Power , the group behind Oregon's successful 1998 medical marijuana initiative, said Voter Power supports any and all of the initiatives, but is concentrating its limited resources on the OMPI and a second initiative that would create a state-regulated medical marijuana dispensary system."It's a tough row to hoe to get enough signatures for a constitutional amendment, but we're still working closely with the campaign, and they're well on track to get there," said McVay. "And OCTA, well, God bless them, removing all criminal penalties would be good, and it would be wonderful if they can get it done."Time is running out on Sensible Oregon, said McVay."When they finally turn in their 1,000 signatures to the Secretary of State, it's going to take a minimum of 50 business days before they can start signature-gathering, and that's if there are no challenges," he explained. "They wouldn't be able to start until mid-May at the earliest, and they only have until July 6. They need to fish or cut bait.""Unfortunately, our effort is suffering from a lack of resources. We don't have strong outreach," said Oregon NORML's Madeline Martinez, wearing her Sensible Oregon hat. "We feel strongly that it has the best language for a draft title, and our years dealing with the legislature and lobbying lead us to believe people will be less likely to vote for a constitutional amendment for marijuana," she said.But the Sensible Oregon initiative is struggling even to get those first 1,000 signatures. "We would like to at least get those signatures so we can get a draft title and poll on that," Martinez said, "but the chances for this year are pretty slim unless we get that draft title and poll well and people start throwing money at us."Similarly, Anthony Johnson, proponent for the CRTC, which is just getting its draft title, was setting his sights down the road. "We'll get and improve on our ballot title and do some polling," he said. "We're playing for 2014 and 2016. It looks like the OMPI has the best chance of qualifying and passing, but even if it did pass, there would still be a need to reform the law."OCTA proponents did not respond to requests for comment this week, but in a recent communication to activists, Stanford said the campaign had 15 paid signature-gatherers and was in the process of hiring 20 more, as well as more than 900 volunteers. He said he had polls that showed OCTA could win with 60%, but copies of those polls were not available."We have the money in the bank to pay to put OCTA on the ballot this year and we will do it," he vowed.But OMPI is also making a big and well-organized push in the final months."I have 220 circulators on the street and we're hiring continuously," said OMPI proponent Robert Wolfe. "We have money in the bank or pledges to make it all the way. I think I-24 is a lock for the ballot."Wolfe said OMPI had polling numbers, but declined to share the actual poll results or crosstabs."We see a standard response that every quasi- or full legalization question gets, in the mid-50s, but we are heartened by crosstabs that show we have strong support among youth and the middle aged voters," he said. "Our polling also tells us that a couple of messages resonate. The statement 'We shouldn't be wasting valuable police time and resources arresting marijuana users' polls over 70%, while the statement 'Individuals shouldn't go to jail for growing plants for personal use polls at 68%."While the OMPI still needs to gather more than 100,000 signatures, it is confident enough to be looking beyond making the ballot to the actual campaign itself. The effort is looking to tie itself to the strong progressive elements that permeate Oregon politics."We are hopeful that we are going to gain the support of the progressive infrastructure here, including labor and the Democratic Party," said campaign strategist Adam Smith. "We feel that our ability to motivate and turn out young voters will be a very valuable part of the progressive campaign here in Oregon. Close to 70% of Democrats here already support legalizing marijuana and a majority of voters overall. This is not a radical idea here; it's not going to be a huge political step for people to get behind it," he said.They have a fundraising strategy for the general campaign, Smith said."We're reaching out to the business community. Like all the states, Oregon is short on resources, and we're spending tens of millions of dollars enforcing low-level marijuana violations," he noted. "Everyone understands that money could be better spent actually protecting people. We think people here in the state will step up. Everyone understands we have a real chance to win," he said."We're also hoping that the general momentum of having for the first time multiple states ending marijuana prohibition will get the attention of folks around the country who care about the issue, and they can make donations on our web site or Facebook page . Those small donations are key, because the large donors look to see that we have a lot of individual people behind us."Factionalism and infighting has been the bane of the marijuana movement in Oregon, as in so many other places, but this time around, there is hope that once the dust settles, people will buckle down and support an initiative even if it was the one they supported in the beginning."I believe that as it becomes clear we're making the ballot and the others don't have the resources, they will in the end coalesce behind us," OMPI's Wolfe predicted. "The old style of marijuana politicking has not worked for some time in Oregon; it's time to view this as an important social justice issue like gay rights, equal opportunity, and unions. We're modernizing and mainstreaming this. We will not be having smoke-ins, but we will be putting on ties.""I'm supporting whatever makes the ballot and I think can win," Martinez said. "I'm on that bus; I don't care who's driving. I just don't want to lose again at the ballot box. Every time they see us lose, it chips away at our credibility."But first, one or more of the initiatives has to qualify for the ballot. It is by no means a done deal, but it is looking doable. |
Peer review isn’t a core subject of this blog. We leave that to the likes of Nature’s Peer-to-Peer, or even the Dilbert Blog. But it seems relevant to look at the peer review process for any clues about how retracted papers are making their way into press.
We’re not here to defend peer review against its many critics. We have the same feelings about it that Churchill did about democracy, aka the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried. Of course, a good number of the retractions we write about are due to misconduct, and it’s not clear how peer review, no matter how good, would detect out-and-out fraud.
Still, peer review is meant as a barrier between low-quality papers and publication, and it often comes up when critics ask questions such as, “How did that paper ever get through peer review?”
With that in mind, a paper published last week in the Annals of Emergency Medicine caught our eye. Over 14 years, 84 editors at the journal rated close to 15,000 reviews by about 1,500 reviewers. Highlights of their findings:
…92% of peer reviewers deteriorated during 14 years of study in the quality and usefulness of their reviews (as judged by editors at the time of decision), at rates unrelated to the length of their service (but moderately correlated with their mean quality score, with better-than average reviewers decreasing at about half the rate of those below average). Only 8% improved, and those by very small amount.
How bad did they get? The reviewers were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 in which a change of 0.5 (10%) had been earlier shown to be “clinically” important to an editor.
The average reviewer in our study would have taken 12.5 years to reach this threshold; only 3% of reviewers whose quality decreased would have reached it in less than 5 years, and even the worst would take 3.2 years. Another 35% of all reviewers would reach the threshold in 5 to 10 years, 28% in 10 to 15 years, 12% in 15 to 20 years, and 22% in 20 years or more.
So the decline was slow. Still, the results, note the authors, were surprising:
Such a negative overall trend is contrary to most editors’ and reviewers’ intuitive expectations and beliefs about reviewer skills and the benefits of experience.
(You might ask, “So who peer-reviewed this paper?” A newer reviewer, one would hope.)
Annals of Emergency Medicine is a reasonably high-tier journal, in the top 11% of Thomson Scientific impact factors in 2008. So what’s true for the journal may be true at other top-tier publications.
What could account for this decline? The study’s authors say it might be the same sort of decline you generally see as people get older. This is well-documented in doctors, so why shouldn’t it be true of doctors — and others — who peer review? The authors go on:
Other than the well-documented cognitive decline of humans as they age, there are other important possible causes of deterioration of performance that may play a role among scientific reviewers. Examples include premature closure of decisionmaking, less compliance with formal structural review requirements, and decay of knowledge base with time (ie, with aging more of the original knowledge base acquired in training becomes out of date). Most peer reviewers say their reviews have changed with experience, becoming shorter and focusing more on methods and larger issues; only 25% think they have improved. Decreased cognitive performance capability may not be the only or even chief explanation. Competing career activities and loss of motivation as tasks become too familiar may contribute as well, by decreasing the time and effort spent on the task. Some research has concluded that the decreased productivity of scientists as they age is due not to different attributes or access to resources but to “investment motivation.” This is another way of saying that competition for the reviewer’s time (which is usually uncompensated) increases with seniority, as they develop (more enticing) opportunities for additional peer review, research, administrative, and leadership responsibilities and rewards. However, from the standpoint of editors and authors (or patients), whether the cause of the decrease is decreasing intrinsic cognitive ability or diminished motivation and effort does not matter. The result is the same: a less rigorous review by which to judge articles.
What can be done? The authors recommend “deliberate practice,” which
involves assessing one’s skills, accurately identifying areas of relative weakness, performing specific exercises designed to improve and extend those weaker skills, and investing high levels of concentration and hundreds or thousands of hours in the process. A key component of deliberate practice is immediate feedback on one’s performance.
There’s a problem:
But acting on prompt feedback (to guide deliberate practice) would be almost impossible for peer reviewers, who typically get no feedback (and qualitative research reveals this is one of their chief complaints).
In fact, a 2002 study in JAMA co-authored by Michael Callaham, the editor in chief of the Annals of Emergency Medicine and one of the authors of the new study, found that “Simple written feedback to reviewers seems to be an ineffective educational tool.”
What about training? A 2008 study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine found that short training courses didn’t have much effect on the errors peer reviewers failed to catch. That followed a 2004 study in the BMJ with similar results. And that’s consistent with what one journal editor who looked at the Annals of Emergency Medicine study told us about his own experience, too.
That same editor suggested that another potential fix — continually recruiting less-experienced reviewers, at the top of their games — might not work either. Such reviewers, he said, often didn’t include any narratives or interpretations in their reviews, just lists of comments.
Sounds like a good subject for the next Peer Review Congress, which should be held in 2013. In the meantime, please take our poll on one specific aspect of peer reviewing:
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As the crucial state elections and the big general elections draw closer, the political parties are losing no opportunity to claim credit for what they have done and increasingly also for what they have not done. And, as this piece discusses, some are, bafflingly, refusing to take credit for what they have done.
Anyone who follows the ruling party’s speeches and campaign, what stands out is that Right to Information (RTI), Food Security Bill and Right to Education Bill are among the three major accomplishments they are going to people with. But, as more and more people are now pointing out, all these bills are nothing but what the NDA government had already done and what the UPA has done is to merely give it a new nomenclature.
Let us look at the RTI Act, which, in more ways than one has been a game changer. The act was enacted and assented in June 2005, when UPA had been in power for a year. But what was RTI really? It was nothing but the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2002 that was enacted by the NDA government.
In fact, the aim of the act was the same as the RTI and, as this letter dated January 30, 2003, from the then secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) shows, the government had started moving towards promoting it.
Other than calling it the “beginning of a new era in approach of government functioning where openness shall now be the rule and secrecy an exception”, the letter went on to ask all secretaries to “provide before hand the requisite infrastructure in the form of rules etc.”
In fact, so serious was the NDA government about this act’s implementation that the letter from the DoPT said: “the provisions contained therein give the Act an over-riding effect in character. In keeping with this, we would suggest that an immediate review may be undertaken for all such Acts and Instruments administered by the Ministry and amendments made thereto, wherever necessary, so that the scheme is not subverted through the operation of conflicting provisions in these Acts/Instruments.”
The letter then went on to say “suitable action may be taken on priority basis so that there is no cause for delay in brining the act into force”, before concluding: “As the entire infrastructure for bringing the Act into force has to be set up within the shortest possible time, I shall be grateful if the above aspects receive your personal attention.”
This was January 2003. RTI came in 2005. If one were to analyse, bluntly put, it is nothing but a case of the UPA coming to power and sitting on it for a couple of years, give it a new name and then take credit for it. In fact, Aruna Roy and Arvind Kejriwal have, perhaps, worked harder to popularise and take it to the masses than any of the large political parties.
And it is not just this. Even the Right to Education Bill, which is once again seen as a game changer, was actually conceived in 2003 as something called “Free & Compulsory Education for Children.”
If you dig the net and the social media, there are plenty of other instances available where something that was thought through and started during NDA was appropriated by the UPA after a slight break by merely giving it a new name.
Of course, when in Delhi, how can one forget about what is easily the most successful large project undertaken in the country after independence, the Delhi Metro? The current CM, Sheila Dikshit has appropriated the infrastructure as her baby. But the facts tell a different story.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was set up jointly by the government of India and government of Delhi in May, 1995, when the Delhi CM was Madan Lal Khurana. Total ground work and planning was done in the subsequent two-three years and construction started in 1998, just when Sheila Dikshit took over as the CM. So, if anything, the credit goes to now severely ailing Khurana and not the lady who has garnered all the accolades for the project.
But all this brings one to the point. Why has the BJP, indeed the NDA, shied away from claiming credit for things which they have done? Doesn’t it seem strange that the ruling party goes to town claiming credit for every scheme considered a game changer in the country, while those who are actually responsible for it, protest meekly or give it a miss altogether.
I am unable to understand this strange reticence on part of the principal opposition party that is hoping to make a comeback. In the minds of the young voters, and their number would be more than significant in the coming elections, RTI, RTE and Delhi Metro, among others are ALL the handiwork of the Congress and the UPA. Why wouldn’t the BJP tell them what the truth is? I fail to understand! |
Composite includes image by wesvandinter, E+, Getty Images, St. George News
OPINION — Those who maintain that what happened in Bunkerville in April of 2014 was simply about Cliven Bundy’s cows and the federal Bureau of Land Management are getting a much needed reality check.
It was a symptom of a much larger long-term problem involving government power being exercised without proper limits or accountability.
When Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial in the case against Cliven, Ammon and Ryan Bundy last week, virtually no one in the courtroom was shocked. Even the most openly hostile media representatives who have been covering the Bundys could see the writing on the wall.
Read more: Mistrial announced in Bundy case
The official narrative, which falsely depicted the defendants as dangerous, violent men who posed a deadly threat to government officers and the public in general, had been breaking up on the rocks of reality for some time.
Federal indictments were revealed to be long on melodrama and short on substance and did not accurately reflect what happened in Bunkerville back in 2014. As more and more facts found their way to daylight, a very different picture began to emerge as to who were the aggressors and who were the victims in this case.
The government’s case against the Bundy family members and Ryan Payne had already failed to persuade jurors in a number of previous cases. This wasn’t a matter of the defendants exploiting loopholes or deftly out-lawyering the prosecution.
The juries weren’t stacked with Bundy supporters who could be counted on to oppose the government for ideological reasons. Jurors came to realize they simply could not trust that their government was telling them the truth.
In explaining her reasons for declaring the mistrial, Navarro cited several key pieces of evidence that prosecutors willfully failed to turn over to the defense during the discovery phase of the trial. Navarro pointedly emphasized the “willful suppression” of evidence as she listed each one.
This included information regarding an FBI surveillance camera posted outside the Bundy’s ranch, documents that identified BLM snipers posted outside the ranch eight days before the April 14 standoff. Also withheld was an FBI log with entries stating “snipers were inserted” and on standby outside the Bundy home.
In addition, prosecutors willfully withheld at least four threat assessments that admitted the Bundys weren’t violent and that the BLM was “antagonizing” the family. Finally, the government suppressed an internal affairs document that admitted there was no documentation of any desert tortoises being injured by Bundy’s cattle grazing on the federal land.
Over and over, federal prosecutors had accused the Bundys of deceiving those who rallied to their support in April of 2014, saying that they had falsely claimed they were being targeted by a militarized task force and in fear of their lives. Prosecutors openly mocked these assertions and the defendants’ efforts to compel the release of documents verifying the nature of the operation.
Ironically, it was the government’s own witnesses who inadvertently spilled the beans and verified the existence of this exculpatory evidence while they were testifying. Once the first cracks began to appear in the prosecution’s case, an unstoppable torrent of previously hidden truths began to spill forth.
Long story short, it was government agents, not the Bundys, who were the aggressors and who lawlessly sought to provoke violence.
Truth is what turned the government’s case on its head.
The jury was not going to convict them. Remember, it would only have taken a single juror refusing to convict to hang the jury and force a mistrial. In this latest trial, the vast majority of jurors were solidly on the side of the defendants.
This became crystal clear after the defendants and their counsel had the opportunity to visit with the jurors after they were released from their duties. One African-American juror, immediately walked from the jury box, gently moved a person aside who was visiting with Ryan Bundy and wrapped Bundy up in a big hug.
