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Q: Most of Dion Waiters' minutes should go to Tyler Johnson. Dion is just not a player worth investing in. I'm sure he puts maximum effort. Some players have it and some just don't. -- Chris, Orlando.
A: These certainly are interesting times with the Heat, with Dion standing somewhat as the focus of the Heat's perimeter offense, be that because of other players deferring or Dion's confidence. Understand, after playing alongside Dwyane Wade, players such as Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson have a certain natural inclination to defer. So you wind up with Dion getting the shot totals he has in the past two games (albeit in the absence of Goran Dragic), and taking the most meaningful shots against the Spurs and Hawks. And that's the fine line that Erik Spoelstra has to walk at this still-preliminary stage of the season: Do you put the ball in the hands of your young players and live with the consequences? Or do you go with the player who, at that moment, has the most confidence and experience in such situations. The Waiters situation is similar to the Heat's situation last season with Joe Johnson. There was talk about both continuing on with the team when the salary-cap reality going forward spoke otherwise. The difference at the end of last season with Johnson is that the Heat were admittedly living in the moment. Now it already appears that future moments are the priority.
Q: Haven't we seen all there is with Josh McRoberts over the years? He isn't a scorer. He is a flash-first player and hesitant to shoot even when wide open. His 3-point game is average and not enough to spread the floor. I guess I'm not seeing the upside or possibilities with Josh -- Paul, Fort Lauderdale.
A: Which is why I believe these current minutes are important, to finally get a read on what you have, to possibly showcase what you have, or to at least then know how to best move forward. This is not a team or an offense that can afford to have bystanders when it comes to scoring. Erik Spoelstra has been very good about issuing green lights, even insisting on it with players, such as Luke Babbitt. The Heat need offense. They need Josh McRoberts' offense. They should consider it almost insubordination if there is not an effort in that area.
Q: Hi, Ira. I see so many questions and comments about trading Goran Dragic right now. However, wouldn't it make better sense to wait until the trade deadline and let other teams' seasons play out? Wouldn't we have much more leverage if a team in the running is in need at that time? We are 10 games in and it's clear that this is a rebuild season, so what's the rush? Am I missing something? -- Wolf, New York.
A: You are not missing anything. And trades don't normally happen this early in a season, anyway. I believe this is more of a case of fans thinking out loud, forecasting what might be the best move for the team, not necessarily when something might happen. The trading deadline makes far more sense, especially when you consider that is when the Heat acquired Goran in the first place. Plus, by then you can have a far greater read of the possibilities at point guard of Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson. |
Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Wisconsin Gerrymandering Case
Enlarge this image toggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/AP J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up an appeal over electoral districts in Wisconsin after a lower court ruled that the state's Republican-drawn map constitutes an "unconstitutional partisan gerrymander."
It's the first time in more than a decade that the nation's highest court will take up the issue of partisan gerrymandering, or drawing voting districts with the aim of strengthening one political party.
And it gives the court an opportunity to formally determine a metric on what constitutes unlawful gerrymandering, which could have major implications for the way voting districts are drawn in other states.
The Supreme Court has weighed in on the issue of race and congressional district-drawing, most recently last month when it rejected two North Carolina districts, as The Two-Way reported.
But the court has not ruled on "purely partisan gerrymanders" since 2004, as NPR's Nina Totenberg reported:
"In 2004, a four-member Supreme Court plurality all but ruled out challenges to even extreme partisan gerrymanders, while four members of the court would have allowed some limited challenges. Justice Anthony Kennedy cast the fifth and deciding vote, declaring that he might someday embrace a challenge to a partisan gerrymander if someone could come up with workable standards."
The defendants in this case, Gill v. Whitford, claim to have come up with such a standard. Here's how Shawn Johnson of Wisconsin Public Radio explained it:
"The metric that they came up with they called the efficiency gap, and it measures what they call wasted votes. Let's say you have a strongly Democratic district. And if a Democrat got a lot of votes there, but they only get one seat, they're saying that they wasted a lot of votes to get those seats. If Democrats come up just short in a lot of other districts, they're saying they wasted those votes as well. "So they compare that district-by-district to the statewide total, and that gives them this efficiency gap measure. And by that metric, plaintiffs looked back at redistricting plans throughout the U.S., going back to 1972, and Wisconsin's redistricting plan was one of the most strongly political gerrymandered in history."
Last November, a panel of federal judges ruled against the state's electoral district map, which was drawn by Republican lawmakers after the 2010 census. As Johnson said, then-President Barack Obama did well in the state when he was re-elected in 2012, and "yet Democrats gained no seats in the Legislature, remained deeply in the minority."
Wendy Weiser from New York University's Brennan Center for Justice said in a statement Monday that "gerrymandering has become so aggressive, extreme, and effective that there is an urgent need for the Supreme Court to finally step in and set boundaries."
Supporters of Wisconsin's map say that "the election results it produced are similar to those under earlier court-drawn maps," as The Associated Press reports.
The lower court's ruling "ordered new maps drawn in time for the 2018 elections," the wire service adds. And "that work is proceeding." |
For other people with the same name, see William Roach (disambiguation)
William Patrick Roache[3] MBE (born 25 April 1932)[4] is an English actor. He has played Ken Barlow in the soap opera Coronation Street since its first episode on 9 December 1960. He is listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest-serving male television star in a continuous role.[5]
Early life [ edit ]
Roache was born in Basford, Nottingham, the son of Hester Vera (née Waddicor) and Joseph William Vincent Roache.[6] He grew up in nearby Ilkeston, Derbyshire, where he attended a Steiner school set up by his grandfather in the garden of the family home.[7] His Freemason grandfather was interested in such things as hypnotism, theosophy, spiritualism, homoeopathy and esotericism, and the teachings of philosopher and educationalist Rudolf Steiner. Roache was later educated at Rydal School, which his son Linus also attended.[8]
Roache joined the British Army, and was commissioned into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1953. A year later, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He left the British Army in 1956 with the rank of captain. Due to an exploding mortar round during his military service, Roache suffers from tinnitus.[9]
Career [ edit ]
After leaving the army, Roache turned to acting. He appeared in various stage productions, then had uncredited roles in several films, and later small parts in television serials including Knight Errant Limited and Skyport.[10]
He played the minor role of a space centre operator in the Norman Wisdom film The Bulldog Breed. Shortly before joining Coronation Street at the beginning of the programme in 1960, Roache played the leading role in a Granada Television play called Marking Time, transmitted on ITV in 1961. In an interview with the Liverpool Post in 2007, Roache recalled "I played a young soldier in Germany who fraternised with a German girl, although I can't remember now how it ended. It was highly prestigious, though, and I have tried to hunt it down but there is no trace of it." [11] He added: "But Tony Warren, who created Coronation Street, saw it and thought I was right for Ken Barlow".[citation needed]
Roache is now the world's longest-serving television actor in a continuous role (as of March 2018) after the cancellation of the American soap opera in 2010 As the World Turns, where Don Hastings played Bob Hughes since October 1960 without a break.[12]
On 16 October 1985 just weeks before the 25th anniversary of his debut on Coronation Street, he appeared as the special guest on the TV show This Is Your Life.[13]
In 1999 Roache was the recipient of the British Soap Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for his role as Ken Barlow. In 2003, Roache appeared on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes as Perry Como singing the song "Catch a Falling Star". In September and October 2005 he appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon.[citation needed] He was the winner of The Golden Shot remake, progressing through to Bullseye where he was beaten by television presenter Vernon Kay. He later entered All Star Family Fortunes, hosted by Kay, but lost by two points to his competitors.[citation needed]
Roache's 2008 autobiography is entitled Soul on the Street. It focuses on many of his life experiences and contains a significant amount of philosophical content in which Roache affirms his belief in the afterlife. In October 2008, he revealed on BBC Breakfast that he had a two-year feud with fellow Coronation Street, the late actress Pat Phoenix, during which they did not speak to each other, stemming from her changing a scene involving the two of them. However, they did reconcile and became good friends.[citation needed]
On 13 April 2012, Piers Morgan interviewed Roache for his ITV series Piers Morgan's Life Stories. On 26 September 2012 Roache was featured on the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, researching his family history.[14] He is currently Coronation Street's longest serving actor, having been on the show from day 1.[citation needed]
Personal life [ edit ]
Roache lives in Wilmslow, Cheshire.[15] His eldest son, by his first wife Anna Cropper (1938–2007), is actor Linus Roache (born 1964). The couple also had a daughter, Vanya (1967-2018). The couple were married from 1961 until their divorce in 1974. Roache married his second wife, Sara McEwan Mottram, in 1978. She died suddenly on 7 February 2009 at their home at the age of 58.[16][17]
With Sara, he had a daughter named Verity (born 1981) and a younger son, the actor James Roache, christened William (born 1985). A second daughter, Edwina, died aged 18 months after her birth on 26 April 1983 from acute bronchial pneumonia on 16 November 1984.[18] His daughter Vanya died on 2 March 2018, aged 50.
In 1991, Roache won a libel action against The Sun, which had described him as boring and unpopular with his fellow Coronation Street stars. He was awarded £50,000 damages by the jury, the same amount that he had turned down in an out-of-court settlement offered by the newspaper before the case. As a result, he was liable for the £120,000 costs incurred. Roache sued his law firm for negligence in 1998, and was declared bankrupt in April 1999.[19][20]
Roache is a supporter of the Conservative Party. In 2007, as a guest for Daily Politics, he championed Sir John Major as Britain's greatest post-war prime minister.[21] He backed disgraced then-Conservative MP Neil Hamilton in the 1997 election against Martin Bell.[22][23]
Roache became patron of the Ilkeston-based production company Sustained Magic Ltd in 2006.[24]
Roache is a vegetarian because he "doesn't want animals being killed for him".[25] He wrote about his interest in astrology in his biography, which he learned by taking a correspondence course from the Faculty of Astrological Studies. He said he had impressed members of the Coronation Street cast by the accuracy with which he read their astrological charts for them.[26]
Arrest, trial and acquittal [ edit ]
On 1 May 2013, Roache was arrested by Lancashire Police on suspicion of having raped a 15-year-old girl in 1967, an allegation he denied.[15][27][28] The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently announced that he was to be charged with two counts of rape.[29] There was a preliminary hearing in a Magistrates' court on 14 May 2013[30] and a Crown Court hearing took place on 10 June 2013.[31] On 6 June 2013, Roache was charged with a further five counts of indecent assault against girls aged between 12 and 16.[32][33] Roache appeared at Preston Crown Court on 2 September and pleaded not guilty to all charges. The full trial started on 14 January 2014 at Preston Crown Court, before Judge Anthony Russell QC.[34] During the trial, one charge was dismissed outright by the judge citing a lack of evidence and significant flaws emerged in two witnesses' accounts in relation to the other charges.[35]
On 6 February 2014, Roache was found not guilty on all charges.[35][36] Following his acquittal, Roache gave a brief statement saying that there had been "no winners" and expressing his intent to "get back to work".[35] An image of Ken Barlow had been removed from the Madame Tussauds waxwork exhibition in Blackpool due to fears it might be vandalised.[37] The waxwork was returned to the exhibition in February 2014 following Roache's acquittal.[38]
Roache resumed filming on Coronation Street in June 2014, and returned to the screen on 4 August of that year.[39]
Awards [ edit ]
Roache was awarded an MBE in the 2001 New Years Honours.[40][41]
In March 2007, he was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Chester in recognition of his contribution to television.[42]
Filmography [ edit ] |
A Vegetarian Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Must-Haves Do you have special recipes and food traditions for the holidays? What one dish must be on your Thanksgiving table? Share your best holiday food stories with Kitchen Window and the NPR Community here.
You may not even miss the turkey.
On Thanksgiving, expressing gratitude through a whole baked pumpkin stuffed with chewy barley and hearty root vegetables can be the beginning of a stellar holiday season.
When fall swoops in and the days grow shorter, a plate of sweet, pureed butternut squash with caramelized shallots can help ease the transition. A whole roasted cauliflower, too, can make one almost immune to the chill outside.
I've found that even on the years we did serve turkey on Thanksgiving, the vegetarian dishes were exclaimed over and gobbled up with similar appreciation.
Even if you don't live meatlessly yourself, you'll probably have at least one vegetarian or vegan seated at the table. It's grand to offer your meat-free guests — or yourself — something a bit more substantial than a cobbled-together plate of all the traditional vegetable side dishes. Doing so needn't be intimidating or even time-consuming.
The typical holiday table groans with an abundance of side dishes, some more enticing than others (think a light saute of seasonal vegetables or roasted cauliflower rather than a cream-laden casserole). It's true that if you're skipping the turkey, there are plenty of other things to eat, but filling up on mashed potatoes and corn bread can leave one feeling a bit hollow.
This time of year is when we give thanks for the harvest and celebrate the season's bounty — and what better way to do so than by making good use of seasonal produce?
Throughout the years, my Thanksgiving table has boasted a baked tofu marinated in a sweet-and-sour sauce that caused even the turkey lovers to sigh in happiness. I've split a butternut squash in half and roasted it in a little olive oil until it turned melty and sweet. I topped it with a sort of black bean and onion stew that was certainly nontraditional but no less delicious. I've made good use of sweet potatoes, leaving out the extra sugar and mashing them into savory splendor.
I do love my vegetables — not a shred of meat has passed my lips in over a decade. I don't miss it, although the scent of that slow-roasting turkey can make me nostalgic.
When I lived on the East Coast, I played hostess for many years to a group of friends — mostly ex-pats from California — who couldn't make it home to their families for Thanksgiving. In the beginning, I kept the affair simple and simply sans turkey.
The first year I had my own apartment, my brother came down from Philadelphia to spend the holiday weekend with me. Washington, D.C., was very cold that November, and we went for a late-morning walk through Rock Creek Park. We discussed the menu we'd cook later that day — both of us were vegetarians at the time, though he has since gone back to meat — and kicked at the ice that had frozen the trail.
We dismissed a "tofurkey" — a faux-meat, soy-based version of a turkey — as being a little too strange. We considered making lasagna in a nod to the dish my aunt had made me when we'd spent Thanksgivings together, but it seemed like too much work. We thought about forgoing a main dish altogether and filling up on mashed potatoes — but no, I said. Surely we were more ambitious than that.
I came home from that chilly walk and made what would be the first of many Thanksgiving mushroom pies. I dug out a battered copy of the Moosewood Cookbook for inspiration. I sauteed mushrooms, stirred in cream and liberally added cheese. When we finished dinner that night, we could hardly eat dessert.
As the years passed and I kept cooking, adding guests and expanding my range, I lightened things up. I went to farmers markets and discovered a real appreciation for baked squash. I left out the cheese and incorporated more Brussels sprouts. I invested in wild rice and skipped anything heavy or pre-packaged.
I made vegetables the real stars.
Now when I cook my vegetarian Thanksgiving offerings, I try to prepare dishes that are light yet satisfying, and which incorporate as many vegetables as possible. Baked or roasted squash often figures prominently, especially because at this time of year the market is overflowing with colorful and diverse offerings.
I've included recipes here that are appropriate for the vegetarian or vegan at your Thanksgiving table, and which highlight fall's seasonal staples. I've also gone for a healthful approach — these dishes are packed with whole grains and call for olive oil rather than butter.
Don't be surprised if you catch your turkey-eating guests sneaking more than a few tastes. |
If you've missed the previous memebox unboxing blogposts, click here.
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It has been a while girls ^^! Today I'm going to do an unboxing post of MEMEBOX - Color Box RED. It's a box including 5 full size products, all in the color RED!Just like the previous times, i'm going to give a short introduction about this website since some of you might not know what memebox is yet. If you already know, you can skip this part and go to the discount or unboxing part, otherwise… keep on reading ^_-. At the memebox website , you can purchase various Korean cosmetics including exclusive Korean beauty products and the memebox beauty box which contains lots of full size products and samples. They always have at least 5 - 6 deluxe travel size or full-size products in each box! They don't offer a monthly subscription plan at the moment, so you need to buy each box every time it comes out. Memebox will inform you when the next box comes out through e-mail that you used when registering at their website. They offer limited quantity so you gotta be quick !PRICE & SHIPPINGThe price varies per box, this one was $15.- which is not expensive at all since you will receive lots of products which are worth a lot more than $15.-. Unfortunately this box is already sold out, so you are not able to purchase it anymore. The memeboxes are shipped from South Korea. The shipping cost is $6.99. They only offer FREE express shipping when purchasing some value sets, so it may take 17-24 days until it arrives at your place if it doesn't apply to your box. They have A LOT of kinds of boxes available now compared to a few months ago, check out the whole assortment HERE Feel free to use my coupon codeto get 5% off or you can use codeat checkout. Both codes works and it will give you a discount of $5.-. These codes will expire by the end of this month.These are the boxes that I'm currently interested in. I actually wanted to buy the Etude House Memebox, but it's already sold out unfortunately. Gotta be quick girls! SUPERBOX Holika Holika - a box with Holika Holika products only!! MEMEBOX K-Style Box 4 - i've seen the previous K-style boxes and it included lots of Korean make up products! SUPERBOX Thumbs Up Bloggers' Picks - a survey was taken at the memebox beauty community, bloggers favorites in this box, oehh i'm curious! SUPERBOX Empties! - the 20K Facebook fans from Memebox have chosen their favorite memebox products. Products that they have used until they are empty! Sounds good right?Let's see what we have in this box, let's UNBOX!L' OCEAN EYE SHADOW L-35 RED - $10This eye shadow comes in various colors but I received the red color since it's the red box. It's smooth and the color is very vivid, pretty well pigmented as well. I'm more of a basic eye make up girl, so red on my eyes is a bit too much for me haha.DEARBERRY - TODAY NAIL LACQUER #21 PINK SPRINKLING 10ML - $3This brand offers 40 different shades for each day's mood.MAKEON/ TOSOWOONG GEL PENCIL LINER #04 BURGUNDY 1.2g - $10Highlight the eyes with a burgundy eyeliner, you can also create a vampy look with it. The gel texture of the liner will allow it to glide on easily along your upper/lower eye contours. The pigmentation of this gel pencil liner is amazing! I'm loving this color, but it's a pity that it does fades while rubbing, so you gotta keep that in mind after you applied this. I'm really happy with this pencil liner… also great for lazy people hahah since you don't need to sharpen it, just twist and it will come up.DEARBERRY FLIRT LIPSTICK #08 RED PARADE 3.4g - $12It's a lipstick made from naturally derived ingredients - olive oil, cocoa butter and cupuacu seed butter - this buttery smooth lipstick will melt onto your lips, flushing it with red vividness! The color is super vibrant and sexy. It's extremely smooth but it does fades when drinking and eating, so re-applying it during the day is a must.CHEEKROOM TWO COLOR LIP GLOSS 8ml - $12It's a moisturizing lip gloss, which is great for chapped lips. It provides a nice glossy finish. This lip gloss has 2 different colors, so you can create different color variations according to your mood or style. Pretty cool idea I would say ;).This box was just $15.- and this box is actually worth for around $47.-! I normally can't even buy a foundation for $15.- lol, ok maybe just a budget one. This box included less products than normal but it was also cheaper than their normal memebox prices, so i'm pretty satisfied with the amount of products in this box already. My favorite in this box gotta be the burgundy eyeliner, the color is so pretty! I sure will purchase another box since their assortment is so huge now-a-days. Also, it's hard to resist and I just want to try new Korean beauty products and this is the best way for an affordable price ^_^! |
Hardware and software failures are part of life. And that is why you need to have a backup plan. I have already written about backing up files and MySQL databases. There is no need to backup all installed binaries and software programs. The following tip will not just save your time, but both Debian/Ubuntu and CentOS/Fedora/RHEL based distro can be updated and restored when required.
In order to reinstall or restore your installed software you need to have a list of all installed software. The package manager in Linux can be used to save installed/removed packages on a source system and duplicate those changes on other systems. This post will help you through do the same.
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HowTo: Create a Backup list of all installed software on a Debian / Ubuntu Linux
If you are using a Debian or Ubuntu Linux, use the dpkg command to list installed software:
$ dpkg --get-selections
You can store list of installed software to a file called /backup/installed-software.log, enter:
$ dpkg --get-selections > /backup/installed-software.log
HowTo: Create a Backup list of all installed software on a RHEL/Fedora/Suse/CentOS Linux
RPM based distributions (RHEL, Fedora, Redhat, CentOS, Suse Linux) user try the rpm command to get list of all installed software, enter:
$ rpm -qa
OR
$ rpm -qa > /backup/installed-software.log
OR remove software version number (recommended):
rpm -qa --qf "%{NAME} n " | sort > / backup / installed-software.log rpm -qa --qf "%{NAME}n" | sort > /backup/installed-software.log
How do I restore installed software from a backup List?
Under a Debian/Ubuntu Linux type the following two commands to reinstall all the programs:
# dpkg --set-selections < /backup/installed-software.log
Once list is imported, use the dselect command or other tools to install the packages, enter:
# dselect
Select 'i' for install the software. OR use the following command:
# apt-get dselect-upgrade
Restoring packages on rpm based distro
As far as I know RPM based distro does not offers dpkg kind of facility. But, with a little shell scripting technique you can easily install all software programs:
# LIST="$( cat /backup/installed-software.log )"
If you are using the yum command, type the following bash for loop to install all software:
# for s in $LIST; do yum -y install $s; done
Or try out the following command (HT to gt):
# yum -y install $(cat /backup/installed-software.log)
A Note About RHEL version 4
If you are using RHEL/CentOS v4.x or older, enter:
# for s in $LIST; do up2date -i $s; done
Alternatively, you can use the following up2date command:
# up2date -i $(cat /backup/installed-software.log)
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In Argentina, An Explosion Triggers A Lifelong Lesson
Enlarge this image toggle caption Don Rypka/AP Don Rypka/AP
I was 9 years old and living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the summer of 1992 when my mother announced that we were heading downtown to run errands.
It was an opportunity to escape the house, my grandmother's nagging and my little brother's jokes. Also, trips downtown almost always meant ice cream. I remember putting on a pink dress with a pink cloth flower over my chest.
In an hour, we were downtown. We reached the front patio of a bookstore when a thunderous explosion went off just down the block. The power was overwhelming.
"It's a bomb," my mother yelled, as she pushed me to the ground.
As an adult, I realize this was the first time I became aware of death. More importantly, it was my first exposure to violence and the fact that it often goes unpunished in Latin America.
Things that normally go together, like smells, sounds and noise, were splintered. Glass exploded. A giant column of thick black smoke rose into the sky. People screamed. It culminated with the rumbling sound of the explosion itself.
When my mother pulled me up so we could run away, my world went dark, partly from dust and smoke, but also because I was having trouble breathing, and was starting to pass out. My mother shook me. She said later I had a blank stare and was as pale as a sheet of paper.
The blast devastated the Israeli Embassy, killing 29 people and wounding more than 200. It cost my mom some of her hearing. And it was also my first lesson in the terrible things that happen periodically in Argentina, but which rarely seem to get resolved.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Daniel Luna/AFP/Getty Images Daniel Luna/AFP/Getty Images
My family had endured the Dirty War in the 1970s, when thousands of Argentines were killed or disappeared under a military dictatorship. It took decades before there was any real accounting of what happened.
The 1992 embassy bombing remains unsolved. And two years after that blast, 85 people were killed in an even larger bombing at a Jewish community center. Many believe the two bombings are linked and suspicion has fallen on Iran, which denies any role.
The second bombing, which is also unsolved, recently returned to the front pages when special prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and others close to her of plotting to absolve Iranians suspected in the attack in exchange for commercial deals.
The Argentine government denied the accusation. Shortly afterward, Nisman was found dead. Many believe, in the lexicon of Argentina, that "lo suicidaron," or "they suicided him."
For me, at age 9, the embassy explosion was so powerful, it shifted the way I thought. I couldn't describe it back then, and the closest I could come was a strange feeling of being trapped.
As an adult, I realize this was the first time I became aware of death. More importantly, it was my first exposure to violence and the fact that it often goes unpunished in Latin America.
Events since then have taught me the lesson my parents had learned long before, during the Dirty War, when they saw friends vanish into thin air, never to be seen again.
Philosopher Santiago Kovadloff summed it up very well in a recent story that appeared in The New York Times: "Argentina is monotonous, it repeats its tragedies." |
Google Drive received a substantial bump to version 2.0 today, bring it up from version 1.3.222.29 to 2.0.222.39. The new app doesn't seem to have many user-facing changes outside a single big one we noticed, in the form of a brand-new UI in the file details view. Take a look below.
What's new?
This new interface is substantially more modern, completely ditching the top bar in favor of a blown-up document preview and a grid of buttons that make performing tasks with your files much easier. Sharing, sharing a link, starring, moving, sending, downloading, and renaming are all now directly at your fingertips. Hit the overflow, and options for deleting or printing are also in there. Under the access menu, you can directly toggle link sharing on and off (with a nifty animation, to boot), and add new people to the access list.
There's also a new header for tracking activity on a document, which is definitely a nice thing to have. Basically, this was just a rather stale part of the Drive UI, and it's getting a big cleanup today. Perhaps related to the 2.0 jump, we also saw some announcements regarding the now parsed-out Docs, Sheets, and [new] Slides apps at the I/O keynote.
Download
The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.
File name: com.google.android.apps.docs-2.0.222.39
Version: 2.0.222.39 (Android ?+)
MD5: 2a7c7b042da7d8bea4111453c6d2e85e |
Story highlights Mayor of Moore does not expect death toll beyond 24
Ja'Nae Hornsby, 9, is among the children killed at the school, her father says
Authorities revise death toll downward to 24, including nine children
Crews going "board by board" in search for survivors, victims, official says
A search-and-rescue effort to find survivors of a monster tornado that pulverized a vast swath of the suburbs of Oklahoma City shifted Tuesday to one of recovery, officials said.
No new survivors or bodies have been found since the early hours after the tornado carved a trail 17 miles long on Monday afternoon.
"We feel like we have basically gone from rescue and searching to recovery," Glenn Lewis, the mayor of hard-hit Moore, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
Lewis said he didn't expect the death toll to climb any higher. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed, according to the state medical examiner's office.
"I think that will stand," Lewis said.
Earlier reports of at least 51 deaths were erroneous, said Amy Elliot, chief administrative officer for the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In the chaotic aftermath of the tornado, Elliot said it appeared some of the dead were counted twice.
Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A message is left by a homeowner who lost his home in the May 20 tornado on Monday, May 27, in Moore, Oklahoma. View more photos of the aftermath in the region and another gallery of aerial shots of the damage Hide Caption 1 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Left to right, Jaqi Castro, Angelica Morris-Smith and Cetoria Petties walk through a tornado ravaged neighborhood handing out supplies to residents and fellow volunteers on May 27. Hide Caption 2 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Residents gather in the First Baptist Church for the Oklahoma Strong memorial service on Sunday, May 26, to honor victims of the recent deadly tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. Hide Caption 3 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Preschooler Keltin Marazzi, front center, stands on stage with other school children during the memorial service. Hide Caption 4 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin addresses the audience on May 26. Hide Caption 5 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Tornado victims Christa and Russell Smith hug their children, Evan and Justin Smith, as the service takes place. Hide Caption 6 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Plaza Towers Elementary School teacher Jennifer Doan is comforted by her fiance, Nyle Rogers, on May 26. Hide Caption 7 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – President Barack Obama is greeted as he tours the tornado-ravaged area near Moore, Oklahoma, on Sunday, May 26. Hide Caption 8 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Volunteers bow their heads in reverence on Saturday, May 25, in front of a memorial at the Plaza Towers Elementary School where seven children died during the devastating tornado, in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20. Hide Caption 9 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Mike Hitch prepares to pull a classic Corvette from under the debris of a home destroyed by Monday's tornado on May 25. Hide Caption 10 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Mike Hitch loads a salvaged Corvette pulled from the rubble onto a tow truck in Moore on May 25. Hide Caption 11 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Eunice Lassiter sits in the driveway of a friend's tornado-damaged home on May 25 in Moore. Hide Caption 12 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A volunteer signs a cross on May 25 at a makeshift memorial outside of the destroyed Plaza Towers Elementary School where seven children were killed in Monday's tornado in Moore. Hide Caption 13 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Volunteers unload donated items for tornado victims at the Yellow Rose Theater on May 25 in Moore. Hide Caption 14 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Volunteer Brittany Pendergraft organizes donated tornado relief items inside the Yellow Rose Theater on May 25 in Moore. Hide Caption 15 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Eddie Jones of the Christian Life Center in Rolla, Missouri, cooks for residents and volunteers helping with tornado relief on May 25 in Moore. Hide Caption 16 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Carol Kawaykla holds a picture of her mother she found in the rubble of her tornado-devastated home in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 24. Hide Caption 17 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – The sun sets over debris from houses littering the ground in Moore, Oklahoma, on Thursday, May 23, three days after the town was damaged by a tornado. Hide Caption 18 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Debris is scattered across a driveway on May 23. Severe thunderstorms barreled through this Oklahoma City suburb at dawn Thursday, complicating cleanup efforts. Hide Caption 19 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Lightning strikes during a thunderstorm as people search for items that can be saved from their devastated home on May 23. Hide Caption 20 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A devastated neighborhood is seen on May 23 in Moore. Hide Caption 21 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman searches for belongings at a home on May 22 in Moore. Hide Caption 22 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Michael Pritz swings a golf club while taking a break from helping his friend to salvage belongings on May 22. Hide Caption 23 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Debris litters what remains of a classroom at Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22. Seven children died at the school in Monday's tornado. Hide Caption 24 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A makeshift shelter stands next to a home destroyed by the tornado on May 22. Hide Caption 25 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Casey Angle walks on the bunk bed she shared with her sister Sydney, who was among the students killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School during the tornado. Hide Caption 26 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Tara McDonald shows some items salvaged from her home on May 22. Hide Caption 27 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A swing set sits warped at Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22. Hide Caption 28 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Plaza Towers Elementary School students Monica Boyd and Lavontey Rodriguez sit at the parking lot of their tornado devastated school. Hide Caption 29 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Travis French and his wife, Amy, of Capitol Hill Baptist Church hand out fresh fruit, water and hygiene packs to Thomas and Kelcy Trowbridge. Hide Caption 30 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Teachers from Fairview Elementary School help clean up former school counselor Kay Taylor's home in south Oklahoma City on May 22, two days after an extremely powerful tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma. Hide Caption 31 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Jake English, 12, cleans up retired school counselor Kay Taylor's home on May 22 in south Oklahoma City, just west of Moore. The storm was part of a tornado outbreak that began in the Midwest and Plains on Sunday, May 19. Hide Caption 32 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man talks on his cell phone in front of a destroyed house on May 22. Hide Caption 33 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man looks through a pile of clothing at a roadside relief camp on May 22 in Moore. Hide Caption 34 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Volunteers form a chain to retrieve clothing and other household items on May 22. Hide Caption 35 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Jon Booth moves a piece of debris from his mother's destroyed home across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22. Hide Caption 36 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Matt Johnson salvages items from his grandparents' home on Tuesday, May 21. Hide Caption 37 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – An aerial view of the destruction on May 21. Hide Caption 38 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – The storm, which touched down near Newcastle, Oklahoma, spanned 1.3 miles. Some areas along the path were completely flattened. Hide Caption 39 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Two men fold an American flag found in the debris of a house on May 21 in Moore. Hide Caption 40 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A young girl stands among the rubble outside Briarwood Elementary School on May 21. Hide Caption 41 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A doll covered in dirt is among the rubble scattered throughout a neighborhood in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 42 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Bonnie Lolofie, left, and Ashley Do carry belongings from their apartment, which has no power, on May 21. Hide Caption 43 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Residents salvage belongings from their demolished homes in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 44 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Kelli Kannady weeps after finding a box of photographs of her late husband in the rubble near where her home once stood in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 45 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Tufts of pink insulation hang from the rafters of a store in Moore on May 21 that was destroyed in the storm. Hide Caption 46 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Natalie Johnson searches through her mother's destroyed car outside Briarwood Elementary School in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 47 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Rescuers dig out a house in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 48 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – June Simson embraces her cat Sammi after she found him standing among the rubble of her destroyed home in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 49 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man stands on the roof of a destroyed home in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 50 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man helps move a resident's belongings from a destroyed home on May 21 in Moore. Hide Caption 51 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Air Force Airman First Class Justin Acord sifts through the rubble of his father-in-law's home in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 52 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – People recover belongings from the rubble of a home in Moore. Hide Caption 53 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – People sort through a leveled home in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 54 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Debris lies among headstones in the Moore Cemetery on May 21. Hide Caption 55 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Workers clean up the Warren movie theater in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 56 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett surveys damage in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 57 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Piles of debris lie around the north side of Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 58 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – As dawn breaks, storm clouds roll in over a devastated neighborhood in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 59 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Members of the Oklahoma National Guard look for survivors in rubble in Moore on May 21. Hide Caption 60 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A National Guardsman assists in the search for victims on May 21. Hide Caption 61 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A rescue worker leads a horse from the wreckage of a day care center and barns on Monday, May 20, in Moore. Hide Caption 62 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Men tie an American flag on debris in a neighborhood off Telephone Road in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 63 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Children wait for their parents to arrive at Briarwood Elementary School in south Oklahoma City on May 20. Hide Caption 64 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary School on May 20. Hide Caption 65 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Teachers lead children away from Briarwood Elementary School on May 20. Read more about the photo. Hide Caption 66 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A fire official drives through the rubble of Moore Medical Center on May 20. Hide Caption 67 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Abby Madi, left, and Peterson Zatterlee comfort Zatterlee's dog, Rippy, on Monday, May 20, in Moore. Hide Caption 68 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman is treated for her injuries on May 20 at a triage area set up for the wounded. Hide Caption 69 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Two girls stand in rubble in Moore. Hide Caption 70 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Rescue workers help free one of more than a dozen people who were trapped at a medical center in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 71 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Oklahoma City firefighters check on Gene Tripp on May 20 as he sits in his rocking chair where his home once stood. Hide Caption 72 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A nurse helps an older man who suffered a head injury on May 20 in Moore. Hide Caption 73 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Cars marked with an orange X, meaning they have been checked for occupants, are piled up in front of the entrance to the damaged Moore Medical Center on May 20. Hide Caption 74 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Jim Routon hugs his neighbor, 7-year-old Hezekiah, after the tornado strikes on May 20. An earlier version of this caption incorrectly stated that Routon was Hezekiah's teacher. See an interview with the pair. Hide Caption 75 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – People look through the wreckage of their neighborhood after a tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20. Hide Caption 76 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Dana Ulepich searches inside a room left standing at the back of her destroyed house in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 77 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Residents look through the debris in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 78 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man looks through the remains of a home after the massive tornado struck Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 79 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman is transported on a stretcher after she was rescued from the damaged medical center in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 80 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman walks through debris in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 81 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A man is taken away from the IMAX Theater in Moore that was used as a triage center on May 20. Hide Caption 82 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A girl wraps herself in a blanket near the Moore Hospital on May 20. Hide Caption 83 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A nurse walks by the destruction at a Moore hospital on May 20. Hide Caption 84 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Destroyed cars scatter the landscape in Moore, Oklahoma, where hundreds of homes and buildings were put to ruin on May 20. Hide Caption 85 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman with an arm injury is helped on May 20 in Moore. Hide Caption 86 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Extensive damage from the tornado destroyed cars and demolished structures in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 87 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Onlookers stop to view a portion of the destruction left behind on May 20 in Moore. Hide Caption 88 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Overturned cars are among the rubble from the tornado that hit Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 89 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A woman is comforted after the May 20 tornado in Moore. Hide Caption 90 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A shredded tree stands amid debris in the aftermath of the storm in Moore on May 20. Hide Caption 91 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A shopping center parking lot is covered with debris and damaged cars on May 20. Hide Caption 92 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – Law enforcement officers block a roadway in Moore where there was extensive damage from the tornado. Hide Caption 93 of 94 Photos: Photos: Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma City area – A massive tornado approaches Moore on May 20. The storm first touched down to the west of the city near Newcastle, Oklahoma. Visit CNN.com/impact for ways to help the victims. Hide Caption 94 of 94
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'One of the strongest storms'
Damage assessments conducted Tuesday showed the tornado packed winds, at times, between 200 and 210 miles per hour, making it an EF5 -- the strongest category of tornadoes measured, the National Weather Service said Tuesday.