It’s telling that the people who are most upset about this trial ending in failure for the government are those who weren’t in the courtroom and who haven’t examined the evidence for themselves. Their hysterical outbursts are a poor substitute for reasoned observation.
It’s understandable that people can become dug in ideologically and find it difficult to adjust their thinking upon encountering new truth. None of us wishes to be dragged kicking and screaming to the realization that that we were wrong.
Still, it must be said. Far too many people have wrongly allowed the Bundy family and their supporters to be reduced to a one-dimensional headline. Will they continue to cling to official untruths?
This doesn’t mean that everyone must become a supporter of the Bundys. However, now that we know that a patently false, self-serving narrative was put forth by government and parroted by the media, it does raise the question, how can we trust what they say?
More importantly, how do we intend to hold unchecked and aggressive government agencies accountable?
Bryan Hyde is an opinion columnist specializing in current events viewed through what he calls the lens of common sense. The opinions stated in this article are his and not representative of St. George News.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @youcancallmebry
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved. |
It sucks being young, male, and single. Don’t think so? Go to the Interactive Singles Map of the United States and see how it looks for the 20 to 39 age group. Almost everywhere single men outnumber single women.
And the real picture is worse. For one thing, the imbalance is greater among singles without children. This is not a trivial factor, since single mothers are “single” only in the sense of being available for sexual relations. They are still raising offspring from a previous relationship and many are not interested in having more children.
Then there’s polygamy—or “polyamory,” to use the preferred term—where a minority of men controls sexual access to a larger number of women. If we compare the 1940-1949 and 1970-1979 cohorts of American adults, we find an increase in the number of median lifetime partners from 2.6 to 5.3 among women and from 6.7 to 8.8 among men (Liu et al., 2015). Because this figure is more variable for men than for women, young women are more likely to be sexually active than young men. This is crudely seen in infection rates for chlamydia—the most common sexually transmitted disease. Hispanic Americans still show the traditional pattern of greater sexual activity among men than among women, the rates being 7.24% of men and 4.42% of women. White Americans display the reverse: 1.38% of men and 2.52% of women (Miller et al., 2004).
Finally, there’s a racial angle. This sex ratio is more skewed among White Americans than among African Americans, mainly because the latter have a lower sex ratio at birth and a higher death rate among young men.
It’s hard to avoid concluding that a lot of young white men are shut out of the marriage market … or any kind of heterosexual relationship. This wife shortage was once thought to be temporary, being due to baby-boomer men getting divorced and marrying younger women from the smaller “baby bust” cohort. With time, they would get too old to compete with young men, and the problem should resolve itself.
Today, the crest of the baby boom is entering the seventh decade of life, yet the update to the Interactive Singles Map shows no change to the gender imbalance. So what gives? It appears that demographers have focused too much on the baby-boomer effect and not enough on other factors that matter just as much and, more importantly, show no signs of going away. These factors can be summarized as follows.
Re-entry of older men into the mate market
We have a mate market where 20 to 50 year old men are competing for 20 to 40 year old women. That in itself is nothing new. But something else is.
The baby boom eclipsed an equally important but longer-term trend: more and more men are living past the age of 40. With or without the baby boom, we’ll still see large numbers of older men getting divorced and marrying younger women. The cause isn’t just liberal divorce laws. It’s also the fact we have far more older guys out there as a proportion of the population.
Sure, we will also see younger men pairing up with “cougars” but there are limits to that option, as noted in a New Zealand study:
The male partner may want to partner up with someone younger or have children, which may not be possible with an older woman (for physical reasons or because she chooses not to have (more) children). The younger male partner may not want to become a step-father to existing children. Research has shown that childbearing can be the ultimate deal breaker in this kind of relationship. (Lawton and Callister, 2010)
Persistence of the imbalanced sex ratio at birth
About 105 males are born for every 100 females among people of European origin. This sex ratio used to decline to parity during childhood because of higher infantile mortality among boys. It then declined even farther in early adulthood because of war, industrial accidents, and other hazards. This isn’t the distant past. If you talk with women who came of age in the postwar era, they will tell you about their fears of remaining single past the age of thirty. At that age, very few single men were left to go around.
Well, things have changed. The skewed sex ratio at birth is now persisting well into adulthood, thanks to modern medicine and the relative peace that has prevailed since 1945. Women begin to outnumber men only in the 35-39 age group in the United States and in the 40-44 age group in the United Kingdom.
Equalization of male and female same-sex preference
Historically, same-sex preference was more common among men than among women. This gender gap appears to be closing, according to a recent study:
The percent distributions were quite similar for men and women; however, a higher percentage of men identified as gay (1.8%) compared with women who identified as gay/lesbian (1.4%), and a higher percentage of women identified as bisexual (0.9%) compared with men (0.4%). (CDCP, 2014, p. 5)
Disparities in outmarriage
At present, there are more White American women outmarrying than White American men, particularly in younger age groups. This disparity is mainly in marriages with African American men, there being no gender difference in marriages with Hispanic Americans and the reverse gender difference in marriages with Asian Americans (Jacobs and Labov, 2002; Passel et al., 2010). Overall, this factor further skews the ratio of young single men to young single women in the White American community.
This disparity isn’t new. What is new is its extent, for both legal and common-law marriages. An idea may be gleaned from statistics on children born to White American women, specifically the proportion fathered by a non-White partner. For the U.S. as a whole the proportion in 2013 was between 11% and 20% (the uncertainty is due to 190,000 births for which the father’s race was not stated). By comparison, the proportion in 1990 was between 5% and 13% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013; see also Silviosilver, 2015).
Whenever this issue comes up for discussion, there are often reassurances that the disparity will disappear in a post-racial world that has been cleansed of “White privilege.” I’m not so sure. The European female phenotype seems to be very popular, and this was so even when white folks were geopolitical weaklings. Today, the term “white slavery” is merely a synonym for prostitution, but it originally meant the enslavement of fair-skinned women for sale to clients in North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. At the height of this trade, between 1500 and 1650, over 10,000 Eastern Europeans were enslaved each year for export (Kolodziejczyk, 2006; Skirda, 2010). The overwhelming majority were young women and pre-pubertal boys who were valued for their physical appearance. And yet they were powerless.
No, I don’t think this kind of preference will disappear as whites lose “privilege.”
Exit strategies
So more and more young men are being left on the shelf, particularly in White America. How do they cope? Mostly by turning to porn from Internet websites, videocassettes, or magazines. Love dolls are another option and may grow in popularity as they become more human-like, not only physically but also in their ability to talk and interact.
Another option is outmarriage. In the past, this trend largely concerned older men marrying East Asian or Hispanic women, but we’re now seeing plenty of young men outmarrying via Internet dating sites. Despite the local supply of single women in the African American community, there is a much stronger tendency to look abroad, generally to women in Eastern Europe, South America, or East Asia.
Then there’s gender reassignment, which means either entering the other side of the mate market or tapping into the lesbian market. It’s a viable strategy, all the more so because many white boys can be turned into hot trans women. I’m not saying that some young men actually think along those lines, but gender reassignment is functioning that way.
Finally, there’s “game.” My attitude toward game is like my attitude toward gender reassignment. Both are attempts to push the envelope of phenotypic plasticity beyond its usual limits, and neither can fully achieve the desired result. A lot of boys aren’t wired for game, and there are good reasons why, just as there are good reasons why some people are born male. Male shyness isn’t a pathology. It’s an adaptation to a social environment that values monogamy and high paternal investment while stigmatizing sexual adventurism. Our war on male shyness reflects our perverse desire to create a society of Don Juans and single mothers.
But if game works, why not? Whatever floats your boat.
Conclusion
Ideally, this gender imbalance should be dealt with at the societal level, but I see little chance of that happening in the near future. If anything, public policy decisions will probably worsen the current imbalance. Changes to public policy generally result from a long process that begins when people speak up and articulate their concerns, yet it’s unlikely that even this first step will be taken any time soon. Young single men prefer to remain silent and invent nonexistent girlfriends. They also tend to be marginal in the main areas of discourse creation, like print and online journalism, TV, film, and radio production, book writing, etc. Leaf through any magazine, and you’ll probably see more stuff about the problems of single women.
So this imbalance will likely continue to be addressed at the individual level through individual strategies. |
Every summer, normally tranquil fields across Britain suddenly crowd with visitors – some in eccentric garb, some smothered in mud, nearly all in varying states of merriment or disinhibition. Apart from exuberant dancing, ukulele-strumming, campfire-tending and twig-whittling all tend to be activities of choice. Throw in an ancient woodland clearing or stately home and you have that most quintessential of bucolic British experiences: the music festival. The festival calendar includes dozens of recent arrivals, like Festival Number 6, The Good Life Experience and Elderflower Fields, alongside established events such as Bestival, Latitude and Glastonbury. And the number is only increasing.
Britain cannot claim the music festival as its own. It is, of course, a phenomenon that has expanded across the globe, not to mention beyond music – food, arts, crafts, philosophical talks and general communing with nature are as much a part of the new generation of festivals as live bands.
At the same time, the festival’s roots go back a long way in Britain. Wild carousing is deeply embedded in the nation’s history as a way of letting off steam and inverting the traditional social structure, while the notion of bonding with fellow human beings after a winter’s isolation was integral to early gatherings. Could Brits be hard-wired by their heritage to be festival mad?
Prehistoric parties
Indeed, mass revelry goes back even further than we previously thought. In 2013, archaeologists from University College London discovered cattle teeth at Stonehenge, indicating that the famous prehistoric stone circle was the site of vast communal feasts as early as 250BC. The research suggests that up to one tenth of the entire British population – coming from as far as Scotland –gathered together there. As archaeology professor Mike Parker Pearson quips, it was “the only time in prehistory that the people of Britain were unified.” Other ancient festivals, too, were aimed at creating a sense of belonging. At Beltane, the May Day festival that originated in Scotland and Ireland, communities gathered to celebrate their proximity to nature – and to each other.
But class, not just communalism, was a part of the story, too. Winter solstice, also known as Saturnalia, was especially famous for reversing social roles: men dressed as women and women as men. Masters waited on their slaves, who were temporarily freed. Taking on new identities with elaborate fancy dress remains a huge part of festival culture in Britain; at Bestival, it’s even in the motto (“dressing up to get down”). And so, in a sense, is the inversion of the social structure. Today, many land owners and aristocrats open up their estates (for a fee) to the general public, letting them run wild in a space normally off-limits.
As the Church became dominant and sought to win over converts from the 4th Century on, many of these festivals, originally celebrated as part of the agricultural calendar, were incorporated into Christian celebrations. “June to September was a ‘merrie time’ full of revelry,” says Tom Hodgkinson, co-founder of the Idler Academy, which runs philosophical, life-skill and crafts courses at festivals around the country. “On feast days, you weren’t allowed to work, and there was a lot of drinking… all approved of by the Church.” The Reformation of the 16th Century put a dampener on festivities, thanks to crack-downs by Puritans who thought the feast days were too pagan.
Revelry’s return
But Saturnalia-style mayhem couldn’t be absent from Britain forever. Its 20th Century embodiment appeared in the 1970s and ‘80s with chaotic, usually free and largely LSD-fuelled gatherings. Among them were the Isle of Wight, Stonehenge and Glastonbury festivals, beloved by the hippie crowd and new-age travellers. Although the Isle of Wight festival and Glastonbury are still held annually, the Stonehenge festival ended badly in 1985 with the so-called Battle of the Beanfield: the police – who had obtained a high-court injunction – prevented a convoy of several hundred new age travellers from setting up the festival, leading to a violent confrontation.
Lord of the Manor Peregrine St Germans knows this sense of anarchy first-hand: from 1981, the Earl hosted the Elephant Fayre festival each year at his Cornwall estate. Characterised by impromptu poetry readings by the likes of Heathcote Williams and other performance “happenings,” the Elephant Fayre was founded on “counter culture – fun and excess,” St Germans says. In one incident, he recalls, “a gang of ‘warriors’ dressed as Vikings, samurais, American Indians and gladiators, allowed people to fire real bows and real arrows at them from 50 or 60 yards. No casualties.”
That “atmosphere of genial anarchy,” as his son Louis Eliot puts it, was all the more chaotic for its setting, Port Eliot – a 6,000-acre idyll complete with its own church, Iron Age fort, estuary, boat house and ancient woodland. Against that lush backdrop, Louis Eliot remembers musicians singing at campfires and the space rock group Hawkwind playing an impromptu show – not to mention baked goods “that could keep your imagination whirring” and people who “spent days caked in river mud.” In 1986, the anarchy became a little too much: the family closed the festival down following vandalism and hard-drug use.
In the late 1980s, spontaneous hedonism re-emerged in a different vein with the birth of rave, dubbed the Second Summer of Love. Huge house music parties in empty warehouses and fields spread rapidly across Britain in an explosion of youth culture. At Castlemorton Free Festival in Worcestershire in 1992, around 30,000 people partied on the town common for an entire weekend. Soon after, the Criminal Justice Act of 1994 gave police the power to shut down events featuring music that was “characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats” – a clause aimed squarely at Britain’s rave scene.
In recent years, the British festival has become more sophisticated and mainstream, complete with corporate sponsorships, ‘glamping’ and champagne bars. Since 2003, Peregrine St Germans’ grand estate has been home to the fashionable Port Eliot Festival. With a cornucopia of events, from live comedy to fashion shows, the July event is a far cry from its earlier, grungier incarnation – and commands a correspondingly high entrance fee.
That fee, of course, helps with the estate’s upkeep: increasingly, festivals provide a welcome income stream for the landed classes. If Downton Abbey were set in 2015, Lord Grantham would probably be hosting a festival to help keep the family afloat. Even more than that, though, opening their grand estates to the throngs is something that the landed gentry should be doing – at least according to Peregrine St Germans. Families like his, he says, have the key components of festivals: “the facilities, lovely grounds, park land, huge trees the size of a cathedral, rivers, beautiful gardens. I think that they should share it for a few days with others.”
British festivals may be less wild affairs now than in the 1970s and ‘80s. But for their devotees, the essential elements are still there, just as they were decades or even centuries ago: communality, escape, freedom, nature, revelry. “Everybody on the site is on the same side,” says Port Eliot’s host. “It’s aimed at stimulating the brain all day and partying all night.” Or, as Hodgkinson puts it: “It’s our party spirit, our free spirit. It’s all about suspending normal rules for a few days.”
This story is a part of BBC Britain – a new series focused on exploring this extraordinary island, one story at a time. Readers outside of the UK can see every BBC Britain story by heading to the Britain homepage; you also can see our latest stories by following us on Facebook and Twitter. |
Statement on Mark-up of HR 1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011, House Foreign Affairs Committee
I would like to express my concerns over the Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011 and my opposition to it being brought to the Floor for a vote. Let us be clear on one critical matter: the sanctions against Iran mandated by this legislation are definite steps toward a US attack on Iran. They will also, if actually applied, severely disrupt global trade and undermine the US economy, thereby harming our national security.
I am surprised and disturbed that the committee viewed this aggressive legislation to be so bipartisan and uncontroversial that a recorded vote was not even called.
Some may argue that we are pursuing sanctions so as to avoid war with Iran, but recent history teaches us otherwise. For how many years were sanctions placed on Iraq while we were told they were necessary to avoid war? Thousands of innocent Iraqis suffered and died under US sanctions and still the US invaded, further destroying the country. Are we safer after spending a trillion dollars or more to destroy Iraq and then rebuild it?
These new sanctions against Iran increasingly target other countries that seek to trade with Iran. The legislation will severely punish foreign companies or foreign subsidiaries of US companies if they do not submit to the US trade embargo on Iran. Some 15 years after the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 failed to bring Iran to its knees, it is now to be US foreign policy to threaten foreign countries and companies.
During this mark-up one of my colleagues argued that if Mercedes-Benz wants to sell trucks to Iran, they should not be allowed to do business in the United States. Does anyone believe this is a good idea? I wonder how the Americans working at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama would feel about banning Mercedes from the United States. Or perhaps we might ask the 7,600 Americans who work in the BMW factory in Spartanburg, SC how they would feel. Should the American consumer be denied the right to purchase these products? Is the United States really prepared to take such aggressive and radical action against its NATO ally Germany?
Likewise, the application of the sanctions in this legislation would have a dramatic impact on US commercial and diplomatic relations with Russia and China, who both do business with Iran. It would impose strong sanctions on these countries and would prohibit foreign business leaders – and their spouses and children – from entering the United States. Do we want to start a trade war – or worse – with Russia and China?
The Iran Threat Reduction Act authorizes what will no doubt be massive amounts of US taxpayer money to undermine the Iranian government and foment another "Green Revolution" there. We will establish and prop up certain factions over others, send them enormous amounts of money, and attempt to fix any resulting elections so that our preferred candidates win. Considering the disturbing aftermath of our "democracy promotion" operations in places like Egypt, Iraq, Libya, where radical forces have apparently come out on top, it may be fair to conclude that such actions actually undermine US national security rather than bolster it.
Sanctions do not work. They are precursors to war and usually lead to war. They undermine our economy and our national security. They result in terrible, unnecessary suffering among the civilian population in the target countries and rarely even inconvenience their leaders. We must change our foreign policy from one of interventionism and confrontation to cooperation and diplomacy. This race to war against Iran is foolhardy and dangerous. As with the war on Iraq, the arguments for further aggression and war on Iran are based on manipulations and untruths. We need to learn our lesson and reject this legislation and the push for war.
Read more by Ron Paul |
Dwayne Roloson has quickly become the backbone of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Roloson made 38 saves for his fourth shutout in a month, Teddy Purcell scored two early first- period goals, and the Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 at the St. Pete Times Forum on Tuesday night in a matchup of the Eastern Conference's top two teams.
Roloson made 38 saves for his fourth shutout in a month, Teddy Purcell scored two early first- period goals, and the Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 at the St. Pete Times Forum on Tuesday night in a matchup of the Eastern Conference's top two teams.
"I think it's one of those things, you cherish the moment, but at the same time we've got to forget about it," Roloson said. "We've got another big game on Friday against Washington."
Jonathan Toews Center - CHI GOALS: 18 | ASST: 25 | PTS: 43
SOG: 147 | +/-: 9
Niklas Backstrom Goalie - MIN RECORD: 16-11-3
GAA: 2.43 | SVP: 0.925
Avalanche at Blues (ppd.)
All four of Roloson's shutouts have come in 11 games since the Lightning obtained the 41-year old from the New York Islanders in exchange for minor-league defenseman Ty Wishart on New Year's Day."I don't think it's a roll," Roloson said. "I just think that the team is playing great. I'm fortunate enough to be making the best of an opportunity."Tampa Bay went up 2-0 just 1:21 into the game on Purcell's first career two-goal game. Steven Stamkos added his NHL-leading 39th goal of the season, and Steve Downie also scored for the Lightning, who have a six-game winning streak. Tampa Bay, which has won all three games against the Flyers this season, trails the conference leaders by two points."You can't beat a team like that if you don't have everybody on the same page," Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher said.The Lightning have missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons and haven't won a postseason series since winning the franchise's only Stanley Cup in 2004.Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after giving up three goals on six shots during the first, and was replaced by Brian Boucher . Philadelphia lost for just the third time in the last 13 games."When you're down 2-0 on two shots, I think it surprised everybody," Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette said.Purcell scored from the slot at 19 seconds off a give-and-go with Vincent Lecavalier . Just 62 seconds later, Simon Gagne 's shot went into the net off Purcell's leg. Purcell has 3 goals and 7 points in his past three games."I don't think we were out of sorts in the first," Flyers captain Mike Richards said. "I just thought they were very opportunistic. We gave them, probably, too many scoring chances. It's just one of those games, I guess."Roloson, coming off a 2-0 shutout of Toronto, stopped all 13 shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes. He also made four saves early in the third, including an in-close chance by James Van Riemsdyk "He's been our backbone back there," Purcell said.Downie made it 3-0 from at 14:24 of the first. Stamkos extended the Tampa Bay advantage to 4-0 with 11:09 left in the third.The Lightning have started a 12-game homestand with three straight wins, outscoring their opponents 13-1 over the stretch. Tyler Bozak and Colby Armstrong scored in the shootout as Toronto beat Florida at the Air Canada Centre. Jean-Sebastien Giguere allowed a goal to David Booth on a nice spin move to open the shootout, but then stopped Mike Santorelli and Chris Higgins . He added 30 saves in regulation. Phil Kessel took an elbowing penalty with 4:15 remaining, and 34 seconds later Cory Stillman tied the game at 3-3.Kessel had a breakaway in the final seconds but couldn't beat Scott Clemmensen , extending his goal drought to eight games."I thought he was buzzing," Leafs forward Clarke MacArthur said of Kessel. "He had a lot of shots, they just didn't go in for him." Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski scored in regulation for the Maple Leafs, who won for the second time in eight games. Stephen Weiss and David Booth also scored in regulation for the Panthers, who have won just once in their last seven games."You're never happy with one point," Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said, "but it was probably a fair outcome."Grabovski put the Leafs up 3-2 at 6:16 of the second when he redirected Kaberle's point shot past Clemmensen on a power play. The goal came just 1:22 after a high-sticking penalty by Jay Rosehill allowed the Panthers to tie it 4:54. Keaton Ellerby made a pretty cross-ice pass from the point to Michael Frolik at the side of the goal, and he centered it in front for Booth to tap in.The Leafs led 2-1 after the first period.Versteeg opened the scoring at 7:20 with a clever goal. Standing behind the net, he picked up the rebound of a failed pass out front and banked the puck in off the backside of Clemmensen, who was unsure of where the puck had gone.The Panthers tied it at 18:06 when Weiss took a Chris Higgins pass on a 3-on-1 rush and beat Giguere low to the stick side.The Leafs reclaimed the lead just 23 seconds later when Clarke MacArthur dug the puck out of the corner and sent a pass to Kulemin, who wired a shot from the faceoff dot past Clemmensen's blocker.Leafs forward Mike Brown left the game in the second period and didn't return after taking a heavy hit from Ellerby along the boards. Jonathan Toews had a shorthanded goal and a pair of assists and Chicago started a grueling six-game, 12-day road trip by beating Columbus at Nationwide Arena. Patrick Kane added a goal and an assist, while Nick Leddy Dave Bolland and Marian Hossa also scored for Chicago, which plays 20 of its last 32 regular-season games on the road. Fernando Pisani and Brent Seabrook each had two assists as the Blackhawks overcame a 3-2 second-period deficit by scoring four consecutive goals."It was a tough start tonight. Everybody on both sides was trying to find their bearings again," said Seabrook, who was flipped upside down by R.J. Umberger by a highlight-reel check in the third period. "We came out hard and had a good second part of the second period and a great third. It was good to see Marty shut the door and really give us the opportunity to win." Samuel Pahlsson and Matt Calvert tallied for the Blue Jackets, who started the night just five points out of the final playoff spot in the West but in a tie for 13th place."That was an ugly game for sure," Jackets coach Scott Arniel said. "I'm sure (Blackhawks coach) Joel (Quenneville) would say the same on his side. There were lots of chances and it was pretty sloppy."Columbus scored twice in 42 seconds -- Brassard on a slick assist from Rick Nash and Pahlsson on a shot from the right wing through traffic -- for a 3-2 lead early in the second period. Following a timeout, the Blackhawks then took control.An instant after killing Stalberg's roughing penalty, they tied it when Stalberg joined a rush and benefited from Pisani's helper to notch his eighth.Kane crashed the net just as Toews stole the puck from Columbus' Chris Clark on the back boards, Toews sliding a centering pass that Kane converted for the go-ahead goal.The backbreaker came with 40 seconds left in the period when Toews won a battle for the puck near the offensive zone blue line with Columbus defenseman Fedor Tyutin and then skated past another defenseman, Grant Clitsome , who had overcommitted, before beating goaltender Steve Mason to make it 5-3."You don't expect to score four straight," Toews said. "You don't want to have to. But it always seems that we respond to those timeouts."Hossa's goal was a shorthanded empty-netter in the final minute.The first period ended prematurely when the lights in Nationwide dimmed for several minutes.The officials sent the teams to the dressing rooms with 39.6 seconds left in the first period after the arena lights dimmed slightly -- although not enough to hinder play.There was plenty of electricity on the ice before that.The Blue Jackets, who had trailed 2-0 in their last three games, got on the board first when Dorsett collected the puck off the back wall from Keith, then jammed the puck past Turco inside the near post for his third of the year.Chicago tied it at 9:10 when Leddy, called up on Monday from Rockford of the American Hockey League, took a pass from Jack Skille and scored on a floater that appeared to go in off the crossbar.The Blackhawks then had 1:46 with a two-man advantage. With 15 seconds left in the 5 on 3, Keith stepped into a rocket at the right dot and blistered the one-timer past Mason.With full power back on, the players returned from the intermission to play the final seconds of the first period, then switched ends for the second period. Rene Bourque scored the only goal in a shootout, and Calgary rallied to beat Nashville at Bridgestone Arena for its fifth straight victory.The Flames trailed 1-0 heading into the third period, but Matt Stajan and Cory Sarich scored to help Calgary force overtime.In the shootout, Bourque slipped the puck under Pekka Rinne 's leg to start. Alex Tanguay lost the puck, then Rinne stopped Olli Jokinen . But Miikka Kiprusoff stopped Martin Erat and Cody Franson "If you win, you might move up a slot," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "But there are so many teams that if you lose you're moving down two for sure because someone from that group is winning. Every game gets more important from here on out. It's going to be a heck of a race with so many teams that are within a few points of each other." David Legwand had a last chance to extend the shootout but couldn't beat Kiprusoff. Patric Hornqvist had a power-play goal for Nashville. Martin Erat also scored and Sergei Kostitsyn added two assists."We've got to hunker down when it's 1-0 and go from there and not let anything else happen after that," Legwand said.Calgary has gone past regulation six times in the past 11 games and improved to 7-4 in shootouts this season. More important, the Flames continue their rally in the Western Conference, having grabbed at least a point in 10 of their last 11 games."We just stayed the course, kept plugging away, kept working hard. We never did anything fancy, but we did a lot of things the right way," Calgary coach Brent Sutter said.It felt as if the Predators were playing for the shootout with a 6-2 record in them coming into the game. Rinne, the NHL's third star for January, got Nashville to the shootout by stopping four shots in overtime, with his best a stick save on Jokinen with 2:20 left. He also smothered a slap shot by Stajan 15 seconds later.The Predators now have lost three straight, picking up where they left off going into the All-Star weekend.They seemed in control most of the game. Erat scored his seventh from the slot, tipping in a nice pass from Kostitsyn from the left circle at 7:43 of the first past Kiprusoff's glove. The Predators wound up taking 10 of the next 12 shots.Kiprusoff also put Nashville on the power play at the end of the second period, swiping his glove across Predators center Nick Spaling 's face. But Nashville couldn't convert."At least we got one point tonight, but there comes a point where we've got to figure out how to lock things down," Preds captain Shea Weber said. "There are 31 games left, and if we're not going to find a way to get two points, we're going to be out of the playoffs."Stajan tied it up at 1-1 at 2:57 in the third with his fourth goal of the season with a slap shot off an assist from Tim Jackman Nashville took the lead back with a rare power-play goal. Hornqvist scored his 16th this season with a wrister from the slot off a pass from Shea Weber , beating Kiprusoff glove-side at 4:56 -- just 28 seconds after Jokinen went to the penalty box for tripping.It didn't last long as Sarich scored from the right circle at 9:04 to tie it up at 2-all."They've been consistent efforts," Sarich said of this streak. "That's the biggest thing. Giving ourselves a chance and not beating ourselves. We're staying in games. We've limited our mistakes from the start of the year, and that's been huge for our success." Niklas Backstrom somehow made a kick save with his right skate against Jack Johnson , one of three he made in the shootout, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard followed with the game-winner to lift Minnesota past Los Angeles at the Xcel Energy Center."He had me beat so I tried just to get something up there and got lucky," Backstrom said. "It hit my skate. You need those every now and then."The Kings were 5-0 this season in shootouts and Backstrom had lost eight straight shootouts before Tuesday night."From the bench, all I saw was open net," Wild coach Todd Richards said.Bouchard beat Jonathan Bernier with a nifty little backhand through the five-hole and Backstrom also stopped Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown to help the Wild get a much-needed two points in the airtight Western Conference.Bernier was even better than Backstrom during regulation and overtime, making several point-blank saves for the Kings, who had their three-game winning streak snapped in the opener of a 10-game road trip.Backstrom was rarely challenged during his third shutout of the season, but was superb in the shootout. He poke checked the puck off the stick of Kopitar to start the shootout and capped it off with a blocker save against Brown."I just tried to wait him out," Johnson said of his chance. "I tried to get him down and thought I had him waited out. He stuck his pad up and I hit him in the toe. I've got to tip my hat to him. He made a great save."Bernier earned his first shutout of the season and stopped Marty Havlat to start the shootout before Bouchard beat him."He made a nice move," said Bernier, who had 25 saves. "I don't know if that's what he wanted to do at first. ... Obviously I'd like to get that one back."Both teams looked rusty in their first game back from the six-day All-Star break.The lack of offense should come as no surprise for two teams who have struggled on that end of the ice all season. The Wild started the night tied for the second-fewest goals in the West while only four teams had scored fewer goals than Los Angeles.After a slow start to the season led to questions about Richards' job security, the Wild have moved back into the playoff hunt. They have won five of their last six games, and their latest victory over them 57 points for the season, one ahead of the Kings, and eighth place in the conference.The Kings were one of the more disappointing teams in the first half of the season, unable to capitalize on the momentum gained from their first trip to the playoffs since 2002. They tied a franchise record with 46 victories last season.Los Angeles lost 10 of 12 home games during a horrible skid that started at the end of December and dragged well into January before finally showing signs of steadying itself with a three-game winning streak going into the All-Star break.With the Grammy Awards and the NBA All-Star game scheduled for Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Kings will spend the next three weeks crisscrossing North America in a trip that could define their season."The most important thing, obviously, is to win, but you want to play good," coach Terry Murray said. "You want to give yourself every opportunity to win the game. I thought we did that." Dainius Zubrus scored on an attempted pass that deflected off Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips with 5:43 to play, and New Jersey returned from the All-Star break with a victory against the struggling Sens at the Prudential Center.For NHL.com's full recap, click here Kyle Okposo scored his first two goals of the season and Kevin Poulin made 25 saves as New York beat Atlanta at Philips Arena.For NHL.com's full recap, click here A major storm in the Midwest forced the postponement of the Colorado-St. Louis match, which was scheduled to take place at the Scottrade Center. No makeup date has been set.For more details, click here |
PORTLAND, Ore. -- With sunlight streaming through the former art gallery’s near floor-to-ceiling windows and excited visitors streaming through its doors, directors of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education officially debuted their new 15,000 square-foot home to the public Sunday afternoon.
“It's phenomenal,” said executive director Judy Margles. “We couldn't be more excited.”
The new space, located at 724 Northwest Davis Street, is more than twice the size of the museum’s prior location near Northwest 20th and Kearney.
Futher, noted Margles, this one isn’t leased.
“We’ve been a museum for 25 years. We’ve never owned our own home,” she said. “So, arriving at this moment where we have permanence in Portland is astonishing.”
Margles and board members say ownership has been a goal for the museum for a long time, adding that expanding their space allowed them to add new exhibits with interactive, modern twists.
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Downstairs, to the right of the entrance, visitors will find intricate Russian tapestries, divided into dozens of squares, each one displaying an image of a mythical-looking figure.