Teams are still evaluating the destruction, and the rating released Tuesday is preliminary. So far, they've found that the tornado's width spanned 1.3 miles -- the length of more than 22 football fields lined up end-to-end.
Given its breadth and power, it ranks among some of the strongest storms ever to strike the United States, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said.
Hardest hit was Moore, Oklahoma -- a suburban town of about 56,000 and the site of eerily similar twisters in 1999 and again four years later.
The scene -- block after block of flattened homes and businesses, the gutted remains of a hospital and hits on two elementary schools -- left even seasoned veterans of Oklahoma's infamous tornadoes reeling.
The devastation was so complete, the mayor said city officials were racing to print new street signs to help guide rescuers and residents through a suddenly twisted and unfamiliar landscape.
A search-and-rescue team was sent from nearby Tinker Air Force Base, which also provided search lights, vehicles and water trucks, while neighboring Texas sent an elite 80-member urban search team. The American Red Cross sent 25 emergency response vehicles.
Rescue crews were expected to complete a search for victims by late Tuesday, Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird told CNN.
"We will be through every damaged piece of property in this city at least three times," Bird told reporters. "And we hope to be done by dark tonight."
More than 230 people were injured, according to authorities.
Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Rescuers search through rubble in Shawnee, Oklahoma, on Monday, May 20. A tornado outbreak hit in the Midwest and Plains on Sunday and Monday, the deadliest hitting Moore, Oklahoma, on Monday. Hide Caption 1 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Massive piles of debris cover the ground after a powerful tornado ripped through Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20. View photos related to the Moore tornado. Hide Caption 2 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A deadly tornado destroys cars and demolishes structures in the town of Moore, near Oklahoma City, on Monday, May 20. Hide Caption 3 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A volunteer helps clean up a mobile home on May 20 after it was overturned on a day earlier near Shawnee, Oklahoma. Hide Caption 4 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Jean McAdams' mobile home near Shawnee, Oklahoma, lies overturned on May 20. Hide Caption 5 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin from the Oval Office on May 20. The president expressed his concern for those who have been affected by the severe weather. Hide Caption 6 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Tom and Ronda Clark get help with cleanup on May 20, after their property near Shawnee was damaged by a tornado on May 19. Hide Caption 7 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Lonnie Langston says his garage was swept off the concrete pad next to his house by a tornado near Shawnee. Hide Caption 8 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Shawnee residents embrace on May 20 as they search through the remains of their home. Hide Caption 9 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A home in Shawnee sits in ruin after being hit by a tornado on Sunday, May 19. Hide Caption 10 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A twister stretches toward the ground near South Haven, Kansas, on May 19. Hide Caption 11 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Residents repair the roof of a neighbor's damaged house after a tree fell on it in Shawnee on May 19. Hide Caption 12 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A woman waits to be allowed back to her home after a tornado swept through Shawnee on May 19. Hide Caption 13 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Storm chaser and videographer Brad Mack records a tornado touchdown in South Haven, Kansas, on May 19. Hide Caption 14 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A tractor-trailer lies on its side on Interstate 40 while another is broken open on the road below after falling from the overpass after a tornado strike near Highway 177 north of Shawnee on May 19. Hide Caption 15 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – A tornado touches down near Wichita, Kansas, on Sunday, May 19. Hide Caption 16 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Debris from a mobile home park west of Shawnee litters the ground on May 19. An estimated 300 homes were damaged or destroyed across Oklahoma, Red Cross spokesman Ken Garcia said. Hide Caption 17 of 18 Photos: Photos: Tornadoes strike Midwest Tornadoes wreak havoc in Midwest – Lightning strikes in Clearwater, Kansas, on May 19. Hide Caption 18 of 18
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'Can't believe this'
Some residents of Moore returned home to piles of debris, hoping to find pictures or some memento.
"You just wanna break down and cry," Steve Wilkerson told CNN, holding a laundry basket that contained the few, intact belongings he could find.
"But you know, that's how it goes," Wilkerson said, his voice shaking. "You gotta be strong and keep going."
Wilkerson has been through tornadoes before, but nothing like this one.
"I still can't believe this is happening," he said. "You work 20 years, and then it's gone in 15 minutes."
All that remained in some places were "sticks and bricks," Fallin told reporters, calling the storm one of the "most horrific storms and disasters that this state has ever faced."
Police, firefighters, volunteers and nearly 180 National Guard troops joined forces Tuesday in searching the rubble and securing areas hit by the storm.
The weather wasn't cooperating with their efforts: National Weather Service crews surveying the damage in Moore reported rain, half-inch hail and 45-mph winds over the debris field.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol asked motorists to steer clear of Interstate 35 near Moore to free up lanes for disaster response resources streaming into the area.
And so many people were showing up to volunteer that authorities had to plead with would-be rescuers to stay away.
Path of devastation
The tornado struck at 2:45 pm C.T. on Monday -- only 5 minutes after the first warnings went out, according to the National Weather Service.
Moore residents had about 30 minutes before the massive storm entered the western part of the city, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said.
Among the many buildings struck by the storm were two schools: Plaza Towers and Briarwood elementaries.
Of the nine children killed by the storm, authorities said seven died at Plaza Towers Elementary School where the tornado ripped the roof off and collapsed walls.
Among the dead is 9-year-old Ja'Nae Hornsby, who was killed at Plaza Towers, her father told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
About 75 students and staff members were hunkered down in Plaza Towers when the tornado struck, CNN affiliate KFOR reported.
At one point, an estimated 24 children were missing from the school, but some later turned up at nearby churches.
On Monday, a father of a third-grader still missing sat quietly on a stool outside. Tears cascaded from his face as he waited for any news.
Even parents of survivors couldn't wrap their minds around the tragedy.
"I'm speechless. How did this happen? Why did this happen?" Norma Bautista asked. "How do we explain this to the kids? ... In an instant, everything's gone."
'It's heartbreaking'
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James Dickens, a gas-and-oil pipeline worker, grabbed his hard had and joined other rescuers at Plaza Towers Elementary School.
"I felt it was my duty to come help," he said Tuesday after a long night of searching.
"As a father, it's humbling. It's heartbreaking to know that we've still got kids over there that's possibly alive, but we don't know."
Moore, and the Oklahoma City region, are far too familiar with disaster. In 1995, 168 people died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
In 1999 and then again in 2003, Moore took direct hits from tornadoes that took eerily similar paths to Monday's storm. The 1999 storm packed the strongest wind speeds in history, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb said.
"We're a tough state. This is a tough community," Lamb said. "There is hope. We always have hope. We always have faith."
President Barack Obama, pledging whatever federal aid Oklahoma would need, praised teachers who protected their students.
"If there is hope to hold on to -- not just in Oklahoma but around the country -- it's the knowledge that the good people there and in Oklahoma are better prepared for this type of storm than most," he said. "And what they can be certain of is that Americans from every corner of this country will be right there with them, opening our homes, our hearts, to those in need, because we're a nation that stands with our fellow citizens as long as it takes."
More trouble brewing
The storm system that spawned Monday's tornado and several other twisters Sunday isn't over yet.
Southwest Arkansas and northeast Texas, including Dallas, are under the gun for severe weather Tuesday. Those areas could see large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.
A broader swath of the United States, from Texas to Indiana and up to Michigan, could see severe thunderstorms.
"We could have a round 3," CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera said. "Hopefully, it won't be as bad." |
If you’ve been following our summer camp posts, you know that we’re sad to call this series a wrap — we’ve learned so much over the past couple months from our featured expert interviews. We’ve talked with 16 of the most trusted experts we know, enjoyed perspectives from across the organization, learned a lot about how marketing overlaps with different areas of expertise, and how marketers can help. And above all, we strove to answer one important question:
How can you improve your marketing?
So there you have it: below you’ll find all 16 interviews with tactical, how-to advice. Check out the topics that most interest you, and be sure to scan down and grab a copy of our Complete Guide to B2B Marketing Success for even more hands-on advice!
How to Boost Sales with Marketing Automation
Sales manager Phil Simpson shares his insights on the challenges that B2B sales reps face, how he uses marketing automation on a daily basis, and how marketers can help his team accomplish their goals. Phil answers questions like:
what are the biggest issues faced by B2B sales reps today?
what features of marketing automation are most useful to sales?
how can marketing help sales hit their numbers?
How to Keep Your Customers Smiling
Client Advocate Manager Ginny Richardson tells a few of her secrets for building a successful customer advocacy program that keeps customers feeling appreciated and satisfied. Ginny shares:
the difference between customer advocacy and customer support.
how customer advocacy keeps customers smiling.
advice for businesses looking to start a similar program of their own.
How to Secure Lifelong Customers with Effective Training
Anna Sims and Scott Konkol give a behind-the-scenes look at the Pardot training team, share their expert thoughts on the industry as a whole, and give actionable advice to other businesses trying to put an effective training program in place. Learn:
how to improve customer retention rates with effective training.
why every startup needs a training program.
how to get started with your own.
How to Build a Successful Video Marketing Strategy
Digital Learning Specialist (and video expert) Seth Hathcock explains his process for thinking through Pardot’s video strategy — even before he starts rolling the camera. Read on to learn:
how to keep video production costs low.
what’s coming up next for video trends.
how to build your own video series.
An Inside Look at Developing the Pardot Product
Chris Kelly, Software Engineering Manager and mountain biking aficionado, talks shop about what it takes to manage product development at a growing company, how to prioritize the wants and needs of other departments, customers, and customers-to-be, and more, including:
how Pardot’s product gets built.
some cool projects in the pipe.
how you can get involved.
How to Successfully (& Gracefully) Settle Support Issues
Rachel Newcity, Technical Support Manager, describes how her team ensures that the post-implementation customer experience is top notch and draws some important parallels between customer support and customer-centric marketing. Learn:
the key to effective customer support.
where content plays a role.
how to measure success — and improve.
How to Ensure Your B2B Website is Effective and User-Friendly
Cliff Seal, a prominent expert in the Atlanta tech community and a tenured member of the Pardot team, discusses an area of User Experience (UX) that is particularly pertinent to B2B marketers: website effectiveness and lead generation. Find out:
how to optimize your website for lead generation.
what makes for an effective landing page or form.
what steps to take if you’re redesigning your website.
How to Get Ramped Up with Marketing Automation
Susan Spicknall, Senior Implementation Specialist and a long-time Pardot veteran, talks about getting started with marketing automation: how you can prepare, tips for getting started, and ways you can take your marketing to the next level. Learn:
how to prepare for implementation.
how to take your approach up a notch.
Susan’s favorite tips and tricks.
How to Take On Dreamforce 2015
If you’re planning to join the wonderful madness that is Dreamforce on September 15th, you can’t afford to miss Suzy Matus’ advice for getting the most out of this incredible opportunity to connect with your peers and get more out of your investment — as an attendee or as a sponsor. Find out:
tips for first-time attendees.
how sponsors can see more value.
how marketing automation can help.
How to Build a Successful Lead Nurturing Program
Maureen Flaherty, Pardot’s Email Marketing and Campaigns Specialist, steps up to the plate to answer important questions about putting a successful nurturing program in place. You’ll learn:
tips for building your first campaign.
how to choose your nurturing content.
top lead nurturing tips and tricks.
How to Get the Most out of Marketing Automation & Your CRM
Rob Phillips, CRM Engineer at Pardot, joins us to share his expertise on the marketing automation and CRM integration process: what to expect, how to prevent common roadblocks, and how to get the most out of your new system. Find out:
what to expect during implementation.
how to prevent common roadblocks.
how to get the most out of your integration.
How to Start Reporting with Marketing Automation
Marketing Operations Specialist Isaac Payne shares what he’s learned from building and analyzing Pardot campaigns and reporting — a very important topic that many marketers still struggle with. He discusses:
common obstacles that marketers face in getting started with reporting.
how to overcome these obstacles.
a few basic reports to get started.
How to Make Sure Your Customers Feel Heard
For this interview, we’re joined by Kyle Coleman, a manager on Pardot’s Product team who helps to act as the voice of the customer within the engineering organization. Kyle explains:
how she listens to client needs as a product manager and makes customers feel heard.
how marketing can — and should — help with this endeavor.
how product and marketing can work together.
How to Build the Perfect Campaign with Marketing Automation
Demand Generation Manager Ryan Johnston shares his expertise on building and managing campaigns — from kicking off your strategy as a novice to seeing more success as an experienced marketing automation user. You’ll get:
advice on how to get started with a campaign.
crucial questions to ask yourself.
access to Ryan’s case studies on previous Pardot campaigns.
How to Plan and Conduct Successful User Testing
Usability Analyst Matt Miller shares a little bit about what it takes to plan and conduct successful user testing — and how usability differs from user experience. Find out:
why every marketer should care about usability.
how marketers can help.
how to use results from user testing.
How to Use Marketing Automation with a Small Marketing Team
For our grand finale, meet Laura Horton, Pardot’s very first marketing hire and the fearless leader of our content team. Laura’s shares her experiences in watching Pardot grow from a small startup to a division of a Fortune 500 company — and how she used the Pardot product all along the way. Learn:
how Pardot uses Pardot.
how we saw success early on.
how other small teams can do the same.
What topics did you find most interesting? Are there any topics we didn’t cover that you would find helpful? Let us know in our comments section! Still looking for tactical advice? Check out 80 pages of (free) best practices and worksheets in our Complete Guide to B2B Marketing Success! |
NASA Chat: The Quest for Planets
NASA's Kepler mission confirmed the discovery of its first rocky planet, named Kepler-10b. Measuring 1.4 times the size of Earth, it is the smallest planet ever discovered outside our solar system. The discovery of this so-called exoplanet is based on more than eight months of data collected by the spacecraft from May 2009 to early January 2010. This new planet discovery was announced Monday Jan. 10 during the 'Exoplanets & Their Host Stars' presentation at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference in Seattle, Washington.Kepler is NASA's first mission to look specifically for Earth-size planets in the habitable zones (areas where liquid water could exist) around stars like our sun. Kepler will spend 3-1/2 years surveying more than 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. More than 300 exoplanets have been discovered previously, most of which are low-density gas giants such as Jupiter or Saturn in our own solar system.Natalie Batalha of the NASA Kepler Mission Team was online answering your questions about this new planet finding on Monday, Jan. 10 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST / 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. PST. Natalie chatted with you live from the conference in Seattle.Natalie Batalha is a professor of physics and astronomy at San Jose State University in the heart of Silicon Valley, California and deputy science team lead for NASA’s Kepler Mission. She holds a bachelor's in physics from the University of California (UC), Berkeley and a doctorate in astrophysics from UC Santa Cruz. Batalha started her career as a stellar spectroscopist studying young, sun-like stars. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Batalha returned to California. Inspired by the growing number of exoplanet discoveries she joined the team led by William Borucki at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., working on transit photometry -- an emerging technology for finding exoplanets. As a member of the Kepler team, Batalha is responsible for the selection of the more than 150,000 stars the spacecraft monitors and works closely with team members at Ames to identify viable planet candidates from Kepler photometry.Jason(P): We're working on answering the first few questions. To ask your own, please type it in the box at the bottom of the window and click the 'Ask' button on the right side of the box. Thanks for your patience as we answer your questions.Oko(Q): How many planets similar to Earth have you discovered?Natalie(A): Hi guys! This is Natalie, and I'm happy you could join us! Let me start with this question about other discoveries of planets similar to earth. First, we have to establish what we mean by "similar to earth". If we mean earth-size in the habitable zone, then I can say that Kepler has not yet confirmed any such planets and does not expect to be able to until we see at least three transit events. For a planet similar to earth, that will take over three years.Jason(P): Wow. Lots of questions so far. We're working to answer them right now. To submit your own question, please type it in the box at the bottom of the window and click the 'Ask' button on the right side of the box. Thanks for your patience as we answer your questions.Mr_Wojciaszek(Q): Hello Everyone ! Greetings from Poland ! I want to ask you about this new discovery - what's so special about Kepler 10b and do you think that there may be signs of life there ? By the way what's your opinion about extraterrestrial life in general.Natalie(A): This discovery of Kepler-10b is special because of the accuracy of the planet properties. Our uncertainties in the mass and radius of the planet are small enough that we can say this is unquestionably a rocky world. We have achieved this accuracy because of the asteroseismic analysis.Akarsh_Valsan(Q): What really suggested the name ' Kepler' for the magnificent mission?Natalie(A): The Kepler mission is named after Johannes Kepler -- the famous mathematician who devised the empirical laws of planetary motion in the 1600's. We use his laws to determine the mean distance between the planet and the star. This distance determines whether or not the planet is in the Habitable Zone -- the goldilocks zone where liquid water might be able to pool on the surface of a planet.HouliHoulihan(Q): Is there an atmosphere on Kepler-10b?Natalie(A): Of course we do not yet have the exact answer to that question. However, we expect that a planet subjected to such intense radiation from the star it orbits would not be able to hold onto an atmosphere for long.mtalar(Q): Is the extrasolar planet search the only goal of Kepler?Natalie(A): This is the prime objective, yes -- to determine if earth-size planets are abundant in our galaxy, paying special attention to those that are potentially habitable. However, we have a group of scientists that comprise the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (over 300 scientists!). They utilize the exquisite precision of the Kepler data to study the properties of the stars themselves. We fully expect Kepler to revolutionize stellar astrophysics as a result.Kari(Q): The new planet seems to be very close to the star. Is this typical for exoplanets?Natalie(A): The short-period planets are easier to see, not necessarily more abundant in the galaxy. The probability that the planet will transit is larger for shorter periods. Also, the shorter the period, the more transits we observse. The more transits we have, the more we can average our measurements together to pu ll out weak signals.rober(Q): Hi, this is Roberto, from Spain, thank you so much for the possibility to talk to you directly. Why did you chose Cygnus? What does Cygnus have that other zones don´t have?Natalie(A): We chose CYgnus 1) because it is in the northern hemisphere (and we want to be able to see the region of the sky Kepler targets with our ground-based telescopes largely in the northern hemisphere), 2) the field is far enough away from the Sun at any time of the year, and 3) it is close to the plane of the Mikly Way galaxy where the density of stars is high.Daren(Q): Hi, is this planet within the "habitable zone" of the star?Natalie(A): Kepler-10b is definitely NOT in the habitable zone as we define it. The dayside temperature of the planet is expected to be higher than 2500 F!! That's hot enough to melt iron!WuNgUn(Q): Congrats on this remarkable discovery! Size and composition, this is very similar to our earth...do we know yet about it's orbital distance from it's host star?Natalie(A): Kepler-10b is about 23 times close to its star than Mercury is to our own Sun.tlland(Q): Can Kepler determine anything about the chemical content of a candidate planet's atmosphere to determine if it would be suitable for life as we know it?Natalie(A): Kepler can not probe the atmosphere of the planet, no. However, I fully expect other telescopes and missions to do transmission spectroscopy to see if it has an atmosphere. With transmission spectroscopy, you observe the planet when it is right in front of the star (allowing starlight to stream through its atmosphere) and then you observe it when it is not in front of the star. Then, you compare the two to see what the atmosphere might have done to the starlight.Jason(P): We're working to answer your great questions. Keep them coming! To submit your own question, please type it in the box at the bottom of the window and click the 'Ask' button on the right side of the box. Thanks for your patience as we answer your questions.arralen(Q): What's the Keppler id for the object - can i download the lightcurve anywhere?Natalie(A): The ID of the star is: KIC 11904151. Have fun!Thomas(Q): With respect to the planet being the first terrestrial planet from Kepler, how does Kepler-9d fit into this? Was it discovered later?Natalie(A): Unfortunately, we do not have a Doppler detection of Kepler-9d that would give us its mass. We only have its size. Therefore, we cannot compute the mean density that is so important for understanding its composition.rober(Q): How do you measure the planet mass, size and the distance to the star? And the planet composition?Natalie(A): Mass comes from the Doppler measurements of the wobble of the star as the planet/star orit about their commone center of mass. Radius comes from the amount of dimming of starlight that occurs during transit. The distance can be derived if you know the surface temperature and radius of the star. Together they give the intrinsic brightness. We know how bright the star appears to us. Knowing how right it SHOULD be instrinsically allows us to determine how far away it is -- 560 light-years for Kepler-10.Koreczek(Q): What do you think about life in other planets ? Is that possible ?Natalie(A): It must be "possible" simp;ly because we exist! Do I think there are other examples of life in our galaxy? in our Universe? Boy, I sure hope so!Cygnus(Q): What are the prospects for additional planets in the Kepler 10 star system? Any hints?Natalie(A): There is actually already a very compelling signature of another potential planet in this system. There is a transit event that recurs once every 45 days and is suggestive of a planet a bit larger than 2 times the radius of the Earth.priyanka(Q): hi natalie. thanks for joining the chat room. i am from india and i wanted to know the various methods used to locate exoplanets. is microlensing one of the methods? if yes...what is it and how is it done? please tell me more about kepler 10b.Natalie(A): Yes! Microlensing is another technique scientists use to search for planets. From general relativity, we know that mass can bend the path of light as it propagates through the Universe. Imagine you have a distance star with a planet that happens to line up for a short time with a star in the foreground. The light from the distant star/planet will be bent by the mass of the foreground star, causing a sudden brightening of the light that reaches our telescope. This is the basic idea behind microlensing.HOUPoland(Q): Hi! I am Lech Mankiewicz from Hands-On Universe, Poland. We actively support thehe recent PlanetHunters program (www.planethunters.org) on the Zooniverse. I wonder what kind of impact Planet Hunters have on the results of the Kepler team. Thank you.Natalie(A): We are SOOO excited about planethunters.org, and we are hoping to work together as much as possible, sharing information and helping the public as much as we can in their pursuit of planets. I know that there must be planets lurking in that data that we haven't seen, and we really look forward to having an extra million or so pairs of eyes on those light curves.rober(Q): Where is Kepler telescope located? What kind of light does it use: infrared, visible light?Natalie(A): The Kepler spacecraft is in an earth-trailing orbit around the Sun. It measures transits in the optical (visible).Bartek(Q): greetings from Poland, I congratulate the discovery! Will the publication be available on astro-ph?Natalie(A): Yes! I tried to do that last night, but it didn't compile correctly. We'll probably put the paper on our website (kepler.nasa.gov) in the interim.Jason(P): We're working to answer your great questions. Keep them coming! To submit your own question, please type it in the box at the bottom of the window and click the 'Ask' button on the right side of the box. Thanks for your patience as we answer your questions.Denver.C(Q): What makes this discovery stand outNatalie(A): Certainly it stands ou t becuase it is the first unquestionably rocky world orbiting a star outside our solar system. But more specifically... I think its the fact that all of our best capabilities (photometry, Doppler measurements, and asteroseismology) have converged on this one result.Lee(Q): Has Kepler made any observations on the nearby Alpha Centauri system, or are there difficulties of viewing any orbiting planets due to how bright the binary system is?Natalie(A): No, our telescope is pointed at a regiono of sky between Cygnus and Lyra and will point at this same region for the entire duration of the mission.sylwia_p(Q): how many people take part in Kepler project?Natalie(A): There are many, many experts involved with Kepler -- from intrument engineers, software engineers, to scientists. THe science team is currently around 50 or 60 individuals. The Kepler-10b paper has more than 50 authors!Karol(Q): Hi ! what is your greatest discoveryNatalie(A): No question... it's Kepler-10b. So far, that is. :)Jason(P): To learn more about the Kepler mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kepler or http://kepler.nasa.gov. Information about today's announcement can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/rocky_planet.htmlmerrickf(Q): How many candidate Earth like planets do you estimate you will find in the Milky Way galaxy?Natalie(A): This is an interesting question, but we have ot be more specific about what we mean by "earth-like". If every star we are observing has an earth-size planet in the Habitable Zone, we expect to find on the order of 50 such systems.DEChengst(Q): What's the plan after the primary mission is over? Would you like to switch to another starfield to catch more Earth like planets, or would like to keep looking at the same starfield to catch longer period planets ?Natalie(A): Really good question! That's something we are thinking about carefully right now as we plan for the future. So far, our simulations have shown that it would be more advantageous to keep observing the same field to detect the longer period and smaller planets.mtalar(Q): How is it possible to determin if the planet is in the habitable zone?Natalie(A): We are using a very simple definition of the Habitable Zone. You put a planet at a certain distance from a star of known properties (Luminosity) and assume that the planet has some reasonable albedo (e.g. how much energy does it absorb versus how much energy does it reflect) and then you calculate the temperature the object would have. If it's below the boiling point of water and higher than about 50 degrees or so (C) above the freezing point, we say that it is in the Habitable Zone.AREweALONE(Q): Has the NASA Kepler Mission Team confirmed Gliese 581g as an actual planet? People are doubting that it actually exists.Natalie(A): Gliese 581 is not in the field of stars that Kepler is observing. Yes, this is a very difficult system to understand given the number of very tiny Doppler signatures that one must disentangle.michał(Q): Is your equipment on the planets of another system can detect signs of life?Natalie(A): Kepler is NOT able to detect signatures of life (like the presence of Oxygen in an atmosphere, for example). No, this is not our objective. First, we must figure out if earth-size planets outside our Solar System are common.kianjin(Q): Are there any other planets in this system and have you decided to call this planet 'Vulcan'?Natalie(A): The team has not necessarily adopted the name VUlcan for this planet. However, it was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the planet "come alive" in the artists depiction. The Vulcan Telescope -- our precursor to Kepler up at Lick Observatory -- was such a major part of our history, that it really came full circle for me.magda.tom(Q): Good afternoon. Asteroseismic analysis - could you say a few words about this method and technology? What information does it provide?Natalie(A): Good question! Just as we use earthquakes to probe the interior of the Earth, we can use star quakes to probe the interior of stars. But how do you see a starquake? Well, Kepler can "see" manifestations of star quakes in the brightness measurements. They produce very high frequency brightness variations at characteristic frequencies. The exact frequencies depend on the size and density of the star in the same way that the sound emitted from a violin differs from the sound emitted by a cello.Jason(P): We've got time for just a few more questions. To ask a question, please type it in the box at the bottom of the window and click the 'Ask' button on the right side of the box. Thanks for your patience as we answer your questions.Akarsh_Valsan(Q): In which constellation does Kepler-10b really come in?Natalie(A): The Kepler field of view is between Cygnus and Lyra. Surprisingly, however, there is a tiny corner of Draco that cuts into the field. Kepler-10b happens to be in the constellation Draco.sylwia_p(Q): Did you find some organism on Kepler-10b?Natalie(A): Nope! No organisms, nor could we if we wanted to. It wouldn't be a very nice place for organisms like those on earth to live. Carbon-based chemistry wouldn't thrive there. Molecules comprising RNA and DNA couldn't stay intact in such extreme temperatures._www.mykepler.com(Q): Last June you gave us 320 possible target stars with exoplanets. How come only 1 has been announced? Does this mean there are few close to their star - ie that we are finding many in the habitable zone - but you need longer to verify?Natalie(A): Since June, we have announced Kepler-9b,c,d and Kepler-10b. In addition, a European team has recently announced the confirmation of one of the planets in the June catalog. We will certainly announce each and every planet that we successfully confirm at the very first moment possible.William(Q): If this planet had been orbiting it's star at a distance similar to how our Earth orbits our sun would Kepler have the sensitivity to detect it?Natalie(A): Kepler has been designed to be able to detect an earth-size planet (even smaller than Kepler-10b) out at a distance on 1 AU (the orbit of the Earth around the Sun) in three to four years time. So the answer is yes, eventually.Natalie(P): It's clear to me that we need to do this more often! So many questions that I didn't even get to! Thank you all so much for participating. This is YOUR mission. This is YOUR science. We want you here with us, enjoying these results as much as we are. Thanks again!Jason(P): Thanks Natalie for the great answers to everyone's questions. We appreciate your taking time out of your day to sit down with us. Our chat is over! Thanks for participating. A transcript will be available within a few business days. |
Windows startup sounds have been ubiquitous fixtures for PC users for over 20 years. Less known are the musical minds that composed these sound snippets—and they are some famous ones at that. Let’s have a look at the notable stories behind several Windows startup themes.
Windows 95 / Brian Eno: In 1994, Microsoft needed something less obnoxious than the much-maligned Windows 3.1 TA-DA! for introducing its new operating system. The company approached legendary ambient artist and rock producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads, Coldplay) to compose the start-up ditty for Windows 95. Eno obliged the job despite his stated preference for using Macintosh computers. “I’ve never used a PC in my life; I don’t like them,” Eno said in an interview with John Lloyd and Sean Lock on the BBC’s ‘The Museum of Curiosity’ in 2009.
Eno was handed a long list of Microsoft-like adjectives for basing the composition—words like “inspiring, universal, optimistic, futuristic”—and it was to be no longer than four seconds. From Eno’s own account, he likened the task to “making a tiny little jewel” and that it helped him break out of the artistic rut he was in at the time. Later that year, his collaboration with Luciano Pavarotti, “Miss Sarajevo,” charted in the UK Top 10.
Windows Vista / Robert Fripp: I find it ironic that Microsoft tapped virtuoso guitarist Robert Fripp to compose a four-second startup theme. Fripp’s band, King Crimson, was famous for penning 20-minute progressive rock epics in the late-‘60s and ‘70s. The Vista startup sound, as well as 45 other sounds coded into the operating system, were taken from recording session Fripp conducted at the company’s Redmond headquarters. It featured the guitarist tracking a soundscape of ambient loops and volume swells on his Les Paul. He was joined by TV and film music composer Tucker Martine and Microsoft engineer and musician Steve Ball who also contributed sounds and editing.
The final production has a deliberate “Win-dows Vis-ta” rhythmic progression, with four chords representing the four squares and colors in the Windows logo. Apparently, Microsoft thought it fit “Win-dows Sev-en” as well—the company reused the Fripp startup for its next operating system.
Other startup sound notables: Microsoft staffer Ken Kato composed the Windows 98 theme. He went on to work with 343 Industries studio that enlisted Massive Attack’s Neil Davidge for the awesome Halo 4 soundtrack.
The Windows XP chime came about from a collaborative effort between composer Bill Brown and Emmy-award winning sound designer Tom Ozanich, whose credits include American Sniper and Kill Bill.
In my opinion, the best Windows startup sound of the bunch is Windows NT with its alien mothership vibe. Its unnamed composer remains a mystery. |
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Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll
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Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has found himself slowly sinking into the political quicksand as he faces close public scrutiny over potentially enriching family members through his powerful position as a Democratic leader.The Nevada senator has recently become embroiled in the embarrassing controversy surrounding the $31,268 that his campaign paid to his granddaughter Ryan Elisabeth Reid for the purchase of gift items from her jewelry line, according to Politico. But his weakness for pulling strings to help family members was first exposed by the Los Angeles Times a decade ago when a Nevada land bill proposed by Reid appeared to benefit his son-in-law Steve Barringer's consulting firm and his sons' legal firm.The Howard Hughes Corp. paid $300,000 to the Washington firm Steve Barringer worked for to push a provision allowing the company to buy 1,000 acres of federal land for development in the then-burgeoning Las Vegas area, according to the Times.The bill also benefited a real-estate development headed by a senior partner in the Nevada law firm that then employed all four of Reid's sons — Rory, Leif, Josh, and Key — by moving the right-of-way for a federal power transmission line off his property and onto what had been protected federal wilderness.In its report, the Times said, "So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family, and Nevada's leading industries and institutions that it's difficult to find a significant field in which such a relationship does not exist."Reid's reputation for promoting his family's power, status, and wealth was further enhanced when it was revealed that he had lobbied the mayor of Henderson and a councilwoman to support his son Josh Reid's application to become the city's attorney.Although Josh got the job in 2011, the officials said that Reid's phone calls did not influence them.Reid has also faced allegations that he used his connections in 2012 to help his son Rory's legal firm receive legal fees from a Chinese company building a solar plant in a dusty corner of Nevada, according to Bloomberg. The company's billionaire founder, Wang Yusuo, joined with Reid to win incentives, including paying just $4.5 million for land to build the plant, which was one-eighth of what it was assessed for. The project produced legal work for Rory's firm, which has donated $40,000 to Reid during the past three cycles, says the report.And earlier this year, Reid's blind spot for his family made him the target of an ethics and conflict-of-interest complaint after he helped to fast-track U.S. visa applications for Chinese investors in the new Las Vegas casino SLS represented by his son Rory, Ryan Elisabeth's father.Until the recent controversy, Politico writer Jon Ralston said in a report titled "Harry Reid's Kryptonite," referring to his family, that the senator was Mr. Teflon."Even when Reid gets caught pulling strings for his family, nothing seems to stick," Ralston wrote.But the scandal surrounding his campaign payments to his granddaughter has brought intense scrutiny, with Jahan Wilcox, a Republican National Committee spokesman, calling it a "personal slush fund."The latest family problems for Reid began when it was revealed that his campaign had paid a total of $16,787 in 2013 to Ryan Elisabeth for "holiday gifts" for the senator's staff, consisting of jewelry items created by his 23-year-old granddaughter.The nepotism issue escalated when it was learned Reid's campaign had paid another $14,481 to Ryan in 2012, bringing the total in payments over two years to $31,268.Although he appears to be enriching a family member, Reid defended the payments by stating that he had complied with Federal Election Commission standards that allow the purchase of goods from relatives if those goods are sold at fair market value.The Democratic leader explained, "I thought it would be nice to give supporters and staff thank you gifts that had a personal connection. But I have decided to reimburse the campaign for the amount of the expenditure."But to Ralston, who worked the political beat for two Las Vegas newspapers before joining Politico, the appearance of impropriety still lingers."I gave the money back so I don't look guilty of something," said Ralston in Politico, quoting what he thought Reid was really saying.Politico also pointed out that although the law allows for "nominal gifts," there needs to be a great deal of such gifts to reach $31,268. One report even calculated that with a piece of jewelry from Ryan Elisabeth's line costing $70 on average, it would be the equivalent of buying 450 "nominal gifts" over two years.Ralston said that when he appeared last month on Fox News, host Sean Hannity introduced him by saying, "Tonight we have an in-depth investigation into a scandal that is just beginning to break, and it's one that could mean the end of Harry Reid's political career." |
The reporter, who was working on a programme for Sveriges Television (SVT), helped the 15-year-old travel from Greece to Sweden.