The tapestries correlate with a digital touch screen, which explains each figure as a take on the Jewish identity.
Located upstairs, the Holocaust exhibit features chilling relics like a knife and a fork, used in Auschwitz.
They sit alongside high-resolution video interviews from survivors, which play on a loop.
Feet from that sits an intricate explanation of the history of the Jewish people in Oregon.
Next to that, visitors found exhibits about discrimination in general; some examples were more recent.
Visitor Robert Wilner, who just finished a class on the Holocaust at Portland Community College, was glad to see the lessons of the Holocaust linked to more modern trends.
“People in their upbringing are not taught about it,” he said. “They need to know about it so they can have more respect for the fragility of humans.”
Sadly, said Margles, the museum's work in education is seeing a spike in interest.
“We've seen such an uptick in phone calls from schools who are experiencing anti-Semitism and racism in the classroom,” she said. “So, we've been sending our Holocaust educators out to speak to students.
VIDEO: Holocaust survivors Miriam Greenstein and Evelyn Banko share their stories
Holocaust survivors on hand for the event say that trend is chilling but added the new space and its message give them hope.
“Helping to educate people about it makes people think and talk about it, and maybe help them to stand up for the rights of other people,” said Evelyn Banko, who escaped Nazi-occupied Austria with her parents.
“Hatred is not acceptable, doesn't get you anywhere. You have to accept people the way they are,” said Miriam Greenstein, whose family was captured by the Nazis in their home country of Poland.
Greenstein’s mother and father were murdered in separate camps. She came to Sunday’s opening with her daughter and other family.
She serves on the museum’s board and now, like Banko, speaks about her ordeal as much as possible.
“It is a first-class museum,” she said. “It is not just for Jewish people by any means.”
In May, 2016 the executive board began raising the needed $7.5 million to buy and renovate the new space.
As of Sunday, they’re just $350,000 short. If you'd like to donate, click here. |
Welcome back to our Weekly Backers Exclusive Mini-game, Pick-a-Magnus! It was a one sided vote last week so we're going to make it a little harder this time around. It will be no fun if most of the votes go to the same Magnus and we're pretty sure it's going to be more challenging today. As usual, here are the rules of the mini-game:
Pick-a-Magnus Rules:
1) We will be posting a set of Magnus concept labelled from A - J.
2) You will go through every single one of them and select your favorite concept.
3) Leave a comment about your pick and explain why.
4) The Magnus with the most votes will be added to Re:Legend in-game.
Note: you can only select ONE, so pick carefully.
The rules are still the same as the previous week and these are also the first stage baby Magnus. They will be evolving into powerful Magnus in the future and you will be guiding their fate today. YOU will make the choice and decide if they will live or remain as abandoned sketches for eternity. Now let us begin!
Week 2 Pick-a-Magnus Choices:
As usual, the winning Magnus will be announced tomorrow and have fun picking your favorite Magnus!
Note: We're REALLY close to PS4 stretch goal! Let's do this! |
Artist's illustration of an asteroid that has been turned into a giant mechanical spacecraft, which could fly itself to a mining outpost.
A few decades from now, asteroids may be flying themselves to mining outposts in space, nobly sacrificing their abundant resources to help open the final frontier to humanity.
That's the vision of California-based company Made In Space, which was recently awarded NASA funding to investigate how to turn asteroids into giant, autonomous spacecraft.
The project, known as RAMA (Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata), is part of Made In Space's long-term plan to enable space colonization by helping make off-Earth manufacturing efficient and economically viable. [How Asteroid Mining Could Work (Infographic)]
"Today, we have the ability to bring resources from Earth," Made In Space co-founder and chief technology officer Jason Dunn told Space.com. "But when we get to a tipping point where we need the resources in space, then the question becomes, 'Where do they come from and how do we get them, and how do we deliver them to the location that we need?' This is a way to do it."
Diagram of an asteroid that has been converted into a mechanical spacecraft by a robotic "Seed Craft." (Image: © Zoe Brinkley
The plan
Made In Space's idea involves sending an advanced, robotic "Seed Craft" out to rendezvous with a succession of near-Earth asteroids in space.
The Seed Craft would harvest material from the space rocks, then use this feedstock to construct propulsion, navigation, energy-storage and other key systems onsite with the aid of 3D printing and other technologies. (Made In Space has considerable 3D-printing expertise; the company built the two 3D printers that were installed aboard the International Space Station in the past year and a half.)
Thus transformed into autonomous spacecraft, the asteroids could be programmed to fly to a mining station in Earth-moon space, or anywhere else they were needed. This approach would be much more efficient than launching a new capture probe (or probes) to every single space rock targeted for resource exploitation, Made In Space representatives said.
The converted asteroids wouldn't resemble the traditional idea of spacecraft, with rocket engines and complex electronic circuitry. Rather, everything would be mechanical and relatively primitive.
For example, the computer would be analog, akin, perhaps, to the Antikythera mechanism invented by the ancient Greeks to chart the motion of heavenly bodies, Dunn said. And the propulsion system might be some sort of catapult that launches boulders or other material off the asteroid in a controlled way, thereby pushing the space rock in the opposite direction (as described by Newton's Third Law of Motion), he added.
"At the end of the day, the thing that we want the asteroid to be is technology that has existed for a long time. The question is, 'Can we convert an asteroid into that technology at some point in the future?'" Dunn said. "We think the answer is yes."
Project RAMA is not starting from scratch. Autonomous 3D printers that use mechanically driven systems already exist, Dunn noted, as do mechanical computers made of 3D-printed parts.
Still, making it happen will require significant advances in a number of areas, including in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) — the art of living off the land. Made In Space is counting on NASA to push ISRU technology forward, Dunn said. (Advanced ISRU tech will be vital for supporting astronauts on Mars and other off-Earth outposts, NASA officials have said.) [What Technology Will Humans Need to Explore Mars? (Video)]
Early days yet
Made In Space's larger vision won't be realized for a while, because RAMA is still in the very early stages.
In April, the project received a Phase 1 grant from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which aims to encourage the development of potentially revolutionary space-exploration technologies.
Phase 1 NIAC awardees get $100,000 for nine months' worth of initial feasibility studies. (Recipients can then apply for a Phase 2 NIAC award, which is worth about $500,000 and funds two years of further concept development.)
Any discussion of Project RAMA timelines is therefore incredibly speculative, Dunn stressed. Still, he estimated that the effort might require 20 years or so of technology development and other work. If that's the case, the first Seed Craft may get off the ground in the late 2030s — perhaps just as asteroid-mining and off-Earth manufacturing are coming into their own.
"The anticipation is that the RAMA architecture is a long time line, and when it becomes capable is about the same time that people really need the resources," Dunn said.
Project RAMA could also have applications here on Earth, he added, saying that machines similar to Seed Craft could do a variety of jobs around the planet.
"You could build infrastructure in remote locations somewhat autonomously, and convert resources into useful devices and mechanical machines," Dunn said. "This actually could solve some pretty big problems on Earth, from housing to construction of things that make people's lives better."
You can read more about Project RAMA at Made In Space's NIAC page and in a piece that Dunn wrote for Medium.com.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. |
Photo
Technology doesn’t win political campaigns, but it certainly is a weapon — a force multiplier, in military terms.
Both sides in the presidential contest mined click-stream data as never before to target messages to potential voters. But a real edge for the Obama campaign was in its use of online and mobile technology to support its much-praised ground game, finding potential supporters and urging them to vote, either in person or by phone, according to two senior members of the Obama technology team, Michael Slaby, chief integration and innovation officer for the Obama campaign, and Harper Reed, chief technology officer for the Obama campaign.
A program called “Dashboard,” for example, allowed volunteers to join a local field team and get assignments remotely. The Web application — viewable on smartphones or tablets — showed the location of field workers, neighborhoods to be canvassed, and blocks where help was needed. “It allowed people to join a neighborhood team without ever going to a central office,” said Mr. Slaby.
Another ground-game program was a tool for telephone canvassing from people’s homes instead of having to travel to a campaign office and work from a telephone bank. The call tool was a Web program that let people sign up to make calls and receive a list of phone numbers, names and a script to use, noted Mr. Reed.
Often, the profiles of volunteer callers and the lists they received were matched. So the callers were people with similar life experiences to those being called, and thus more likely to be persuasive. Here is a YouTube video of a 91-year-old World War II veteran, who joined the Obama phone corps.
In 2008, there were some remote callers in the Obama campaign. But this year, there were ten times as many, Mr. Slaby said.
The sheer scale of the online outreach and data collection dwarfed the effort four years ago. For example, the Barack Obama Facebook site had 33 million “likes,” compared with 2 million for the previous campaign. A Facebook like, Mr. Slaby noted, is the “just the first rung on a ladder of engagement” but it is a starting point.
Another truly important change was in the technology itself. “Cloud computing barely existed in 2008,” Mr. Slaby said.
This time, the Obama campaign’s data center was mainly Amazon Web Services, the leading supplier of cloud services. The campaign’s engineers built about 200 different programs that ran on the Amazon service including Dashboard, the remote calling tool, the campaign Web site, donation processing and data analytics applications.
Using mainly open-source software and the Amazon service, the Obama campaign could inexpensively write and tailor its own programs instead of using off-the-shelf commercial software.
“It let us attack and engineer our own approach to problems, and build solutions for an environment that moves so rapidly you can’t plan,” Mr. Slaby said. “It made a huge difference this time.” |
AMD has announced the roadmap for a chunk of its business that's critical to its effort to "transform" the company from its dependence on PCs and x86 servers: the embedded market.
Perhaps one indication of AMD's aggressiveness can be deduced from the code names of its next four embedded parts – they're all named after birds of prey: "Adelaar", "Steppe Eagle", "Bald Eagle", and "Hierofalcon".
For Reg readers – IT types as you are – it's perhaps that fourth ornithological exemplar that may be of most interest: it will be the embedded version of the 64-bit, ARM-based "Seattle" Operton server chip that was unveiled this June.
"Essentially Hierofalcon and Seattle – Seattle is the server product and Hierofalcon is the embedded product – share a lot of lineage," Arun Iyengar, VP and general manager of AMD's Embedded Solutions group, said at an AMD event on Monday. "But Hierofalcon is targeted towards the other elements of a data centre, which are the communications, networking, and storage sides."
AMD's ARM-based chips won't just be used in dense servers (click to enlarge)
While Seattle will feature AMD's Freedom fabric interconnects, which came to the company by way of its acquisition of SeaMicro in February 2012, Iyengar would not be drawn out on whether or not Hierofalcon would include Freedom. "We're not getting into that level of detail today," he responded to a direct question on that subject.
What he would reveal, however, was that Hierofalcon would come with four or eight ARM Cortex-A57 cores, would include 10-gigabit Ethernet and third-generation PCIe, would be baked in a 28-nanometre process, and would have a thermal design point (TDP) of 15 to 30 watts.
Embedded parts have a number of differences from their non-embedded counterparts, not the least of which is how long they will be supported by their manufacturers. Longevity is a big deal to embedded-systems manufacturers, and AMD will commit to seven-year lifecycles for not only Hierofalcon, but also its three birdy brothers.
Next year will be a busy one for AMD as it works to expand into new markets (click to enlarge)
Among the four parts announced on Monday, Hierofalcon is the only all-new line for AMD. Adelaar, a discrete GPU, will be a follow-on to AMD's Radeon E6460/E6760 parts, will be the first embedded GPU to be built around AMD's "Graphics Core Next" architecture unveiled at the company's Fusion Summit in June 2011, and will double the 1GB of GSDDR5 memory in the E6460/E6760 to 2GB.
The low-power Steppe Eagle is a follow-on to the G-Series SoC line that AMD rolled out this April and updated in July with a lower-power part, the GX-210JA. This raptor, like the G-Series, will have two or four AMD "Jaguar" cores, but they will be "enhanced," Iyengar said, and the TDP of the lowest-power part in this line will drop to 5 watts from the 6 watts of the GX-210JA.
The 28nm Bald Eagle APU/CPU will be the highest performing part in the quartet, and will be the successor to AMD's 32nm R-Series embedded chips. Baldy will update its two or four compute cores from the E-Series' "Piledriver" to the newer "Steamroller", and its GPU will be upgraded from a Radeon HD 7000 Series to HD 9000.
Iyengar – and, for that matter, CEO Rory Read and the entire AMD braintrust – is putting a lot of stock in the company's aggressive push into the embedded market. The company has publicly stated that just a few years from now, around 50 per cent of its revenue will be from markets other than PCs and traditional servers.
And their embedded division headman appears confident that such a goal is realistic, considering the new and expanding markets from which those revenues will come.
"The specific point that we've made in terms of 50 per cent of our revenues coming from non-PC type [processors]," Iyengar said, "is it does include things such as the dense server – that's a new application, that's part of the new 50 per cent. It includes embedded, and it also includes new form factors within the client space – that's part of the new 50 per cent."
Looked at that way – and considering that "embedded" includes everything from industrial to military to medical to digital signage to slot machines to networking to communications to thin clients and more – AMD may again emerge as a potent competitor to Intel in the low-power marketplace.
But AMD is not out of the woods yet – execution, of course, will be the deciding factor. ®
Bootnote
Just how important is ARM to AMD's future? The number of chips – not cores, but chips – in which ARM designs appeared during 2012 gives an idea of that company's reach. ARM VP of embedded marketing Charlene Marini, who was also at the Monday event, told The Reg that 8.7 billion ARM-based chips were shipped last year. Of those, 4.1 billion were for embedded systems, the remainder being for mobile. |
The Washington Nationals struggled during their final game in the opening season series against the New York Mets. Behind a dominant six inning performance from New York pitcher Matt Harvey, the Mets took two of the first three games of the season.
Nationals’ pitcher Stephen Strasburg did not have a strong outing in the series finale Thursday afternoon, giving up six runs on nine hits in five innings of work. Three of the six runs were earned; Strasburg also struck out five and walked three batters.
While Washington certainly would like to jump out to a booming 3-0 start, sometimes one has to be realistic. With outfielders Jayson Werth and Denard Span on the DL beside third-baseman Anthony Rendon, Washington faithful should be patient in the early-goings.
Those early-goings for Washington could be rocky, but the pay-off come summertime will be worth the wait. Rendon has begun lateral movement workouts in his rehab stint away from the team and plans to begin groundball work next week.
Werth began his rehab assignment in high-A with the Potomac Nationals following his shoulder surgery in the offseason. He played seven innings with Potomac and, while unlikely, is eligible to come off the disabled list Saturday.
Core surgery in the beginning of March left Span heading back to Viera, Fla., ready for simulated action at Nats camp. The simulation length will increase from three to five to seven innings as Span progresses. As it stands the center fielder is ahead of schedule in his rehab and the Nationals are impressed at his progress.
As Washington takes aim at the Philadelphia Phillies, they can look to build on the positives they’ve seen thus far. Right fielder Bryce Harper has been getting it done at the plate and in the field through three games. On two separate occasions during the rain-delayed game Wednesday evening he made his mark… tracking down a deep fly ball in the corner, and then cutting off a line drive in the gap before it got to the warning track to hold Mets third baseman David Wright to a single.
Washington heads to Philadelphia to face the Phillies Friday in a three game series. They will see Philadelphia seven times in the next 10 games. |
Construction is underway on the $6.7 million renovation and expansion of the Eastside Food Co-op at 25th and Central avenues, continuing the modest comeback of the once-languishing main commercial artery of northeast Minneapolis.
The 5,200 member-owners of the 12-year-old co-op raised more than $1 million in equity. And the growing business recently closed on a $4.6 million loan from Self-Help Federal Credit Union in Durham, N.C.
This is a job-creating deal in a neighborhood where an estimated quarter of the households live at or near the poverty level.
“Central Avenue has come far over the last 10 years,” said longtime Eastside General Manager Amy Fields. “We’re one of the smaller, but a growing co-op. Our expansion means we can greatly increase our impact … both for our members and for the community.”
Fields said local bankers were sympathetic but couldn’t underwrite the deal because of its high real estate loan-to-value ratio in an area where property values have been depressed by vacant and underutilized buildings.
Self-Help Federal, founded in 1980, is a U.S. Treasury-designated Community Development Financial Institution that, in addition to loans, can use federal tax credits and other tools outside of standard underwriting guidelines in pursuit of revitalizing once-blighted areas.
New CEO Amanda LaGrange says she likes Tech Dump’s mission.
The first step in a complicated deal for Eastside was to buy a vacant building next door for $425,000, plus another $135,000-plus for demolition and pollution remediation. Eastside is renovating its 1954 structure, once a Country Club grocery store, into an attractive, energy-smart building and expanding from 12,200 square feet to 17,700 square feet. The 78-employee business also will add 25 jobs at $12.65 or more an hour.
The Eastside Co-op block, near the critical intersection of Lowry and Central avenues, has undergone a resurrection. More than a decade ago the immigrant Wadi family started buying dilapidated commercial storefronts and turned them into Holy Land enterprises: restaurant, food service, bakeries and even Minnesota’s first hummus factory in what was Sully’s Bar. More than 150 jobs were created.
This is just the latest expansion by a Twin Cities co-op. It follows the expansion to a second store this year by the larger Seward Co-op. Mississippi Market just opened a third store in St. Paul. The co-ops, supported by loyal neighbors and owner-members and boasting high sales per square foot, are growing amid the struggles in a no-growth industry among big-box food peddlers such as Cub and Target.
Former General Mills analyst named Tech Dump CEO
Amanda LaGrange, who started as a volunteer board member in 2010, is the new CEO of fast-growing Tech Dump, the two-location electronics recycler that also employs folks with criminal backgrounds or other barriers to employment.
LaGrange, 30, an accountant, was working as a financial analyst at General Mills when she left in 2013 to become Tech Dump’s marketing director. She joined founder Tom McCullough, a successful Internet retailer who started Tech Dump as a “social enterprise,” focused on reusing or recycling valuable and sometimes-toxic electronic components out of the waste stream.
“I love the idea of using business as an opportunity to solve big challenges like poverty and injustice with a business model.
“I chose to work for General Mills given their great reputation for giving back to the community,” LaGrange said last week. “I also knew that before I could have an impact at a social enterprise, I needed to build a firm business foundation.
“In 2012, I started volunteering about 10 hours a week with Tech Dump, focusing specifically on partnerships and building the Tech Dump name. Over the past two years, in addition to growing our business, I also became more involved in the general business management of our organization. We are accomplishing the important work of responsibly recycling electronics while also providing vital training for adults facing barriers to employment. I love using business as an opportunity to solve big [environmental and employment] challenges.”
Tech Dump, which employs 43, this year will process 5.5 million pounds of electronics or about 40 percent more than 2014.
It recently received the industry’s “Responsible Recycling” or “R2” designation through an independent three-day audit to verify that it meets rigorous environmental, data security and worker-safety standards.
Tom Wood Automotive finishes big expansion at Richfield facility
Richfield Bloomington Honda has replaced its old store with a new, 165,000-square-foot facility.
This two-year project included demolition of the old Honda dealership, as well as the adjacent Richfield Bloomington Mitsubishi dealership on W. 77th Street, and construction of two new dealerships under the same owner, Tom Wood Automotive.
The new construction cost was nearly $30 million, according to permits filed with the city of Richfield.
“In order to meet the needs of our growing client base, we built a larger, state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, updated facility,” said General Manager Tim Carter of Richfield Bloomington Mitsubishi.
The new, three-story Honda facility is growing from 97 employees to an estimated 180 by the end of this year.
In addition to a sparkling building, new energy-efficient features include a specialized boiler that burns waste oil, a carwash that will recycle and reuse most of its water, LED light fixtures inside and outside and “the only metro dealership with sidewalk frontage creating that small town window-shopping experience.” This is not your father’s Honda dealership.
Little will reboot brand for Ryan Companies
Little, the Minneapolis branding agency, has been hired by Ryan Companies to update and refresh the image of the 75-year-old Minneapolis-based construction and development firm. Little’s assignment is to develop a new brand strategy for Ryan, as well as an identity. Rebranding plans include a new website and interactive sales tools. This is a significant win for Little. Ryan a national developer, builder and real estate manager, is developing much of the Downtown East office and residential complex, and also is behind facilities such as CHS Field in St. Paul and Shutterfly’s new Shakopee facility.
Earlier this summer Little was honored by the trade journal Ad Age as its Silver Midwest Small Agency of the Year.
Associated Bank names new Minnesota leader
Angela O’Neill, a 10-year Associated Bank veteran, has been promoted to commercial banking market leader in Minnesota for Wisconsin-based bank. O’Neill, who will split time between offices in Minneapolis and St. Paul, most recently was the corporate banking team leader in St. Paul and before that was a commercial relationship manager in St. Paul.
Before joining Associated Bank, she was with U.S. Bank. |
There's going to be a temptation to want to publicly mock those on the left who have responded to the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education by suggesting they could pull their kids out of the public school system as a form of boycott.
There have been some social media responses to that effect, and of course media outlets are jumping on them, aware of the sort of hypocrisy baked in. To respond to DeVos' support for school choice by engaging in school choice seems a bit hilarious to those on the other side. DeVos is even an avid supporter of home schooling! NBC notes a quote from DeVos:
"We've seen more and more people opt for homeschooling, including in urban areas. What you're seeing is parents who are fed up with their lack of power to do anything about where their kids are assigned to go to school. To the extent that homeschooling puts parents back in charge of their kids' education, more power to them." DeVos' emphasis on school choice is a natural fit for the homeschool movement, whose members span the political spectrum but are largely conservative Christians who resist government oversight. That group has helped fuel remarkable growth in recent years, carrying the movement from the fringe and closer to the mainstream. An an estimated 1.8 [m]illion children were homeschooled in 2012, up from 850,000 three years earlier, according to an Education Department survey published last June.
The story does note at the end that it wasn't Christian conservatives who started the homeschool movement in the United States but folks who thought the tightly regimented and bureaucratic system wasn't helpful for kids' learning. If people on the left respond by pulling out of the public schools and homeschooling instead, they're returning the program to its roots.
Resist the desire to mock these people. This is what school choice supporters have been arguing for all along. Parents shouldn't have to submit to whatever DeVos thinks counts as the proper education for their children. The public education establishment has attempted to paint the school choice movement as a mechanism for conservatives (particularly religious conservatives and wealthy conservatives) to escape participation in public schools. While an initial response could be "So? Their kids aren't your property," it's also very important to point out it's not true. It's not the DeVoses of the world struggling as hard as they can to get their kids out of public schools and into charters. The DeVoses of the world can just write a check and educate their kids wherever they want.
It's those randoms on Twitter who are intended to be the beneficiaries of charter programs and homeschooling. School choice options are wildly popular with parents, something mostly ignored by DeVos' opponents, given that they were more interested in carrying water for education unions. It's akin to the local politicians who protect the taxi cartels from ride-sharing services at the expense of the actual customers, who end up having fewer choices, paying more, and getting treated poorly as a result.
In the event that DeVos attempts to push through a particular ideology within the education system (I doubt this will happen, but you never know), parents should feel free to use the mechanism DeVos herself supports and reject her and seek education elsewhere. There's no valid reason for the Department of Education to exist other than to advance and expand bureaucratic rule of over our lives.
Meanwhile, some union protester in Washington, D.C., physically blocked DeVos from entering a public school today, an act so stupid that even the president of the American Federation of Teachers rejected it. That behavior certainly is not going to make public schools any better. |
An inquiry into administering the sacraments by the ordained Elder of a local church.
It is my desire in this short paper to demonstrate that only an ordained minister of the Gospel has the divine right and prerogative of administering the sacraments. Only an Elder is able and lawfully authorized to exercise the duties of an Elder. These Elders are called and ordained of a particular church. This all may seem obvious. Yet, it has been my experience, that even among good men and women of the faith in the modern church, this may be quite new. I will traverse both historical orthodoxy as well as Scriptural foundations in order to prove this one simple point.
We turn out attention to the Bible. In Ephesians 4:11-13 it states, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Christ has given gifts according to His own counsel to His church. This should be evident and a very simple point to first consider. It is not to an organization, or a group of people simply calling themselves Christian, but to the visible church that these different offices have been given. It is not my intention to point out the historical intricacies of the meaning of the word “church,” but some points are important. The Church is not simply the invisible church, the elect of all ages, “the called out ones.” And churches are not formed the moment two or three Christians sit down together to talk about Christ. Those who appeal to the “two or three gathered in my name” passage in Matthew 18 wrest the text from its context concerning the “pragmaton” or “law” aspects (where we get pragmatic from). When Christ says “anything in my name” the overtones there in the Greek use of the word concern matters of the law, which fits nicely in a passage about church discipline. When two or three are gathered at church for disciplinary purposes, the apostles of the early church, or the elders of any church, have the divine right of authority to bind and loose, to forbid or allow entrance into the church by means of discipline. This you may find on your own in personal study to a greater length. My point is that the church here is the fixed expression of the church in the world, the local church or meeting house of a given body, not simply the basic tenor of “those called out”. There is an immense difference between simply being a Christian, called out of the world by God, and being a Christian who is a member of the church, a visible expression of the invisible church. Obviously, this has huge implications concerning the manner in which a community of believers covenant together in both doctrine, and practicum. A good summation of these concepts is found in the confession, “I. The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. (Eph. 1:10, 22-23; 5:23, 27, 32; Col. 1:18). II. The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; (1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-13; Psa. 2:8; Rev. 7:9; Rom. 15:9-12) and of their children:(1 Cor. 7:14; Acts 2:39; Gen. 17:7-12; Ezek. 16:20-21; Rom. 11:16; see Gal. 3:7, 9, 14; Rom. 4:12, 16, 24) and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ,( Matt. 13:47; Isa. 9:7; Luke 1:32-33; Acts 2:30-36; Col. 1:13) the house and family of God,( Eph. 2:19; 3:15) out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation (Acts 2:47). III. Unto this catholic visible church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world: and doth, by his own presence and Spirit, according to his promise, make them effectual thereunto. (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11-13; Matt. 28:19-20; Isa. 59:12). IV. This catholic church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less visible. (Rom. 11:3-5; Acts 2:41, 47; 9:31; 18:8-10) And particular churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them. (Acts 2:41-42; 1 Cor. 5:6-7; Rev. ch. 2-3). V. The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error;( 1 Cor. 13:12; Rev. ch. 2-3; Matt. 13:24-30, 47) and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan ( Matt. 23:37-39; Rom. 11:18-22). Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will.( Matt. 16:18; Psa. 45:16-7; 72:17; Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:17). VI. There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ. (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22) Nor can the pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof. (Matt. 23:8-10; 1 Peter 5:2-4) but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God.”[1]
Now upon this point that we are dealing with the church as a body of believers Christ’s Spirit applies the work of the cross in gifting men for ministry. The gifts associated here are actually men themselves. (Did you know your pastor was a gift of God?) The Apostle names four kinds of men here: apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor/teachers. Now, I am aware of the Greek exegetical differences in translating the final kind of men as “pastors” and “teachers”, or “pastor/teacher.” I have no desire to contend that point. I am satisfied that the text in its original intent is speaking of the same person and I believe the Greek bears that out.[2] Even if you disagree, that is fine. That should not change the meaning of the passage and the point which we are coming to. Let us understand at this point that the officers of the church, in all their capacities, are gifts given to the church, and function within the church.
There is a running testimony of Reformed thinkers concerning the nature of the first three offices stated as temporary offices. Apostles, prophets and evangelists have been seen through the writings of the Magisterial Reformers as well as the good Puritans as temporary in nature. In other words, the offices of Apostles, prophets and evangelists are not offices that function today. They were specific offices for specific periods in the birth of the church – extraordinary offices that had accompanying signs and wonders, miracles, which have now ceased. John Calvin says in “treating of Ecclesiastical office-bearers in particular: Some of them, as Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists, [are] temporary. Others, as Pastors and Teachers, [are] perpetual and indispensable.”[3] Even the Westminster Assembly, one of the most doctrinally sound assemblies to convene in the history of the church, had this to say as whole body or consensus of ministers and theologians: “On the 9th of January, the whole question of ordination was fairly stated by Dr. Temple, chairman of one of the committees, in the following series of interrogatory propositions: — “1. What ordination is? 2. Whether necessarily to be continued? 3. Who to ordain? 4. What persons to be ordained, and how qualified? 5. The manner how?” What did the Assembly say in conclusion to these things? “To these were appended the following answers for the Assembly’s consideration: — “1. Ordination is the solemn setting apart of a person to some public office in the Church. 2. It is necessarily to be continued in the Church. 3. The apostles ordained, evangelists did, preaching presbyters did: because apostles and evangelists are officers extraordinary, and not to continue in the Church; and since, in Scripture, we find ordination in no other hands, we humbly conceive that the preaching presbyters are only to ordain.”[4] John Owen makes this comment, “The officers of the church in general are of two sorts, “bishops and deacons,” Philippians 1:1; and their work is distributed into “prophecy and ministry,” Romans 12: 6,7. The bishops or elders are of two sorts: — 1. Such as have authority to teach and administer the sacraments, which is commonly called the power of order; and also of ruling, which is called a power of jurisdiction, corruptly: and, 2. Some have only power for rule; of which sort there are some in all the churches in the world. Those of the first sort are distinguished into pastors and teachers.”[5] For Owen, the Apostle, Prophet and Evangelist were extraordinary offices, and the pastor/teacher was the ordinary office, or general office. He takes this up to a great extent in his writings, but this may suffice for the point at hand. Hendricksen alludes to this same idea when he says that Timothy and Philip, the two described in Acts as evangelists, though both have other functions, are specifically ordained for a specific function before God.[6] Compare both the function of the evangelist with Timothy and Philip: Timothy served as a traveling apostolic vicar and as an evangelist. Philip served as a deacon and traveling evangelist. The evangelist seems to incur the idea of a traveling missionary. However, as Hendricksen says, “the church today is not able to produce an apostle like Paul nor a prophet like Agabus. It is not in need of a Timothy to serve as an apostolic delegate, nor of a Philip, addressed by an angel and “caught away” by the Spirit. In common with the early church, however, it does have ministers, elders, and deacons.”[7]
Even if there are some who believe that the evangelist is a modern day office, and disagree with the above summary statements about the extraordinary office of an evangelist for purposes of starting the early church, the fact still remains that evangelists are men who are equipped in the church for work outside the church and did not have a license of their own to follow their own whims and wills. We should note that Evangelists are mentioned in Ephesians 4:11, our text, in Acts 21:8 of Philip and 2 Timothy 4:5 of Timothy.[8] For instance, the Anabaptists utilized such passages as Acts 8:38 to prove that anyone could baptize those they met “on the road” by profession of faith. Acts 8:38 states, “And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.” However, such proof texting or selective citing should be condemned. For instance, to trace the legacy of Philip we should look through the last couple of chapters in Acts. Philip is to be associated with the Philip of Acts 6:5-6, “And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.” Here Philip is seen as one chosen by the church, and had the laying on of hands as a result of the apostle’s confirmation of their ministry. With Philip, then, we have a distinct office fulfilled by this man. The problem with Philip being a “rogue” evangelist, untied to the church is a fallacy. Acts 8:6 states, “And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.” Miracles were signs, or confirmations, made by God in the presence of the preached word by the Apostolic witness of the message surrounding Jesus Christ.[9] Christ is interested in having authoritative leadership (Matt 18:18–20 ; 28:20 ; Mark 6:7 ; John 20:21–23 ).[10] Philip preaches (Acts 8:5), baptizes (Acts 8:12), did miracles and signs (Acts 8:13), was directed specifically by immediate special revelation by the angel of the Lord (Acts 8:26), and was caught away or translated by God (Acts 8:39-40). He is called one of the seven, an obvious reference to Acts 6, in Acts 21:8, “And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.” As Hendricksen points out, “Philip preached Christ, Luke writes, to the Samaritans. They were no longer excluded from the Good News (Matthew 10:5), which is God’s universal message to all people.”[11] This is no regular or general laymen and the Anabaptists are in fault for using this passage to condone their unauthorized acts of baptizing without being ordained and sent by the church.