"It was only me who could help him," the reporter, Fredrik Önnevall, explained on SVT.
Önnevall, the teen, and the film crew all travelled back to Sweden via train so that the Syrian could reunite with members of his family who were already living in Sweden.
The child has since been granted permanent residence in Sweden and has started school.
"A boy just asked us to save him from the situation he was in. He was trying to smuggle himself out of Greece by jumping onto a moving truck," the reporter explained.
The SVT reporter said he was "extremely influenced by the classic journalist role of watching and observing", and said that he wasn't trying to change this practice by his actions.
While the programme's director, Robert Olsson, said the move was brave, he noted that the production team was well aware of the potential consequences of their actions.
"It's definitely not a certainty that Fredrik and the team have done something illegal. But I'm not a lawyer," he said.
"But I think this series goes beyond the legal issue. It's a public service broadcast that stands alone and shines a light on some of the most important contemporary issues in a much larger context," he explained.
Sweden's approach towards Syrian refugees has been widely debated recently.
Last year Sweden took in its highest number of asylum seekers since 1992, when refugees flocked to the Nordic nation during war in the Balkans.
In 2014, refugees came mostly from Syria, with a total of 30,600 fleeing to Sweden - 14,300 more than in 2013. |
The health benefits that come with green cities inspire landscape architect Chris Rance to find creative solutions.
Everyone wants to live in a ‘green’ city – but does that mean parks and play areas? Bike lanes and traffic bans? Or the efficient use of energy and water resources?
Chris Rance is principal landscape architect at Atkins. Based in Birmingham, he was tasked with “greening” a city where Victorian structures don’t necessarily lend themselves to a makeover.
“A true green city is not just environmentally sustainable but is also visibly green,” he says.
“It’s all about livability – with most of us living or working in urban areas these need to be pleasant and healthy places to be.
The idea is simple: to transform an existing piece of grey infrastructure into a piece of environmentally beneficial green infrastructure
“But retrofitting existing cities to incorporate ‘green infrastructure’ is a challenge when you don’t necessarily have the luxury of knocking down and starting afresh.”
The health benefits that come with green cities, he says, inspire him to find creative solutions, even where there is limited space for the more traditional approaches of street trees and open spaces.
“A network of high quality parks and open spaces provide the opportunity and encouragement for people to exercise. The obesity crisis is well publicised, and the more people have the incentive to move around and be more active the better.
“The same applies at the street level – an attractive green environment will encourage people to abandon the car and walk and cycle more. A recent study by Exeter University showed that people who moved to greener urban areas experienced a sustained improvement to their mental health.”
Wall of flowers: Birmingham is trialling a 'green screen'
Like many cities, Birmingham has a largely grey centre, albeit with some imposing streets and buildings, and a somewhat greener periphery including a number of leafy suburbs such as Edgbaston and the garden village of Bournville. Between the centre and the suburbs is a ring of land, much of it underused, including vacant plots and derelict sites cut by major radial roads and the city’s middle ring road.
“This is where we are trialling a green screen, on the A38 Bristol Street, in the city’s Southside district,” says Mr Rance.
“The idea is simple: to transform an existing piece of grey infrastructure – unattractive highway pedestrian guard railing along the central reservation – into a piece of environmentally beneficial green infrastructure which would help trap air pollutants.”
If Birmingham is able to transform itself into a ‘green city’ in the widest sense, that will be an achievement worth following
Among these are particulates from diesel engines and nitrogen oxides. Vehicle emissions are a serious problem for public health in urban areas and are thought to cause as many as 50,000 deaths per year in the UK.
“The green screens consist of climbing plants, pre-grown and twined onto metal mesh,” he says.
”These are then fixed to the existing railing with the roots growing into the verge. Staffordshire University researchers found that the quantity of particulate interception by the green screens may be of the order of 145 million particles per square metre per day.”
The green screen is part of a wider vision for Birmingham, incorporating trams, bicycle lanes and autonomous cars, and even the “greening” of former parking spaces.
Studies show people who moved to greener areas saw improvements in their health
“We will be trialling further greening ideas in the city’s Southside district – so watch out for more green screens, green walls, roof gardens, and perhaps even ‘rain gardens’ that capture rainfall from adjoining buildings and hard surfaces.
“Potentially the ideas developed here can be applied to the wider outer city centre, possibly creating a green infrastructure ring around the centre.
“Any ideas we can develop for relatively low cost greening by retrofitting in existing dense urban fabrics could be applicable to many other cities. If Birmingham is able to transform itself into a ‘green city’ in the widest sense, that will be an achievement worth following.” |
NAIROBI, Kenya — A typical prize for a children’s contest might be a backpack, a lunchbox or maybe some toys.
Not in Somalia.
Over the weekend, a Somali radio station run by the Shabab, the most powerful Islamist militant group in the war-ravaged country, held an awards ceremony to honor children who were experts at Shabab trivia and at reciting the Koran. The prizes? Fully automatic assault rifles and live hand grenades.
The contest itself was held during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, and featured questions that the Shabab seemed to think every child should know, like which war was Sheik Timajilic (a famous Shabab warrior) killed in?
Without a functioning central government, Somalia has some of the lowest schooling rates in the world, and many Somali children are more familiar with rifles than rulers. Contestants in the Shabab quiz included children from all across Shabab-controlled areas of Somalia, most of the southern third of the country. The children competed live on air from the many radio stations nationwide that the Shabab control.
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On Sunday, the awards were handed out at a ceremony held at the Andalus radio station in Elasha Biyaha, a small town near Mogadishu, the capital. (Andalus was the part of Spain seized by the Arabs in the Middle Ages.) The first- and second-place winners won AK-47 assault rifles, some money and Islamic books. The third-place winner was given two hand grenades. The contestants were 10 to 17 years old.
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It was not clear how exactly the sponsors determined the winners — or the choice of prizes. But at the awards ceremony, Sheik Muktar Robow Abu Monsur, who is widely considered a moderate Shabab leader, proudly said, “Children should use one hand for education and the other for a gun to defend Islam,” according to Somali accounts of the event. |
Why Science Matters: A Scientist’s Apology
It seems somewhat paradoxical that at the start of a new millennium, during what we proudly refer to as the scientific age, many people still look back to apocalyptic prophecies with such fearsome awe. Think the Y2K bug and the shameless Mayan 2012 “end of the world” propaganda. There is growing cynicism toward science, a sense of betrayal, of promises unrealized. After all, was not science supposed to be the new redeemer, our shining sword to ward off the threats of unpredictable Nature?
We get cures for myriad diseases only to discover new, incurable ones; we create new technologies that supposedly make life easier and more pleasant, only to spend more hours than ever at work. Even worse, technology advances so fast that it is virtually impossible for most of us to keep up, and a vast "technological underclass" is emerging, reminiscent of the socially displaced rural migrants in the medieval cities.
There’s a growing generational divide, where the younger population communicates in ways which are incomprehensible and meaningless to older folks. We can send a man to the Moon (or could, when it was politically relevant) but cannot feed most of the world's population. We consume the natural resources of our planet with reckless appetite, feeding our endless greed for material goods without looking back at the devastation we often leave behind.
And all this thanks to "science!"
So goes the credo of the discontent. Now I must wear the robes of the Science Apologist and refute the above accusations:
“First and foremost, science does not promise redemption. Science is a human invention preoccupied with understanding the workings of Nature. It is a body of knowledge about the Universe and its many inhabitants, living and nonliving, accumulated through a process of constant testing and refinement known as the scientific method.
"What the practice and study of science does provide is a path back to Nature, a way of reintegrating ourselves with the world around us. In so doing, it teaches us the essence of Nature – from the inanimate to the animate – its change and transformation. It teaches us that life and death are intertwined in a cosmic chain of being.
"It was the death of a nearby star that triggered the formation of our Sun, where life became possible in at least one member of its court of planets and moons. If there was life near that original dying star, it was destroyed with it, the same way life here will be destroyed when our Sun burns out. This dance of creation and destruction is constantly happening throughout the Universe, linking our histories, our lives and deaths, to a larger cosmic chain of transformation. As such, every link is important, from what we create and destroy in life to what we leave behind.
"Science may not offer eternal salvation, but it offers the possibility of a life free from the spiritual slavery caused by an irrational fear of the unknown. It offers people the choice of self-empowerment, which may contribute to their spiritual freedom. In transforming mystery into challenge, science adds a new dimension to life. And a new dimension opens more paths towards self-fulfillment."
Thus spoke the Science Apologist.
"Second, science does not determine what is to be done with its accumulated knowledge: we do. And this decision often falls into the hands of politicians, which, at least in a democracy, are chosen by society. The blame for the darker uses of science must be shared by all of us: Are we to blame the inventor of gunpowder for all the deaths from gunshots and explosives? Or the inventor of the microscope for the development of biological warfare?
"We, the scientists, have the duty to make clear to the public what we do in our labs, and what consequences, good or bad, our inventions may have for society at large. But there is no such thing as the ‘scientists’ as a group that shares a set of morals or views, or the blame for the uses and abuses of science. There is, I would like to believe, a common set of goals, to better understand the world and our place in it and, yes, to improve our living conditions and health."
Thus spoke the Science Apologist.
"Finally, science has not betrayed our expectations. Think of a world without antibiotics, computers, televisions, airplanes, and cars – a world in which we are all back in the forests and fields where we came from, living with no technological comfort.
"How many of us would be ready or willing to do it? Can you see yourself living in some cave or primitive hut, hunting for food, physically fighting constantly for survival? There is much hypocrisy in the criticism of science and of what it has done to us and to the planet. We did it all ourselves, through our choices and greed. It is not by slowing down scientific research or its teaching through legislation or censorship that we will change the inequities of a technological society; that is surely a one-way ticket back to the Middle Ages.
"What is needed is universal access to new technologies, aggressive funding for basic and applied research coupled with a widespread effort to popularize science. Only a society well versed in scientific issues will be able to dictate its own destiny, from the preservation of the natural environment to the moral choices of genetic research and nuclear power."
[This text is adapted from my book The Prophet and the Astronomer: A Scientific Journey to the End of Time (W. W. Norton, 2002)] |
Until now, it's been a pie-in-the-sky idea. But the city wants to take the idea of gondolas into the mainstream.
City officials are intrigued by the notion of gondolas that would go up and down the Niagara Escarpment and have just added the concept to the transportation master plan (TMP) to get public input on the idea.
Transportation officials have been talking about gondolas for "two or three months now," said Al Kirkpatrick, the city's manager of transportation planning.
The city is reviewing its TMP to determine how transportation will grow in Hamilton over the next 30 years.
The team is hosting public input sessions in June, Kirkpatrick said. And as it does, it's asking people about gondolas as a way of moving people between the upper and lower city.
We need to take it from the fringe into the mainstream. - Coun. Terry Whitehead
The idea of innovative transportation on the escarpment is not a new one in Hamilton.
From 1895 to 1936, the city operated the Wentworth incline railway, which took passengers up and down the mountain on a track. Many of those footings still exist just under the surface, Kirkpatrick said. Those footings could serve as future footings for the gondola.
Something you would use?
It's too early to talk about details, such as where the gondola would go or how much it would cost. It would have to tie in with Hamilton's existing transportation plan, including a future light-rail transit (LRT) line along King Street due to launch in 2024.
For now, Kirkpatrick said, he just wants to know what people think.
I don't think too many people are going to argue that it's not cool. - Coun. Jason Farr
"We want to ask residents, 'What do you think about it? Is this something you would use?'" Kirkpatrick said.
"We want to get their input into whether it's a great idea or something we should be considering."
Coun. Terry Whitehead is on board for the discussion. His staff met with researchers from McMaster University's Institute for Transportation and Logistics this week about it.
"When I first heard about the concept, I thought it was a harebrained idea," the Ward 8 councillor said. "But as you do more research and take a look at countries around the world that have utilized gondolas, it's one of the cheapest alternatives."
Time to take the idea seriously, councillor says
The gondola would be a great tourist attraction, he said. It could also tie in with a transit hub at Mohawk College.
"The concept would have to be studied," he said. "It'd be premature to say what the ideal locations would be."
But "we need to introduce this into the mainstream discussion and dialogue," he said. "That doesn't mean that it's going to happen. It's a viable, low-cost (transit) option. We need to take it from the fringe into the mainstream."
As long as they do it correctly, I think it's an awesome idea. - Crystal Lavigne, former mayoral candidate
Coun. Jason Farr has been interested in gondolas for a while. "Since I was a kid, people have been talking about this."
"I don't think too many people are going to argue that it's not cool," the Ward 2 councillor said. And it would be a tourist attraction.
Cheaper than LRT
Farr's preliminary research shows that gondolas are comparatively low cost, "a drop in the bucket" compared to the cost of LRT. It's all in the details, he said, such as how much it would cost to operate it and who would own it.
"I just hope folks at the very least try to explore it."
Coun. Matthew Green of Ward 3 has some skepticism, but he'd be open to exploring it. Gondolas seem more appropriate for more mountainous areas, but "sure, why not?" he said of looking at it. "We have to dream big on things."
Gondolas got some attention during the October 2014 municipal election. Crystal Lavigne, who came fifth in the mayoral race, made them part of her platform.
And while Lavigne only got 1,910 votes, Lavigne said she's heartened that officials are talking seriously about gondolas now.
"As long as they do it correctly, I think it's an awesome idea."
Portland, Ore. opened an aerial tram in 2006, although the project drew its share of controversy. Check out a video of it below.
Upcoming Transportation Master Plan public information sessions:
Saturday, June 13
Time: 12 noon to 3 p.m.
Flamborough Family YMCA, 207 Parkside Dr.
Tuesday, June 16
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
St. Eugene Catholic Elementary School, 120 Parkdale Ave. S.
[email protected] | @SamCraggsCBC |
Dr Susan Hayes, a facial anthropologist and an honorary senior research fellow at the University of Wollongong in Australia, has reported results of the forensic facial reconstruction of mysterious Homo floresiensis, a primitive hominin discovered in 2003 on the Indonesian island of Flores and nicknamed the Hobbit.
Dr Hayes works predominantly with archaeological remains of anatomically modern humans, including the Lapita People (Vanuatu), the Amerindian Huarpe (Argentina), and the first Maori to inhabit New Zealand.
In her new study, Dr Hayes has used so-called facial approximation techniques to show how Homo floresiensis might have once looked.
“In the media it’s often called ‘facial reconstruction’, but because I’m evidence-based and work in archaeological science, we prefer the term ‘facial approximation’,” Dr Hayes said.
Dr Hayes described the facial approximation as an extraordinary challenge working on an archaic hominin.
“She’s taken me a bit longer than I’d anticipated, has caused more than a few headaches along the way, but I’m pleased with both the methodological development and the final results. She’s not what you’d call pretty, but she is definitely distinctive,” said Dr Hayes, who presented the results on December 10 at the 2012 Conference of the Australian Archaeological Association.
“The face looked more modern than he expected,” Dr Darren Curnoe of the University of New South Wales, a human evolution specialist who was not involved in the reconstruction project, said in the interview with the Conversation. “The bones are really quite primitive looking and look a bit like pre-humans that lived two or three million years ago but this new construction looks, to me, surprisingly modern.”
“I think it’s really interesting to see a new approach founded in forensic science and it can actually progress the ways we can understand what Homo floresiensis looked like. What we have seen, until now, have been artistic interpretations, very beautiful ones, but I think this really takes it to a new level and gives us a more scientific and accurate view of what the hobbit looked like.”
“Now the majority of researchers accepted that the hobbit was unique and not a diseased human,” he said. “But precisely where it fits in the human evolutionary tree is still to be determined.”
_______
Bibliographic information: Susan Hayes. Faces of the Hobbit (Homo floresiensis). Themed Session: Historical archaeology, materials conservation and forensic techniques. AAA Conference 2012; Wollongong, NSW. December 9-13, 2012 |
Just two-and-a-half years after launching its first course, Open2Study – an offshoot of Open Universities Australia (OUA) which offers free online courses –has enrolled its millionth student .
Open2Study says the majority of people enrolling in any of its 49 four-week programs are Australians, and many are doing it to get a better idea of what they want to study at university.
"We've seen more interest in the practical courses, which can be used as a stepping-stone by students before they make a commitment to a course in higher education," said OUA's executive general manager of education programs, Jose Herrera Perea.
Open2Study's free online courses can be a stepping stone to higher education, says Jose Herrera Perea. Supplied
In order, Open2Study's most popular courses are: Principles of Project Management, The Art of Photography, Food, Nutrition and Your Health, Foundations of Psychology and Early Childhood Education.
More than 36 per cent of Open2Study students are from Australia, followed by India and the US.
Mr Herrera Perea said the Open2Study brand had not been marketed, and its growth had been organic. It took about 18 months to reach its first half-million students and about 12 months to notch up its second half-million.
Each week MOOC watch reports on massive open online courses and digital education. |
It's the story that will define this transfer window and one that promises to make history: Where does Paul Pogba's future lie?
Is it worth it for Manchester United or Real Madrid to break the world transfer record to get him? Or should Juventus stay strong and not give into the pressure to sell their star?
ESPN FC looks at the pros and cons of signing Pogba for the three clubs involved.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Pros
A mood change: Regardless of the cost involved, the world record signing of Pogba, particularly in addition to the appointment of Jose Mourinho and free transfer of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, would generate huge enthusiasm after a series of distinctly un-United years of disappointment. On paper at least, they would look like they're back again just when they need to be, with Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino upping standards of the Premier League.
The Happy One: Mourinho would have liked United to have wrapped things up earlier, but Pogba's arrival would mean he has got the four players he targeted this summer -- Pogba, Zlatan, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The missing piece: Neglected toward the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson era and not upgraded adequately enough under David Moyes or Louis van Gaal, United have stumbled from Marouane Fellaini to Bastian Schweinsteiger in the center of midfield, but they would be there at last with Pogba. The total midfielder, Pogba would be the missing piece to United's midfield.
Pogboom: Along with Ibrahimovic, Pogba is one of the most marketable players in the world; a one-man brand. Signing him is expensive, but he is also a money spinner.
Cons
Doubts over Woodward: Whenever United's executive vice-president Ed Woodward ventures into the transfer market, there is a sense he is getting played by the selling club and/or the agent. An inordinate fee would only further that reputation.
The expense: Perhaps Pogba is overpriced; there was better value to be had this summer. United's dithering meant they missed out on 18-year-old midfield dynamo Renato Sanches, for instance, who moved to Bayern Munich for £27.5m from Benfica.
Power shift? As if super-agent Jorge Mendes' influence at United wasn't already great enough, Mino Raiola would now have three of his clients (Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and Pogba) at the club.
REAL MADRID
Pros
The Duodecima: Winning a 12th European Cup surely wouldn't be beyond a team with a midfield of Pogba, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric. Nor would reclaiming the La Liga title for the first time in five years.
Hit back at Barcelona: Andre Gomes who? After Barca hijacked Real's move for the Euro 2016 winner, the impact of signing Pogba would more than make amends -- it would eclipse anything their rivals have done. Real fans are overdue a galactico signing after a quiet window by their standards last summer.
Relationship with Zinedine Zidane: Zidane became the seventh man to win the Champions League as a player and manager and is a big admirer of Pogba's. While Mourinho pushes all the right buttons to get players to reach another level, you wonder if the Juventus midfielder might respond better to Zidane, under whom, one presumes, he would get more freedom of expression.
Cons
Midfield not key: "I'm happy with the squad I've got. It's difficult to improve," Zidane said recently. Reinforcing the midfield isn't a big priority, not with James Rodriguez, Isco, Casemiro and Mateo Kovacic around (for now) as well.
No balance: As we saw with France at Euro 2016, Pogba is wasted in front of the defence. His best position, left of centre, is where Toni Kroos operates, and Zidane would be reluctant to move the German.
The lesson of James: Buying a player before thinking about where he fits in is a Real trademark, but maybe the £63m the club spent on the underperforming James is enough to make them think twice.
JUVENTUS
Pros
Team building to win UCL: Massimiliano Allegri has told Pogba to think very carefully before leaving the Old Lady, because he believes Juventus are now one of the top four teams in Europe. Two years after reaching the Champions League final, they now think they have the ability to win it, and keeping Pogba would give them an even better chance of bringing the trophy back to Turin for the first time since 1996.
Sending a message: Juventus are not a selling club. Bayern, Barcelona and Real don't accept offers for their best players; why should Juventus? Retaining Pogba and bringing in the money spent on Gonzalo Higuain through the sales of fringe players like Roberto Pereyra, Simone Zaza, Hernanes and Stefano Sturaro, though difficult, would send a strong message to the continent that Juventus are not a breeding ground for bigger clubs.
The complete midfielder: Not everyone was sure about Pogba getting the No. 10 shirt at Juventus. He is not a classic No. 10, but by the end of last season he showed himself worthy of it; 11 of his 12 assists on the season came in 2016. A complete midfielder, why would you let him go if he is willing to stay? A midfield of Pogba, Miralem Pjanic and one of Sami Khedira or Claudio Marchisio [when fit again] is one of the best around.
Cons
Missing the deal of the century: Sometimes the head has to overrule the heart; sometimes an offer is just too good to turn down. All the stars have aligned to make this the deal of the century for Juventus, and a return of more than £100m on an initial investment of £800k represents a great piece of business. No one thinking rationally would begrudge Juventus for taking it.
James covers the Italian Serie A and European football for ESPN FC Follow him on Twitter @JamesHorncastle. |
Google
It was bound to happen sooner or later: Google announced that it will soon be adding in-app advertisements to its popular and powerful Google Maps feature.
“Relevant ads on the Google Maps app can now appear at the bottom of the screen after a user performs a search. They include a title, ad text, and a link to get directions. Users can tap or swipe upward to see more information,” explains a post on the Google Inside AdWords blog.
Search for “gas station,” for example, and Google might first show an advertisement for a station three miles away before it shows you a result closer to where you are. As you can see in Google’s sample image at the right, these ads appear with a purplish background to distinguish them from other, non-paid search results.
Google makes the bulk of its money though advertising, so the move isn’t especially surprising. It’s just means you’ll need to pay a little bit closer attention to your searches. With Google, the most prominent search result often isn’t the best one. It’s just one that’s paid the most to be there.
This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Techlicious.
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Dana Milbank writes about Friday’s congressional hearing on Flint’s water:
In a hearing this week about the poisonous water in Flint, Mich., Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.) tried to blame the lead-tainted water on the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy explained that, under the law Congress passed, states are in charge of enforcing drinking-water standards. “The law?” Carter replied, contemptuously. “The law? I don’t think anybody here cares about the law.” It was an awkward and inadvertent moment of truth. Congress has hamstrung the federal government, giving states the authority to enforce drinking-water standards and all but eliminating the EPA’s power tointervene….It’s a vicious cycle: Washington devolves power to the states. When states screw up, conservatives blame the federal government, worsening the public’s already shaky faith. ….In Flint’s case, an official appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder (R) decided in 2013 to save money by changing the water supply, with disastrous results. The EPA had no say….[Nonetheless] Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee focused their ire on McCarthy. “I heard calls for resignation. I think you should be at the top of the list,” said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.)….Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) said McCarthy should “consider scrapping” other pending regulations because “it’s clear EPA cannot currently handle the issues on its plate.” ….Chaffetz, the chairman, joined this complaint. When McCarthy explained that, under the law, she had to provide elaborate documentation before overriding state officials, Chaffetz was livid. “Why do we even need an EPA? If you can’t do that?” he asked. “If you want to do the courageous thing,” he said, you “should resign.”
I also wrote about this on Friday, with much the same disgusted tone as Milbank. This prompted an email from a regular reader:
It has really been disappointing to read your pieces on Flint recently. You are dismissive of not only the lead problem, but also fail to acknowledge there was any other problem. Was Flint worse before? Yes, years ago, but lead is still detrimental to health when using untreated Flint river water. Are there other places worse? Yes, but now you are sounding like Steven Hayward at Power Line in dismissing Flint complaints because there are places worse….Put the statistics in perspective but do not give credence they are unworthy of notice or action.
I think it’s worth posting my reply, complete and unedited, since I tend to self-censor a bit when I write about this on the blog:
Here’s the problem: Virtually everyone is in hysteria over this. The only way to push back is to get people’s attention, and that means writing without too much nuance. Under the circumstances, I’ve actually been pretty restrained. I’ve repeatedly acknowledged that there were political/bureaucratic problems—though I’m not convinced the EPA had a big role in this. But on a technical basis, although the lead levels in Flint water were higher than they should have been, they were never wildly high even at the height of the crisis. Today, things seem very close to normal. Why go on about this? Because we’re at a point where the hysteria is doing real damage. Flint residents are still panicked, drinking bottled water and not taking showers. Aside from one or two dozen houses with very high levels, there’s just no reason for this. They can go back to normal lives, but no one will let them. I understand why everyone is responding this way (on both sides), but it’s genuinely damaging. One of the reasons I’ve written about this is because I have some cred on lead poisoning. I very clearly take lead seriously. But the truth is that you can go too far. The 5 m/d level is very conservative, and when you get to the point where there’s only 2-3% of kids above it, it just isn’t a huge problem. (It’s still a problem, and we should aim lower, but it’s not a huge problem.) My take: anyone who’s serious about lead should be applauding the improvement in Flint (though it’s perfectly fine to skewer the bureaucrats and politicians) and trying to focus the public’s attention on places where lead levels are still damagingly high. Otherwise we’ll spend a billion dollars replacing Flint’s pipes for no reason, clap ourselves on the back for a job well done, and then do nothing more.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with this. I’m not sure I always agree with it myself. You can make a good case that generating hysteria is really the only way to get people’s attention for a problem as invisible as lead. And there’s no question that lead pipes are part of this problem (for example, here’s a Post story also from Friday about schools with contaminated drinking fountains).
And yet….the truth is important too. When most families in Flint can go back to leading normal lives, they should be told so. When the bigger problem is contaminated soil and lead paint, people should be told so. When lots of other places have lead levels far higher than Flint all the time, people should be told so. When real progress is possible, people should be told so—and they should be told what real progress means, not fed a bunch of fairy tales.
I understand that saying this stuff can sound dismissive sometimes. I try my best not to take that tone. But when a bandwagon starts picking up too much speed, sometimes you need to speak up and suggest that it change direction a bit. |
To celebrate the shipment of 100 million GeForce GPUs, MSI is launching a new revision of the GeForce GTX 970, the Gaming 100ME (millionth edition). The cooler is identical that used in the GTX 970 Gaming 4G but replaces the red color scheme of the MSI Gaming brand with a green very close to that of NVIDIA's.
This will also ship with a "special gift" and will be a limited edition, much like the Golden Edition GTX 970 from earlier this year.
MSI had some other minor updates to its GPU line including the GTX 970 4GD5T OC with a cool looking black and white color scheme and an 8GB version of the Radeon R9 290X.
PC Perspective's CES 2015 coverage is sponsored by Logitech.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces! |
Euthanasia debate: NSW Parliament to consider drafted legislation on assisted dying
Updated
New South Wales is a step closer to allowing terminally ill people to voluntarily end their lives, with a draft bill with cross-party support being released today.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill has been drafted by a parliamentary working group made up of members from the Coalition, Labor, Greens and an independent.
The draft bill would give a person over the age of 25 the right to request assistance from a medical practitioner to end their life.
They must be experiencing severe pain or physical incapacity, and be likely to die within 12 months.
Patients must be assessed by their primary doctor, then a specialist, as well as a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Patients would then be allowed to self-administer a lethal substance to end their lives. They may also be assisted by a medical practitioner or nominated person.
The process would include a cooling-off period of 48 hours, which starts once a request for assistance certificate has been completed.
The bill would also enable a close relative of the patient to apply to the Supreme Court for a judicial review.
MPs optimistic about parliamentary support
Nationals MP Trevor Khan said it was a cautious bill with "a range of safeguards to meet the inevitable criticisms that a bill such as this will face when it's introduced into Parliament".
"I'm expecting that we'll be treated thoughtfully and that the issue, as a whole, will be free of the politics that can infest these debates," he said.
He said he would urge his parliamentary colleagues to think of their own family members and vote with their conscience.
Mr Khan said assisted-dying legislation had significant public support.
"The overwhelming majority of Australians and people who live in NSW want some action on this subject," he said.
Labor MP Lynda Voltz said politicians needed to listen to community support for end-of-life legislation.
"I go and walk my dog and people talk to me about it, I go out to community meetings and people talk about it," she said.
"There is a lot of community support out there for a bill of this nature and parliaments can no longer stick their head in the sand and ignore that community expectation."
Ms Voltz said it had taken about 12 months to create a draft bill "that meets the community's expectations, legal expectations and medical expectations".
The legislation will face a conscience vote when it's finalised and then introduced to State Parliament.
Topics: state-parliament, euthanasia, nsw, sydney-2000
First posted |
Forward misses third straight game with upper-body injury
Buy Photo Predators forward James Neal. (Photo: Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean)Buy Photo
Predators forward James Neal missed his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury.
Neal is day-to-day, according to coach Peter Laviolette. He is tied with forward Craig Smith for the team's goal-scoring lead with 22, but had one goal in 11 games prior to the injury.
"He does a lot for us," forward Matt Cullen said. "He plays a lot of minutes, he plays on our power play. He's that weapon that can just kind of score at any time. You may not be noticing him, then bang, he scores a goal and changes the game around."
Though Neal's natural scoring ability is missed, he is one of four players with at least 20 goals for the Predators. That total was tied with the St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning for most in the NHL as of Tuesday.
"He's a great shooter, big body, big part of the offense," forward Mike Fisher said. "That being said, we've got lots of guys that are capable of coming in and (we've) done a pretty good job."
Home, sweet home: After a four-game road trip, the Predators began a three-game home stand on Tuesday.
Nashville's 26 home wins were second only to Tampa Bay's 27 entering play Tuesday, but a 3-2 overtime loss to the Wild extended the Predators' season-worst home losing streak to five games.
"That belief in this building is huge," Fisher said. "At home, we've got to be solid. That's why we want to get home-ice advantage too, because we've been so strong here. We've got a good little stretch at home. We've got to make the best of it."
Josi's big night spoiled: Defenseman Roman Josi scored twice within 45 seconds in the second period for his first multi-goal game of the season.
With 51 points, he became the fourth defenseman in Predators history to reach the 50-point plateau. Josi is five points shy of Shea Weber's single-season record of 56 points, set last season.
"Right now, I'm not thinking about points," Josi said. "It's about the team. We've got to find a way to get back to those winning ways. You're not going to be happy after a game if you lost a game."
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"Krazy" Kyle's new toy: Bridgestone Arena organist "Krazy" Kyle Hankins unveiled a new Roland AT-900 during the first period. He christened the organ by playing "Also sprach Zarathustra" by composer Richard Strauss.