Another passage that is used is John the Baptist. Certainly this aspect of the ministry of God’s revelation to the church is crucial but often misunderstood. John 1:6 says that John the Baptist was “sent from God” to prepare the way of the Lord. The Greek construction here is interesting in that the phrase describes John coming from alongside of God to bear witness to the truth. This does not make John preexistent, but it does make his ministry closely related to the covenant concepts that God administers through the Bible. God is sending a special covenant member to His people to call them, again, back to repentance. He was specially sent of God – a special kind of prophet. John’s baptism is known as the “baptism” of repentance. John’s baptism is frequently omitted in discussions of Christian baptism, but this should not be the case, since John the Baptist is a pivotal figure in the overlap between the old and new covenants. It is important to remember, in this regard, that circumcision is not only a sign of blessing, but also “a sign of Christ’s redemptive judgment with its benedictions and maledictions alike.” If this were true, this would mean that we must expand any discussion of baptism to also include the idea that baptism also is a sign of blessing and of curse. Meredith Kline asks this rhetorical question in light of this, “must we enlarge our theology of baptism so as to see it in a more comprehensive symbol of the eschatological judgment that consummates in the covenant of which baptism is the sign?”[12] The answer to this is “yes.” John is bringing an ultimatum to God’s unfaithful people. The Messiah is coming, and how will the people receive him? Sinfully, they crucify him. The eschatological judgment John preached in the wilderness, and baptizes as a baptism of repentance, speaks to this issue. But is John the rogue “Baptizer” in the wilderness for any or all to imitate? Hardly. Not only does the prophetic office of John negate the laymen for imitating him, but also his peculiar call to repentance as the baptism of ordeal takes shape would quickly disqualify anyone except John the Baptist from fulfilling his role as the last prophet of God. John is like God’s lawyer, sent from the side of God’s judgment seat to bring the lawsuit of God against the unfaithful people before the coming of the Messiah. He is subpoenaing the people of God to repent in light of the coming King who will exact the curses of the covenant if they do not keep covenant. His role is the second most significant role in the Bible in my estimation. No one has the right to copy his Baptism, and John, most of all, knew his role and office as being sent directly by supernatural revelation. John was not paying games here. The axe is not laid at the base of the tree, rather, it is laid at the roots themselves. Each tree that demonstrates their covenant unfaithfulness will be cut down. Who do you know today that would take up a role such as this and mimic it?
It would also be worthy to note that in the administration of baptism some believe this simply to be a “doorway” into the professing kingdom. It is much more than that. The sign of “water” through the prophets of the Old Testament, and in the case of John’s Baptism, as well as the other passages concerning water (Creation and Chaos, Noahic flood, ritual Levitical and Neophyte washings), and into and through the New Testament, all surround an eschatological judgment motif. Baptism is not just recognizing a profession of faith, or recognizing a child’s covenantal status, as if we should simply smile and administer the water. We take pictures of this as if it is simply a celebration without remembering the soberness of the event. This is like when parents decorate their baby’s room with Noah’s ark paraphernalia, two by two smiling animals entering jolly ol’ Noah’s ark, forgetting that the ark was a means to salvation in the midst of eschatological judgment on the wickedness of men. The entire world perished in that cleansing rite. And Peter relates the flood, and Noah’s salvation, as an analogy to baptism. Baptism is the sign of the covenant which carries in it both blessing and curses. It is an eschatological judgment sign that knocks everyone off the fence of indifference who partakes in it or administers it, and sets them and the participants into the context of blessing or curse; one or the other. The minister should see this as exceedingly sobering, as well as those who administer it unlawfully as something to shun.
After looking at the above briefly, what, then, constitutes the manner in which the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, may be administered? Who may administer the sacraments in good conscience before the Lord as a representative or ambassador of His gracious provisions? Except for various cultic influences or heretical sects through the history of the church, the answer to this question is more basic than one may imagine. And the conformity, even across denominational lines, is also striking in answering this question.
We should define, briefly, those who have the authority to administer the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and of Baptism. The Belgic Confession in Article 31 on “The Ministers, Elders and Deacons” says this; “We believe that the ministers of God’s Word, the elders, and the deacons ought to be chosen to their respective offices by a lawful election by the Church, with calling upon the name of the Lord, and in that order which the Word of God teaches. Therefore every one must take heed not to intrude himself by improper means, but is bound to wait till it shall please God to call him; that he may have testimony of his calling, and be certain and assured that it is of the Lord.” Here we see that elders and deacons are to be chosen to their respective offices. They must take heed not to intrude on the office, but in due time, as God, through the church, they may be called to function in those offices. These officers are to be defined and installed by biblical standards. 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 demonstrate the non-negotiable character of the minister of the Gospel, and the deacon. Most of what is listed in those two areas relate to the character of the men, though we know from those passage and others that elders are to be “apt to teach” and are the “heralds” of the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:24). By authoritative extension, elders or pastors are to baptize (Matthew 28:19), administer the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:1ff), and give themselves wholly to ministry of the Word and prayer (Acts 6:4).
In the ordination of the heralds of the Gospel message, we find they are installed or ordained by means of the church during a special time of ordination to the office. Paul, in 1 Tim. 5:22, directs Timothy, an Evangelist/Pastor, “Lay hands suddenly on no man.” With the prototype deacons of Acts 6:6, the Apostles “when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.” In Acts 14:23 we find the Apostle involved in the ordination of elders, “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.” So we are fully aware that for the early church there was a special ordination of men to the ministry to which the Lord did, in due time, through the church and those in authority, to ordain them to their work. This was even the case with the Apostle Paul in Acts 13:2, “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” And so they did.
Martin Luther wrote at length on the ordination of the minister. Luther writes, “To ordain is not to consecrate. Therefore, if we know a pious man we single him out and through the power of the Word which we possess we give him authority to preach the Word and to administer the Sacraments. This is to ordain.”[13] Luther’s conception of ordination is not a liturgical one but consists essentially in the regular call to the preaching office (Predigtampt), — to preach the Word and to administer the Sacraments, — and in the transmission of this office to the candidate. Out of this, out of this alone, the congregational ceremony develops. Four elements make up this “ordination”: — 1. The examination of the candidate as to his worthiness and fitness; 2. election to the office; 3. confirmation and commendation in the presence of the (calling) congregation; 4. the Church’s intercession for the chosen candidate.[14] He says, “First, — An examination having been made, either on this or on a preceding day, if they are found worthy, after being admonished through preaching, prayer shall be made by the Church for them and for the whole ministry, to wit, that God would deign to send laborers into His harvest, and preserve them faithful and constant in sound doctrine against the gates of hell, etc.” Luther also states that a mark of the church, or an outward demonstration of Christ’s visible Church, was the calling of real ministers to tend the flock. “The Church is known outwardly by the fact that it consecrates or calls ministers, or has offices which they occupy. For we must have bishops, pastors, or preachers, to give, administer and use, publicly and privately, the four things, or precious possessions, that have been mentioned, for the sake of and in the name of the Church, or rather because of their institution by Christ, as St. Paul says, in Ephesians 4:11, Accepit dona in hominibus, “and gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and governors, etc.” The whole group cannot do these things, but must commit them, or allow them to be committed, to someone. What would happen if everyone wanted to speak or administer the sacraments and no one would yield to another? This duty must be committed to one person, and he alone must be allowed to preach, baptize, absolve, and administer the sacraments; all the rest must be content with this and agree to it. Wherever you see this, be assured that God’s people, the Christian, holy people, is present.”[15]
Calvin also explains this in a more comprehensive and direct manner. He says, “As to the Apostles so also to Pastors the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments has been committed.” The relationship or extension of passages such as Matthew 28:19 apply to all those in authority, or deigned to authority by Christ for his church. For instance, Matthew 28:19 is often used in reference to “all Christians.” We should all go out and preach the Gospel. Should we all go and baptize though? Oftentimes this passage is wrest from its context. Careful exegetical work, or simply a sharp eye while reading the text, demonstrates that Jesus Christ made no reference whatsoever to all Christians. The fuller context reads, “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”[16] (Matthew 28:16-20) Davies and Allison state, “The eleven – the brethren of v. 10 whose forgiveness for their flight and denial is implicit – reflects Matthew’s precision: in accord with 27:3-10 Judas has been subtracted.”[17] The Greek text here bears out the relationship of the command to teach and baptize to the eleven – not to all Christians.[18] Jesus is instructing the Apostles to teach and baptize. This has no reference to all Christians inclusively, but does have reference to the extension of those who hold the office of the church. It should be evident that in this text we should conclude that it is “…Christ’s stipulation that the pastorate fulfill its Great Commission to preach and administer the sacraments.”[19] This the Reformers saw in common. Calvin explains, “When our Lord sent forth the apostles, he gave them a commission (as has been lately said) to preach the Gospel, and baptize those who believed for the remission of sins. He had previously commanded that they should distribute the sacred symbols of his body and blood after his example (Matthew 28:19; Luke 22:19). Such is the sacred, inviolable, and perpetual law, enjoined on those who succeed to the place of the apostles, — they receive a commission to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments.”[20] Calvin also states, “Paul speaks not of himself only but of all pastors, when he says, “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1). Again, in another passage, he describes a bishop as one “holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9).”[21] The administration of the sacraments, according to Calvin’s understanding of a comprehensive systematic, is given to the ordained minister. “Our present purpose, however, is not to enumerate the separate qualities of a good pastor, but only to indicate what those profess who call themselves pastors — viz. that in presiding over the Church they have not an indolent dignity, but must train the people to true piety by the doctrine of Christ, administer the sacred mysteries, preserve and exercise right discipline.”[22] These ministers, according to Calvin, should conform and be viewed in light of the non-negotiable requirements of the Bible. “What persons should be elected bishops is treated at length by Paul in two passages (Titus 1:7; 1 Timothy 3:1). The substance is, that none are to be chosen save those who are of sound doctrine and holy lives, and not notorious for any defect which might destroy their authority and bring disgrace on the ministry.”[23] The difference between the Apostle, and the extension of this ordinary office ordaining men of non-negotiable qualities is seen in this statement, “As theirs was an extraordinary ministry, in order to render it conspicuous by some more distinguished mark, those who were to discharge it behoved to be called and appointed by the mouth of the Lord himself. It was not, therefore, by any human election, but at the sole command of God and Christ, that they prepared themselves for the work.”[24] It was not that the Apostles ordained themselves, or that subsequent offices are given the right to themselves. Nor are men, therefore, allowed to take office administration upon themselves. Rather, they are given the right, or bestowed with the right, of administration of the sacraments. This authority is stated by Calvin where he quotes Cyprian. “Rightly, therefore, does Cyprian contend for it as of divine authority, that the priest be chosen in presence of the people, before the eyes of all, and be approved as worthy and fit by public judgment and testimony, (Cyprian, Lib. i. Ep. 3). Indeed, we see that by the command of the Lord, the practice in electing the Levitical priests was to bring them forward in view of the people before consecration. Nor is Matthias enrolled among the number of the apostles, nor are the seven deacons elected in any other way, than at the sight and approval of the people (Acts 6:2). “Those examples,” says Cyprian, “show that the ordination of a priest behoved not to take place, unless under the consciousness of the people assisting, so that that ordination was just and legitimate which was vouched by the testimony of all.” We see, then, that ministers are legitimately called according to the word of God, when those who may have seemed fit are elected on the consent and approbation of the people. Other pastors, however, ought to preside over the election, lest any error should be committed by the general body either through levity, or bad passion, or tumult.”[25] It is no wonder, then, that in the formation of Calvin’s Catechism that Calvin places the order of his questions successively on this particular subject of ordained ministers next to the sacraments. These are questions 307-310, and their answers:
307. Is it necessary, then, that there should be pastors?
Yes; and that we should hear them, receiving the teaching of the Lord in humility by their mouth. Therefore whoever despises them and refuses to hear them, rejects Jesus Christ, and separates himself from the fellowship of the faithful (Matt. 10:40; Luke 10:16).
308. But is it enough to have been instructed by them once, or ought he to continue to do this?
It is little to have begun, unless you go on to persevere. We must continue to be disciples of Christ right to the end. But He has ordained the ministers of the Church to teach in His Name.
309. Is there no other means than the Word by which God communicates Himself to us?
To the preaching of His Word He has conjoined the Sacraments.
310. What is a Sacrament?
An outward attestation of the grace of God which, by a visible sign, represents spiritual things to imprint the promises of God more firmly in our hearts, and to make us more sure of them.
It is without a doubt that the Reformers, Dutch Theologians and English Puritans, in expounding and exegeting this topic from the Bible, say this is an integral part of the administration or hierarchy of the commandments of Christ for His church. In Germany, under the pen of Melancthon, we read this document signed by the electors and dukes of the country, “OF Ecclesiastical Order: they teach that no one should publicly teach in the Church or administer the Sacraments unless he be regularly called.”[26] Calling constitutes the ability to administer the sacraments. Article 29 of the Belgic Confession says, “The marks by which the true Church is known are these: If the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if it maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in chastening of sin; in short, if all things are managed according to the pure Word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only Head of the Church. Hereby the true Church may certainly be known, from which no man has a right to separate himself.”[27] Most of the orthodox confessions of the Church refer to this pure administration as done by the minister of the Gospel and him alone. The Belgic Confession, Article 30 says this, “We believe that this true Church must be governed by that spiritual polity which our Lord has taught us in His Word; namely, that there must be ministers or pastors to preach the Word of God and to administer the sacraments; also elders and deacons, who, together with the pastors, form the council of the Church; that by these means the true religion may be preserved, and the true doctrine everywhere propagated, likewise transgressors chastened and restrained by spiritual means; also that the poor and distressed may be relieved and comforted, according to their necessities. By these means everything will be carried on in the Church with good order and decency, when faithful men are chosen, according to the rule prescribed by St. Paul in his Epistle to Timothy.” The Westminster Confession of Faith is even more graphic. “For the better attaining of these ends, the officers of the Church are to proceed by admonition; suspension from the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for a season; and by excommunication from the Church; according to the nature of the crime, and demerit of the person. (I Thess. 5:12; II Thess. 3:6, 14, 15; I Cor. 5:4, 5, 13; Matt. 18:17; Tit. 3:10.)”[28] It also states, “There are only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord: neither of which may be dispensed by any but by a minister of the Word lawfully ordained. (Matt. 28:19; I Cor. 11:20, 23, I Cor. 4:1; Heb. 5:4.)”[29] It is seen, then, that the puritan witness to the Reformation standard holds true. The minister of the Word, and him alone, is able to administer the sacraments to the body of Christ. Even in the midst of Particular Baptist movement we find the same standard which resides in the Reformed standards, “A particular church, gathered and completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members; and the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church (so called and gathered), for the peculiar administration of ordinances, and execution of power or duty, which he intrusts them with, or calls them to, to be continued to the end of the world, are bishops or elders, and deacons. (Acts 20:17, 28; Philippians 1:1)”[30] The Particular Baptists also saw the importance of the ordained minister and his relation to the administration of the sacraments, even though they structured their church government in a different fashion than most of Puritanism.
Within Puritanism, we could look through the tomes of Puritan writings on this subject and come away overwhelmed. Let us suffice with examining, for a moment, the teachings of John Owen, a very able representative of Puritan writing and Christian orthodoxy. As stated earlier, Owen saw that the role of pastor/teacher is consigned to the ordinary office of the church, not the extraordinary office. It is only temporary in terms of the end of the age, and the consummation of all things. As Jeremiah 31 says, when the consummation of all things takes place, in heaven, there will be no more need for teachers. In heaven, all will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. However, now, during the inauguration of the Kingdom, teachers in their ordinary office are needed. Apostles, prophets and evangelists are offices of a temporary nature already done away with the passing of the theocracy of the prophets and the Apostolic age. Owen then says, “Let the bishops attend the particular flocks over which they are appointed, preaching the word, administering the holy ordinances of the gospel in and to their own flock, there will not be contending about them.”[31] It is the minister who administers the sacraments to his flock. These ministers are not self-authorized, but appointed by the church. Ordination in Scripture compriseth the whole authoritative translation of a man from among the number of his brethren into the state of an officer in the church.”[32] In this distinction, Owen writes a lengthy treatise in explaining the differences between the Pastors of the Church and the people of the Church. His intent is to demonstrate how both the people and the pastor have specific roles to fulfill in God’s post redemptive economy. “Farther; who are the subject of the keys, in whom all that secondary ecclesiastical power which is committed to men doth reside, after the determinations of so many learned men by clear Scripture light, shall not by me be called in question. All these, though conducing to the business in hand, would require a large discussion; and such a scholastical handling as would make it an inconsutilous piece of this popular discourse; my intent being only to show, — seeing there are, as all acknowledge, some under the New Testament, as well as the Old, peculiarly set apart by God’s own appointment for the administration of Christ’s ordinances, especially teaching of others by preaching of the gospel, in the way of office and duty, — what remaineth for the rest of God’s people to do, for their own and others’ edification.”[33] Though Christians are called priests as well as Pastors, there is a distinction. “All faithful ministers of the gospel, inasmuch as they are engrafted into Christ and are true believers, may, as all other true Christians, be called priests; but this inasmuch as they are members of Christ, not ministers of the gospel. It respecteth their persons, not their function, or not them as such.”[34] There is a distinction then between the sacrifices that the Christian priest brings, and the duty of the Pastors over a particular church. Christian priests have no warrant from the word to impose themselves on the duties that God has ordained for the minister. And there are only three biblical manners in which a minister of the Word, (Apostle, prophets, evangelists or pastors/teachers) may be called to that office; Owen says “1. By immediate revelation; 2. By a concurrence of Scripture rules directory for such occasions; 3. By some outward acts of Providence, necessitating him thereunto.”[35] Prophets were often called of God by immediate revelation from God; Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc. For the minister of the Gospel, such a calling rests not in the self-empowerment of the individual, but rather the internal calling of God on the minister’s heart, the providence of God through the church, and through the non-negotiable qualifications of the Word.
Such an office, Owen insists, is of the highest import and not just anyone is allowed to take the office. What we find is that the church is recognizing the power already invested in the special candidate for the task of overseeing the Chosen People of God. “Wherefore, where the Lord Christ doth not communicate of these abilities in such a measure as by virtue of them church-order may be observed, church-power exercised, and all church-ordinances administered according to his mind, unto the edification of the church, it is no more in the power of men to constitute officers than to erect and create an office in the church, Ephesians 4:11-15; 1 Corinthians 12:4-10, etc.; Romans 12:6-8. This wisdom is a spiritual gift, 1 Corinthians 12:8, whereby the officers of the church are enabled to make a due application of all the rules and laws of Christ, unto the edification of the church and all the members of it.[36] Unto the attaining of this wisdom are required, — 1) Fervent prayer for it, James 1:5. 2) Diligent study of the Scripture, to find out and understand the rules given by Christ unto this purpose, Ezra 7:10; 2 Timothy 2:1, 15. 3) Humble waiting on God for the revelation of all that it is to be exercised about, Ezekiel 43:11. 4) A conscientious exercise of the skill which they have received; talents traded with duly will increase. 5) A continual sense of the account which is to be given of the discharge of this great trust, being called to rule in the house of God, Hebrews 13:17.”[37] Accountability is a key aspect in the manner or discharge of the pastoral office. That is part of the reason that there should be setup an elder form of government where “elders” are ordained in every church; a plurality (Exodus 4:9; Acts 15:6; 1 Tim. 5:17; Titus 1:5; Hebrews 11:2; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1).
Some denominations discourage ordination. It may help some to more readily define what it means to ordain a person to the ministry, so that people are not empowering themselves to the work that should be done by the minister. This would apply to missionaries sent out to do church work, laymen who desire to take up teaching or preaching roles in a church, or outside of the church, and the like. What is ordination? Strong gives us a good outline; “Ordination is the setting apart of a person divinely called to a work of special ministration in the church. It does not involve the communication of power; it is simply recognition of powers previously conferred by God and a consequent formal authorization, on the part of the church, to exercise the gifts already bestowed. This recognition and authorization should not only be expressed by the vote in which the candidate is approved by the church or the council which represents it but should also be accompanied by a special service of admonition, prayer and the laying on of hands (Acts 6:5, 6; 13:2, 3; 14:23; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:22). Licensure simply commends a man to the churches as fitted to preach. Ordination recognizes him as set apart to the work of preaching and administering ordinances, in some particular church or in some designated field of labor, as representative of the church.”[38] What is important here is that such actions are done as a “representative of the church.” John Gill also confirms this, even though his outlook is based along the lines of a baptistic form of church government, “The election and call of [ministers], with their acceptance, is ordination. The essence of ordination lies in the voluntary choice and call of the people, and in the voluntary acceptance of that call by the person chosen and called; for this affair must be by mutual consent and agreement, which joins them together as pastor and people. And this is done among themselves; and public ordination, so called, is no other than a declaration of that. Election and ordination are spoken of as the same; the latter is expressed and explained by the former. It is said of Christ, that he “ordained twelve”, Mark 3:14 that is, he chose them to the office of apostleship, as he 1733 himself explains it, John 6:70 see Acts 1:2. Paul and Barnabas are said to “ordain elders in every church”, Acts 14:23 or to choose them; that is, they gave orders and directions to every church, as to the choice of elders over them; for sometimes persons are said to do that which they give orders and directions for doing, as Moses and Solomon, with respect to building the tabernacle and temple, though done by others; and Moses particularly is said to choose the judges, Exodus 18:25 the choice being made under his direction and guidance. The word that is used in Acts 14:23 is translated chosen, 2 Corinthians 8:19 where the apostle speaks of a brother, ceirotouhyeiv, “who was chosen of the churches to travel with us”; and is so rendered when ascribed to God, Acts 10:41.”[39] When such men are ordained, what is their function? Gill says, “Pastors of churches feed souls by the administration of ordinances; these are the goodness and fatness of the house of God, with which the saints are richly fed, and abundantly filled and satisfied; these are the provisions of Zion, which the Lord blesses; these are breasts of consolation, out of which gracious souls suck, and are delighted and refreshed; these are green pastures, into which the shepherds of Israel lead their flocks and feed them.”[40] The administration of the sacraments are an integral part of the ministry of the Gospel Pastor. Richard Baxter makes this sarcastic comment about those who simply believe that coming into a pastoral position after ordination is just preaching and does not include social interaction and catechizing, “They commonly think, that a minister hath no more to do with them, but to preach to them, and administer the sacraments to them, and visit them in sickness; and that, if they hear him, and receive the sacraments from him, they owe him no further obedience, nor can he require any more at their hands.”[41] Even though this is a rebuke, Baxter still equates preaching and the administration of the sacraments to the minister.
Throughout church history men have always been ordained to Gospel work, and to the administration of the sacraments. Schaff notes, “No one can be a pastor who is not called, examined, ordained, or installed. In the examination, the candidate must give satisfactory evidence of his knowledge of the Scriptures, his soundness in doctrine, purity of motives, and integrity of character. If he proves worthy of the office, he receives a testimony to that effect from the Council to be presented to the congregation. If he fails in the examination, he must wait for another call and submit to another examination. The best mode of installation is by prayer and laying on of hands, according to the practice of the Apostles and the early Church; but it should be done without superstition.”[42]
Those who would take up the right of an ordained minister, by a true church, are rebelling against the given authority and structure of the church: God – Christ – [General Assembly of Elders – Presbytery of a given locale – Elders (or Session)][43] – Deacons – Congregation. Even the Methodist Arminian preacher John Wesley said, “All Presbyterian Churches, it is well known, that of Scotland in particular, license men to preach before they are ordained, throughout that whole kingdom; and it is never understood that this appointment to preach gives them any right to administer the sacraments. Likewise in our own Church, persons may be authorized to preach, yea, may be Doctors of Divinity, (as was Dr. Alwood at Oxford, when I resided there,) who are not ordained at all, and consequently have no right to administer the Lord’s Supper. Yea, even in the Church of Rome itself, if a lay-brother believes he is called to go a mission, as it is termed, he is sent out, though neither Priest nor Deacon, to execute that office, and not the other.”[44]
If we have a right understanding of what a minister is, then the possibility of unorthodox actions concerning the duties of minister may be kept in control. “A number of descriptive words shed light on biblical pastoral ministry. These include “ruler” (1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Tim. 3:4–5; 5:17), “ambassador” (2 Cor. 5:20), “steward” (1 Cor. 4:1), “defender” (Phil. 1:7), “minister” (1 Cor 4:1); “servant” (2 Cor. 4:5), and “example” (1 Tim. 4:12, 1 Pet. 5:3). The NT also tells the pastor to preach (1 Cor. 1:17), feed (1 Pet. 5:2), build up the church (Eph. 4:12), edify (2 Cor. 13:10), pray (Col. 1:9), watch for souls (Heb. 13:17), war (1 Tim. 1:18), convince (Titus 1:9), comfort (2 Cor. 1:4–6), rebuke (Titus 1:13), warn (Acts 20:31), admonish (2 Thess. 3:15), and exhort (Titus 1:9; 2:15).”[45] We should be keenly aware that it is the minister and his role that fulfills the administration of the Gospel sacraments.
A theology of “calling” may help protect the church from several extremes. One of these extremes is the view that a call is a private matter with little or no relationship or accountability to the church. Another view of calling separates the “professional” clergy from the laity. An adequate theology is also needed to help place proper focus on the servant quality of leadership consistent with Christ’s call to discipleship. A biblical call is quite divorced from cultural ideas of power. The case of Simon Magus who attempted to gain ecclesiastical preferment (Acts 8:5–24) stands out as a serious error to avoid. The English word “simony,” the buying or selling of church office or preferment, comes from this incident in Acts.[46]
It should also be noted that the sacraments are to be guarded by the minister. “The body is not without order; again, the kingdom of God is not a Rousseauian paradise. In most churches, only ordained ministers may administer the Supper, and even if this is an unnecessary remnant of clericalism, it is still true that in all properly functioning churches of Christ someone is designated as guardian of the table. Flagrant and impenitent sinners are to be cut off from the fellowship of the feast. In this way, the eucharist not only manifests and exercises proper relationships among the members of the body but also reveals the fundamental contours of the world as a whole. And not only “reveals”: since the exercise of church discipline centers on the table, the feast establishes boundaries, creating an in-group and an out-group. Those who participate in the feast are members of the body, to be treated as brothers and sisters, while those outside may be enemies of the church, apostates cut off from Christ, or the unevangelized. The feast draws the ever-shifting lines between the church and the world.”[47]
Ministers themselves should be quite zealous to see the church adhere to the proper doctrinal standards surrounding belief and practice. To allow anyone to administer the sacraments would be to give up the dictates of Christ’s commission to the authority of the church, and to give up the historical witness of confessionalism to the truth of it. “A minister stands in the pulpit not as an individual but as an ordained minister from a particular communion. “The public,” Dabney wrote, “hears [the minister’s] church in him.” Therefore, officers had a duty to keep those out of the ministry who did not consent to the church’s teaching.”[48] In this office, it is the duty of the minister to fulfill his calling. As Goodykoontz states, “The powers of the ministry are seen in preaching, in administering the sacraments, and in ruling.”[49]
This office is not something new. Ordination and its Gospel “powers” is not something new at all. It is the Biblical norm for minister to fulfill their ordinary office in this way, and there is a distinction between the laity and the minister in this respect. “More to the point, from the earliest centuries the church has seen it as a matter of good order that even higher standards be required of those who regularly conduct public worship, preach and administer the sacraments than are required of other elders and deacons. A setting apart of a presbyter, a presiding elder, from among the presbyters, who was responsible for the ministry of the word and sacraments, yet was still subject to the presbyters as a whole can be found among the oldest extra-biblical documents, including those dating from the first and second centuries. “The things which you have heard from me,” Paul tells Timothy, “these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” ( 2 Tim 2:2 ). [50]
I think it is evident from the Biblical text as well as the cross section of material presented that ministers of the Gospel are those sole heirs of the authority of the apostles in the sense that they are to administer the sacraments under Christ’s direction. Theologians, pastors, and our confessions prove the point well. Christians, those who are not ministers of the Gospel but are involved in the church, have not been given the authority to administer the sacraments. This task has fallen to the ordained minister. It is not a task to take lightly and many often misunderstand the gravity of the office of minister who think that Christians who gather together at any time, whether with or without a minister present, could in good conscience administer the sacraments as they see fit. This happenstance is often the case when poor theology substitutes itself for orthodoxy. We must never be those who take matters into our own hands or who decide for ourselves what the constituted means of the church are or how they should be administered. I would venture to say that those who administer the sacraments in this way have never, at any time, sat with a respectable minister of the Gospel to express their views and learn as to whether their views are orthodox or not. We should take heed lest we wrest the sacraments from its proper context, or cause others to stumble in our mistakes. For instance, if a Christian man were to administer the Lord’s Supper in a bible study bereft of a minister, or himself being a minister, he would be teaching others in the study that such an act is acceptable and with biblical warrant. Doesn’t Jesus Christ command us to “all” partake of the cup? Shouldn’t we desire to have the “all” of our church present when such a act of unified fellowship takes place? Does not Paul instruct the Corinthians that when they “come together” they are to act in a certain accord with doctrinal and practical unity? How would this be done if the body of Christ is left out of the supper’s administration, or if it was distributed in this manner? And what if a Christian woman decided to baptize her next door neighbor in her pool because the neighbor made a profession of faith? Would such and act be lawfully administered? What would the neophyte think after the act, or even after a true minister explained to them that their baptism was not warranted in such an instance? That would bring reproach upon the Baptizer and the neophyte. It may even be a means to cause them to stumble. Just practically in the life of the church the self-empowered administer of the sacraments has no place in the authority structure of Christ’s people. Even the nature of the covenant church teaches us this.
May the Lord help us to see the necessity of a good minister, and the nobility of that office. And so I end with a notable quote from Thomas Murphy, “The nature of the gospel ministry is such that its duties cannot be too thoughtfully regarded. It is an office which was established by Christ himself, the great Head of the Church. Its commission is held from the authority of heaven, and it studies are connected with the kingdom of God. Would it have been ordained by this special appointment of our Lord for any other than the most important ends? What dignity it receives from the consideration that it has not come from the contrivance of human wisdom, but that is emanated directly from Jehovah! Do we know of any other office, held by mortals, that can be compared it in grandeur.”[51]
——————————————————————————–
[1] Article 25, Of the Church, The Westminster Confession of Faith. The last line of the confession in this section concerning the Antichrist is often under what ministers may take as an “exception” clause. However, this may not necessarily be the case.
[2] The conjunction used is kai not de.
[3] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 3.
[4] Herrington, History of the Westminster Assembly, Page 144. Emphasis Mine.
[5] John Owen, Works, Volume 16, Page 64.
[6] William Hendricksen, NT Commentary – Ephesians, Pages 196-197.
[7] Ibid.
[8] F.F. Bruce, NICNT – The Epistle to the Colossians, To Philemon, and to the Ephesians, Page 396.
[9] If you are unclear on the topic of “miracle” then checking 2 Corinthians 9 and Hebrews 2 should make it apparent that the sign or wonder of the miracle always surrounds the preached Apostolic message.