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One of the worst race riots in the nation’s history occurred in Tulsa over a 14-hour period on May 31- June 1, 1921. Dozens of people were killed, hundreds were injured and thousands were left homeless. Most of the segregated black district, known as Greenwood, was destroyed. Although the riot itself lasted only a few hours, its repercussions are still felt today.Click each chapter to read more about Tulsa's race riot.- Randy Krehbiel, World Staff WriterThe Tulsa of 1921 was a humming, bustling place that reveled in the title “Oil Capital of the World.” It had earned the name by making itself into the financial, manufacturing and transportation hub of the great Mid-Continent oilfields surrounding it. From barely 1,000 inhabitants in 1898, it had grown to more than 72,000. Tulsa County’s population was about 110,000, making it the most densely populated and fastest-growing county in the state.Most Tulsans were native-born and white. A surprisingly small number – fewer than 1,000 – identified themselves as American Indians. About 9,000 were black, with most of them living in the community centered on Greenwood Avenue northeast of downtown Tulsa. Most black Tulsans worked as laborers and domestics, but a substantial number were teachers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals.Tulsa, like the rest of Oklahoma, was racially segregated. Greenwood had its own schools, its own post office substation, its own police station and its own branch library. It also had its own thriving commercial district, which Booker T. Washington had called the “Black Wall Street of America.”Only two decades earlier, Tulsa had barely mustered the 1,000 inhabitants necessary for incorporation. Two decades before that, it did not exist at all. Tullasi – or “Old Town” – a Lochapoka Creek village established in the 1830s near present-day 18th Street and Cheyenne Avenue disappeared during the Civil War. In 1879, the first official use of the name “Tulsa” appeared on a U.S. Post Office operating out of the Perryman Ranch headquarters near present-day 41st Street and Trenton Avenue. Modern Tulsa, though, began in 1882, when a small tent city sprang up around Atlantic and Pacific Railroad where it met the Arkansas River.The discovery of the Glenn Pool oil field in 1905 fueled Tulsa's ambitions. Subsequent discoveries in the surrounding countryside transformed Tulsa from cow town to budding metropolis.With World War I came a great surge in demand for petroleum products. As much as 20 percent of the oil powering the Allied armies passed through Tulsa's pipeline terminals, refineries and rail yards. Some $36 million in building permits were issued from 1917 to 1921, with such lasting landmarks as Central High School, the Exchange National Bank, First National Bank, Cosden, City Hall, Mayo, McFarlin, Sinclair, U.S. Post Office and Atlas Life buildings completed or started.Tulsa politics could be bumptious. The electorate was more or less evenly divided between Republican and Democrat, and with city elections held every two years, changes in administration were frequent. In 1920, real estate attorney and former municipal judge T.D. Evans, a Republican, was elected mayor on a single-plank platform: to push through a bond issue to pay for a reservoir on Spavinaw Creek, 90 miles away, and the pipeline to bring fresh water to Tulsa.Three of the four city commissioners elected that year were also Republicans, as was City Auditor Mary Seaman, the first woman to hold municipal office in Tulsa. The recently hired police chief, John Gustafson, was a former railroad detective and private investigator whose appointment had been opposed by Tulsa County Sheriff Willard McCullough. A former cowboy with an elegant handlebar moustache, McCullough had served as Tulsa County sheriff off and on since statehood and had been returned to office in 1920 after the incumbent, Jim Woolley, failed to prevent the lynching of a suspected murderer.Crime and law enforcement were important issues in Tulsa. Less than two weeks before the riot, Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Katherine VanLeuven led an investigation of the Tulsa Police Department that revealed a poorly trained and sometimes corrupt force so ill-equipped it did not have a single reliable automobile. When officers need transportation to crime scenes, they were taken in private cars driven by volunteer citizens.During the course of the investigation, a Southern Methodist minister named Harold Cooke touched on underlying racial tension. An open proponent of vigilantism and unabashed racist, Cooke complained bitterly of blacks and whites drinking and dancing together in road houses and speakeasies, and of black porters in cheap hotels acting as agents for white prostitutes.In Tulsa, as in the rest of Oklahoma and throughout the United States, race was an important issue. Many states, including Oklahoma, tried to keep blacks from voting and restricted their activities, sometimes through so-called “Jim Crow” laws and sometimes through intimidation. Increasingly, blacks resisted discrimination. From Washington, D.C., to Chicago to the rural Arkansas delta, racial conflict degenerated into deadly armed violence.Though far from ideal, Tulsa was considered a better place than most for blacks. Besides the thriving business district, Greenwood attracted a relatively large number of doctors, lawyers and teachers. Its schools, though poorly funded, were exceptional. The Tulsa Star, a lively weekly newspaper edited by A.J. Smitherman, promoted independence and unity, and exhorted blacks to stand up for their rights.Three weeks before the riot, a middle-aged black couple was arrested in Tulsa for refusing to sit in the back of a street car. They were fined $10.On Monday, May 30, 1921, a young black man named Dick Rowland got onto an elevator on the third floor of the Drexel Building at 319 S. Main St. For some reason, he came into contact with Sarah Page, the white elevator operator, and Page cried out. Her cry was heard by a store clerk, who called police.The Drexel Building, at 319 S. Main St., was four stories tall. Renberg’s Department Store occupied the first two floors, with offices and small businesses upstairs.The building was probably quiet that morning. It was Memorial Day and most downtown stores, including Renberg’s, were closed. Rain dampened the holiday activities, including a parade.Although Dick Rowland seems to have been fairly well known, his true identity is a bit of a mystery. He is generally identified as the son of Dave and Alice “Ollie” Rowland, who operated a boarding house in the Piro Building on East Archer Street. Some sources, though, say his name was actually John or Johnny Rowland, and that he was the adopted son or even grandson of Dave Rowland. Damie Rowland, Dave and Alice’s daughter, said in a 1972 interview that she had taken in young Johnny while living in Vinita and that he had been born in Arkansas. The 1920 Census listing for the Rowland household includes an adopted son named John who had been born in Texas.Adding to the uncertainty is a slight age discrepancy. The Census recorded John Rowland’s age as 16 in 1920. Dick Rowland’s age, when he was arrested a year later, was given as 19.Almost nothing is known of Sarah Page. Originally described as a 17-year-old orphan working her way through business college, it later developed that she may have been as young as 15 and had come to Tulsa from Kansas City while waiting for a divorce to be finalized.Some, including Damie Rowland, have fostered the notion that Page and Rowland were romantically involved. Though possibly true, the story cannot be verified through contemporary accounts.People who knew Rowland said the elevator did not stop level with the third-floor threshold, causing him to trip as he entered the car and fall against Page. Police later said that whatever happened, it was almost certainly not intentional. In any case, Page’s cry caught the attention of a Renberg’s employee, who apparently summoned police. Rowland fled, but Page and the clerk, if not actually naming the man she said attacked her, supplied enough of a description that authorities had no difficulty locating him.Rowland’s arrest the next morning was reported in a front-page story in that afternoon’s Tulsa Tribune. Headlined “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator,” the somewhat sensational account reported, accurately if perhaps imprudently, that Rowland was to be charged with attempted assault. It said Rowland scratched Page and tore her clothes.This, in the parlance of the day, was tantamount to an accusation of attempted rape. The mere suggestion of attempted assault, when it involved a white woman, had in the past triggered gruesome lynchings from Duluth, Minn., to the Florida swamps.Some sources say the Tribune also published an editorial, under the headline “To Lynch Negro Tonight.” This is possible, but does not seem likely. For one, the Tribune actually editorialized against lynching, both before and after the riot. A call for vigilante justice would have been almost inconceivably inconsistent.Also, no such editorial has ever been found. This in itself does not prove one didn’t exist. The only known copies of the May 31, 1921, Tribune were an early “state” edition – essentially a reprint of the previous day’s last edition, and therefore of no use – and a microfilm image of a file copy, made in the 1940s. The front page arrest story had been torn from this paper and part of the back page – the editorial page – was missing. This has led to speculation that the inflammatory editorial was torn out along with the arrest story.Again, this is possible but not probable.A surviving “state” edition of June 1, 1921 – the state edition being a virtual reprint of the previous day’s last edition – shows the arrest story on the front page. The space where the missing editorial would have been is a piece on European disarmament.The editorials could have been switched, but a more likely explanation is that confusion arose over an editorial that appeared on the front page of the June 1 Tribune. This editorial condemned lynching but included the phrase “a story starts that a negro in the county jail was to be lynched.”Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, the Tribune’s three loudest critics – the rival Tulsa World, the Oklahoma City Black Dispatch and the NAACP – never mentioned an editorial in their attacks on the newspaper.The NAACP’s Walter White blamed the Tribune’s use of the word “assault.” The Black Dispatch reprinted the May 31 arrest story under the headline “The False Story which set Tulsa on Fire.” The World, on June 1, tweaked the Tribune for its “colored account” of the elevator incident.Page, who seems to have fled the city on June 1, subsequently wrote to the county attorney, asking that the charges against Rowland be dropped. The case was dismissed at the end of September.Just how much the Tribune story actually contributed to what followed has been debated since the day it appeared. Police Chief John Gustafson and police commissioner J.M. Adkison minimized its importance, and word of Rowland’s arrest almost certainly would have gotten around anyway. But others – including, according to one report, Gov. J.B.A. Robertson – thought the story was the root cause of the riot.At 4 p.m., an anonymous caller told Police Commissioner J.M. Adkison, “We are going to lynch that negro, that black devil who assaulted that girl.” Adkison and Police Chief John Gustafson arranged to move Rowland from the city jail to the more secure county lockup on the top floor of the courthouse at Sixth Street and Boulder Avenue.Whites, attracted by the rumors, began gathering at the courthouse until they numbered an estimated 2,000.Adkison and Gustafson wanted Sheriff Willard McCullough to take Rowland out of town, but McCullough refused. He reasoned that Rowland was safer in the jail than in a car on an open road somewhere. In this, McCullough was no doubt correct, but there is some indication that Adkison and Gustafson thought spiriting Rowland out of town would disperse the crowd. This was, in fact, a tactic that had worked elsewhere.McCullough, though, was not about to make the same mistake his friend and rival Jim Woolley had the previous year, when Woolley had allowed a mob to take murder suspect Roy Belton from the jail. The lynching that ensued essentially ended Woolley’s career in elective office and led to McCullough’s election as sheriff in November 1920.Rather than risk trying to sneak Rowland out of town, McCullough put him in a cell, ordered the only elevator to the jail disabled and had six of his deputies barricade themselves inside with the prisoner. McCullough, Deputy Barney Cleaver and County Commissioner Ira Short remained behind, with McCullough and Cleaver, a black man with a long career in Tulsa law enforcement, trying to disperse the crowd outside.Interestingly, no police seem to have been in evidence at the courthouse. Some sources say bad relations between the sheriff’s and police departments contributed to the failure to control the situation before it got out of hand.Responding to the growing crowd at the courthouse and fears, fanned by phone calls from unidentified sources, for Rowland’s safety, a group of black men assembled at the offices of A.J. Smitherman’s newspaper, the Tulsa Star, on North Greenwood Avenue. After arming themselves, they marched and drove to the courthouse.Sheriff McCullough said Barney Cleaver, one of his black deputies, was the first to inform him of the threats on Rowland’s life. Cleaver, the sheriff said, had telephoned to tell him of a call, apparently similar to the one to Adkison, received at a north side motion picture theater.This call was taken very seriously. Although Tulsa did not have a history of racial violence – the 1920 lynching victim, Roy Belton, was white – it did have more than its share of vigilantism. During World War I, citizens had been harassed and beaten in the name of patriotism, often under color of the local Council of Defense or the Home Guard, a local militia organized to replace National Guard units called into active duty.Mary Jones Parrish, a young black woman who would record her recollections and those of others in a little book called “Events of the Tulsa Disaster,” said she went outside on the night of May 31 to find “that some of our group were going to give added protection to (Rowland).”At least two earlier contingents of concerned blacks had already visited the courthouse. McCullough and Cleaver assured them that Rowland was in good hands and persuaded them to return to Greenwood.The intent of the white crowd is difficult to gauge. Not surprisingly, officials later described the white crowd, at least initially, as more curious than hostile. Without radio, much less television, the only way to see what was happening was to go in person.But the crowd was not completely docile, either. McCullough was hooted down, the World reported, when he tried to disperse the whites. Shortly before the shooting started, a band of irate whites presented themselves at the National Guard Armory, about a mile east of the courthouse, demanding weapons and threatening to break in when they were denied.In any event, McCullough said the only effort to get at Rowland occurred at 8:20 p.m., when three unidentified white men entered the courthouse.“I … told them there had been some talk of a lynching and that they might as well get out for no one was going to get the negro,” McCullough said. “They went out and got into an auto on Boulder street and talked loudly and gesticulated and soon a crowd gathered.”It was at that point, McCullough said, that he ordered his men to run the building’s lone elevator to the top floor, disable it and barricade themselves inside the jail.Over the next hour and a half, McCullough received several telephone calls from concerned black leaders as well as from Maj. James A. Bell of the local Oklahoma National Guard. McCullough assured all of them the situation was under control.Gustafson was more concerned. But, instead of trying to break up the crowd at the courthouse, he focused his attention on the armed blacks. Eventually, he asked Bell for help “to clear the streets of negroes,” but Bell told him only the governor could call the local guardsmen into service.At about 10 p.m., a former county investigator named E.S. MacQueen confronted a black man, sometimes identified as Johnny Cole, in front of the courthouse. As MacQueen and Cole wrestled over the latter’s gun, it discharged. As more than one person observed, “All hell broke loose.”The crowd scattered. McCullough, who had been trying to talk to the crowd, ran for cover in a nearby hotel. Walter Daggs, an oil company manager who lived near the courthouse was shot and killed, apparently by a stray bullet. Sixteen-year-old Homer Cline was killed as he left the bank where he worked. A.B. Stick, gunned down outside the Hotel Tulsa, was reported certain to die but somehow survived.Some sources say a black man was killed at the courthouse, others say not. The World said an unidentified black man was chased down in an alley and killed – then said no black fatalities had been reported. News of fatalities and injuries was often fragmentary, second-hand and contradictory. Cleo Shumate, a white tool dresser, was reported to have been shot about 8 p.m., well before the riot began.Denied weapons at the National Guard armory, whites – including some police – broke into Bardon’s Sporting Goods at 510 S. Main St., across the street from the courthouse, and began taking guns, ammunition and just about everything else in sight. Police involvement may be partially explained by the fact that Bardon’s seems to have sold ammunition to the department on a regular basis.Looting, all of it by rampaging whites, was reported throughout downtown, as shots whizzed haphazardly. Gustafson called in his entire force – around 65 men – and Adkison began commissioning “special deputies” – perhaps as many as 400 of them. Oklahoma National Guard Adjutant Gen. Charles Barrett told Col. L.J.F. Rooney, senior office in Tulsa, to make his troops available to local authorities, even though it would be hours before they could be officially called to duty.The first few Guardsmen to arrive at police headquarters found the street choked with men in uniform – American Legion members, assembled in formation. Although no doubt well-intentioned, their presence initially added to the general chaos. With “much promiscuous shooting,” the World reported, the ex-soldiers marched through the business district. Fortunately, the newspaper said, “no one was hurt.”According to the World, shooting continued for two hours “over the city and centered in the north part of the business district,” until the last of the blacks had retreated into Greenwood.The shots at the courthouse touched off two hours of fighting and general chaos in downtown Tulsa, culminating in the return of Rowland’s intended protectors to the Greenwood area shortly after midnight. The handful of National Guardsmen available, along with some volunteers, tried to get between the combatants along the Frisco Railroad tracks and Detroit Avenue. Although the fighting never completely stopped, it did die down during the early morning hours, causing many to believe the riot was playing itself out.Col. L.J.F. Rooney, the senior officer among the Tulsa National Guard units, wanted to establish an armed perimeter around Greenwood but gave up the idea as impractical.“We didn’t have enough men,” Rooney said. “It would have taken at least 1,000 men to restore any degree of order and to put an effective guard line about the negro district would have required that many more.”At about 1:30 a.m., Maj. Byron Kirkpatrick of the Oklahoma National Guard finally secured the necessary signatures for the telegram formally asking Gov. J.B.A. Robertson for National Guard assistance.Kirkpatrick’s primary obstacle had been getting to Sheriff McCullough, who was still barricaded in the top floor of the courthouse, threatening to shoot anybody who showed himself in the stairwell leading to the jail. A Tulsa World reporter finally persuaded McCullough to let him in with the telegram.Three National Guard units were based in Tulsa – a rifle company, a supply company and a sanitary (or medical) unit. An artillery unit had been authorized and was in the process of forming but had not been equipped. On the night of May 31 and morning of June 1, the Tulsa units had perhaps 35 men under arms. This did not include the medical unit, which was employed primarily in caring for wounded and injured blacks.Besides the guardsmen, Rooney had at his disposal, at least in theory, several hundred ex-servicemen, most of them members of American Legion posts in Tulsa, Cleveland, Okla., Broken Arrow and Bristow. Rooney put these men under the command of Major Charles Daley, a Tulsa police inspector and staff officer to Adjutant Gen. Charles Barrett.Restoring order along the Frisco tracks was not the only concern of the authorities. Rumors persisted throughout the night that hundreds of blacks were descending on Tulsa, reinforcing the notion of a “Negro uprising” and causing Rooney to stretch his men even thinner. Squads were sent to guard the city power plant and water works, while the police, ex-servicemen and the special deputies roamed the city in “auto patrols,” rounding up blacks living in servant quarters outside Greenwood and looking for the supposed invaders.Rooney and about 30 men and officers established themselves along Detroit Avenue, on a rise called Standpipe Hill, where gunfire had been exchanged between adjoining white and black neighborhoods. The Guardsmen came under fire from both sides and an ex-serviceman named Wheeler, who had volunteered to join the Guard unit, was seriously wounded by a white gunman.At dawn, a force of “citizens, police and members of the national guard,” numbering perhaps 1,500, moved into Greenwood from the south and west, under orders to take into protective custody unarmed blacks and to subdue any who resisted. To people in Greenwood, it looked more like an invading army.“It then dawned upon us that the enemy had organized in the night and was invading our district, the same as the Germans invaded France and Belgium,” wrote Mary Jones Parrish, a Greenwood resident who recorded her experience and those of some of her neighbors in a pamphlet called “Events of the Tulsa Disaster.”Authorities, still operating on the premise of a “Negro uprising,” maintained they wanted to get control of Greenwood, not destroy it. They failed on both counts.Most Greenwood residents surrendered peacefully or fled northward. Many were hidden by employers or other acquaintances and sometimes even total strangers. The few who stayed behind to fight were overwhelmed.The National Guard reported engaging in several short skirmishes as it moved down from Standpipe Hill – the hill just west of the present Oklahoma State University-Tulsa campus – and one longer battle in which about 50 blacks “fought like tigers.” The last organized resistance came from gunmen in the Mount Zion Baptist Church tower. When they refused to come out, the new church, valued at $80,000, was set on fire.Along the Frisco tracks, Maj. Charles Daley and about 25 men were trying to hold back an angry horde of perhaps 1,000. Daley said he repeatedly sent for help from the police, but was told they were “busy elsewhere.”“Finally the crowd broke away from Daley,” reported The Tulsa Tribune, “and the invasion of the negro district began.”Six aircraft, probably JN-4 biplanes from a local airstrip, were employed by the police during the attack. Local authorities insisted the planes were used solely for reconnaissance purposes. Some on the ground, though, said the planes were used to bomb and strafe Greenwood and its fleeing residents.As a practical matter, dropping explosive or incendiary devices from a JN-4 would probably not have been very easy or effective, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.The JN-4, or “Jenny,” was a two-seat trainer built for World War I but never used in combat. The Army wound up with a large surplus of them, which it sold in kits throughout the country. The planes were constructed of shellac-coated canvass fabric over a wood frame, and were favored by barnstormers because of the aircraft's low cost to own and maintain.At its best, aerial bombing during World War I was more of a psychological than tactical weapon. Bombsights were crude, in some cases no more than crosshairs over a hole in the bottom of the fuselage, and accuracy was almost nil.Dropping bombs from a Jenny would have been even more imprecise. It would have required throwing the explosive or incendiary device out of the cockpit without hitting the plane’s lower wing span or, in the case of an incendiary, catching the plane on fire. All accounts seem to agree the planes’ appearance coincided with the invasion of Greenwood, which raises the likelihood that the bombs would have been at least as much of a danger to the National Guard and the other whites flooding into the neighborhood as they were to blacks.On balance, it seems most likely that all or substantially all of the damage to Greenwood was inflicted by those on the ground. The airplanes, though, immediately took on significance far beyond whatever role they may have played in the battle. To many, blacks and whites, they represented the oppression and brutality that reduced Greenwood to ashes.As Tulsa’s black population was rounded up and taken to detention centers at the Convention Hall (present-day Brady Theater), McNulty Park (10th Street and Elgin Avenue) and later the fairgrounds (Admiral Boulevard and Lewis Avenue), looters and vandals descended on the Greenwood district, setting fires and stealing and destroying residents’ possessions.Some of those involved were the very people who were supposed to bring order to the chaos. Among them were the “special deputies” appointed during the night by Adkison. So was the Home Guard, a militia organized during World War I to replace National Guard units called to active duty. During the war, the Home Guard singled out and terrorized those it deemed insufficiently supportive of the war effort. It also took action against those it considered immoral. Although officially disbanded in 1919, members of the Home Guard apparently put on their old uniforms and waded into the fray on the morning of June 1, 1921.“Most people, like myself, stayed in their homes, expecting momentarily to be given protection by the Home Guards or State Troops,” E.A. Loupe told Mary Jones Parrish. “Instead of protection by the Home Guards, they joined in with the hoodlums in shooting at good citizens’ homes.”Col. L.J.F. Rooney, the senior National Guard officer in Tulsa, complained that “there were many men in the negro district wearing khaki clothes (i.e. uniforms) who were not members of the national guard.”Tulsa police also seem to have been involved in the mayhem. More than one witness identified officers, usually out of uniform, among the arsonists. V.B. Bostic, a black deputy sheriff, was rousted from his home by a white traffic officer named Pittman, who then joined in setting fire to Bostic’s house. I.J. Buck, a white Greenwood property owner, said a policeman turned him aside when Buck tried to save one of his buildings.“He said: ‘You ain’t got no business building buildings for negroes,’ ” Buck testified in court.“After the homes vacated,” said one Greenwood resident, “one bunch of whites would come in and loot. Even women with shopping bags would come in, open drawers, take every kind of finery from clothing to silverware and jewelry. Men were carrying out the furniture, cursing as they do so, saying, ‘These damned Negroes have better things than lots of white people.’ ”Fire soon consumed Greenwood’s main business district and more than 1,100 homes. Only a few houses, one or two churches on the perimeter of the community and Booker T. Washington High School survived.“Nothing,” the Tulsa World’s Tom Latta wrote the next day, “that the mind is capable of conceiving permits a word of defense or excuse for the murderous vandalism” inflicted on Greenwood.The most prominent Tulsan killed in the riot was Dr. A.C. Jackson, a 40-year-old surgeon living at 523 N. Detroit Ave. According to Jackson’s white neighbor, former police commissioner and retired judge John Oliphant, Jackson had raised his hands to surrender to a group of whites when two of them shot Jackson dead in what Oliphant called “cold-blooded murder.”Born in Memphis and raised in Guthrie, where his father was a law officer, Jackson graduated from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, practiced for awhile in Tulsa and Claremore, then trained as a surgeon in Memphis. His work was such that he attracted the attention of the Mayo Brothers, and in 1919 he returned to Tulsa as a specialist in “chronic diseases and surgery for women.”Jackson lived on what was one of the most exclusive blocks in all of Greenwood. His neighbors included Booker T. Washington High School principal E.W. Woods, Tulsa Star publisher A.J. Smitherman and physician R.T. Bridgewater. Why Jackson, one of the gentlest of men, would have been singled out is not known. Perhaps he was mistaken for the more outspoken Smitherman or Bridgewater. Perhaps he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.The riot had all but died down, Oliphant said, when Jackson “came walking toward me with his hands in the air. ‘Here am I. I want to go with you,’ he said. A body of about seven men, all armed, intercepted him and two young fellows fired on him. He fell to the ground and one of the men fired again.”Jackson’s killers were never identified.By mid-morning on June 1, the violence and destruction were beginning to subside. Tulsa-based National Guardsmen, soon reinforced by units from Oklahoma City, Bartlesville and other communities, began securing the Greenwood area. At 11:15 a.m., Gov. J.B.A. Robertson declared martial law with Adj. Gen. Charles Barrett in command. Some looting continued through the afternoon, until by evening about 30 whites had been arrested for “pillaging.”According to some accounts, the Oklahoma City units, which included a machine gun company, were involved in the final attack on Mount Zion Baptist Church. This is not mentioned in any of the officers’ action reports and seems unlikely since those troops did not arrive until 9:30 a.m., by which time the church was already on fire.A lawyer and former newspaper publisher who had served in the Oklahoma House and Senate, Barrett had limited military experience but was a fair administrator. He issued a number of field orders, some of which have since been misinterpreted.For instance, Barrett temporarily banned all funerals in downtown churches. Over time, this was seen as an attempt to keep blacks from burying their dead. In fact, it had almost no effect on black funerals, since those would not have been held in the downtown white churches, anyway. The purpose of the ban was to keep grieving white families from coming into contact with blacks still staying in some downtown churches.Barrett also ordered a moratorium on property transfers in Greenwood. This was to head off speculation and forced sales.Martial law was eased on June 2 and lifted altogether at 5 p.m. on June 3.By mid-day on June 1, Greenwood had been emptied of all but a handful of its inhabitants. A few found refuge in downtown churches or the homes of white employers, acquaintances and even strangers. Fewer still somehow rode out the riot in their own homes. The majority by far had either fled the city or been taken into what was described as protective custody.Forced to march for blocks through white neighborhoods with their hands in the air while their homes and possessions burned behind them, the detainees were subject to harassment and humiliation. Some were robbed of whatever valuables they had managed to stuff in their pockets.They were taken first to Convention Hall, now the Brady Theater. It soon proved inadequate, and McNulty Park, the local minor league baseball stadium at 10th Street and Elgin Avenue, was put into service. Finally, in the afternoon, the detainees were transported to the fairgrounds at Admiral Boulevard and Lewis Avenue.Through the afternoon and into the next day, National Guard patrols went out into the countryside to pick up Greenwood residents. Some had gotten as far as Claremore and Bartlesville. A few made it all the way to Kansas City. A good many simply kept going and never looked back.Detainees were given food, water and medical attention that first day. The black hospital had been burned, so a makeshift clinic for injured blacks was set up at the National Guard Armory. Maj. Paul Brown, a Tulsa physician and commanding officer of the sanitary detachment, then commandeered beds in white hospitals for the most serious cases.Many detainees were released within hours, while others remained at the fairgrounds camp for weeks. Generally, detainees were held until a white person vouched for them, at which point they were given a card to wear on their clothes. Those without cards were subject to arrest.Those with nowhere else to go were allowed to stay at the fairgrounds camp, regardless of whether or not they had been released. At its height, the camp housed about 5,000.Those who remained were required to pay for their meals, either out of their own pockets or by working at various tasks, including cleaning up the debris in Greenwood. For this, they were paid standard laborers’ wages. It was by no means an easy existence, but some whites soon complained that blacks were being “spoiled” at the fairgrounds and by the attention given them by the Red Cross and other charitable organizations.Although the destruction of Greenwood was generally condemned by black and white Tulsans alike, overall blame was quickly assigned to the blacks who had gone to the courthouse to protect Dick Rowland.The true death toll will probably never be known. Thirty-seven death certificates were issued for riot-related fatalities, but most experts believe the total was higher – perhaps much higher. Hundreds and perhaps thousands were injured.Property damage in Greenwood was put at $1.5 million to $2 million at a time when a good house could be built for less than $1,000. According to the Red Cross, 1,256 homes were burned and another 215 looted but not destroyed.Of the 37 death certificates, 25 were for black males and 12 for white males. Nine black victims, burned beyond recognition, were not identified.Two other deaths are sometimes included in the confirmed total: a still-born black infant found during the riot and a white male shot several days later when he drove through a checkpoint on the outskirts of town.The number of dead and injured has been the subject of controversy from the very start. Early on, the Tulsa World reported 100 dead, then scaled its estimate back to 30, saying some bodies had been counted twice and others thought dead were only injured.Maj. Charles Daley, the National Guard officer who had been installed in the Tulsa Police Department as a sort of inspector general, contributed to the confusion by saying he expected the toll to reach 175. After inspecting the burned area with another National Guard officer, however, Daley said no additional bodies were found and the number of dead was much lower than previously thought.There was indeed much confusion. Some people reported dead weren't, and some reported “slightly injured” were in fact dead. A few of the dead were either misidentified or had been living under assumed names. According to the Red Cross, many people and especially whites were reluctant to seek medical attention for even major injuries.Stories abound of bodies “stacked like cordwood,” loaded on trucks, dumped in the Arkansas River, thrown down mine shafts and burned in the city incinerator. Some, on examination, are more plausible than others; none, at this late date, can be proved or disproved.On June 3, 1921, just two days after the riot, the Tulsa World reported that 13 black victims of the riot were buried in Oaklawn cemetery “in separate graves and in plain caskets,” a description that suggests a suspicion of something otherwise even then.In 1999 and 2000, a commission authorized by the Oklahoma Legislature and the Oklahoma Geological Survey probed for mass burial sites at several locations in Tulsa, including Newblock Park, Oaklawn Cemetery and the former Booker T. Washington Cemetery.Their search was unsuccessful.A grand jury convened the second week of June said the armed blacks at the courthouse were the direct cause of the riot, but said indirect causes were more to blame. Among the indirect causes cited were agitation for social equality and lax law enforcement. Eighty-eight indictments were issued, mostly for black men, but few seem to have been served. A few people arrested during and after the riot were convicted of or pleaded guilty to minor crimes such as possession of stolen property.Immediately after the riot, a group of white businessmen proposed moving the black neighborhood further to the northeast and converting the Greenwood area to a warehouse district. This effort ultimately failed when the business group could not raise the necessary capital. In September, Tulsa County’s three district judges ruled the city had illegally extended its fire code in an attempt to thwart blacks from rebuilding. Their decision effectively ended the real estate group’s scheme.The group’s efforts, though, helped feed suspicions of conspiracy and cover-up. Some have suggested the entire incident, including the encounter between Dick Rowland and Sarah Page, had been staged to provide an excuse to lay waste to Greenwood. They point to the actions – or inaction – of authorities during the buildup to the riot and failure to protect Greenwood property on the morning of June 1.There were also claims that the blacks who went to the courthouse wanted a fight. According to later testimony and notes found in the papers of Gov. J.B.A. Robertson, hotel owner John Stradford had exhorted the men at the Tulsa Star office with the promise to “send and get the Muskogee crowd” – that is, reinforcements from the nearby city of Muskogee. The African Blood Brotherhood, an arm of the Communist Party based in New York, claimed to have had a chapter in Tulsa organizing armed resistance to racial oppression.Stradford and Smitherman were arrested after the riot, posted bail, and left Oklahoma forever. Stradford settled in Chicago, where his family became prominent. Smitherman opened a newspaper in Buffalo, N.Y.In July, a jury found Police Chief John Gustafson guilty of dereliction of duty and removed him from office. He resumed his career as a private investigator.In September, a large Ku Klux Klan rally was held at Convention Hall. It was the Klan’s first public appearance in Tulsa, although many people believed it had a hand in the riot.The original Klan, organized during Reconstruction, had been broken up in the 1870s, but a new organization was formed in Atlanta in 1915. This Klan promoted a broader agenda than its predecessor, based not only on racism and white Angle-Saxon Protestantism but vigilante enforcement of its own moral code.In April 1922, more than 1,700 Klan members marched through downtown Tulsa while an airplane carrying an electrically lighted cross flew overhead. In that spring’s city elections, Klan candidates swept every office, and did the same when county elections came around in the fall. In August 1923, Gov. J.C. Walton declared martial law in Tulsa County because of Klan activity.Most insurance claims stemming from the riot were denied because policies typically excluded such damage. Scores of lawsuits were filed as a result. One by white property owner William Redfearn alleged the riot had in fact been a police action. Redfearn produced a number of witnesses who said police actively participated in the destruction of Greenwood.Refearn’s suit was dismissed, as were all others. Few property owners were ever reimbursed for their losses.Greenwood families lived in tents and makeshift shacks in their old neighborhood for much of the next year, but eventually the neighborhood did rebuild, reaching its peak during World War II.Few landmarks associated with the riot still stand. The most visible is the former Convention Hall, now Brady Theater, at 105 W. Brady St. Most of the area destroyed in the riot is occupied by campuses of Oklahoma State University and Langston University.The old Tulsa County Courthouse, where Dick Rowland was held and the shooting began, was demolished in 1960 to make way for a 32-story bank building. The police station, the Hotel Tulsa and Magee’s and Bardon’s Sporting Goods stores are long gone. The armory where National Guardsmen faced down angry whites has for decades been a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall.Mount Zion Baptist Church rebuilt, slowly and painfully, over a period of many years. For awhile, it had to meet in the church basement, the only part of the building still usable. A freeway runs where the fairgrounds and Dr. A.C. Jackson’s house once stood and cuts the old Greenwood in two. The formerly bustling business district was reduced to a single block.In 1997, the Oklahoma Legislature authorized a special commission to investigate the Tulsa riot. The commission’s report, issued in 2001, recommended reparations for living black survivors of the riot. The recommendation was never acted upon.In 2003, a federal lawsuit was filed against the state of Oklahoma, city of Tulsa and the Tulsa Police Department on behalf of about 200 survivors and descendents of blacks living in Greenwood at the time of the riot. In 2004, the courts dismissed the suit, ruling the statute of limitations had run out.In 2007, Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris formally dismissed the original indictment against alleged riot participants.For many Tulsans, the riot remains a sensitive and controversial issue. For some, it is merely something that happened long ago with little relevance today. For others, however, it remains a symbol of oppression and prejudice that speaks to modern race relations.The opening of the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park adjoining ONEOK Field, the city’s new minor league baseball stadium, is expected to bring new life to Greenwood. It is also expected to bring greater attention to a painful but important chapter in Tulsa’s history, and to one of its most distinguished sons.At the 2008 dedication to the park named in his honor, John Hope Franklin, in one of his last public appearances before his death, said, “Someday we’ll have the joy and pleasure of complete reconciliation. We’re moving in that direction. I hope we get there very soon.”Charles Barrett, “Oklahoma After Fifty Years”Scott Ellsworth, “Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921”Mary Jones Parrish, “Events of the Tulsa Disaster”The Black DispatchThe CrisisThe CrusaderThe New York TimesThe Tulsa TribuneTulsa World.A.I. Levorsen CollectionBeryl Ford CollectionGreenwood Cultural CenterOklahoma Department of LibrariesOklahoma Historical SocietyOrcutt familySapulpa Historical MuseumTulsa World file |
May 13, 2014
Written By Timothy Nguyen
Farmtown Denim, founded by Melissa Farmer, specializes in handmade denim goods that are manufactured by hand in Sacramento, California. A friend recently brought the brand to my attention and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her work since. Of all the items she has to offer, the dopp kits in particular are what really piqued my interest. I was quite impressed by the amount of detail and craftsmanship that goes into everything she makes. I knew that I had to reach out and find out more about Melissa and her work.
How did you end up with the name Farmtown Denim?
Having the last name of Farmer lends itself to many nicknames, and Farmtown was one of those. I’ve also been known as MFarm, MelFarm, Felissa Marmer, M-Dawg, Farmdawg…the list goes on and on.
I absolutely love your logo. Could you explain to me the thought process behind it and what it means?
My logo says “hero” in Elian Script, an alternative writing method meant to combine function and art. It’s a shortened form of the full quote “be your own hero,” from the movie Whip It. It’s a mantra I try to live my life by – if there’s something you want or something you’re unhappy about for whatever reason, instead of waiting for someone else to fix your problem, go on ahead and do it yourself.
When was your first experience with raw denim?
My friend asked me to help him take progress pictures of his pair of raws, which I found weird and amusing. I asked him what was so special about his pants and he explained the entire idea to me. I bought my first pair a few months later, and made my first pair about a year after that.
What is it about raw denim that draws you in compared to other hobbies?
I’m a pretty sentimental person, so I was initially drawn to the story aspect of a pair of jeans and how it becomes a record of your daily life. Now that I’ve learned and experienced more, I also love the attention to detail and excellence of construction that comes along with a well-made pair. There’s something very beautiful about an item that not only functions properly, but also looks good while doing it.
Were you sewing before your interest in raw denim or was this a spur of the moment type thing?
I’ve been sewing since I was young. My mom is a very crafty woman, and when I was little she loved giving me smaller versions of the projects she was working on at the time. I remember making pillows, pajama pants, and lots and lots of stuffed animals. I started working with raw denim a little more than a year ago, when I became frustrated with my inability to find a pair for myself that had all of
the features I was looking for.
Who would you say is your biggest influence would be? Do you have anyone that you look up to?
My biggest influence is probably my friend Greg. Not only is he the one who introduced me to raw denim, but he is also the one who pushes me to improve my skills the most by challenging me with new projects (like a 21oz pea coat) and by being incredibly picky about the smallest details. I follow something we call the “Pfaff Rule of Quality” – if something I’ve just made is not good enough to be photographed in extreme detail from every possible angle, it must be fixed.
How do you feel about raw denim becoming increasingly mainstream?
Of course, I’m all for more people being introduced to raw denim. I just hope that new and upcoming brands are able to find the courage to continue to innovate and introduce new ideas to the industry. Websites like Kickstarter can make it incredibly easy to get started, but can also make it incredibly easy to fall into a mold. In the end, nothing can substitute for true passion.
Of the things you’ve made, which is your favorite?
That’s a really hard choice, but I’d probably have to go with my tote bag. They’re one of my favorite things to make, and the one I’ve been using daily for the past few months has been aging beautifully. I also really love the chambray tank top and henley that I’ll be releasing soon.
Is there any particular denim you just can’t get enough of?
I’m currently in love with this 50% sugarcane denim I recently got ahold of. It’s got an amazing texture and variation of color. I’m usually more of a fan of wearing smooth textured pairs myself, but that stuff is just so cool. I’ll be treating myself to a work shirt made from it.
What are you working on right now?
I’m currently grading the pattern for the chambray tank tops and henleys, as well as sourcing a fabric for an oxford cloth version of those dyed with natural dyes. I’m also working on finalizing the pattern of some coveralls, as well as the work shirt for myself. It’s pretty typical for me to have a bunch of projects going on at once!
Are there any future products you are interested in making but haven’t had time to get to yet?
I want to keep exploring natural dyes. I’ve tried a few in my apartment kitchen, but there’s so many colors and processes to try. I’m also planning on expanding more into clothing – button down shirts, jackets, and eventually jeans.
What were some of the mistakes you made early on?
When I first started, I tried to take on too much too quickly. I made my first draft pair in a nonstop 15 hour long stretch, and when they didn’t fit in the end, I nearly burst into tears of frustration. I’m much more likely to make an unfixable mistake – like slashing fabric with my seam ripper while I’m trying to take out some bad stitching – when I’m tired and cranky. Since then, I’ve learned the importance of snack breaks, mental breaks, and sleep breaks. I’ve never been a patient person, but in the creative process, it’s better to take all the time necessary to get the best result instead of working quickly and shoddily.
What are you currently fading?
I’m split between my two handmade pairs – 13.5oz Cone Mills, and 13.25oz Kurabo indigo/indigo.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to get into raw denim?
Read all that you can! There’s so many resources throughout the internet and beyond to teach you about the pair of jeans you’re wearing. The history and function of the aspects of each garment are completely fascinating, and make putting on your jeans in the morning so much more interesting and meaningful.
Thank you so much for taking time for this interview. Any final thoughts for the readers?
When Ellen Page expresses her admiration towards the roller derby girls in the movie Whip It, Kristen Wiig tells her, “Well, put some skates on, be your own hero.” If there’s something you want to do in your life, whether it’s roller derby or making jeans, don’t be afraid to get up from the sidelines and do it. With enough blood, sweat, and tears –all of which are surprisingly a big part of sewing – anything can be within your reach.
To check out all that Melissa has to offer and find out about new releases, visit her Facebook and her Instagram
Farmtown Denim’s Etsy store will be fully open with new products on May 17, 2014 so I would definitely keep an eye out for that.
Photo credits: Gregory Pfaff – Flickr – Blog – E-mail
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Enlarge By Partrick Baz, AFP/Getty Images The Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan research group that supports an overhaul of immigration law, estimates that more than 725,000 people would be eligible immediately for conditional residency under the DREAM Act. Immigration advocates have long pushed for the DREAM Act as a way to give children who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents a chance to become legal residents and have access to higher education. The less publicized part of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act is that the Pentagon is pushing for it as a means to staff the armed forces. Prospects dimmed Tuesday when Senate Republicans prevented a vote on a defense spending bill, because the DREAM Act was attached as an amendment. Senate Democrats vowed to reintroduce it. When the Department of Defense published its three-year strategic plan, it listed the DREAM Act as a way it could replenish its ranks. BORDER DEATHS: Near-record bodies found at Mexican-Ariz. border SHARP DECREASE: Fewer illegal immigrants entering USA IMMIGRATION POLICY: Full coverage on the immigration "If we needed to expand the pool of eligible youth, the (DREAM) initiative would be one of several ways to do it," spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said in an e-mail. Retired Army lieutenant colonel Margaret Stock says a "crisis in military manpower" is looming as the population ages and the economy improves. She says the military struggled to recruit enough people when the economy was booming just a few years ago because people had more employment options. "DREAM would give us the ability to tap into a huge number of people who grew up in the United States, were educated here, they talk like Americans, they look like Americans and their loyalty lies with America," says Stock, a former West Point professor who teaches political science at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. The act would allow illegal immigrants who met several requirements — 35 or younger, came to the U.S. before turning 16, have lived here at least five years, no criminal record and have earned a high school diploma — to become conditional residents for up to six years. They would be eligible to become permanent residents if they completed two years of college or two years in the military. The Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan research group that supports an overhaul of immigration law, estimates that more than 725,000 people would be eligible immediately for conditional residency. An additional 1.4 million would meet all the requirements except the high school diploma. The military part of the act worries Jorge Mariscal, director of Latino studies at the University of California-San Diego. He says many illegal immigrant families are too poor to pay for college. "Our concern is that people are just going to get trapped for economic reasons into the military," says Mariscal, who otherwise supports the DREAM Act. Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, which advocates lower levels of legal and illegal immigration, opposes the DREAM Act because it does not address the larger problems of illegal immigration. Felipe Matos would be glad to join the military under the DREAM Act. Born to a single mother in the slums of Brazil, he came to live with relatives in the U.S. at 14. He graduated from high school, got an associate's degree at Miami Dade College and hopes to get a four-year degree and become a high school teacher. He says he wants to repay the country that gave him the opportunity to succeed. "I have friends who would have loved to join the military," says Matos, 24. "I feel that all of us are just trying to serve and contribute to the only country we know and love." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more |
How to peel almonds
How to peel almonds
Sometimes we forget how healthy and nutritious certain foods really are. Case in point: Almonds. They pack an amazing amount of nutrition, being rich in vitamin E, manganese, magnesium and a good source of fiber, copper, riboflavin and phosphorous.
Almonds are treasured all around the world. In the 1700s the Spanish brought the almond tree to California, which now produces over 80% of the worlds almond crop. The biggest importers of almonds are Spain, Germany, India, Japan and the Netherlands.
To me, almonds are one of the most luxurious ingredients on earth. Perfectly toasted, they are delicious in Florentines and almond tuiles. Some of the most elegant confections I make are based on almond flour or almond paste, such as French macaroons and San Diego’s.
Getting it all together!
Peeling almonds takes no time. For every cup of almonds bring 4-5 cups of water to a boil. Add the almonds to the boiling water. After sixty to ninety seconds remove from heat and pour the almonds in a colander. Press the almonds between your thumb and index finger and the peel comes right off. Done! If desired, toast the almonds.
With special thanks to Matthew Zoch for his appearance in photograph 1. |
Shanghai resident Tony Jiang and his wife Cherry have three children - all born in the United States to an American surrogate mother. Their daughter and twins were born in California. “The elder girl is now three years old," he told VOA. "The younger twins are now 13 months.”
The Jiangs are part of China’s booming business of families seeking American women to bear their children. Although surrogacy is illegal in China, agencies are now connecting Chinese couples with Americans who will bear their children for a fee.
The Jiangs had turned twice to domestic surrogates through military hospitals, which can legally perform the procedure. But the efforts were unsuccessful, so they contacted a surrogacy agency in the United States. There, they connected with Amanda, a California resident who prefers to only give her first name. She gave birth to all three of the Jiang children.
“Cherry was actually in the room with me when Nicole was born, and she actually got to witness the birth, and see Nicole come into this world," she said. "And she was so ecstatic, and she was crying, and she was just so happy.”
Fertility options with benefits
China’s relaxation last year of its one child policy, which allows couples to have two children if one of the parents is an only child, has led families to seek fertility options. But a regulation under the Ministry of Health bans surrogacy procedures at most Chinese hospitals.
So increasing numbers of wealthy Chinese couples are seeking fertility options in the United States, a decision that comes with many benefits.
Under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, anyone born in the United States has a right to citizenship. U.S. citizens may also apply for green cards for their parents when they turn 21.
So-called “designer babies” draw interest from some Chinese couples who favor eggs from tall, American or European donors. Gender selection is also an option through in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures in the United States.
Tony Jiang started an agency in Shanghai that consults with Chinese couples on their fertility options. He said most people, like him and his wife, seek surrogate mothers abroad because of fertility problems. They choose the United States because of its superior health care system and opt for a gestational pregnancy.
“More and more patients are inquiring about services at clinics,” he said.
Surrogacy procedures can run upwards of $120,000. That's a steep price. But Chinese couples are increasingly willing to pay it for the chance to have a child born in America. |
Actualitate
Peste o suta de concerte vor avea loc la Jazz in the Park in saptamana 26 iunie-2 iulie la Cluj. Printre artistii pe care ii vom asculta live se numara Dhafer Youssef, Vintage Trouble, Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra, Viva Vox, Tatran, Jojo Mayer & Nerve, Skalpel, Dario Rossi, DJ Vadim, Ours Samplus, Hidden Orchestra, Mammal Hands, Niogi & Pete Lockett, Sebastian Spanache Trio, JazzyBIT, iar lista nu se opreste aici.
Concerte cu intrare libera si bilet neobligatoriu in Parcul Central si pe malul Somesului, o scena in cea mai izolata comunitate a Clujului, langa groapa de gunoi, concerte pe bilete si abonamente la Opera Maghiara cu trei dintre cele mai importante nume ale muzicii internationale, petreceri in Form Space, arta stradala si un Fond pentru comunitate - acestea sunt cateva dintre noutatile editiei cu numarul 5.
Unde are loc Jazz in the Park 2017
Festivalul incepe luni cu deschiderea oficiala de la Opera Maghiara, e vorba despre concertul Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra, care estesold out. Nomazii muzicii jazz si klezmer aduc influente de pe toate colturile Europei. In plus, organizatorii au anuntat astazi ca formatia va concerta si la Pata Rat, marti, acolo unde sunt deja confirmate alte trei nume. Concerte la Opera Maghiara vor mai avea loc marti cu avangardistul jazz si world music Dhafer Youssef si miercuri cu regina muzicii latino jazz, Susana Baca. Bilete si abonamente sunt disponibile pe biletmaster.ro, eventim.ro si kompostor.ro.
Malul Somesului va gazdui Concursul International Jazz in the Park, iar cele 15 trupe finaliste vor canta aici in fiecare seara, de marti si pana joi.
Transport gratuit spre spre scena de la Pata Rat, marti, in a doua zi de Jazz in the Park
Tot marti e activa si scena de la Pata Rat, cea mai inedita zona a festivaului, unde concertele incep de la ora 16:00. De Pata Rat se leaga si cauza fondului Jazz in the Park, care strange bani pentru proiecte sociale, culturale si educationale pentru comunitatea care locuieste langa groapa de gunoi, dar si pentru finantarea unor initiative benefice orasului. Pentru a sprijini initiativa Jazz in the Park, Primaria va pune la dispozitie maine autobuze in regim gratuit care vor circula pe ruta Piata Cipariu-Pata Rat. Autobuzele pornesc din statia de transport in comun din Piata Cipariu de la orele 15:30, 16:30, 17:30, 18:30 si 19:30 si se intorc in Cluj, la ora fixa, de la ora 17 si pana la ora 22.
Inima festivalului ramane si in acest an Parcul Central, unde vor fi amplasate trei scene pe care muzica se va auzi vineri, sambata si duminica. Una dintre scene va avea tematica electro-jazz, iar aici ii vom putea asculta printre altii pe Jojo Mayer & Nerve, Skalpel, Hidden Orchestra, Niogi & Pete Lockett.
Anul acesta festivalul va cuprinde mare parte din oras, iar reprezentatii artistice vor avea loc in mai multe zone prin conceptul Jazz in the Street, integrat in festival. Astfel, vom suprinde performance-uri pe bulevardul Eroilor, la Off the Wall, in fata Operei Maghiare si in fata cladirii The Office. In plus, sesiunile de improvizatie jam session vor avea loc marti, miercuri si joi la Blend, la ele vor participa atat muzicienii de la Jazz in the Park, cat si curiosi dornici sa-si incerce talentul muzical.
Bilete neobligatorii si Fondul Jazz in the Park
Intrarea este libera la concertele din spatii publice - malul Somesului, Parcul Central, Pata Rat si din strada -, iar cei care doresc pot cumpara cel putin un bilet neobligatoriu de minim 10 lei pentru sustinerea Fondului Jazz in the Park.
Anul acesta Fondul Jazz in the Park are doua obiective generale: finantarea a doua proiecte de sustinere a comunitatii din Pata Rat, prin finantarea unor initiative educationale, sociale si culturale si finantarea celor mai creative si practice initiative utile orasului, la fel ca anul trecut. |
This is the story of an attempted coup d'état—now in progress—by rogue intelligence agents. The goal: to overthrow the presidency of Donald Trump and subvert the will of the electorate.
Donald Trump's first 100 days in office were roiled by allegations of treasonous contacts between his campaign team and the Kremlin to rig the election. These outrageous charges first surfaced in the notorious “Trump Dossier,” an unverified document of suspect provenance, full of wild and salacious accusations.
This dossier—filled with little more than gossip, rumor, and innuendo—was compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence operative who teamed up with the FBI and anti-Trump partisans. Hillary Clinton supporters paid for Steele’s work.
When no news media would publish the unverified dossier, the ex-spook enlisted the help of a former UK ambassador to Russia, who arranged in turn for a former U.S. assistant secretary of state to get the document to Senator John McCain, in the hope that he would then bring it to FBI Director James Comey’s attention. McCain did just that.
Comey himself played a critical role in the dossier ultimately going public, giving a confidential summary to President Obama and congressional leaders. It was immediately leaked by rogue spooks in order to demean, destabilize, and destroy Donald Trump’s nascent presidency.
The dossier and this mythical intelligence are the basis for the phony claims about a Russia-Trump collusion to steal the election. No proof was found. No substantiation uncovered. Even Comey told Trump he was not under investigation for the Russian meddling charges.
But that didn’t end the leaks or the allegations. Working in concert with liberal news outlets, these rogue spooks have formed a new Intel/Media complex that threatens our democracy. Rogue Spooks will reveal how it works.
Readers of Rogue Spooks, from bestselling authors Dick Morris and Eileen McGann, will be shocked to learn the truth about the false accusations against President Trump in the flawed dossier. They’ll be interested to know how leaks to the media fueled the phony scandal, and how intelligence agencies will try to use the newly appointed special prosecutor to oust President Trump.
They will also learn what we can do—specifically—to stop them. |
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Belgium's prime minister and key members of the government are meeting to discuss when to reopen Brussels Airport after it was targeted by suicide bombers last week.
As a meeting of the government Security Council took place Friday, Belgian police unions demanded tighter screening of passengers and baggage before they are allowed into the airport.
The unions threatened not to go back to work until the additional security measures they demand are implemented.
The airport and a Brussels subway train were targeted by suicide bombers March 22 in an attack that killed 32. Three suicide bombers also died.
Airport chief Arnaud Feist told RTBF state broadcasting that temporary repairs now completed will permit the processing of 800 passengers an hour, about 20 percent of the airport's original capacity. |
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A dragon demands that a village offer a maiden in tribute once every 10 years. Or how about this one? A young girl is trapped in a tower near a cursed wood.
In Uprooted, Naomi Novik combines elements of fairy tales with Russian folklore to conjure up one of the most enjoyable fantasy novels I’ve read in years.
Novik, of course, is no stranger to flying firebreathers, having created the "Temeraire" series, an alternate history of the Napoleonic wars where Britain has an air force – of dragons.
In “Uprooted,” the dragon doesn’t come with wings or scales. Instead, he is a wizard with an unusual approach to human resources: Rather than put a “Help Wanted” sign on his tower, he demands tribute in terms of cooking and cleaning. Each chosen girl is expected to serve 10 years, and then is sent on her way with enough silver to set up shop wherever she wishes. The girls never return to the valley.
“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice and he were a real dragon,” one of the tribute girls, Agnieszka, says. “He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”
Agnieszka has grown up knowing that her best friend, Kasia, will be chosen when they are both 16, and preemptively hates the wizard for taking her friend. Kasia is the most beautiful and brave girl in the valley, everyone knows this, and the Dragon always takes the most special girl.
And he does. Agnieszka – affectionately known as Nieshka – isn’t much of a cook and cannot go 15 minutes without snarling her hair or staining her skirts, is chosen, much to the wizard’s annoyance.
“What an unequaled gift for disaster you have,” he tells his irritating new apprentice.
Nieshka also has a gift for magic, although she is an unwilling pupil and can’t cast what the Dragon assures her are the simplest spells without wanting to sleep for a week. At least, until the Wood threatens her village and her best friend, and Nieshka finds her own way of doing magic.
“No one went into the Wood and came out again, at least not whole and themselves,” she explains. “Sometimes they came out blind and screaming, sometimes they came out twisted and so misshapen they couldn’t be recognized; and worst of all sometimes they came out with their own faces but murder behind them, something gone dreadfully wrong within.”
“Uprooted” is as full of life and surprise as one of Nieshka’s spells. (It is also one of the rare books that manages to make magic feel magical.)
Novik hits all the echoes of a fairy tale without her story ever feeling prefabricated. There are magical gowns – which Nieshka can’t stand, since she can’t breathe in them and it’s just a matter of time before she gets scrambled egg on the sleeve. There’s a prince, whose charm is debatable, who is determined to rescue his mother from the wood. And there are wood spirits and walking trees, which have precious little in common with Lewis’s benevolent dryads or Tolkien’s Ents.
My main quibble – and it’s not really a criticism – was that I wanted more. In a fantasy genre dominated by series whose plots are then stretched even further to cover two or three more movies to eke out every last Hollywood dollar (See “Hobbit 26: Bilbo Does the Dishes”), “Uprooted” is downright succinct.
I devoured the first half in a gulp one evening and then deliberately put the book down for several days because I wasn’t ready to leave.
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This is the kind of book that reminds readers why “once upon a time” originally cast a spell on them.
It is, in a word, enchanting. |
Breston uncovered a shipment of marijuana in heat-sealed Mylar bags, inside plastic-lined crates sealed with foam sealant, inside a closed storage garage.
People often wonder if dogs sniff out hidden drugs because they want to eat them, or because they're addicted to drugs themselves. In fact, the dogs have absolutely no interest in drugs. What they're actually looking for is their favorite toy. Their training has led them to associate that toy with the smell of drugs.
The toy used most often is a white towel. Police dogs love to play a vigorous game of tug-of-war with their favorite towel. To begin the training, the handler simply plays with the dog and the towel, which has been carefully washed so that it has no scent of its own. Later, a bag of marijuana is rolled up inside the towel. After playing for a while, the dog starts to recognize the smell of marijuana as the smell of his favorite toy. The handler then hides the towel, with the drugs, in various places. Whenever the dog sniffs out the drugs, he digs and scratches, trying to get at his toy. He soon comes to learn that if he sniffs out the smell of drugs, as soon as he finds them he'll be rewarded with a game of tug-of-war.
As training progresses, different drugs are placed in the towel, until the dog is able to sniff out a host of illegal substances. The same method is used for bomb-detection dogs, except various chemicals used to manufacture explosives are placed in the towel instead of drugs.
A story recounted in "Dogs On the Case," by Patricia Curtis, tells of a drug dog that was a little too eager for a game of tug-of-war. While walking along a line of cars waiting to enter the United States from Mexico, one of the dogs alerted to the smell of drugs, slipped her leash, and ran down the line of cars. Before her handler could find her, she trotted back into view, holding a large brick of marijuana in her jaws. Although the border patrol had no way to tell which car the drugs came from, the dog still got her tug-of-war. She did her job, and the drugs were off the street. |
Jaipur: A Muslim man from Haryana has died three days after being allegedly beaten up by gau rakshaks in Rajasthan’s Alwar district.
Pehlu Khan (55) was allegedly targeted by the vigilante group after they suspected him of smuggling cows through Rajasthan. Khan succumbed to his injuries on Monday night. No arrests were made in the case till Wednesday morning.
Reports quoted police as saying Khan and at least four others were attacked despite producing documents to show that they had purchased the cows. The incident happened after gau rakshaks affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal stopped their vehicle on National Highway 8 on April 1, alleging that they were illegally transporting cows.
“We have registered a case of murder against six persons and 200 unknown people,” Ramesh Sinsinwar, the station house officer of Bahror, told the Hindustan Times.
These vehicles were coming from Jaipur, and were headed towards Nuh district in Haryana, police added.
Shahbuddin, the victim's uncle, told CNN-News18, "My nephew didn't commit any crime. He had gone to get medicine and had just hitched ride with them. He even had his identity papers with him. The mob destroyed the papers and beat him.""
Reacting to the incident, Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said, "Everyone knows cow smuggling is illegal in Rajasthan. But some still do it. Similarly, there are gau bhakts who will try to stop them."
"Trying to stop cow smuggling is not a crime but taking the law in your hands is not right," he added.
In another incident recently a hotel in Jaipur was sealed within hours by the JMC (Jaipur Municipal Corporation) and its manager and staffer were detained after a cow vigilante Sadhvi Kamal led protests outside the hotel on suspicion of beef being cooked and meat leftovers being dumped outside. |
You know how the food you eat can sometimes trigger memories? Jewish tradition knows this too, and a kosher for Passover diet is a yearly reminder of the Jewish people’s distant past as slaves in Egypt. During Passover we eat matzah, or unleavened bread, and avoid eating chametz, to remember our past and celebrate our freedom. Many of us also avoid eating kitniyot.
What is chametz?
Chametz refers to food containing any amount of wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt, that has leavened, or “puffed up.”
Isn’t matzah often made from wheat?
That’s true, matzah is made from wheat. But, when matzah is made, the wheat flour is kept absolutely dry until it’s mixed with water and immediately baked. Technically, it takes 18 minutes for flour to ferment and rise, so matzah must be baked for fewer than 18 minutes.
Ok. Now, what’s kitniyot?
Kitniyot includes legumes, beans, peas, rice, millet, corn, and seeds. Many Ashkenazi Jews choose not to eat kitniyot on Passover.
Why don’t people eat kitniyot on Passover?
There have been many reasons that Ashkenazic communities have refrained from eating kitniyot on Passover. For example, there was a concern that because kitniyot can be ground to make flour and then baked, one could mistakenly assume that their neighbor was eating chametz. There was also concern that chametz grain might get mixed up with kitniyot if they were stored in close proximity. This kitniyot prohibition was not accepted by most Sephardic Jews.
Didn’t I read somewhere that Reform Jews can eat kitniyot on Passover?
You likely did read that somewhere! Actually, three groups of Rabbis in the recent past have met and, independent of each other, ruled that both Ashkenazim and Sephardim should be permitted to eat rice, corn, and kitniyot during Passover. These groups were the Responsa Committee of the Reform Jewish Movement (a responsa is a rabbinic decision), the Responsa Committee of the Israeli Conservative Movement, and the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.
These rabbinical committees determined that the prohibition of eating rice, beans, and kitniyot is in direct contradiction to the opinion of all the sages of the Mishnah and Talmud (except one), and also contradicts the theory as well as the practice of more than fifty post-Talmudic Sages. Opposition to the ban on eating kitniyot dates back to 13th century France, where one rabbi called it “a mistaken company,” and another calling it a “foolish custom.”
Still, it’s a personal decision, and many Reform Jews choose to abstain from eating kitniyot on Passover. (Check out this blog post about choosing foods to make your Passover meaningful.)
Ok, I get that there’s a lot that I can’t eat. But what can I eat?
If you’ve been to a Passover seder, you know that Passover can still be a delicious celebration. Visit our Passover Recipes page for some kosher for Passover meal inspiration, and watch the video below. Chag sameach!
This guide was compiled from existing content written by Rabbi Eric Berk, Rabbi Paul Kipnes, Marcia Louchheim, and Rabbi Thomas Louchheim |
A Train hits a bus filled with Catholic School Girls Uploaded 05/03/2009
A train hits a bus filled with Catholic school girls and they all perish.
They are in heaven trying to enter the pearly gates when St. Peter asks the first girl, "Tiffany, have you ever had any contact with a male organ? She giggles and shyly replies, "Well, I once touched the head of one with the tip of my finger. St. Peter says, "Okay, dip the tip of your finger in the Holy Water and pass through the gate."
St. Peter asks the next girl the same question, "Jennifer, have you ever had any contact with a male organ?" The girl is a little reluctant but replies, "Well, once I fondled and stroked one." St.
Peter says, "Okay, dip your whole hand in the Holy Water and pass through the gate."
All of a sudden, there is a lot of commotion in the line of girls. One girl is pushing her way to the front of the line. When she reaches the front, St. Peter says, "Reeva, What seems to be the rush?" The girl replies, "If I'm going to have to gargle that Holy Water, I want to do it before Jessica sticks her ass in it."
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The fifth most popular website in the world, Wikipedia is an almost daily part of our modern lives. It has become one of the main sources of knowledge and is often the first website that Google (#1 in popular websites) shows when you search for a term you want to be explained. It can be a scientific theory or historical fact that your friends are discussing for three hours in social media, even a celebrity, soccer player, or movie character you heard about on the news, you name it.
The idea behind Wikipedia is explicit in its slogan: The free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. While the slogan is accurate, it is incomplete. On Wikipedia, anyone can edit pages and be a content creator. However, that also means that anyone is able to correct mistakes. Wikipedia’s secret is that its role is to provide simple guidelines that generate efficiency and accuracy, like demanding sources for the info written on the website, and to manage disputes in controversial topics.
The attempt to centralize decision-making would invariably lead to inefficiency. Jimmy Wales, one of the founders of Wikipedia, said that the creation of the website was partially inspired by the ideas of the economist and Nobel Laureate, Friedrich A. Hayek and his famous paper The Use of Knowledge in Society. In this paper, Hayek talks about how knowledge is dispersed in society and the attempt to centralize decision-making would invariably lead to inefficiency and, in public policy, bad results due to the lack of information of the central planner.
On the other hand, Bitcoin's recent record is also impressive. In May 2017, it surpassed the price of an ounce of gold and then reached $2,000, both for the first time. Japan has also declared Bitcoin as a legitimate payment method. We might be witnessing a technology that can transform the way we use the money. According to Wikipedia:
It is interesting to note that Bitcoin, likewise for Wikipedia, is based on decentralization. Nobody can control its emission or its value. That means the currency is not susceptible to monetary inflation and the relative price of Bitcoin, unlike the dollar and other currencies, is defined by the market forces of supply and demand.
Wikipedia and Bitcoin both have a system in which individuals make decisions independently from each other and are able to learn, adjust mutually, and improve. It resembles the definition of a polycentric system of governance, as explored by another economist and Nobel Laureate, Elinor Ostrom. In her work, Ostrom shows how systems can be efficient without government command and control or an individual private ownage.
May the successful stories of Wikipedia and Bitcoin serve as inspiration for entrepreneurs to innovate and for governments to stop failed centralized planning in public policy. |
This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to finish his career as the villain.
The diabolical disappointment who Syracuse fans love to hate. The three-point specialist who couldn't hit three-pointers. The man whose ugly shot lost Syracuse the Final Four against Michigan. The one who seemingly cost the Orange a NCAA tournament bid after a last-second miss against Pittsburgh. The player who's known as a shooter, but then only shoots above 40 percent from the field in just one of Syracuse's final 10 games, prior to the tournament.
Despite all of this, outside of seeing a few less minutes against Pittsburgh, he remained Boeheim's Golden Child – forever beloved by a man who typically seems incapable of showing any affection towards his players – and you hated him for it.
And then, you see it. You see what Boeheim sees. The energy. The drive. The passion. Throughout Syracuse's improbable 63-60 win over Gonzaga to advance to the Elite Eight, it's right there on display.
You see it when he plays smothering defense for the entire 35 minutes he's on the court–exemplified by the 10-second violation he forces late in the second half. You see it when, despite all the criticisms he has faced when shooting the ball, he still confidently rises and drains a three pointer to halt Gonzaga's second half run and bring Syracuse to within six with a little over six minutes to go. You see it when his natural basketball instincts kick in and he records a steal with seconds left in the game, only to be robbed by a highly questionable out of bounds call by the referees.
For the longest time, fans and media alike have tried to label Trevor Cooney as a three-point specialist. He isn't – that much is clear. He, himself, seems to have finally received that message, taking only two three's in Syracuse's win over Gonzaga and drilling one. No, he's something else – something that is much more difficult to describe. Cooney is a square peg, a square peg that we have all picked up and repeatedly tried to fit into a round hole.
He's not Gerry McNamara. He's not Andy Rautins. He's not like anyone who has come before him. In simplest terms, he's Trevor Cooney. On the offensive end, he's a slightly above average three-point shooter. On defense, he's a 6-foot-4 undersized shooting guard who makes up for his lack of size with ferocious determination. He plays with heart, more heart than most fans and experts give him credit for.
Cooney finished the game with 15 points, two steals and two rebounds. He shot 5-for-9 from the field, and 1-for-2 from behind the arc.
But even those numbers don't do him justice. It was his relentless drive and hustle – something that will never show on a stats sheet – that helped Syracuse claw their way back and eventually escape with the win.
Shortly after Syracuse's regular season came to a close, Boeheim spoke at the annual Hardwood Classic about the determination and grit he has witnessed from Cooney and his other senior guard, Michael Gbinije.
"The one thing as a coach that you have to have, that you admire and respect is all-out, complete and total effort, every time you get on the court," Boeheim said, starting to choke up. "I don't get choked up talking about Steph Curry. He's unbelievable. I've coached him, he's fun, he's developed and he's a talent who has made it. I loved working with Russell Westbrook. I don't get choked up talking about players I've worked with. ... I get choked up talking about players who give me everything they've got, every single day. We have two of those guys and they have been unbelievable leaders on this team."
He may not go down as the lights out shooter we all hoped he'd be, but Trevor Cooney's legacy should be one known for his effort, determination and heart – which was clear for all to see Friday night. |
Once scientists realized that their understanding of the distribution of galaxies was incorrect, researchers began studying the large scale structure of the universe to better understand the sum of all movements in relation to Earth. Now some forty years later, a newly published study gives an unprecedented account of all of the normal matter within roughly one billion light-years of Earth and it catalogs the morphological types of a nearly complete subsample of 20,860 galaxies.
The Earth is not at rest. It orbits the Sun, which in turn orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn moves within the Local Group of Galaxies – a collection of about fifty four galaxies in our “neighborhood” (that is, within about ten million light-years of Earth). The Local Group itself is “falling” toward the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies, a set of over one thousand galaxies about fifty million lights years away in the direction of the constellation of Virgo, and whose gravity pulls the Milky Way. After the cosmic microwave background radiation was discovered in 1960, astronomers began searching for signs of these motions of Earth with respect to the background light. First hints came in the mid-1970s and 1980s, and signaled a serious problem: the measured motion of the Earth with respect to the cosmic background was considerably smaller than the sum of all the movements listed above. One possible solution was that our understanding of the distribution of galaxies was incorrect.
John P. Huchra, the distinguished CfA astronomer who tragically passed away eighteen months ago at the age of 61, was a pioneer in the study of the large scale structure of the universe. Together with his colleagues, he helped map the locations in space of nearly 20,000 of the nearest galaxies, revealing that the universe was not uniformly sprinkled with galaxies. Instead, the local universe appears to have a structure dominated by tremendous filaments, sheets and voids, including what became known as “the Great Wall,” a thin sheet of galaxies about 600 million light-years wide, 250 million light-years high, and 30 million light-years deep – one of the largest known structures in the universe. The discovery helped resolve the mystery of the measured motion of Earth with respect to the cosmic background by finding these large structures and their gravitational influences. But even with this landmark effort, most of the galaxies in the larger neighborhood remained unstudied. Moreover, the precision of the results was considerably worse than the precision from newer cosmic background instruments, as breakthroughs like the acceleration of the universe helped confirm and fill out the larger cosmological picture.
During the ten years before his death, John had been working on another huge and significant project: studying each one of 44,599 galaxies seen in the infrared 2MASS survey to determine its distance, and so place it in an enlarged, much more complete and precise three-dimensional map of the universe near the Earth. This month that paper was published; his team of nineteen collaborators, to honor his leadership and scholarship, and his memory, made him the posthumous first author.
The paper uses new spectroscopic observations of eleven thousand galaxies, and archival spectra of the rest, to obtain a distance catalog that is 97.6% complete over 91% of the sky (to certain well-defined limits). It is an unprecedented accounting of all of the normal matter within about one billion light-years of Earth; in addition, it catalogs the morphological types of a nearly complete subsample of 20,860 galaxies. The result refines and completes the earlier work in an extremely uniform, deep, and unbiased survey of the nearby universe, and is a fitting tribute to the memory of this pioneering astronomer and admired colleague.
Image: J. Huchra et al. 2012 |
One of my problems related to Perl is that I'm not aware of a lot of things going on in the perl world, and there isn't a single place I can go to try and keep up. I suspect I'm not the only one. This post outlines an idea for a "perl community home page", where you could go to "keep up". I've whipped up a prototype, which is just a static page with a mashup of various feeds and static data.
I think we need a single place which aggregates all sorts of information from around the Perl world, provides an index to the online perl world, and just as importantly that crowd-sources information from members of the Perl community. This would be useful not just for existing perl users, but for those just starting out, and people outside looking in. Last night I hacked up a prototype — a static page generated by a big hacky script:
This would be a "front page for the perl community". It has feeds from a range of Perl sites, and data that would be provided by users: details of your perl blog, talks you've given, perl sites not currently listed.
This is kind of a mashup of perl.org, metacpan and perlmonks. As MetaCPAN is to CPAN, I think this could be to Perl: MetaPerl. It could even be the front page to MetaCPAN, and MetaCPAN already provides some of the information needed, but I don't think it fits within MetaCPAN's mission. Olaf? To be honest, I think perl.org is the most appropriate place for this.
It's an idea and an experimental prototype, so it's not on CPAN, it's on github :-)
The perl sites, blogs, events, and talks are all just JSON lists, if you want to add things that are missing.