[10] Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 144, Vol. 144, Page 328, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1987;2002.
[11] Simon Kistemaker, NT Commentary – Acts, Baker Book House, Page 292.
[12] Meredith Kline, By Oath Consigned, Page 50.
[13] Martin Luther, The Works of Luther, Volume 15, Page 721.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Martin Luther, The Works of Luther, Volume 5, Pages 213-214
[16] Emphasis Mine.
[17] W.D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., The International Critical Commentary – Matthew, Volume 3, Page 680.
[18] This does not mean that Christians are not to, by implication, go and share the Gospel with their neighbors or friends. However, one should realize that teaching and baptizing in this instance is not disjointed but conjoined. Christians should not just come to church, but “go” as well to share the Gospel with friends, relatives, neighbors, work associates, etc. They are not Apostles, nor are they heralds, the office kept for those ordained to it, but they are Christians.
[19] Westminster Theological Seminary. Westminster Theological Journal Volume 61, Vol. 61, Page 246, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1999;2002.
[20] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.3.2.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid. 4.3.12.
[24] Ibid 4.3.13.
[25] Ibid 4.3.15.
[26] The Augsburg Confession, Article 14.
[27] Emphasis Mine.
[28] Article 30, paragraph 4, The Westminster Confession of Faith.
[29] Article 27, paragraph 4, The Westminster Confession of Faith.
[30] Article 28, paragraph 8, The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.
[31] John Owen, Works, Volume 13, Page 289.
[32] John Owen, Works, Volume 13, Page 227.
[33] John Owen, Works, Volume 13, The Duty of Pastors distinguished from his people, Page 32.
[34] Ibid, Page 34.
[35] Ibid, Page 45.
[36] Owen is a cessationist, though he does believe that wisdom is still imparted to special offices of the church, elders and deacons, for the purpose of their office and their giftedness.
[37] John Owen, Works, Volume 16, Page 59.
[38] Augustus, H. Strong, Systematic Theology, Volume 3, Page 259.
[39] John Gill, A Body of Practical Divinity, Book 2, Chapter 3, Emphasis Mine.
[40] Ibid, 1742.
[41] Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, Banner of Truth Trust, Page 129.
[42] Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Volume 8, Page 402.
[43] All of these are the collective elders of the church.
[44] John Wesley, Works of John Wesley, Volume 7, Page 297.
[45] Master’s Seminary Journal Volume 6, Vol. 6, Page 150, Master’s Seminary, 1995;2002.
[46] Edward L. Hayesa, A Call to the Ministry, Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 157, Vol. 157, Page 91, DTS, 2000;2002.
[47] Peter J. Leithart ,The Way Things Really Ought to Be: Eucharist, Eschatology, and Culture, Westminster Theological Seminary. Westminster Theological Journal Volume 59, Vol. 59, Page 171, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1997;2002.
[48] D. G. Hart, The Tie That Divides: Presbyterian Ecumenism, Fundamentalism, And The History Of Twentieth-Century American Protestantism, Westminster Theological Seminary. Westminster Theological Journal Volume 60, Vol. 60, Page 99, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1998;2002.
[49] Westminster Theological Seminary. Westminster Theological Journal Volume 27, Vol. 27, Page 91, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1965;2002.
[50]Terry L. Johnson Liturgical Studies: The Pastor’s Public Ministry: Part One, Westminster Theological Seminary. Westminster Theological Journal Volume 60, Vol. 60, Page 132, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1998;2002.
[51] Thomas Murphy, Pastoral Theology, Old Paths Publications, Pages 24-25. |
FLINT, MI -- Vocalists from around the world will come to Flint in March to compete for their piece of more than $11,000 in prize money and a chance to perform with the Flint Symphony Orchestra.
On Saturday, March 1, the Flint Institute of Music and the St. Cecilia Society will host the 43rd annual William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition. The winner will receive $6,000 and the opportunity to perform with the Flint Symphony Orchestra, while second prize wins $2,500. The last three finalists will each be awarded $1,000.
This year's contestants are competing in voice. The competition has four categories: voice, piano, strings, and wind and brass, switching categories every year. Each contestant is 34 years old or younger.
Live auditions will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with singers who applied by sending in CDs and got letters of recommendation. The preliminary judges will select five competitors to compete in the evening finals.
There will be a dinner before the finals at 5 p.m. in the Atrium at the Flint Institute of Music, open to the public at a cost for $20 per person. Reservations must be made by Saturday, Feb. 22. Checks should be made payable to the St. Cecilia Society and mailed to Mrs. Max Dean at 2566 Nolen Dr., Flint, MI 48504.
The finals begin at 7 p.m. in the MacArthur Recital Hall. There, the first and second place winners will be named; the other three finalists will not be ranked.
The William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition attracts musicians from around the world, many of whom are studying at prestigious schools of music. Carol Hinterman, chairman of the competition, said earlier that last year's competition included applicants from China (Beijing, Chengdu, and Shanghai) and Costa Rica, while previous applicants have hailed from the Union of South Africa, Egypt and more.
This year's field of contestants include a Russian studying in France, another Russian, a Korean, and a contestant from Chengdu, China. Hinterman said there were 25 applications, which is less than usual; she attributes the lower amount to the the winter storms that hit the East Coast and the Midwest to start the year.
The competition is completely run by volunteers, and since St. Cecilia's took over the competition, contestants are offered free meals and housing with area families.
Katherine Weintraub, a Florida native who studied at University of Michigan, won the grand prize in last year's competition for her performance of Villa Lobos's "Fantasia" on the soprano saxophone. Daniel Velasco, a University of Michigan student flutist from Quito, Ecuador, won second place with his performance of Concerto for Flute by Lieberman.
The other three finalists were Bowling Green University doctoral student Noa Even, University of Missouri-Kansas City student Amanda Hudnall, and Jonathan Wintringham, a graduate teaching assistant and masters of music student at Eastman.
William C. Byrd was the director of Flint Institute of Music and conductor of the Flint Symphony Orchestra from 1966 until his death in 1974. He died of a heart attack while conducting a pops concert in Wilson Park on a hot summer evening.
Byrd "had a dream of bringing some of the world's finest young talent to Flint, with the intent of showcasing virtually unknown rising young artists with the Flint Symphony Orchestra," according to the competition's web site.
The event was named "The Young Artist Competition" while Byrd was alive, but was renamed after he died to reflect his influence on the program. |
President Obama ’s State of the Union address soared — right over a familiar cliff.
The president simply couldn’t seem to escape his professorial past, to convey his passion and convictions in the plain words of plain folks, and to breach the chasm between the People’s House and people’s houses.
He’s still stuck on studious.
He seems to believe that if he does a better job of explaining his aggressive agenda, then he’ll win hearts and minds. It’s an honorable ambition, but it’s foolhardy. People want clear goals, clearly defined and clearly (and concisely) conveyed. They’re suspicious of complexity.
H.L. Mencken once famously opined, “No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” I take exception to that. But if you change “intelligence” to “ attention span ,” I agree wholeheartedly.
Republicans know this well. Obama knows it not.
Take the enormous health care bill for instance. The president overreached, pushing a convoluted bill with a convoluted message. The Republican response: “Just say no.” They countered with a series of crisp attacks that shrouded the bill in a fog of confusion. Now it’s in danger, and the public may well blame the Democrats. People don’t care as much about process as they do about results.
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According to a survey released this week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, only 1 person in 4 knew that 60 votes are needed in the Senate to break a filibuster and only 1 in 3 knew that no Senate Republicans voted for the health care bill. |
A New York Times reporter covering the 2016 presidential campaign was quickly humbled on Twitter Thursday when he made a “telling” observation about C-SPAN’s coverage of Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi testimony.
“CSPAN screen encouraging Democrats to call one phone number and Republicans to call another to react to this hearing is….telling,” wrote Michael Barbaro, who has worked as a reporter for The Times for the past 10 years.
Twitter users were quick to point out that C-SPAN has been accepting calls like that for decades, The Blaze reported.
“They’ve been doing that for every call-in segment for thirty years,” wrote Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Grier.
“Except that is how they have done it FOR YEARS AND YEARS,” wrote The Atlantic’s James Fallows.
“[H]ave you never watched CSPAN?” asked New York Post columnist John Podhoretz.
Mr. Barbaro later responded, “Okay, CSPAN geeks, I get it. They do that all the time!”
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. |
It is no secret that Alistair Carmichael is a friend of mine. Not least because he told parliament so in 2005:
“The Government’s signals to the Uzbek regime have not always been helpful. I am thinking especially of their treatment of my old friend, the former ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who has done us all a great service in graphically highlighting the appalling human rights record of the Uzbekistan Government.”
Alistair was one of very few MPs who raised the dreadful human rights abuses in Uzbekistan even before I got there. He has a genuine interest in human rights worldwide, and had a much better motivation in going into politics than the large majority of politicians. He was never anything like a diehard unionist in personal conviction. I felt quite proud for him when he was asked during the campaign what would his role be in negotiating for the UK the conditions of separation after a Yes vote. He replied that he was Scottish, and he would be on the Scottish, not the UK side.
I have never chosen my friends by my politics, and I am not one of those people who is only happy in the company of those who agree with me. I am happiest with a few drinks and a good argument in intellectually challenging company. I also do know that all human beings are flawed, and I don’t expect perfection. So I have no intention of ending friendship with Alistair.
All of which makes it hard, but I have to say that I really do think he needs to resign as an MP, and to do so immediately.
It was not just a mistake to leak that memo, it was wrong. It was even more wrong because he himself believed it was written in error and did not give Nicola Sturgeon’s true opinion. But in an election in which the Scottish Lib Dems faced wipeout, he saw the advantage of playing this trick. That was wrong on many levels. I would add that I feel very confident that Alistair would never have done it without consulting Clegg first. Clegg should resign too. And instead of the usual Cabinet Office stitch-up, there needs to be a real inquiry into the whole history and production of that extraordinary minute, and whether Alistair was set up to do it. The Scottish Government needs to be an equal partner in constituting that inquiry.
Alistair has no alternative but to resign because he then repeatedly lied about what he had done. It is much better that he goes now with a full and frank apology to everyone, especially his constituents. When you have blatantly and repeatedly lied about something, you cannot expect people to give you their trust again. That it even seems a possibility is an example of the erosion of ethical standards, of which Tony Blair is of course the greatest example as liar, mass murderer and multi-millionaire.
But we should not lose sight of the real lesson. The corrupt and rotten structures of the UK state are so insidious that they can take a fundamentally decent man like Alistair and lead him to behave so badly. There is something within the rotting organisms of UK institutions in their decline from Imperial power and dependence on corrupt banking and corporate systems, that infects almost all who enter them. While I worked for the FCO I saw really nice colleagues, decent men and women I worked with, go along with organising what they knew to be illegal war in Iraq, and with facilitating the torture and extraordinary rendition programmes. Because that was what paid their mortgage, looked after their children, and above all gave them social status as high British diplomats.
Westminster gives untramelled executive power to a party with just 23% of the support of the registered electorate. The majority of parliamentarians are unelected Lords a great many of whom are themselves mired in corruption – and some much worse. The organs of state power are used to facilitate the flow of money from the poor to the very wealthy, which is the actual cause of the deficit in public finances. The rewards of being on the inside are sweet; those outside are measurably dispossessed of wealth, and measurably alienated in politics. The media is controlled by this corporate state.
Alistair Carmichael’s story is not the story of a bad man. It is the story of what happens to a good man who buys in to UK power structures. The real lesson of the sad story of this period in Alistair’s life is that the UK is evil, corrupt and corrupting, and that the UK state needs swiftly to be broken up. |
While popular documentary films like Fahrenheit 9/11 and No End In Sight explored the consequences of the disastrous policies of the Bush 41 presidency, the ideas that shaped the foreign policy thinking of the Bush Administration, and people promoting those ideas, have received considerably less attention.
With the notable exception of the wonderful Adam Curtis series The Power of Nightmares, films on the the 2003 Iraq War and post-9/11 security paradigm have focused on policymakers and particularly on the public speaking pratfalls of President George W. Bush.
Two of the heavies with an agenda - the film has fascinating footage of the infamous couple
This deficit in more substantive ideological investigation is not a mystery. In the first instance, President Bush makes for an easy foil – it is hard to imagine a better example of a man of mediocre talents gaining position due to unearned privilege. Bush is not just an unexceptional presidential specimen, he is well below average – who ever heard of a politician who could not effectively speak in public? Bush’s communication failings alone were enough to keep Comedy Central in business for eight years. Everyone loves to hate a spoiled brat.
Combine President Bush’s laughable persona with his blunders abroad and the script writes itself – trust-fund dumbass given the keys to dad’s old imperial war machine which he then stupidly swerves and crashes into the Middle East. It is a story people can understand and one not without its fun in telling.
The second reason complements the first: policy and philosophy are painfully boring to a mass audience. It is not a coincidence that every TV show or movie about Washington DC – even ones with more sophisticated ambitions – throws in generous portions of superfluous violence, intrigue, and romance. Policy is dry and policy wonks are exceedingly uninteresting people.
And yet, understanding the Bush presidency and even our current circumstances requires at least a basic understanding of the ideas framing some of the agendas in DC and beyond. Enter Robbie Martin’s film seriesA Very Heavy Agenda.
The three-part series begins in the weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when neoconservative thought leaders opportunistically used the country’s anxiety about another attack to push their agenda. A Very Heavy Agenda Part 1: “A Catalyzing Event,” details how Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan and others shaped the policy response to the 9/11 attacks utilizing a playbook written at The Project For A New American Century (PNAC) well before the attacks .
Part 2: “How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The New Neocons,” picks up at the end of the Bush presidency, when the neoconservatives largely discredited by the Iraq War re-brand themselves and seek to resurrect past Reaganite glory by instigating conflict with Russia. PNAC is re-branded as The Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), which pursues the same agenda with new lines of attack and operatives who make up for their lack of intellectual rigor with a savvier understanding of media manipulation.
In Part 2, the audience gets a look at the new “Information War,” where US state media, Russian state media, and those with various contradicting and corresponding interests battle it out on a host of platforms to control the narrative of the crisis in Ukraine and other world events.
Part 3: “Maintaining the World Order,” is set to be released in February and will provide an in-depth look at the role of the Kagan family and other neoconservative actors, who are still influencing and implementing US foreign policy. What are the ultimate ends and motivations for their very heavy agenda?
The series goes beyond simply broadening the understanding of the ideological dimension of the Bush years. It shows both the surprising continuity of neoconservative influence between the Bush and Obama Administrations, as well as how the neoconservatives adapted in the wake of their stunning policy failures in the Middle East.
Those responsible for the millions of deaths and trillions of dollars wasted on the failed War on Terror have quickly dismissed their own responsibility. They are marching forward with a new generation of neocons, who appear as equally determined as their predecessors to spill American blood and treasure in the quest for Western dominance of the world. Truly, a very heavy agenda. |
If you asked the average non-geek to name three superheroes, chances are they’d say Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman — arguably the most iconic comic book heroes in existence. It’s just as likely that few (if any) of these people would know anything about Lobo, a DC character who was introduced as a villain in the early ’80s.
So it would stand to reason that Wonder Woman, who has been a major part of the DC Universe since 1941, would get the big-screen treatment long before a second-tier player who had a run of popularity in the ’90s. But while Hollywood has yet to show Diana any love, Guy Ritchie — a legitimate filmmaker! — is set to direct a live-action movie about Lobo.
Lobo.
Look; it’s bad enough that Wonder Woman has gotten second-class citizen treatment compared to her alleged equals, Superman and Batman. They’ve both had several major motion pictures across several generations. The last time Wonder Woman enjoyed a big pop culture moment outside of comic books was when Lynda Carter donned the costume in the ’70s. You could chalk that up to garden variety sexism or just a serious failure of imagination on the part of DC-Warner Brothers. But when frickin’ Lobo gets to the big dance before she does, that’s just ridiculous. |
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