At the moment I'm going with theperlhub.com for the name, or perhaps perlhub.org. |
Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, blasted religious leaders and politicians who told their followers that Christianity was persecuted in the United States.
“They’re trying to scare them,” he told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, “because they know that if you get people scared, they’re going to say, ‘what can we do to change this.’ And they’re going to say, ‘follow us.’ Just do what we say and we’ll get it done for you.”
“I appreciate the fact that Santorum has been honest. I think he’s told us some of the scariest things that I’ve ever heard about religious freedom. It’s made me probably more fearful than any presidential candidate ever has. But he’s been honest with us. He’s told us what he will do with that office.”
“But know this,” Gaddy continued, “if you go with this Republican path of a ‘war on religion,’ of taking back this country for God, all of those kinds of things, you’re going to see religous freedom minimized if not done away with altogether.”
Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC, below:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy |
Long Island Medium star Theresa Caputo has split from her husband Larry Caputo after 28 years together, Us Weekly can confirm.
“After 28 years of marriage, we have decided to legally separate,” the couple said in a statement to Us on Sunday, December 3. “We will always love each other and our two wonderful children. We are united in supporting each other and our family. Please respect our privacy during this time.”
The reality star, 51, has been open about their marital problems in the eighth season of the hit TLC show, which ID is currently airing. During the November 27 episode, Caputo broke down in tears while doing a reading as she became overwhelmed with her relationship struggles. “I’m gonna say something, and I’m gonna regret it. Things happen,” she said, breaking down in tears before walking off camera. “I can’t, I can’t do this.”
“I’m in the middle of a reading with Erin and my own emotions about my relationship with Larry got the best of me,” she later told the camera. “This is a really hard time right now with Larry and I, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s just, it’s wearing on me.”
Caputo also confided in friends during an episode that aired on November 13, saying, “Since the last season of Long Island Medium, Larry and I’s relationship has changed. We’ve been there for each other, you know, through thick and thin, you know, good times, and right now are not such great times. I don’t understand it. I lay in bed, and I say to myself, ‘How did this happen? How did I get here?'”
During a confessional in the same episode, the medium became emotional while talking about her marriage. “I sometimes interpret it as growing apart. I’ve changed and he has changed,” she said, tearing up. “We’re both not happy and, you know, it’s hard to try to work through that.”
Larry, for his part, has most recently been retweeting comments from fans who are showing support for the couple’s marriage, as well as those who express how they miss him on the series.
The former couple, who married in 1989, share two children, Larry Caputo Jr., 24, and Victoria Caputo, 23.
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Much has been said about the risks Zika virus presents to tourists and athletes visiting Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics. Several competitors decided to skip the games because of the epidemic. But the fact is, crime is a much bigger threat, and the numbers prove that.
It is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and the number of reported Zika cases has fallen about 90 percent in comparison to six months ago. Also, researchers at the University of São Paulo have just confirmed previous studies and concluded that only three or four of the expected 500,000 foreign tourists will get sick because of Zika. The same cannot be said of the urban violence in Rio.
Crime rates are surging in Rio—especially in the shanty towns or “favelas” controlled by heavily armed criminal groups. The main concern is burglary and robbery. According to the Brazilian government, there were 98,038 cases of such crimes in the first six months of 2016 in Rio. That average represents more than 3,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Worse than that: 31 people were killed this year during robbery attempts.
For the criminals, the games started way before this Friday’s ceremony.
Two men armed with guns robbed an Olympic athlete from the Australian Paralympic team. Criminals stole $400, 000 worth of equipment from a German TV crew. An Australian news team was attacked on the famed Copacabana beach. A Chinese athlete and cameraman had their equipment stolen from their hotel. And a New Zealand athlete didn’t know who to call after being abducted by two armed gunmen dressed in police uniforms, who forced him to withdraw cash from several ATMs.
International visitors are usually the preferred targets of Rio’s criminals. A Brazilian newspaper dove into the statistics and found out that, on average, 15 foreign tourists have been victimized every day since the athlete’s village was opened on July 24.
It is imperative to say Rio is not a lawless land. The city’s official murder rate is at 19.2 per 100,000 inhabitants per year (and going down), comparable to places like Atlanta and Cincinnati—not safe, but far less violent than Detroit and Baltimore, and incomparably better than Caracas, Venezuela, which has the highest global homicide rates.
Also, there is hope that the massive international effort of security forces—including the respected Brazilian police and armed forces—will reduce risks for tourists and athletes.
Rio may not be the best environment for the Olympics, but it could be worse.
Until a few months ago, there was concern about the stability of Brazil, which is still in the midst of political crisis and profound economic recession.
Political unrest has been constant in Brazil in the last months, following a corruption scandal that led to massive demonstrations and culminated with the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Prospects for the future look promising as the interim president, Michel Temer, is a moderate, unlike his socialist predecessor.
Of course, as with many major international sporting events, there is the threat of terrorism. While there is a massive international effort in place to secure Rio, security will be on high alert for Aug. 5-21.
As The Heritage Foundation scholar and retired Army Green Beret Steve Bucci explained, “Since Palestinian terrorists disrupted the 1972 Munich Games, the Olympics also have meant something else. Every country that wins the opportunity to host the games also has a herculean security challenge. This year is perhaps the most challenging to date.”
So far, Brazil appears to be meeting the challenge. To date, “Brazil already has rounded up 12 terror suspects in multiple operations, all thought to be planning attacks on the Summer Games.”
There is no doubt the Summer Games come at a very difficult time for Brazil, but doomsday predictions are counterproductive. We should celebrate this global sporting event and pray it is a success. |
President Donald Trump has been described as an Internet troll. Yet for months his critics have been trolling him right back, not just via social media but by bashing Trump hotels, restaurants, and resorts with bad online reviews—and the strategy could mean upwards of $100 million in lost revenues for Trump companies.
As Business Insider reported, a new study from the online rating market technology company Signpost shows that the average online ratings for Trump properties in the U.S. have declined about 40% since Trump became president. Researchers looked at three years of user review ratings at Yelp and Google to come up with the data, which indicate that 29 Trump properties now have an average rating of 3.7 stars out of 5. Around the 2016 election, the properties collectively had a 4-star rating.
The ratings dip may seem minor, but previous studies have shown that even a small decrease in online ratings can translate into a significant decrease in revenues. Signpost researchers estimate that the ratings drop would equate to a loss of at least $66 million over four years for Trump businesses, assuming the current review trends continue. “These calculations are conservative and according to the most recent revenue estimations,” the report stated. “The actual cost if these trends continue could be in excess of $100 million.”
It appears as if the lower ratings at Trump properties are mostly about politics. There is a long history of people attempting to manipulate online ratings by posting fake or ironic reviews on everything from Confederate flags to Paula Deen’s books to voice political opinions.
In December, the Trump Grill inside New York City’s Trump Tower lost a full Yelp star when online raters were inspired to bash the restaurant in the aftermath of a scathing Vanity Fair review. Similarly, the Mar-a-Lago Club, the Trump resort in Florida dubbed (by Trump) as “the winter White House,” has drawn the wrath of angry online reviews—as well as some supporting Trump that are just as fake—for weeks. At last check, Mar-a-Lago, which charges a $200,000 initiation fee for new members plus $14,000 in annual dues, has a 2-star rating on Yelp. This is so even though an alert on Yelp explains that the site has been actively removing “both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by the news coverage itself than the reviewer’s personal consumer experience with the business.”
Interestingly, the Signpost study did not incorporate data from one of the biggest online review sites for hotels, TripAdvisor. In many cases, it appears as if Trump property ratings on the site are faring quite well. The Trump hotel in Las Vegas, for instance, gets 4.5 stars out of 5 based on 10,000+ reviews. Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C., has a 4-star rating on TripAdvisor, which sounds good but actually makes it the #100 highest-ranked hotel in the nation’s capital out of 140 rated on the site.
For the sake of comparison, the Trump Hotel Washington, D.C., has just a 2.5-star rating on Yelp. “It’s too expensive for the average Trump chump to stay here, but I think there’s an RV park right outside the city for them with free water and sewer hook-ups,” one reviewer wrote of the property recently, awarding it a 1-star rating. “A tremendous, just tremendous, bigly bad experience,” another 1-star review mocks.
Finally, the Los Angeles Times recently reported that there are some bargain-hunting travelers who are voicing their opposition to Trump by refusing to stay in his hotels at even dirt-cheap rates. Hotwire and Priceline both have opaque bidding options that allow customers to get cut-rate reservations on hotels with two caveats: they cannot be changed, and you don’t know where you’re staying until a bid is accepted. Lately, many deal seekers have turned to the forum BetterBidding.com for help from fellow travelers to figure out the likelihood that a mystery property listed at a cheap price could be a Trump property.
“Help,” a typical message states. “I want to avoid Trump hotel.” |
On Reddit, there’s a blurry line between fame and infamy. This July 7 AskReddit thread titled “Who is the most hated redditor of all time?” made that plain as day.
The top vote for the most hated redditor of all time was hardly a surprise, if you know the ancient joke of hating on the original poster in Web forums: “Everyone always seems to be mad at this one dude named ‘OP,'” said redditor urk870515.
Actual redditors who scored high on the list, according to upvote totals, included a number of the site’s longtime “power users” and popular mods. Fortunately for us, when you select a peer for membership on one of the most shameful lists on the Internet, you have to explain your reasoning. Here’s the list, arranged by upvote-downvote ratio.
1) Karmanaut
…for a multitude of things (the alleged Bad Luck Brian AMA removal, the banning of shittywatercolour for advertising his website, using multiple accounts). (IranianGenius)
2) gtw08 (now defunct)
One of the mods for /r/adviceanimals started using bots to downvote any non quickmeme links and upvote all memes posted from quickmeme. Eventually he was found out and is no longer a mod, and as a result of the fiasco, quickmeme is banned reddit wide. (Bragso)
3) IsoSwagger (now defunct)
Well, over in /r/NBA, there was one by the name of /u/IsoSwagger that once made a post stating that if the Celtics came back in the series to beat the Knicks, then everybody that responded to that post would get $1 from him. The Celtics began winning and almost came back and /u/IsoSwagger deleted his account. Jokes are still being made about his infamous bet over in /r/NBA. (Abuschang)
4) dont_stop_me_smee
They hate him for putting more effort into milking karma from the situation than he ever did into trying to open the thing. I mean he started his own fricking subreddit and started live streaming the thing, but never bothered calling a locksmith?! Seems legit. (tophernator)
5) violentacrez (now defunct)
It’s a surprise that this guy, who ran Reddit’s creepy (often underage) underbelly and was the subject of a controversial Gawker profile, is so low on the list.
Hosting Reddits like /r/jailbait and /r/creepshots is bound to make a lot of people hate you. He was eventually doxxed after all. He was pretty divisive. A lot of people liked him despite his subs because of his contributions to the site. (TimMitchell)
6) I_RAPE_CATS
Reddit wanted to give a random video millions of views as an April fools joke and entrusted him with the task of selecting the target. He picked his friend’s and probably split the profit. (JEWBOY_BALLSACK)
7) RobotAnna
Fairly well known and annoying SRSer and SJW. Also a raging racist, sexist and seems to have serious issues with ‘CIS’ people as well. Here’s one of the many subs she mods. (Tim8080)
8) WarPhalange
He still gets a lot of hate for lying about having cancer. (IceCreamNarwhals)
9) Knettel37 (now defunct)
He plagiarized a picture and whored for karma. (Aaddsa76)
10) NoahsArcRises
He is fairly well-hated. /u/hippiemachine wrote an epic in /r/Subredditdrama that details how he cheated on his wife and asked different subreddits for advice on how to get away with it. He eventually made another account, /u/BigRed79 I believe, that he used to talk about how he had sex with his mistress in his daughters bedroom. Eventually people recognized his wife on SI and contacted her with the ridiculous rationalizations and reasons he had for cheating. Through and through I would say he is pretty well hated for his public (as fuck) affair. (KickAhoeNdaFace)
The Daily Dot’s subreddit, r/dailydot, highlights the most interesting and important discussions from around the social news site every day.
Redditors inadvertently recreate The Hangover. (/r/defaultgems)
NASA responds to a letter handwritten by a redditor’s 7-year-old son. (/r/pics)
What would happen if mods had the ability to turn off karma in their subreddits? (/r/TheoryOfReddit)
Read more here. |
Imagine that Banksy, (or J.S.G. Boggs, or some other artist whose name starts with “B”, and who is known for making fake money) creates a perfectly accurate counterfeit dollar bill – that is, he creates a piece of paper that is indistinguishable from actual dollar bills visually, chemically, and in every other relevant physical way. Imagine, further, that our artist looks at his creation and realizes that he has succeeded in creating a perfect forgery. There doesn’t seem to be anything mysterious about such a scenario at first glance – creating a perfect forgery, and knowing one has done so, although extremely difficult (and legally controversial), seems perfectly possible. But is it?
In order for an object to be a perfect forgery, it seems like two criteria must be met. First of all, the object must be a forgery – that is, the object cannot be a genuine instance of the category in question. In this case, our object, which we shall call X, must not be an actual dollar bill:
(1) X is not a dollar bill.
Second, the object must be perfect (as a forgery) – that is, it can’t be distinguished from actual instances of the category in question. We can express this thought as follows:
(2) We cannot know that X is not a dollar bill.
Now, there is nothing that prevents both (1) and (2) from being simultaneously true of some object X (say, our imagined fake dollar bill). But there is an obstacle that seemingly prevents us from knowing that both (1) and (2) are true – that is, from knowing that X is a perfect forgery.
Imagine that we know that (1) is true, and in addition we know that (2) is true. In other words, the following claims hold:
(3) We know that X is not a dollar bill.
(4) We know that we cannot know that X is not a dollar bill.
Knowledge is factive – in other words, if we know a claim is true, then that claim must, in fact, be true. Applying this to the case at hand, this means that claim (4) entails claim (2). But claim (2) and claim (3) are incompatible with each other: (2) says we cannot know that X isn’t a dollar, while (3) says we know it isn’t. Thus, (3) and (4) can’t both be true, since if they were, then a contradiction would also be true (and contradictions can’t be true).
Thus, we have proven that, although perfect forgeries might well be possible, we can never know, of a particular object, that it is a perfect forgery. But an important question remains: If this is right, then what, exactly, is going on in the story with which we began? How is it that our imagined artist doesn’t know that he has created a perfect forgery?
In order to answer this question, it will help to flesh out the story a bit more. So, once again imagine that our artist creates the piece of paper that is visually, chemically, and in every other physical way indistinguishable from a real dollar bill. Call this Stage 1. Now, after admiring his work for a while, imagine that the artist then pulls eight genuine, mint-condition dollar bills out of his wallet, throws them on the table, and then places the forgery he created into the pile, shuffling and mixing until he can no longer identify which of the pieces of paper is the one he created, and which are the ones created by the Mint. Let’s call this Stage 2. How do Stage 1 and Stage 2 differ?
At Stage 1 we do not, strictly speaking, have a case of a perfect forgery. Although the piece of paper the artist created is physically indistinguishable from a dollar bill, the artist can nevertheless know it is not a dollar bill because he knows that he created this particular object. In other words, at Stage 1 he can tell that the forgery is a forgery because he knows the history, and in particular the origin, of the object in question.
Stage 2 is different, however. Now the fake is a perfect forgery, since it still isn’t a dollar, but we can’t know that it isn’t a dollar, since we can no longer distinguish it from the genuine dollars in the pile. So in some sense we know that the fake dollar in the pile is a perfect forgery. But we can’t point to any particular piece of paper and know that it, rather than one of the other eight pieces of paper, is the perfect forgery. In other words, in Stage 2 the following is true:
We know there is an object in the pile that is a perfect forgery.
But the following, initially similar looking claim, is false:
There is an object in the pile that we know is a perfect forgery.
We can sum all this up as follows: We can know that perfect forgeries exist – that is, we can know claims of the form “One of those is a perfect forgery”. But we can’t know, of a particular object, that it is a perfect forgery – that is, we can never know claims of the form “That is a perfect forgery”. And it is this latter sort of claim – that we know, of a particular object, that it is a perfect forgery – that leads to the contradiction. |
President Trump early Tuesday appeared to take credit for a $9 billion investment in U.S. facilities by Ford Motor Company — an investment that was originally announced in its 2015 contract with the United Auto Workers.
"Big announcement by Ford today. Major investment to be made in three Michigan plants. Car companies coming back to U.S. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!" Trump tweeted.
Big announcement by Ford today. Major investment to be made in three Michigan plants. Car companies coming back to U.S. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017
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The investment, which includes creating or retaining 8,500 jobs and investing in U.S. facilities through 2019, was announced in 2015, according to CNBC.
Ford gave more details on its plans Tuesday, announcing that it would put $1.2 billion into three Michigan plants and would create or retain 130 jobs at one of those facilities.
Top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway also touted the announcement.
Two weeks after @POTUS met with auto execs...Ford plans ‘significant’ investments in 3 plants https://t.co/HRjFkZx0ft via @detroitnews #jobs — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) March 28, 2017
It's not the first time the Trump administration has trumpeted previously announced job growth or investment plans as the result of the president's "buy American, hire American" push.
Last week, Trump took credit for the creation of 20,000 jobs by telecom company Charter Communications, a deal that was originally made in 2015. |
“Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most dangerous people in America. Mark Zuckerberg is also one of the most earnest and sincere and well-meaning people in America.”
Crises like economic inequality and climate change are creating rampant pain and suffering, all while government programs to combat these emergencies are either nonexistent or severely underfunded. Into this vacuum have come fabulously wealthy CEOs and moguls who often say solutions can be found in their philanthropic efforts. But is that really a solution?
Journalist Anand Giridharadas says no in his new book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. Giridharadas argues that philanthropy is often a tool that helps the rich maintain their power, wealth and status — because philanthropy does not flow to initiatives that fundamentally change the power structures sowing inequality.
Giridharadas was a guest on Capital & Main reporter David Sirota’s podcast. The following is a verbatim excerpt of their discussion.
David Sirota: What do you mean by “winners take all”?
Anand Giridharadas: That we live in this age in the United States defined by a winners-take-all economy, and that the winners of our age refuse to concede and refuse to do a lot of change. They make many efforts to claim to be changing the world and making it a better place and giving back and helping. You see that in Silicon Valley companies that claim their business itself is humanitarian, or is social enterprise or impact investing or big philanthropy, more money being given away than ever, or young people who set out to change the world through their careers and yet throughout it all the one thing that very few elites are actually willing to let go of is the winners take all economy and society that keeps them on top and keeps them winning.
Is this a deliberate effort to trick people? Is it a way that wealthy philanthropists to soothe themselves into thinking that they’re doing good for the world? Or is this an earnest of way of thinking that you just disagree with?
I think it’s all of the above. There’s a spectrum, to quote Paulo Freire, “I think a coming together of the naïve and the shrewd.”
If you think about someone like Mark Zuckerberg, who I think is one of the most dangerous people in America, I think Mark Zuckerberg is also one of the most earnest and sincere and well-meaning people in America. I do not think Mark Zuckerberg is motivated to make as much money as possible. I may be wrong, but I actually think Mark Zuckerberg feels that he is incredibly lucky to have stumbled upon a time and place and set of tools that he believes if he’s able to build to their potential he will be able to transform the world. He’ll be able to empower every girl in Afghanistan. He’ll be able to create community where community has dried up in America. He’ll be able to create a forum where we can have the kinds of political discussions that we are not able to have. I think Mark Zuckerberg feels incredibly lucky to be able to have found and be an owner of those tools.
“When I have a whiskey with people who work in finance, off the record they’re very clear that money is the scorecard of their lives.”
Now, where the naive part comes in is that Mark Zuckerberg is utterly blind to the ways in which he has amassed monopoly power, the ways in which in the pursuit of user growth and that idea of a universal community of mankind, he has perhaps become the first CEO in American history to tip a federal election, and the ways in which people who work for him, like Sheryl Sandberg, have gone after their critics and journalists and others.
That’s not a story of greed so much as it is an almost Mao-like messianic vision of how to make the world a better place in your image that has no space for the idea that your power needs to be checked or sometimes may create unintended consequences that you need to react to.
If you look at an institution like Goldman Sachs, it’s a very different story. Often when you have these kind of institutions where money is the goal as opposed to something other than money like technology, when money itself is the goal as it is in finance, you have people who are naturally motivated by money. When I have a whiskey with people who work in finance, off the record, they’re very clear that money is the scorecard of their lives, not so they can afford that one extra thing, more just because that’s what they pursue. That’s what they chase.
In that world of finance…it’s much more the case that [philanthropy] is understood to be lubricant in the engine of continued taking. In other words, there’s an understanding that a Wall Street house needs to have some program like Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Women program to empower 10,000 women in order to evade scrutiny for the 10 million women that it helped to beach through its role in creating the financial crisis.
If Mark Zuckerberg suddenly woke up and decided that your entire analysis is correct, what should someone like him do?
I would ask him first to do a complicity audit. Before he starts trying to eradicate diseases or invent a primary school model or do all this other philanthropic stuff, I would actually ask him, because I guarantee you the number of Dreamers he’s helped through his little philanthropy is way fewer than the number of immigrants in this country who he screwed over by helping to throw this election to Donald Trump in his pursuit of user growth.
“If you are a Democrat pushing for an egalitarian America where people have equal chances, you need to be against Wall Street banks and private equity funds.”
I would ask him first to actually look at what he’s done, because nothing he will do philanthropically may matter as much as the way he’s contributed to the Trump presidency happening and to polarization in this country and to becoming the chassis of a Russian cyber war attack on this country. I would ask him to look at his complicity and think about the ways in which his choices, his setup, the systems and structures of Facebook, allowed that to happen. I would unwind those first. Shut down the philanthropy for now. Take some of those people who are very smart, I know some of them, and actually bring them into the company and help him make his day job not just his side hustle, put it on the side of justice.
I think he would probably need to go to his Washington office, which first of all, why does he have a Washington office? Why do all these rich and powerful people have Washington offices? They like to talk about the free market but they’re not happy to just hack it out there in the market. They’re insecure about their ability to hack it in the market so they spend millions of dollars in Washington trying to rig things in their favor, prevent antitrust scrutiny, prevent regulation. I would shut that office down if he really has a moment of conscience. We don’t need his wife to spend all that time creating a little primary school over there. Maybe his wife could be in charge of actually going over there to Washington and shutting down their lobbyist office where they rig public policy in a way that frankly will have way more of an effect on this country than anything her primary school is going to do.
I would first just unwind what he has done and is doing to this country. Then if he still has time and energy left over, and wants to be a philanthropist with some of these resources he earned putting our country in peril, he could give in ways that are better than the ways he’s giving now.
Let’s talk about the philanthropists who really think they’re trying to help the world. A lot of these folks fund the Democratic Party and Democratic Party infrastructure. What are they doing wrong — and what should they be doing?
One of the things that research conclusively shows is that the Democratic Party’s donors don’t just write checks to an organization or organizations that would do whatever they’re going to do anyway. They alter those organizations by writing checks to them. The public policies espoused by Democrats, by the organizations around them, change because of who the donors are. That makes sense. If I’m giving you all your money in life, you might think that my views end up playing a role in how you live that life…Those donations move Democrats in the direction of being more market-friendly.
“How do we actually speak to the American public’s very real instinct that something was stolen from them?”
Let’s take a couple examples. A lot of people of the kind you talk about who are big donors to Democratic causes and believe in equality and justice will donate to all those organizations, but are they willing to actually concede what is truly cruel and unfair, which is the fact that we fund public education by local property taxes, which particularly benefits, frankly, rich liberals in these super zip codes like Greenwich and Evanston and Marin County, which are often very liberal areas, where because we ring-fence public education dollars that way, rich liberals’ kids get much better public schools than everybody else’s. I know a lot of rich liberals who love to donate to all these egalitarian causes, but they don’t support ending that.
When President Obama tried to lower the cap on the 529 accounts there was an outcry from his affluent supporters. When you have the kind of billionaire Democrats who give, are they interested in cracking down on tax havens? I don’t think so…
They’re the kind of elites I’m writing about who are standing as like Tolstoy’s (character) sitting on a man’s back choking him and saying that, “I’ll do anything I can to help him except by getting off his back.” These are Democrats who are willing to fight for equality and justice in ways that protect their ability to continue to exploit a system that deprives most Americans of the American Dream.
Does this require a shift in priorities among philanthropists?
The two pivots that I think some of these rich folks you’re talking about need to make are to shift from giving back to giving up, and from crowding government out to crowding government in. When you shift from giving back to giving up you’re actually shifting from standing on top of an indefensible mountain and throwing some scraps down to putting your own privilege on the line and questioning the systems atop which you stand.
Jeff Bezos is doing a lot of giving back right now. He just gave a little money to a charity in Minnesota. He’s giving to the homeless and to education for the poor in and around Seattle I believe. That’s giving back. He’s not changing how Amazon operates. He’s not changing how he operates. He’s just giving back while standing on top of a frankly bad system.
What would be more exciting, if Jeff Bezos were braver and bolder, would be for Jeff Bezos to give a billion dollars to people thinking about the future of unions and collective bargaining. We need to rebuild the unions in this country but it’s not going to look like the unions of the past. It’s going to be something new.
When you talk about crowding government out to crowding government in…In the book I really critique Andrew Carnegie, but one of the ideas that was good that he had was you use private giving as a spur to teach the public sector to do something better than it should be doing but isn’t. A lot of his library deals, he made the library and then he made the government sign a contract to adopt the library and fund its ongoing maintenance.
The reason he did that was not because he couldn’t afford 10 years of library maintenance costs. It was because he wanted to teach the government a habit. He wanted to take something that was not widely understood to be a necessary public service until that moment, libraries, and essentially the way you teach a kid to ride a bike, he wanted to teach government to make that a service.
You have critiqued our culture’s obsession with the concept of “win-win” — the idea that problems can be solved by policies that require no one to sacrifice. This is a big theme in our politics. What’s wrong with that?
A great example of that, of someone who’s very inspiring right now, is Beto O’Rourke in Texas, who had all of these lines about, “We’re not against anybody. We’re for this and that.”…The reality is if you are for something that is worth being for, you have to be against something and someone. I think this is actually [something] the right understands much better than the left and uses it in my view for ill, but understands human nature and the nature of actually having a vision.
When you have a vision, if you’re trying to sell an America-first nationalism and you’re trying to sell it to white people who are resentful, you actually need enemies to point to. Unfortunately that’s the wrong vision and it’s the wrong enemies and it’s a disaster.
However, if you are a Democrat pushing for an egalitarian America where people have equal chances, you need to be against Wall Street banks and private equity funds that have pushed for a vision in which middle and working class people can’t make a life anymore. If you’re not against that, you’re not really for those people. If you are for an America in which your birth circumstances do not decide your destiny, you have to be against Chevy Chase and Marin and Evanston hoarding local property tax dollars. You can’t be for an equal education for everybody if you’re not against that.
Is part of the problem that the political class wants to focus on positive solutions, rather than litigating who is at fault for the problems?
I just think there is, particularly in the left, this kind of sunny, well, let’s not blame anybody, let’s just talk about what we can do. People often ask me, “You shouldn’t have written this book. You should’ve just written a book of solutions.” There’s this way in which I think a lot of the more pointy-headed, Democratic, educated elites don’t actually understand the way the world works and don’t understand the way regular people think.
I think regular people’s intuitions on these issues are actually much smarter. The reality is the bottom half of this country not getting a raise since 1979, that is not a natural occurrence the way rain is a natural occurrence. That is an engineered occurrence. When people talk about they feel America’s rigged, that’s passive voice. Someone rigged it.
You as a Democrat are not talking about who rigged it. You’re not talking about how they did it. If you’re not talking about your plan to block them from rigging it further and to face justice for rigging it, you’re selling a positivity that is an aesthetic positivity. You are almost pre-committed to just being positive regardless of where the facts sit…
I think a lot of Democrats don’t know how to think forensically about why this happened to [the] American Dream. Who did this to the American Dream? Who on the other side did it? Who on our side did it? Which of our donors are complicit? Which of our own policies were complicit? How do we actually speak to the American public’s very real instinct that something was stolen from them?
When Democrats refuse to do that and tell a true story about who stole the American Dream from Americans, you know what happens? That is left to semi-literate white nationalists like Donald Trump who tell a false story of who stole the American Dream to people, that resonates with them because at least someone is telling them the truth that something was stolen from them.
Copyright Capital & Main |
A little bit ago AMD sent out an announcement updating their official outlook for the second quarter of 2015. Though we don’t typically publish financial projections, the long and short of it is that AMD is looking to brace investors for a worse than expected Q2, after an already difficult Q1. Soft APU sales are being blamed for dragging down both revenue and gross margins, with AMD now expecting Q2 revenue to be down 8% sequentially, or around $950M, while the non-GAAP gross margin will be just 28%.
Much more interesting however is this little nugget of information buried in the announcement towards the end, offering a short update on AMD’s 20nm plans. AMD had previously announced their intentions to bring out some products at 20nm – these were most likely just APUs, with the only one we explicitly know about being the now-canceled Skybridge. In any case, AMD is now confirming that they have moved several of their 20nm designs to a “leading-edge FinFET node,” and as far as we know AMD no longer has any further 20nm projects in the pipeline. AMD’s press release does not state which foundries these products are now at – or indeed if they’re at multiple foundries – so it’s unknown at this time whether the work is at TSMC, GlobalFoundries, or split between the two of them.
The rationale for announcing this shift at this time comes from the financial aspect. AMD will be taking a $33M charge to their GAAP gross margin as part of the work required to move these designs to a new node. Jumping to FinFET nodes should improve the competitiveness of these products, and greatly so in the case of anything that needs to clock high or is otherwise heavily exposed to leakage, but of course this will take additional time and engineering resources in order to transition these products.
We expect AMD to discuss the issue in at least a bit more depth later next week, when they hold their Q2 earnings call on July 16th. |
Robert Combs moved out of his house in Rockaway Beach in October in anticipation of it being lifted through the Build It Back program. There hasn't been much work on it since. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Katie Honan
NEW YORK CITY — On the third anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Bill de Blasio stood in front of rebuilt homes on Staten Island and vowed to complete the problem-plagued Build It Back Program by the end of 2016.
It was an ambitious promise to make to the thousands of Sandy victims in the city who have waited years for their homes to be rebuilt or lifted above flood level.
At the time, the program had only elevated 50 homes out of hundreds of applicants, officials said.
"The sad fact is, when I came into office, there wasn't real progress. Our mission is to get families back into their homes,” de Blasio said at the announcement in New Dorp Beach.
In a sign that his administration meant business, the city moved roughly 150 families in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island out of their homes in the weeks before the Oct. 29 anniversary so the homes could be elevated. City contractors put up fences around the houses in preparation for expedited work.
But most of those homes have since sat untouched for months, according to homeowners and sources involved in the Build It Back program.
“We forced people out of their homes just to get fences up and make it look like there was construction going on,” one source within the program said last month. “We were not even close. Only now is construction beginning. It was all a lie.”
OPTICS
The source and others said the mayor’s push last fall was all about optics and boosting Build It Back’s numbers — even though, at the time, the city hadn’t approved permits for the work and its contractors weren’t ready.
Homeowners who were moved out told DNAinfo New York that the Build It Back program hasn’t improved under de Blasio. Many said they had difficulty getting in touch with program representatives. Others said they waited months to be reimbursed for rent while they were out of their homes.
"I think they put all these fences up around the houses to make it look like they’re doing stuff,” a New Dorp Beach resident told DNAinfo.
The resident left his ranch home on Beacon Place in New Dorp Beach on Oct. 1, 2015. The Buildings Department didn’t approve the permits to elevate his home until February 2016, records show. And while fences have been up around his house since he and his wife left, work didn’t start on the home until March, he said.
The resident, a retiree who asked not to be identified for fear his speaking to press would cause more delays, was recently told that he likely won’t be able to move back into his home until July.
That’s nine months after he left.
Build It Back’s chair, Amy Peterson, denied the rapid move-outs were related to optics.
"I think it's all a balancing act," she said in an interview. "You want to get the homeowners out so you can start construction, and you want to be able to start construction as soon as the homeowner moves out."
She said they worked with construction managers in the fall to find homes they thought could begin work before the winter, around the storm's third anniversary.
But there are many steps before house lifts can begin — from utility disconnects to obtaining the proper permits from various city agencies. Homes have to be disconnected from utility companies, a process that Build It Back officials have worked to streamline.
Many homes had asbestos that needed to be removed prior to construction as well, she said.
And they've "tightened up the process" between move-outs and construction starts, although she didn't give specific timelines.
"We're all working towards the same goal, which is to get this program completed, so people who had their homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy could be in a built, resilient home," she said.
'NOTHING EVER HAPPENS'
The city told homeowners before they moved out that the entire process would take between three to six months.
Meanwhile, the New Dorp Beach resident said he has spent more than $6,000 in rent since moving out of his home, and he’s also making mortgage payments. The city only started reimbursing him for the rent last month, he said.
Robert Combs, 46, was rushed out of his two-family home in Rockaway Beach in October, when Build It Back officials who inspected his home called it an "emergency case" due to damage from the 2012 storm.
He moved his family out as fast as he could, putting most of their possessions in storage. Construction crews put up a brace and removed the façade on his house, and then put a construction fence up days later in anticipation of a lift.
Nothing's been done since. And he's still waiting on rental reimbursement checks, which the program is supposed to provide.
“I’m out $5,500 on rent, storage. I was only reimbursed in November for one month," he said.
“They just tell you it’s gonna come, it’s gonna come, it’s gonna come," Combs added. "But nothing ever happens.”
An employee with the program who spoke on the condition of anonymity admitted they "butchered" last fall's move-out days, unaware that only certain construction crews could do the work.
The yearlong timeline also didn't take into account the multiple issues at each home, ranging from termite damage to zoning issues to open permits filed decades earlier that still needed to be closed.
"We will meet the year-end goal [of closing the program] if everything goes perfectly, but nothing goes perfectly," the employee said.
Residents working with the Build It Back program testified in March at a City Council hearing, sharing their stories of missing reimbursement checks and delays on repairs to their homes. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)
Samuel Breidbart, a spokesman for Build It Back, said the program provides rental expenses and storage for the entire duration of a house lift, which lasts an average of four months.
But those residents who testified at a City Council hearing in March had already been out of their homes for at least six months without work even starting.
Midland Beach resident Jeffrey Caufield spoke at the hearing.
"I am now $4,500 in the hole by paying my rent and my mortgage on time, as I’m obligated," said Caufield, who visits his home every day only to see "an ugly green fence" but no work outside his house.
"The bureaucracy and red tape is beyond," he said.
ACCELERATED TIMELINE
The Build It Back program was designed to repair, elevate and rebuild about 2,300 homes over a five-year period. But it sputtered in its first year — prompting criticism from homeowners and de Blasio.
Last May the mayor asked the Department of Design and Construction and the Housing Recovery Office to shorten the time frame to three years and issued an “accelerated program directive.” Then in October the mayor declared the program will be completed in one year, near the fourth anniversary.
Breidbart said as of May, 64 homes have been either rebuilt or elevated completely, with 209 more already lifted and ready for new foundations and other work. Around 460 homes have started the rebuild and elevation process, he said.
They expect there to be 1,600 elevations by the end of the program.
But sources involved in the program said the chance of completing all the homes by December is nearly impossible.
“No way they will make the deadline,” one source said.
The accelerated schedule, the agreement to pay labor union wages and the heavy foundation designs have also led to ballooning costs, according to sources involved in the program.
The average cost of elevating a 1,000-square-foot home — a process that includes utility and structural repairs — is $750,000 to $800,000, sources said. Under the program, the cost of rebuilding homes has risen to more than $900,000, sources said.
Breidbart disputed this, saying the average cost of everything involved with a house lift is around $500,000.
The increasing costs have raised concerns that the program won’t be able to fund all the elevations and rebuilds.
Breidbart said the city has processed $1.4 million in rental reimbursements. However, the program is still processing more than 100 reimbursement applications, which should come monthly.
Councilman Mark Treyger, chairman of the Council’s Recovery and Resiliency Committee, said the slow pace of reimbursement checks is "unacceptable" since the Council worked with the administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to approve a rental assistance program.
He added that many homeowners have been fined by the Department of Buildings and the Department of Sanitation when they're not even living their houses, a problem he is trying to fix with legislation.
"We heard of people paying rent and mortgage on a house they’re not living in, and then getting fined by city agencies on top of that," he said, adding that while the program has improved a bit, there's still work to be done.
"Build It Back needs to speed things up," he said, "and work on behalf of the people.” |
Today, Israel and India have good relations. Those relations are largely the result of converging interests: both countries are fighting enemies allied with radical Islam, both have had major wars against Muslim neighbors, and both are developing democracies that wrested their independence from the same colonial master. In addition, a symbiotic relationship has developed — India’s free markets and manifold needs are attractive to Israeli companies looking to do business abroad, and India has turned to Israel to supply many of the technologies it needs to feed its enormous population.
Things between the two countries weren’t always so smooth, though. Although never an anti-Semitic society, it took India many years to overcome its aversion to the State of Israel, with diplomatic relations established barely two decades ago But that decision has paid off for New Delhi: Trade between the two countries amounts to $5.5 billion a year (excluding defense purchases), and even more important, Israel has given much to India in the areas of technology, medicine, and agriculture. Just a few weeks ago, for example, hundreds of Indian farmers converged on Tel Aviv to learn more about advanced Israeli agricultural technology at the Agritech exhibition.
India’s burgeoning tech relationship with Israel hasn’t gone unnoticed; and perhaps surprisingly, one country that has noticed and may be seeking to duplicate it is Pakistan.
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Over the past decade, Israel’s relationship with Asia as a whole has undergone a quiet revolution. As Asia has grown in prominence, Israel has increased trade with nearly every country in the region. A recent report said that between October 2011 and January 2012, 21% of Israeli exports went to Asian countries, compared to 20% of exports that went to the US. That’s the first time Israeli exports eastward outpaced those to the US, and as Asian countries industrialize and expand their economies, that trend is likely to strengthen.
Israel now has a healthy economic relationship with both of Asia’s giants, China and India. As China has begun loosening state control over some aspects of the economy, Israeli companies have found some good opportunities there. Despite China’s liberalization, the government is still heavily involved in many aspects of infrastructure, agriculture, and heavy industry, and Beijing, realizing how China can benefit from Israel’s advanced technology, has embraced Israeli high-tech with a passion, partnering with Israeli companies in a wide range of projects, such as the billion shekel water technology project Israel is working on in China.
India, on the other hand, has long been a democracy, and Indian farmers and businesspeople have been free to do business with Israeli companies, at least since diplomatic relations were established. In the past, though, there was a certain reluctance among Indians to embrace Israel, perhaps due to India’s strong economic ties to Arab countries, which, until not too long ago, enforced a boycott of Israel that forbade any of their trading partners from doing business with Israeli companies. The fact that India has a large, and sometimes restive, Muslim minority also tempered enthusiasm for developing relations with the Jewish state.
India, though, has also begun to embrace Israeli technology in everything from agriculture to defense systems to IT to diamonds, even as diplomatic relations with Jerusalem are sometimes still a bit stiff. Indian delegations are now prominent at almost every international technology show held in Israel.
This week, for the third year in a row, Israeli and Indian tech executives will gather at the Israel-India Technology Forum, to identify new technologies that would be appropriate for the Indian market. Among those attending will be representatives of some of India’s biggest companies, such as Infosys, the huge consulting company with annual revenues of some $7 billion. The program will include speeches by Knesset members and Israeli tech executives, and tours of Israeli start-ups.
The project was initiated and organized by the Israeli Embassy in India, and Orna Sagiv, Israel’s consul-general in Mumbai, said that “there is a lot of appreciation in India for Israel’s advanced technologies and innovation. Many Indian executives have expressed interest in advanced Israeli technologies in the fields of IT, such as the Internet, information security, cloud computing, computerized solutions for organizations and cellular telephone applications, as well as expanding cooperation with Israeli companies.”
That statement could just as easily apply to a host of fields, including agricultural technologies, water and environment technologies, medical technologies, and so on. It’s that appreciation — the realization that Israeli technology can help India’s nearly one billion people live better lives — that has helped Indian businesspeople and government officials leave behind their former hesitancy to do business with Israel.
The cost/benefit analysis that made India overcome its historic Israel-phobia is now being applied, at least to some extent, by Pakistan. In recent months, numerous articles and statements by Pakistani commentators and intelligentsia – and even political leaders — have appeared on mainstream Pakistani news sites calling for the country to follow India’s example.
Pakistanis advocating better relations say that Israel can help Pakistan not only with agriculture, computer sciences, electronics, genetics, medicine, solar energy, and more, but also with its international relations. “The Jewish lobby all around the world can help Pakistan raise its image as a friendly nation,” said one advocate of opening ties with Israel.
Indeed, part of the motivation seems to be jealousy, or at least a desire to duplicate India’s economic advancement. “It’s time to face it,” says the founder of a Pakistani policy think tank. “We need a better Pakistan in the coming world. We need strong friends. India is getting it all, whether it’s the USA, Israel, Russia and even our good old friend China. It’s time for us to broaden our thoughts and look out for what is in the best interest of Pakistan.” |
Peter has submitted not one or two, but three plugins! He provided the following descriptions:
IDA Sploiter
IDA Sploiter is a plugin for Hex-Rays IDA Pro disassembler designed to enhance IDA's capabilities as an exploit development and vulnerability research tool. Some of the plugin's features include a powerful ROP gadgets search engine, semantic gadget analysis and filtering, interactive ROP chain builder, stack pivot analysis, writable function pointer search, cyclic memory pattern generation and offset analysis, detection of bad characters and memory holes, and many others.
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IDA Patcher
IDA Patcher is a plugin for Hex-Ray's IDA Pro disassembler designed to enhance IDA's ability to patch binary files and memory. The plugin is useful for tasks related to malware analysis, exploit development as well as bug patching. IDA Patcher blends into the standard IDA user interface through the addition of a subview and several menu items.
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This plugin helped me survive through long reversing sessions and I hope you will find it useful as well. |
AUGUSTA — The group with national clout in Maine’s marijuana legalization battle has an early money lead over advocates for a rival proposal, but almost all of that money came from one backer.
The Committee to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol in Maine says it has raised more than $50,000 between January and the end of March, said David Boyer, who is leading that group as Maine political director for the Marijuana Policy Project. That’s well ahead of the $30,000 raised by Legalize Maine.
David Boyer of the Marijuana Policy Project, shown here in 2013, said the Committee to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol in Maine has raised more than $50,000 between January and the end of March. Portland Press Herald file photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette Paul McCarrier, president of Legalize Maine, shown here in 2014, said his group has raised about $30,000 so far as part of an effort to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Maine. File photo by Kevin Bennett
But Boyer said $50,000 of his haul was from the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group that has backed legalization efforts in other states. Legalize Maine, which is pushing a plan it says is designed to stimulate Maine’s rural economy, got its money through contributions of $5,000 or less from Maine residents and businesses.
It’s the first real look at the finances for the committees, which must submit more than 61,000 signatures to the state by Feb. 1, 2016, to get their dueling plans on that year’s election ballot. The filings for the first quarter of 2015 aren’t due to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices until Friday, but Boyer answered questions about his filing on Monday, when Paul McCarrier, president of Legalize Maine, also shared his filing.
“Until we see their campaign finance report, we can’t make a judgment,” McCarrier said of Boyer’s group. “But we know that Mainers are sick and tired of seeing big money from D.C. coming up and polluting our politics.”
But Boyer said his group’s money came “from people all over this country and Maine that want to see marijuana prohibition ended and replaced.”
“Ultimately, it’s going to be Maine voters that sign our petition and Maine voters that pass it, so I think that’s the important thing,” he said.
Legalize Maine’s plan reserves much of the market for small growers and is more liberal than the Marijuana Policy Project’s proposal in some ways, allowing adults 21 and older to possess unlimited quantities of marijuana in their homes and carry up to 2.5 ounces in public, taxing marijuana at 8 percent. The Marijuana Policy Project’s plan would limit public possession to 1 ounce of marijuana and six plants in homes and places a 10 percent tax on top of Maine’s 5.5 percent sales tax.
Meanwhile, two other efforts sponsored by Democratic state representatives from Portland are making their ways through the Maine Legislature. Mark Dion’s plan, which is backed by medical marijuana dispensary operators, would limit retail stores statewide to 20 and tax marijuana at 15 percent, while details of Diane Russell’s bill haven’t been released.
The Marijuana Policy Project backed the successful 2012 and 2014 legalization referenda in Colorado and Alaska, respectively. In Colorado, it contributed nearly $1.6 million to the winning campaign, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. In Alaska, it contributed $765,000 — nearly 84 percent of the total, according to state finance records — and the campaign spent more than $600,000 on TV and other forms of advertising.
However, Boyer said his committee has been focused on drafting their ballot initiative that rolled out in late March, saying “fundraising hasn’t been a priority” and that it won’t be as reliant on the Marijuana Policy Project going forward.
Legalize Maine’s money came completely from Maine donors with $12,000 coming from Franklin County. Narrow Gauge Holdings and Home Grown Connection, two Farmington businesses run by Lucas Sirois of Rangeley, gave a total of $7,500 to the effort, while Hight, a General Motors dealership in Farmington, contributed $500.
McCarrier said the group raised $10,000 more than he budgeted for the first period and hopes to raise $300,000 by the end of the campaign. He said his side has good momentum early on.
“I think a lot of it is because people are really excited that there’s an alternative to the D.C. group,” he said.
Michael Shepherd — 370-7652
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Follow the Money to Figure Out Why the Clintons Are Encouraging the Recount
RUSH: Now Trump’s out there and he’s saying that millions of illegals voted. And, by the way, we know that dead people have voted in every election, usually for Democrats. There’s election fraud out there. These are the people who usually tell us to be on the lookout for it, the Democrats. They’re the ones that staff every polling place with lawyers galore. Now they’re acting like there’s never any fraud, there’s never any irregularities, and Trump’s insane.
I think he’s got these people spinning in circles. (interruption) Investigation to what? (interruption) Oh, they are, they are. There are some people calling for an investigation now. In fact, it’s the old Tom Foley line. I saw it… It’s in the New York Daily News today, and it’s either a column or a story. Some of these charges Trump’s making are so incendiary, an investigation is required now. Meanwhile, Michigan’s been certified. Trump’s at 306 electoral votes. There’s nothing this pathetic Jill Stein can do.
You know what I think this is about now? There was a Ron Fournier tweet yesterday. I had it in the Stack. I didn’t get to it: “Raising doubts about legitimacy of election, even w/out overturning result, is part of Clinton’s plans to keep her options open for 2020.” So Ron Fournier says that Clinton’s team getting involved with Jill Stein is not for overturning the election. In fact, there’s a story that a lot of Democrats are getting fed up with this recount business. They think it’s a distraction and not good for them.
But Fournier’s theory here is that Hillary getting involved, sending her people to help Jill Stein get involved in all this, is nothing more than Hillary staying in the game and keeping her options open for 2020. If that’s true, it’s about something else. It’s about lucre. It’s about money. I have a story in the Stack that all donations to the Clintons Crime Family Foundation from Austria have ceased. There are none. They have pulled out.
I think if Fournier is right that Hillary’s trying to stay in this game ostensibly for her political electoral options in 2020, what it’s really about is Hillary staying in the game to be able to raise money for the foundation, because that’s all the Clintons know, folks, is raising money, getting people to give them money. And that has been brought to a screeching halt by virtue of the election results.
So Hillary floating that she wants to keep the 2020 options open is simply a mechanism whereby she can go out and continue to ask dupes all over the world to keep sending money to the Clinton Foundation under the guise or the auspices that she may get elected someday and be able to pay back the donations. It’s just a continuation of the scam, and I think when you’re looking at the Clintons and trying to figure out why they do what they do you have to first zero in on the money. They have made that abundantly clear.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Another thing that I’m a little confused by, folks. Aren’t the same people who are claiming that the Russians hacked our elections and stole the election for Trump, the very same people who said that the Russians would never be able to hack Hillary’s unprotected, secret email server? Remember when that possibility was raised, the email server story broke? “Oh, my God, you think people could hack that? Oh, for crying out loud! It’s not possible! No, no, no,” they assured us.
“The Russians would never be able to hack Hillary’s unprotected server in the bathroom at the family compound in Chappaqua.” Really? Okay. But the Russians could easily hack our voting booths? And, by the way, some of these states, they’re paper ballots only. How did the Russians hack paper ballots? How do you hack paper ballots? |
LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Scotland is likely to win self rule in the next few years while the economic divide between the international powerhouse of London and the rest of the United Kingdom will deepen, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch said on Sunday.
Murdoch, whose global media interests stretch from movies to newspapers that claim to turn elections, visited Scotland on the eve of the Sept. 18 independence referendum last year and praised the country of 5 million people for its lively debate.
Scots rejected independence in that referendum, but the Scottish National Party is now forecast to win the majority of Scotland’s seats in the United Kingdom’s May 7 election, potentially making it the third largest party in Westminster.
“Scots may be crazy or not wanting self rule, but who can deny right of self determination?” Murdoch, 84, wrote on his Twitter feed. “Feels inevitable over next few years.”
“UK already seems 2 countries, London and the rest!” he said.
Murdoch’s paternal grandparents were Scots who emigrated from Aberdeenshire in northeast Scotland to Australia in the 19th Century. He is executive chairman of News Corp, the New York-based owner of the Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins.
Murdoch’s political influence in Britain was once legendary and though the billionaire has said a phone hacking scandal was a blot on his reputation, he retains considerable clout through his stable of British newspapers.
He also cautioned Prime Minister David Cameron that a failure to win a majority in the 650-seat Westminster parliament for the Conservatives would lead to a challenge from within his party.
“Failure to win majority against either (Gordon) Brown in crisis or (Labour leader Ed) Miliband would mean chop for Cameron. Open talk today in party and press,” Murdoch said.
Cameron won 306 seats in the 2010 election, defeating then Labour prime minister Gordon Brown but failed to win an outright majority. Current polls indicate neither Cameron’s Conservatives nor Miliband’s opposition Labour Party will win a majority.
Murdoch’s guess for the election result? He said he thought the Conservatives would win 294 seats, Labour 265, the SNP 48 seats and Liberal Democrats 25.
“Scots probably will hold the balance,” Murdoch said.
A spokesman for News Corp did not immediately respond to request for comment on Murdoch’s remarks. (Editing by Andrew Osborn) |
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com.
Hillary Clinton is now setting a campaign theme that should provide a golden opportunity for Republicans, if Republicans play their cards right.
"We don't need to make America great. America has never stopped being great," says Clinton.
But this doesn't reflect how most Americans now feel. The percentage saying they are satisfied with how things are going in the country has averaged less than 30 percent since 2007, according to Gallup.
The victor this November will be the candidate who can crystallize for voters what is wrong in America and how to fix it.
That Clinton wants to start out pretending there aren't big problems that have diverted our country from its exceptional potential means she can be defeated. But we need the right Republican to deliver this message.
Do I think Donald Trump, currently dominating the Republican field, can do this? No, I don't.
There are few surprises left about Hillary Clinton. We already know about her misuse of classified information as secretary of state. We know that she lied about what happened in the sacking of the American diplomatic compound in Libya and the murder of our ambassador. And we know how this so-called feminist hung on to her pathologically promiscuous and unfaithful husband because she needed his political coattails.
But we are just now learning about Trump. Why has it taken so long to pull back the curtain to expose the wizard of scam? In any case, it is starting, and we are seeing just the tip of the iceberg. We've learned that the man who says he'll build a wall to keep out Mexicans, and make Mexico pay for it, employs illegal workers on his projects. We know about the bait-and-switch scam that was Trump University, swindling tens of thousands from would-be students.
Should there be a Clinton-Trump race, it will be the first time, to my knowledge, that we'll have a presidential campaign where one candidate, Republican Trump, made large campaign contributions in the past both to his opponent, Democrat Clinton, and to her party.
Perhaps it is the formidable intimidation power of Trump and his machine that has kept the press and his opponents at bay for so long.
Perhaps the liberal press intentionally has kept its powder dry, savoring the prospect of a Clinton-Trump face-off. The Clinton campaign's research apparatus won't hold back. One can only imagine the tsunami of dirt about Trump and his business dealings that will be unleashed once they get started.
But the most powerful damage will be done when Americans, who really do understand that America is a great country that has lost its way, learn how little Donald Trump cares about the values and principles that do make our country great and exceptional. We might start with his recent hesitation to condemn and dissociate from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan. Or his threat to sue journalists and others who disagree with him.
As we mourn the loss of the great conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, it looms large that Scalia was in the conservative minority opposition in the 5-4 Supreme Court 2005 decision on the case of Kelo v. City of New London. The court decided government can confiscate private property and turn it over to private developers.
Scalia said only two other Supreme Court decisions departed so wildly from the words of the Constitution: the Dred Scott decision, which declared African-Americans essentially sub-human and ineligible for American citizenship; and Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in all 50 states.
Yet Donald Trump said he agrees "100 percent" with the Kelo decision, aligning himself with the liberals on the Court and against Scalia.
Americans do want to make our country great again. But if Republicans don't nominate a candidate who represents what that means, we may be looking at another left-wing Clinton White House. |
Escaping into virtual reality is now as easy as typing a URL into your browser.
Google announced that VR experiences will be more widely available on Chrome in a blog post on Thursday. With the new update, the company said it's now "as easy to step inside Air Force One as it is to access your favorite webpage."
The update integrates a technology called WebVR, which allows VR experiences to be hosted on websites. WebVR is supported by industry giants like Firefox, Samsung, Facebook and Microsoft in addition to Google. Adding it to Chrome is a huge step in giving VR creators a larger platform to showcase the experiences they design.
SEE ALSO: How we tell stories in virtual reality keeps evolving
If you have one of the few Daydream-ready phones and a Daydream View headset, you can just browse to a VR experience of your choice, select the VR option and put the phone in your headset. If you're missing a headset, you can watch VR content on any phone or computer with Chrome and interact using your finger or mouse, though obviously that's less immersive.
There are already a few VR-enabled sites that you can try, like Bear 71, which explores the intersection between humans, animals and technology, and Matterport, the largest VR library of real-world places.
Image: bear 71 / google
Several award-winning experiences can be found on Within, and there are more than a million 3D scenes in VR on Sketchfab. The WebVR Lab from PlayCanvas is an experimental playground where you can try experiences like playing a record with your Daydream controller.
Image: playcanvas/google
Support for Google's own Cardboard and other headsets will be coming soon. |
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Subway riders beware – the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has uncovered another skimming device at a MetroCard vending machine – this time at the busy 59th Street-Columbus Circle stop in the heart of Midtown.
The discovery prompted the MTA to look at each and every subway station to see if the skimmers were there too.
Skimming Device Found On MetroCard Machine At 59th-Columbus Circle Subway Station
The device, along with a hidden camera, was discovered around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on the vending machine at the north end of the southbound No. 1 train platform at the station, the MTA said in a news release.
An unidentified customer found the device with its intricate web of wires inside the card reader, took it out of the machine, and gave it to the station agent on duty, the MTA said. The hidden camera was wired to shoot images through a pinhole inside a plug adapter mounted above the machine.
Skimmers steal information from the magnetic strip on credit and debit cards. Then, the tiny cameras record pin numbers as people punch them in.
As CBS 2’s Jessica Schneider reported, MetroCard buyers were disturbed to learn of the scam.
“They put this in here so we can actually move along the city quickly, and now we can’t even trust it?” said Erica Coleman of the South Bronx.
New York City Transit urged anyone who purchased a MetroCard at that location using a credit or debit card to check immediately with their bank or credit card company to check their accounts for any unauthorized activity.
The agency has already dispatched staff to check MetroCard vending machines throughout the system for other devices, the MTA said.
“As was the case yesterday, we continue to ask our customers ‘If You See Something, Say Something,’ particularly if they notice any suspicious activity or device in our system,” MTA New York City Transit President Carmen Bianco said in a news release.
Police said earlier this week that they are seeking a suspect after similar skimming devices were found at the Long Island Rail Road station in Baldwin.
Workers found the card skimmers and tiny hidden cameras last week during a routine inspection, police said.
On Monday, MTA police said a man who has been identified as Vasile Ovidiu Haidau, 35, was seen tampering with a ticket machine at the Baldwin station.
When officers tried to stop him, police said he took off. He was last seen driving west on Sunrise Highway in a 2004 blue Volvo S80 rental car with NY plates GKR5959.
Haidau is a Romanian national who is believed to be part of a credit card and identity-theft ring whose members were previously arrested in California in 2013, police said.
He has a revoked visa and is known to travel with another white man in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Long Island, police said. Haidau is not known to carry weapons, but police said he should be considered dangerous.
In the wake of the incidents, police told commuters all over the Tri-State Area to check their credit card statements and try to use cash.
“If you do the old school way, you know, stick with cash — it’s much easier, it’s much safer,” said Kyle Enriquez of Ronkonkoma.
“I’m a little shocked and a little bit outraged because, you know, we are trusting the Transit Authority to, you know, protect us from these things,” said Gabrielle Everette of the Upper West Side.
Authorities have not identified any suspects in connection with the skimming device at the 59th Street-Columbus Circle subway station.
Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com: |
Speaking at his first news conference since winning the presidential election, Donald Trump defended his decision not to release his tax returns, saying the American people "don't care at all." (The Washington Post)
At his presser today, Donald Trump confirmed the very worst fears of ethics experts, announcing a new arrangement for his business holdings that is designed to garner nice headlines but is unlikely to do much to reduce the possibility of conflicts of interest and, possibly, full blown corruption.
Trump did nothing to address the central ethical problem he faces: He will not divest himself of his holdings, only transferring control of them to his two sons. The Post sums up the arrangement:
Trump will shift his assets into a trust managed by his sons and give up management of his private company…. The announcement included a pledge from a Trump lawyer that the company would make “no new foreign deals whatsoever” during Trump’s presidency, and that any new domestic deals would undergo vigorous review, including approval by an independent ethics adviser. But Trump’s commitment will not resolve what federal officials and ethics advisors say is his most key conflict: His continuing ownership of his business, the Trump Organization. That will ensure Trump will still have a vested financial interest in a global private company when he takes office next week. Sheri Dillon, a tax advisor at Morgan Lewis, said Trump has sought to completely isolate himself from the business and “will only know of a deal if he sees it in the paper or on TV.” But he will not sell the business or his stake, adding, “President-elect Trump should not be expected to destroy the company he built.”
[Donald Trump has his own ‘birther’ crisis]
Take two key provisions here, the idea for a new ethics adviser that would sign off on new deals, and the pledge to “isolate” himself from the business to the degree that he won’t know about any new deals unless he reads about them in the media. The problem is obvious: Even if Trump takes these steps, and even if he does transfer his holdings into a trust managed by his sons, he still knows what his business holdings are, regardless of whether he knows about any “new” deals or whether any such new deals pass muster with his ethics adviser.
That means that much of the potential for conflicts remains in place: Trump will be making regulatory decisions impacting businesses (such as banks) that are entangled with his own. He will be setting American policy in countries where he retains holdings. Trump’s businesses could even directly benefit from Trump policies. Only full divestment would have sufficed to ward off potential conflicts in these areas.
“The Trump plan falls short in every respect,” Norm Eisen, the former ethics watchdog in the Obama administration, emailed me. “Trump did not make a clean break with his business ownership interests as his predecessors for four decades have done.”
“Trump’s ill-advised course will precipitate scandal and corruption,” Eisen added.
1 of 74 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Here’s what President-elect Donald Trump has been doing since the election View Photos He has been holding interviews and meetings as he prepares to enter the White House. Caption He has been holding interviews and meetings as he prepares to enter the White House. Jan. 19, 2017 President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, visit the Lincoln Memorial before the “Make America Great Again” concert. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Making things even worse, nor did Trump make any vows of increased transparency into his holdings. Trump once again rebuffed calls to release his tax returns, which might have helped create such transparency, and didn’t announce any additional steps to provide it in any other way. This means another core problem remains: Because we aren’t privy to the full scope and range of those holdings, we simply cannot know whether such conflicts — or corruption — are taking place in any given situation.
[Trump’s non-solution to his conflicts of interest and emoluments problems]
“As long as president-elect Trump maintains ownership of his businesses, he will know when tax or regulatory or policy changes benefit his bottom line,” Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told me today. “He will also know when policy decisions will benefit him by benefiting other companies whose interests are tied up with his, or benefiting foreign countries whose interests affect his businesses.”
“Even worse, because we don’t know the scope of his interests, we won’t even know it when there’s such a situation where such a conflict is possible or happening,” Bookbinder added.
We appear to be entering into truly uncharted territory. The vast extent of Trump’s global holdings, combined with their opacity, create both a level of potential for conflicts, and an inability for us to track those conflicts, that render all efforts to predict the consequences utterly hopeless.
It is hard to say what will happen now. The role of the press in trying to keep track of those conflicts will be crucial. But on that front, too, what we saw at today’s presser was cause for alarm. Trump tore into CNN as “fake news” for publishing a careful if provocative and envelope-pushing story on unverified claims that Russian intelligence gathered compromising information on him. Trump ferociously attacked Buzzfeed for publishing a dossier of those claims, pointedly noting that Buzzfeed would “suffer the consequences.”
That would be worrisome enough on its own. But combine it with Trump’s unprecedented dishonesty and his refusal to revise his claims when they are widely called out as false, and it all starts to smack of an effort to stamp out the very possibility of shared agreement on the legitimate institutional role of the news media or even on reality itself. It’s easy to imagine that, if and when a news organization uncovers potential conflicts, Trump will simply deny the reality of what’s been uncovered (“fake news”) and begin threatening “consequences” towards that organization.
One thing that remains clear: Congressional Republicans are not going to step up and try to mitigate this situation. Republicans are not going to take any of the steps they could be taking to try to prod Trump into showing more transparency about his holdings, which would make conflicts and corruption less likely. It’s hard to see that changing, unless, perhaps, intensified media scrutiny shakes loose enough scandalous stories to make the lack of congressional action untenable. That will also require public pressure — of the sort that forced Republicans to reverse recently on their plan to gut an independent ethics oversight office, but probably a lot more.
Right now, serious pessimism appears to be a reasonable default setting. I could be entirely wrong about this — maybe Trump really will surprise us. If not, our institutions are going to be tested in unforeseen ways, and it will be on us — through vigilance, organizing, and political action — to make sure they are up to the task. |
Members of Sirens, a Brooklyn-based women’s motorcycle club, leads off parade. Eagle photo by Andy Katz
A Pride Parade Grows in Brooklyn
To purchase higher resolution photos from this event, please go to brooklynarchive.com
Safe from both the brutal pre-summer sun and the swirling controversies about honoring terrorists versus satisfying an important constituency on Puerto Rico Day, NYC elected officials marched behind multihued banners and waved rainbow flags in Brooklyn’s 21st Pride Parade on Saturday evening.
Sponsored by the Fifth Avenue BID and produced by Brooklyn Pride, Inc., Pride Parade is New York City’s only evening parade, kicking off at 7:30 p.m., after the sun has descended past the brownstones and classic storefront facades. There’s always a stealth aspect in the beginning, not seen in its Manhattan counterparts, where floats and crews and bands assemble in side streets well in advance of the procession. NYPD starts barricading side streets that lead to Fifth Avenue from Lincoln Place to Ninth Street, but at first it’s unclear why.
People gradually fill the street, mainly around spots such as Ginger’s Bar between Fifth and Sixth Streets and further down by Brooklyn Industries on Union Street and Fifth Avenue. It isn’t until the procession actually begins — led this year by NYC’s oldest and largest women’s motorcycle club, the Sirens MC (which has also led off the larger, more storied NYC Pride March since 1987) — that humanity seems to explode onto Fifth Avenue.
Families with small children whose faces are gaily painted stand alongside drag queens in gossamer finery, or mingle with tattooed women wearing snug muscle-T-shirts and middle-aged same-sex couples who stroll down holding hands from their Prospect Park-facing brownstones. Working stiffs just off shift perch on cement planters or squat along the curb and hipster diners take advantage of restaurants and lounges that sport large open facades to fill tables near the entrance for a prime spot to watch the procession.
In addition to the Sirens MC, grand marshal duties were shared by activist Ron B. sporting her signature Tina Turner kit and Michael Camacho, regional director of pharmacy sales at AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez was one of the first public officials in the line of march. In fact, with his campaign to remove “Acting” from his title, collecting endorsements from across the board, Gonzalez seemed to be everywhere at once. Passing by one moment and then reappearing in the procession to walk with another group, the candidate seemed composed of happy energy.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chirlane McCray stayed well back, marching behind a City Council contingent consisting of Daniel Dromm, Corey Johnson, Carlos Menchaca and Antonio Reynoso. Either arriving too late to catch the City Council banner, or just wanting some alone time, Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez marched solo, with only his little son riding dad’s shoulders for company. Also marching were Public Advocate Letitia James and Comptroller Scott Stringer.
State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon rode atop a float with a model of the Brooklyn Bridge’s South Tower and Brooklyn Democratic Chair Frank Seddio, both tossing plastic beaded necklaces to parade watchers.
Without precise tallies it’s hard to be certain, but each year Brooklyn Pride seems larger and happier than ever. And of course, Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue is no match in size for its Manhattan counterpart — naturally, it fills quickly and requires fewer bodies to appear overwhelming — but with continued support from elected officials all over the five boroughs, it continues to surprise and delight the senses with unscripted pride and fun.
* * *
Elected Officials and Civic Leaders March in Brooklyn Pride Day Parade
By John Alexander
Saturday was Brooklyn Pride Day and hundreds of revelers flooded the streets of Park Slope to wave their rainbow flags and join in the day-long celebration. The parade-watchers proudly displayed their colors as elected officials, civic leaders and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual/allies (LGBTQIA) community marched along the parade route.
This year’s parade grand marshal was transgender actor and LGBT activist Ron B.
The parade began at Lincoln Place and Fifth Avenue as elected officials and LGBTQIA supporters addressed the crowd. A representative from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office presented the LGBTQIA community with a proclamation.
Public Advocate Letitia James, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Councilmember Carlos Menchaca and the New York City Council spoke about gay rights and freedom from discrimination.
Also attending the event were Kings County Democratic Chairman Frank Seddio; Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams; U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez; Acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez; Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon and Robert Carroll; Connie Mallafre Melendez, who is running for Kings County Civil Court; Councilmember Vincent Gentile; and City Councilmember candidate Kevin Peter Carroll.
The parade made its way along Fifth Avenue towards Ninth Street where marchers and well-wishers shook hands and hugged.
The Lambda Independent Democrats (LID) of Brooklyn also joined the parade. LID is Brooklyn’s largest LGBTQIA political organization. It was founded by a group of activists in Boerum Hill in 1978 and has grown to become one of the state’s largest LGBTQIA political clubs.
Stringer and Menchaca were among those who spoke to the group. They discussed the future of the gay rights movement and the need for groups like LID to keep fighting for the rights of the LGBTQIA community. |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — In a case that has the potential to reshape bail practices across the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on Thursday joined 11 other organizations in filing friend-of-the-court briefs in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to affirm a district court judge’s April decision that prevents Harris County, Texas, from holding misdemeanor defendants in jail simply because they cannot afford bail.
In May 2016, the Civil Rights Corp filed a federal lawsuit challenging “pay or stay” money bail practices in Harris County on equal protection grounds. The county is home to Houston, the fourth-largest city in the nation. On April 28, 2017, following an eight-day trial, U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal granted the plaintiffs’ amended motion for preliminary injunction, finding Harris County’s bail system unconstitutional and discriminatory against the poor.
She also certified the matter as a class-action lawsuit. Harris County has appealed the preliminary injunction to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Six states, as well as the American Bail Coalition, Professional Bondsmen of Texas, and Professional Bondsmen of Harris County have filed amicus briefs in support of Harris County and reversal of the district court’s decision.
“Harris County’s bail system is another example of a local government punishing poor people because they could not buy their way out of jail before their trial,” said Micah West, staff attorney for the SPLC, which has successfully encouraged 75 Alabama cities to change their money bail practices. “This process brazenly prioritizes money over liberty. It fails to take into account whether a defendant is a flight risk or a danger to public safety.”
The case was initially filed by the Civil Rights Corps on behalf of Maranda O’Donnell, a young mother who was detained in the Harris County Jail when she could not afford to post $2,500 bail after being charged with driving with a suspended license.
On June 7, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas denied Harris County’s application to stay a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge that required the release of people who were awaiting trial on misdemeanor charges and could not pay bail. Hundreds of people charged with minor offenses have been released from jail following the order.
“The Constitution guarantees a basic right to equal treatment under the law. Money bail makes that impossible,” said Brandon Buskey, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, which won a settlement in June that stops four Mississippi counties from jailing felony defendants because they can’t afford bail. “In Harris County, Texas, and in too many other places around the country, those who can pay go home. Those who can’t pay face a cruel dilemma: remain in jail for weeks or months or plead guilty.”
“High rates of pretrial detention are a driving force for mass incarceration,” said Myesha Braden, acting director of the Criminal Justice Project for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Far too often, bail determination decisions are influenced by stereotypes and racial bias that unjustly target African Americans and Hispanics. As a result, African Americans, Latinos and other racial minorities are entrapped in a cycle of escalating debt and unnecessary incarceration. The wealth-based bail bond scheme in Harris County highlights these systemic injustices in our criminal justice system, and they must end.”
“Harris County’s bail procedures are an affront to the bedrock constitutional principle of equality before the law,” said Edgar Saldivar, senior staff attorney of the ACLU of Texas. “Instead, the county effectively has two justice systems, one for the rich and one for the poor, which can deprive legally innocent people of their homes, families and livelihoods simply because they cannot produce enormous sums of bail money they cannot afford. It’s wrong, it’s unconstitutional, and given the availability of sensible and effective alternatives, totally unnecessary.”
The case illustrates a national effort to end unconstitutional money bail practices. U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris and Rand Paul introduced a bill last month that would provide incentives for state and local governments to replace or reform their money bail systems. |
There was a time when India’s workmanship was the benchmark for quality around the world. For centuries, handmade silks, unique jewellery pieces, brocades, tapestries and carpets from India were sought-after items around the world. Mulmul khaas—the diaphanously fine clothing of emperors—known to the world as Dhaka muslin and Kashmiri pashmina shawls were of such high quality that they were considered to be woven from the wind. In contrast, my grandfather used to tell me tales of how when he was a boy about a hundred years ago, Japanese electrical products were considered shoddy and synonymous with poor quality. British colonization of India, industrial mass production and the changeover from artisanal quality management to statistical quality control dramatically altered this relative equation.
Even though Japanese artisanal quality —calligraphy, kimono design, weaving, pottery and rice painting to name only a few—is legendary, the modern quality focus traces back to General Douglas MacArthur’s recruitment of Homer Sarasohn to improve the manufacturing processes of Japanese radios so that they could be used for public education. Sarasohn on return to the US recommended that W. Edwards Deming provide courses on statistical quality control to the Japanese engineers. Deming was, in turn, followed by Joseph Juran who expanded the quality concept to the total organization—total quality management (TQM). And so, modern quality management was born and adopted to perfection in postwar Japan. Some well-known elements of TQM are that quality should trump short-term profits, that the customer comes first, that decisions are based on facts and data, that employees should be on the front line of recommending process changes and that management is both accountable and participatory.
Independent postwar India was so absorbed in staying united and fighting social injustice that it sidelined any interest in the quality of its products or services. Combined with an import-substitution mindset, a newly industrializing India abandoned its historical artisanal quality but did not replace it with a modern obsession with quality. As the decades since independence have passed, this general apathy has been compounded by corruption—dramatically corroding the quality of public-service delivery.
Stories abound. Each of us encounters shoddy quality and poor implementation on an everyday basis. Garbage is not picked up on our streets, roads are dug up and not redone, train compartments and platforms are filthy and the postal system is unreliable. The popular perception that the lack of quality and a widespread implementation deficit are the failures of government is far from the truth. Private-sector (voice) mobile service has gone from being among the best in the world to being among the worst: this is to say nothing of crawling Internet speeds and ultra-expensive but poor data services. Service from private-sector banks is poor with pro-activity only being displayed on selling products without any understanding of what the customer needs. Speak not of our hoteliers, who provide the middle-class Indian with unclean rooms, filthy toilets and mediocre service. Every type of institution attempts to cheat if it can get away with it—and in so doing denies the customer a quality experience.
Major projects and schemes are announced with great fanfare but usually haphazardly and partially delivered: for instance, the road to the airport in Bengaluru is well paved but has bottlenecks each day at the Hebbal flyover, the gains of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme are eroded by rampant corruption and shoddy implementation, and primary education in India is abysmal with rank-poor learning outcomes. The latest addition to this list of shoddy delivery is the 2016 demonetization. Everyone it appears has an opinion on the economic implication of this but the biggest implementation failure is the deviant design of the new notes that necessitates a new ATM tray. That has extended what should have been a two-three day dislocation to a two-month or more issue.
India’s quality and implementation deficit is not cultural. It is currently endemic to government, business and society, but it can change. In an earlier column titled “India’s Derailed Projects", I suggest that this change will require (1) transparency (2) accountability/competition (3) enforcement and (4) pride. These elements taken together keep the customer and the citizen at the centre of every product and service. Pride in a job well done or excellence in a product or service is the glue that binds a system of implementation and quality together.
Democracy has correctly encouraged us to be tolerant of our heterogeneity. Unfortunately, it has also created a culture of compromise and adjustment on shoddy implementation. Alas, we are becoming intolerant of our diversity, but even more tolerant of shoddy implementation. Even as we celebrate our differences, we must hold our public service to a higher standard and ensure free and fair competition among our private-sector providers of product and service. We, each one, must demand and provide, service and product that meet not merely a standard of statistical quality but one that we can justifiably be proud of.
P.S. “Quality is pride of workmanship", said Edward Deming, awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1960 for his contribution to Japan’s quality revolution.
Narayan Ramachandran is chairman, InKlude Labs. Read Narayan’s previous Mint columns at www.livemint.com/avisiblehand |
1 Timestamp Who are you, bud? (If you dont put an exact name then you'll be ignored(Unless I know you)) What game, m8? How long, dude? When can you do your run? (Marathon is 18~22nd of July) Anything else you wanna add
2 submit fags http://bombch.us/l07
3 6/30/2014 3:12:18 Jelatinz WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! 32:30 anytime nigga gonna get the wr
pls dont end my run early again
4 6/30/2014 3:12:32 bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl bihl
5 6/30/2014 3:12:53 imaginemesusan GLOVER a couple hours literally anytime i'll let you know if i can't play it
6 6/30/2014 3:13:50 Jelatinz Super Smash Bros. Melee 1:15:00 anytime nigga target test all characters
7 6/30/2014 3:13:51 Grig FUNgineer 1:43:53 by siglemic when i feel like it time to save in warp 3
8 6/30/2014 3:13:56 imaginemesusan DOOM 2 DISREPAIR AT MOST HALF AN HOUR ANY GODDAMN TIME i'll let you know if i can't play it
9 6/30/2014 3:14:17 Damagak Dishonored Low% 2:00:00 17TH SteelFlare wants to cocommentate, i was world record holder in the elitist category low% no damage (no blinking)
10 6/30/2014 3:15:26 Jelatinz Shrek - Hassle At the Castle 1:15:00 anytime nigga any%
gonna get the wr for dis 2 Option 2
11 6/30/2014 3:16:56 Dolfinh Ecco the Dolphin: Tides of Time 00:45:00 Saturday the 19th: 6pm-Midnight (have to open at work the next day) Sunday the 22nd: After 6pm
I'll contact you if availability changes. I promise not to steal any memes.
12 6/30/2014 3:17:01 Chewkey Watch Dogs, Sony Playstation 4 2 Hours Any day after 1 AM and before 7 AM I will be continuing the story mode. It is a bad game, and should be pretty meme-worthy. May possibly be getting drunk for further humor. #YoloSwag420BlazeIt Option 2
13 6/30/2014 3:17:44 fuck you Option 2
14 6/30/2014 3:18:21 Jelatinz Castle Crashers 2:10:00 anytime nigga 26 Orbs
we in dis
15 6/30/2014 3:19:31 imaginemesusan 100% ORANGE JUICE HOWEVER LONG U WANT ANYTIME YOU'RE AVALIBLE MUM Option 2
16 6/30/2014 3:19:33 Nigger Super Nigger Adventure 5 Friedchicken% Longer than my big black cock Whenever I'm not picking cotton I'm black. Option 2
17 6/30/2014 3:21:27 Dolfinh Disney's Aladdin (Genesis) 00:15:00 See my Ecco Submission twitch.tv/dolfinht Option 2
18 6/30/2014 4:10:55 Ram The Fantabulous Game 11.5 inches 18-22 of July can i habe de pusi b0ss Option 2
19 6/30/2014 4:32:18 MyBearShibbers Strider 50:00 19th or 20th 8am-10pm GMT www.twitch.tv/mybearshibbers
20 6/30/2014 4:39:20 neon-kunt kirby amzing mirror 37 im alive every day I like dogs
21 6/30/2014 8:24:33 peter afro Rokko Chan 35:00 afternoon EST any day May or may not be able to attend, we will see. This game is the first mega man game I played. Option 2
22 6/30/2014 8:30:52 peter afro mega man 6 50:00 afternoon EST any day The best megaman game. Option 2
23 6/30/2014 8:31:43 peter afro mega man 3 50:00 afternoon EST any day Another great mega man game. Option 2
24 6/30/2014 8:50:20 peter afro Rockman 8 Famicom 1:00:00 afternoon EST any day Need to redeem my skills in this after the horid run at GWP1. Option 2
25 6/30/2014 9:43:47 Slug Queen Pictures of Slug Queen 3 seconds Any fucking time I'm awake, buddy I do actually run Castle of Illusion (the HD remake on Steam) but I'm not debasing myself with your shitty fucking gay weed paloozer shit you fucking loser AYYYYY LMAO.
Where the fuck is Option 1?
26 6/30/2014 10:28:40 PoopDeckSeamen Dragon Ball Z:Budokai 50 sunday 12pm-4pm I love memes
27 6/30/2014 11:37:56 peter afro The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 5:00 afternoon EST any day short as f*** run. Option 2
28 6/30/2014 12:26:13 c-man c
29 6/30/2014 12:26:55 c-ronic lol 3 hour yeah you guys suck for real Option 2
30 6/30/2014 12:27:10 DarkDEVASTAT10N Hello 3 1:50 July 19th around 8am EST Hi cyber
31 6/30/2014 12:58:54 imaginemesusan hotline miami an hour estimate whenever i'm gay Option 2
32 6/30/2014 13:00:02 imaginemesusan SHOVEL KNIGHT 1:30 literally anytime really good speedgame Option 2
33 6/30/2014 13:15:41 peter afro Nezumi Man 35:00 afternoon EST any day My first speed game, which is the reason my WR is so optimized. Option 2
34 6/30/2014 14:07:44 Chef Startropics 1:45 Weekend not 3 AM You need a sprite faggot Option 2
35 6/30/2014 14:14:19 fuck you faggot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!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36 6/30/2014 14:20:32 Awkward_Meows Shadow of the Colossus If any% 2:50, If time attack% 1:50 7AM-4PM weekdays 1PM-8PM weekends Any% is doing the story of the game from the new game on the start screen to triggering the final cutscene.
Time Attack% is defeating every colossus in order in a post-game bonus mode. There's no running around to reach colossi, you just warp to each one.
This game can be extremely random so I put quite a bit of extra time in case things go terribly terribly wrong.
37 6/30/2014 16:15:29 Zeoik Zelda 1-3 hours 18, 19, 20 ,21, 22 Im good m8 Option 2
38 6/30/2014 17:43:34 Jelatinz Deadpool 4:00:00 anytime nigga Any% Option 2
39 6/30/2014 17:47:29 gledrlool star wars battlferont 2any% and skullgrils kill myself% i think 2 and a half hours any time past 11pm central time im a huge fucking faggot Option 2
40 6/30/2014 17:59:48 Jelatinz Super Smash Bros. Melee 1:30:00 anytime nigga All Events Option 2
41 6/30/2014 18:04:10 Jelatinz Super Smash Bros. Melee 2:10:00 anytime nigga 100 Man Melee All Characters Option 2
42 6/30/2014 18:10:04 Cyberdemon531, poopdeckseamen, Cheffybro, Lambent, and HonoredVilliage Rokko Chan (blind) Who knows, it is a blind race IDK Get hyped for peterafro's urn. Option 2
43 6/30/2014 20:06:55 Luiz_Miguel, CalebHart42, and Zewing Mega Man X (100%) 45:00 good question Epic race Option 2
44 6/30/2014 20:09:29 Iongravirei, Joka, RainDropDry, and Orion96. Mega Man 7 55:00 IDK Classic mega man relay 3 hype. Option 2
45 6/30/2014 20:11:58 Tremane, Mrcab, and peterafro Mega Man 2 (GB) 35:00 We will see. Better then NES MM2. Option 2
46 6/30/2014 20:15:56 Duckfist, usedpizza, magmapeach, cleartonic, and joka Mega Man 10 50:00 Need to look in each others schedules. Easy mode should stay banned. Option 2
47 6/30/2014 20:21:48 susan i like boys 1 meter the 9th somtimes when i touch my my penis i accidentlly piss myself and keep going Option 2
48 6/30/2014 20:31:14 qttsix and Luiz_miguel Mega Man x6 (all stages normal) 1:00:00 tommorow easy modo is dumb Option 2
49 6/30/2014 20:49:21 hetfield90, the_sid, Luiz_Miguel, zewing, and starvinsthruthers Mega Man X3 (100%) 1:00:00 ask us tommorow Best SNES MMX category. Option 2
50 6/30/2014 21:42:48 dont call me bud, pal m7 dont call me dude, brah ~ fuck you Option 2
51 6/30/2014 21:50:07 Cheffy Chivalry 1:30 Weekend Niggers Option 2
52 6/30/2014 21:50:15
53 6/30/2014 21:51:40 bruno x6 43 18-22 July oui bagette omelette Option 2
54 6/30/2014 22:26:54 Aeger Rocket Knight Adventures 30 minutes whenever
55 6/30/2014 23:01:48 ElementalGuard Jedi Knight 2 1:10:00 18-22
56 6/30/2014 23:05:41 ˙͜>˙ ˙͜>˙ ˙͜>˙ ˙͜>˙ ˙͜>˙ Option 2
57 6/30/2014 23:22:27 niggercharile ur mum too long July 20th I'm gay but I'm allergic to semen.
58 7/1/2014 0:23:43 ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao Option 2
59 7/1/2014 1:58:16 hal_over_9000 South Park: The Stick of Truth 2 hours Any of those days work
60 7/1/2014 5:23:45 sonofasorrysorcerer megaman 100 years probably never how do you play megaman
61 7/1/2014 5:45:38 Option 2
62 7/1/2014 5:59:29 Option 2
63 7/1/2014 6:00:03 Meme Memes Ebin Meme Meme o'meme I love memes :)
64 7/1/2014 12:22:52 penis dicks its huge lol lets fuk
65 7/1/2014 12:30:48 CheffyPee Startropics Like an hour any time on the 20th Option 2
66 7/1/2014 12:32:52 how much text can i put in here before im banned permanently from the googledoc form. or does it break the google doc. who fuckin knows. anyway, this one time my friend threw up all over himself in the car while we were ROADTRIPPIN and it looked like he was wearing a suit made of his own vomit. it was totally based but it made me feel sick as well. nigga shouldnt had a goddamn pizza before we went on the road trip, know what im sayin? like shit man. heres a copy pasta: What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.
67 7/1/2014 17:10:17 ProInfernape Mega Man Zero 4 Any% (Easy) 1:30:00 July 19th I most likely wont be able to do any runs but just in case i'm submitting games anyway (because i'm just that stupid) Option 2
68 7/1/2014 17:13:04 ProInfernape Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters (Rescue Roll, Proto Man) 7:00 July 19th Option 2
69 7/1/2014 17:14:15 ProInfernape Pokemon Yellow (Save Corruption) 5:00 July 19th Option 2
70 7/1/2014 17:15:30 ProInfernape Contra (Low%) (30 Lives Code) 25:00 July 19th Option 2
71 7/2/2014 0:25:52 heeheex2 peggle extreme 20 mins any time yo nigga, Option 2
72 7/2/2014 0:35:33 SSZ_Chunks Gunman Clive PB is 29:04 18, 20-22 Only able to run at night because I have people at place during day. Also Mecha Train is basically the worst. Can only do nights later than 9PM so rip. Option 2
73 7/2/2014 0:37:40 Dugongue Disney's Magical Quest 3 35 minutes Any day, any time besides 12PM-5PM PST AI RABU MIKKII MAUSU
74 7/2/2014 0:40:56 Dugongue Quiz & Dragons 43 minutes Any day, any time besides 12PM-5PM PST Arcade based Quiz game by Capcom with outdated questions about late-80s TV shows and Sports teams. lol
75 7/2/2014 0:44:12 glaedrlol armorgames.com 2 hours any time past 10pm central time this is gonna be hype Option 2
76 7/2/2014 0:47:48 glaedrlol l4d2 all campaigns 3 hours any time past 11pm central time i really fucking suck at this game Option 2
77 7/2/2014 0:48:22 Jelatinz 100% Orange Juice Good Question anytime nigga QP's Scenario Option 2
78 7/2/2014 13:53:45
79 7/2/2014 13:55:09 i do what the fuck i want happyland 10 wherever donation incentive for me to take a dick pic
80 7/2/2014 14:02:44 Cyberdemon531 Megaman X6 i dunno i never watched the run lmao this joke is falling apart *** you cunt Option 2
81 7/2/2014 14:02:49 holy SHIT DUDE MY EARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
82 7/2/2014 16:10:47 Almanarkanobender CrAsH TeAm RaCiNg like an hour
83 7/2/2014 16:16:54 Almarkowbender Crash Team Racing like an hour monday before 4 pm literally cant do my run if the marathon gets cut short
Option 2
84 7/2/2014 16:18:10 gravekid0107 megaman x2 8 mavericks 1:00:00 anytime pb 51:32 SoB 17:31 Option 2
85 7/2/2014 16:18:11 gravekid0107 megaman x2 8 mavericks 1:00:00 anytime pb 51:32 SoB 17:31 Option 2
86 7/2/2014 17:07:26 haha shut the fuck up Sleeping Dogs idk fuck you i mean yeah im a fuckin beast and you probably thought hey lambent cant finish a game, but ill fuckin stomp on all you non believers. I am the literal god of gaming so if you think you can stop me then ill fucking ddos this marathon and laugh as you cry yourself to sleep, nerd.
87 7/2/2014 17:32:20 Twitch.tv/virtualboyness Paper Mario (All Cards) 4:15 Any time. Would prefer between 6 and 12 PM I'm a pretty good PM All Cards player. PB is a 3:57
88 7/2/2014 17:32:51 Twitch.tv/virtualboyness Paper Mario (All Cards) 4:15 Any time. Would prefer between 6 and 12 PM I'm a pretty good PM All Cards player. PB is a 3:57
89 7/2/2014 18:46:25 DarkShibara Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD 20:00.00 July 20th I work at 5 am and don't get back until 5 pm. EST
I suck at video games but this is an easy speed game.
Time begins selecting the first stage and ends when the last level's end results pop up.
The best time for me to run is between 6pm and 8pm.
Weather here is dumb so the power may go out.
I can only stream while connected to my internet wired so if my dad takes the router I'm fucked.
Also my computer sucks so the stream may look like shit.
Let me know by Skype or Twitch message, they have the same username.
90 7/2/2014 21:36:03 race_out Super Mario 64 an hour or so Any time between 10am-10pm EST. I'm not that great. just signing up because the post on reddit said i could. i'm sure you get like 50 mario 64 submissions so feel free to pick someone better than me lol
91 7/2/2014 22:26:14 gari super metroid 50 minutes any time
92 7/2/2014 23:25:13
93 7/3/2014 0:38:01 tk_mze Alien Trilogy 35:00 19th or 20th During or after midnight is the best time for me ( I live in USA Central Time ) You have anything discuss just contact me.
94 7/3/2014 0:58:51 Margret Thatcher OoT any% 15:20:13 12th of July I rly hope you uys ad me to teh urn
This better not end up on that gay weed site.
95 7/3/2014 3:28:13 orsa x5 1:05:00 After 9pm (est) on 19th or 20th boomWhale Option 2
96 7/3/2014 3:29:01 orsa hitman blood money 1:00:00 After 9pm (est) on 19th or 20th estimate is very generous, run has tons of RNG; Pro/SA run Option 2
97 7/3/2014 11:55:45 Tony Billy 1:45:00 21/22 Race with Longravioli Option 2
98 7/3/2014 16:28:16 Tairaa Half-Life 2 2:05:00 Anytime New Engine, Scriptless, 5135 Engine, Shitty source game, pls don't accept this game
99 7/3/2014 16:31:12 Tairaa Void 5:00 Anytime This is a really short source game, honestly don't select this game to be played unless you need a time filler.
100 7/3/2014 16:49:38 Chibi Banjo and Kazooie 3 hours 18 July - 21 July My first speedrun
101 7/3/2014 19:32:22 Jelatinz Plants vs. Zombies 8:00:00 anytime nigga any% Option 2
102 7/3/2014 20:00:13 Jelatinz The Amazing Spiderman 5:00:00 anytime nigga any% human modo Option 2
103 7/4/2014 20:56:32 cptabearica Megaman X7 1:10:00 19 July Dont get banned so we can keep this WR run this time.
104 7/4/2014 21:13:52 Cirno_chokes_your_dick Mega Man X6 1 hour to 1 and a half 19th is best, any day works though Dashless% maybe a race with Cybernerd
Tfw no loli gf Option 2
105 7/4/2014 22:14:28 PvtCb Doshin the Meme 1:30 Whenever at night I guess What's a good new meme I can use during the Doshin run? Option 2
106 7/4/2014 23:26:36 LP3Cinema 007: Agent Under Fire 1 hour preferably afternoons Donation Incentive for Frankies Butthole
107 7/4/2014 23:29:28 LP3Cinema Nicktoons Unite 2:45:00 preferably afternoons Donation Incentive To Bully Sparox (accompanied by Gravekid)
108 7/4/2014 23:31:34 Rhuller (James) Conker's Bad Fur Day Roughly 2 hours. July 20th Nope.
109 7/5/2014 12:33:37 Izraill minecraft 30minutes in the afternoon It's not a marathon if it doesn't have Izraill playing minecraft. Option 2
110 7/5/2014 15:20:11 cyberdemon531 dick sucking how ever long u want ;) whenever ;) http://xhamster.com/movies/97680/open_house_part_1.html Option 2
111 7/5/2014 15:20:55 unusualcook Crash Team Racing 1 hour 10 minutes Sometime late on 18th or 19th if possible
112 7/5/2014 15:21:30 Witswik Boshy 3 years July 20th Hit me up on Twitch, and we'll go over the details Option 2
113 7/5/2014 15:24:09 Whale Bay I don't speedrun I let's play paper mario ^_^ I dunno like 10 hours or something Any time where I'm not fucking Yashi at AGDQ or shoving food down my gullet is ok! ur a faget Option 2
114 7/5/2014 16:52:59 stingray some meme game like 40 min like 11 pm - 3 am EST anyday nude dice Option 2
115 7/5/2014 17:25:09 Tairaa Dora Pony Adventure Fucking like 6 minutes anytime This game sucks im cool for runing dora category is fucking any%
116 7/5/2014 17:29:25 ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao
117 7/5/2014 17:30:14 ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao
118 7/5/2014 17:30:22 ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao
119 7/5/2014 17:30:28 ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao
120 7/5/2014 17:41:45 Roflmastur Carmageddon possibly 2:30:00 20th to the 22nd this game is violent dont watch if ur 12 im talking about u jelatinz Option 2
121 7/6/2014 17:11:21 Handonium Kirby's Dream Land Extra Game 16:00 max Whenever Kirby is cute
122 7/7/2014 15:38:17 batsugun idk whenever hi
123 7/8/2014 18:18:41 cosmowright ZZT dunno you fucking cunt any time i may pull out (not like i did with your mom loma), at any given time.
i may not.
send me a twitch pm
124 7/8/2014 19:07:39 Tairaa Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 2:20:00 Anytime Reminder jltn told me to do this so if this run turns into gay black people sucking eachother off blame it on him Option 2
125 7/8/2014 19:15:19 Jelatinz WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! 8:00:00 anytime nigga hundo percento modo
gonna kill my self during this run
we in dis Option 2
126 7/8/2014 20:06:04 kill yourself butt plug adventures dude long dong tomorrow mybackhurts Option 2
127 7/8/2014 23:27:33 Chewkey Need For Speed Rivals, Sony Playstation 4 Entertainment Console 1 Hour Any day after 1 AM and before 7 AM I will be racing multiple users on multiplayer.
128 7/9/2014 22:17:07 FaggotAssassin The Legend of Zelda: Lampshade 1 minute Anytime you want bb
129 7/11/2014 0:33:36 Soup Dragon The Witcher 3 forever now till november do it
130 7/11/2014 18:51:21 ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao ayy lmao Option 2
131 7/11/2014 21:01:22 Neon-kunt the legend of zelda skyward sword 14 hours 8am-12am any day this could take 10-14 hours depending on me being dum
132 7/12/2014 20:04:00 siglemic sm64 2hr 22nd
133 7/14/2014 6:47:59 A big guy for you OF COURSHE crashing this plane A lot of loyalty for a hired speedrunner |
We're still two months away from real games, but it's never too early to examine the hot seat.
Every NFL head coach is under pressure to succeed, but a short list of hired hands face particularly tough scenarios. Here's our pick of men already staring down the barrel in July:
Jim Tomsula has massive shoes to fill
No team has endured a rockier offseason than the San Francisco 49ers. A rash of player retirements, the loss of Frank Gore, a weakened offensive line and a very public breakup with former coach Jim Harbaugh has left the team spiraling in the NFC West.
Ownership opted to raise up in-house favorite Jim Tomsula to steer the ship, but keeping the Niners afloat won't be easy. Facing a rugged intra-division schedule and games against the AFC North, San Francisco is a candidate to fall off a cliff this autumn. Fans, media and players want to see instant proof that Tomsula has the requisite tools to guide an NFL team after an offseason of bizarre press conferences and questionable roster moves.
The good news is that people who know Tomsula swear by him. The bad news? None of that matters if the Niners stage a massive implosion. I can't think of an uglier situation for a coach facing huge expectations from an antsy and agitated fan base. Good luck, sir. -- Marc Sessler
Improvement at QB key for Jay Gruden
Gruden's first year as head coach spun violently off a cliff. His handling of Robert Griffin III seemed erratic -- with his public criticisms of the starting quarterback unheard of in the NFL, even if true. Playing quarterback roulette helped no one and kept his offense out of synch all season. The defense was even worse, allowing receivers to jaunt unimpeded across the secondary.
In Year 2, Gruden must show management some semblance of progress. Owner Daniel Snyder is not shy about firing coaches, and new general manager Scot McCloughan didn't hire Gruden -- never a good thing for a coach. Whether he sticks with RGIII or moves to Kirk Cousins or Colt McCoy, Gruden must find a quarterback who can run his offense this year as he likely won't have another whirl if his spin fails in 2015.
McCloughan spent the offseason beefing up the trenches, so Gruden and his staff -- including new defensive coordinator Joe Barry -- must show progress in building a tough program. Gruden must also display that he's matured in his second year on the job, keeping some of the laundry from being aired publicly.
Most important, the Redskins must climb out of the cellar of the NFC East. A third straight year at the bottom will spell doom for Gruden's future. -- Kevin Patra
It's time for Tom Coughlin to win
At some point, Tom Coughlin is going to have to show again he can coach in the regular season. He has coached as many 10-win teams since 2009 as Brad Childress. The Giants don't want to ever fire Coughlin, but it's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have to retire if the Giants fail to produce a winning season. Re-hiring Steve Spagnuolo sounds like a good idea, but also sounds like a last gasp for an organization trying to recapture what made them great eight years ago. If Spags can't work his magic, Eli Manning will likely be playing for a new head coach in 2016 for the first time in his career. -- Gregg Rosenthal
Ken Whisenhunt's fate linked to Marcus Mariota
When you draft a hopeful franchise quarterback like Ken Whisenhunt just did, the clock immediately starts ticking. No, he will not be let go after one season if the Marcus Mariota experiment doesn't work out. But he will be under an incredibly powerful magnifying lens that can often alter the tenure of a head coach relatively new to the city.
If Mariota's first year is subpar, the offense will be blamed. Then the receivers, the line and the backs. The personnel department will take a hit for not surrounding Mariota with power spread players and, before you know it, everyone is clamoring for someone to come in that has experience with guys like Mariota. It's a doomsday scenario, of course, but one can bet Whisenhunt knew what he was getting himself into when he helped turn in the draft card. -- Conor Orr
Teflon Joe needs results
Sometimes I forget that Joe Philbin still has a job. Most coaches in the NFL get a pink slip if they can't crack the postseason in three seasons on the job, and yet there he is. Teflon Joe is a survivor. In 2015, he'll take the reins of a Dolphins team with real expectations after signing Ryan Tannehill to a fat new extension and handing Ndamukong Suh the most guaranteed money ever for a defensive free agent. The Dolphins should be competitive in an increasingly feisty AFC East, and Philbin is unlikely to continue to receive the benefit of the doubt if Miami again bobs at the .500 mark. -- Dan Hanzus
The latest Around The NFL Podcast features the triumphant return of Dan Hanzus and discusses the biggest mysteries heading into training camp. |
Christopher Boyce is a good sport. He's howling with laughter at the tiny snowman on the table just outside his front door, happy to indulge a visitor bent on shooting a photo of him with it and his falcon.
He eases into an outdoor chair, snow covering the lawn of his home in the high desert flats of central Oregon. The bird perches on his gloved hand. The snowman wears a tiny carrot nose.
Click.
The falcons and the snowman.
Wearing a sweatshirt in the sub-freezing weather, Boyce is the spy who'd just as soon come in from the cold. Nearly 40 years after he was caught selling U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union, he remains one of the most notorious figures in American espionage.
Christopher Boyce, who prefers to be called Chris, agreed to pose with his falcon "Higher Power" and a little snowman at his home in the high-desert flats of central Oregon.
Boyce stole U.S. satellite documents and other classified files from the California defense contractor TRW Inc. and sold them to Soviet spies. The KGB code-named him Falcon, a sobriquet that made him famous in a book (1979) and movie (1985) both titled, "The Falcon and the Snowman."
The tale of the Falcon soared again last year, when journalists drew parallels between Boyce and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
How the Falcon happened to land in snowy Terrebonne with the hero of his life – a woman we'll call the Surfer – is an epic love story.
...
It began in the early 1980s, a time of big hair, big glasses and big ideas.
The Surfer, a paralegal living in San Diego, was intrigued by "The Falcon and the Snowman." She felt sorry for Boyce's co-defendant, Andrew Daulton Lee, characterized in Robert Lindsey's book as an unrepentant heroin dealer (the "Snowman"), a short, big-eared, acne-scarred young man soundly rejected by women.
She wrote Lee in hopes of helping him get out of prison early.
Lee and Boyce had grown up as best friends and altar boys on California's majestic Palos Verdes Peninsula. As young men in the mid-1970s, they took different career paths -- Boyce worked as a file clerk with top-secret clearance at TRW, and Lee sold drugs -- before throwing in together in the business of espionage in 1975.
Boyce, given access to CIA cables at TRW, was so enraged by the reach of U.S. surveillance that he fought back. He smuggled top-secret documents out of the TRW vault and passed them to Lee, who – between drug deals – couriered them to Mexico City and sold them to the KGB.
The government arrested Boyce and Lee in 1977 and tried them for espionage. Boyce got a 40-year prison term, and Lee got life. Both had the possibility for parole.
The Surfer made friends with Lee and Boyce through prison mail in the early 1980s. She offered Lee her paralegal services, free of charge, in hopes of helping him win early release.
Her first contact with Boyce was a pitch to help her with Lee's case, asking a series of questions about Lee's culpability in their crimes. Boyce responded with a friendly letter wishing his old friend well. But he told the Surfer he had nothing useful to offer.
Their correspondence continued, sparked by shared youths in Southern California, books, nature and critters. Soon they were pen pals. As the years piled up, they grew close. So close the Surfer hatched a plan to help Boyce win a parole date.
He was intrigued but fatalistic. His criminal record was a train wreck.
Two years after the government locked him up for espionage, Boyce broke out of a prison in Lompoc, Calif. He funded his 19-month run with a string of armed bank robberies, then got an additional 28 years tacked onto his sentence after he was caught in Port Angeles, Wash.
"I didn't think the government would ever turn me loose," he says. "Ever."
Still, he enjoyed flirting with the Surfer by U.S. mail. She sent a photo, showing a willowy 6-foot redhead with blue eyes, high cheekbones, and legs turned sinewy by long days carving up waves on her short board.
In the late 1980s, the Surfer – now married and deeply immersed in helping Lee – continued to write Boyce. But she was losing hope she could help him get out. In her mind, it would take a team of lawyers, not a solitary paralegal.
"What do you tell somebody? 'Yeah, someday I'll be able to fight for your release'? Well, I couldn't do that," she recalls. "I wasn't going to offer anybody hope like that. It wouldn't have been fair."
So she wrote him a kiss-off letter.
Boyce was stung but also felt a measure of relief. Now he had license to quit hoping for a miracle. It was easier to turn off the world outside the walls, put his head down and do his time.
...
The Surfer wrote Boyce again in April 1995 to say Lee would be out by 1997. She asked: What about you?
She was now divorced, living at the beach in San Francisco, still a hard-charging paralegal. She told Boyce she wanted to go full bore to help him put together a winning parole packet.
Boyce played along.
"The more we corresponded and talked to each other on the phone, the more she started to share her life with me," Boyce says. "The things she did. Surfing. She was like my window to the world. I just started to feel closer and closer to her."
Boyce figured he'd probably lose his bid for release. But he was desperate to keep her in his life. He began to think of her as his girlfriend.
It's not uncommon for inmates to fall for a pen pal. But it was highly out of character for the Surfer. She began to question herself: "You're about to give up everything that you are to be in love with this guy that is a felon?"
The Falcon and the Surfer worked through much of 1996. They collected evidence of his good deeds and contrition to market him as a reformed man.
A key piece of evidence in Boyce's favor was his appearance before a Senate subcommittee trying to find ways to prevent espionage on U.S. soil. He testified in 1985, the so-called Year of the Spy, in which eight people – including the notorious Soviet mole John A. Walker Jr. – were caught.
"I only wish, Senators, that before more Americans take that irreversible step, they could know what I know, that they are bringing themselves heartaches more heavy than a mountain," Boyce told them.
What he didn't tell them is that he never felt like a traitor. He felt like a man who loved his country and mourned its loss of liberty. He hated what he thought of as the government's "surveillance state." So he had punished his nation by selling its secrets to its key Cold War enemy.
...
On Oct. 19, 1996, the Surfer's doctor delivered terrible news. She had an invasive form of breast cancer, lobular carcinoma. She underwent a radical mastectomy but declined chemotherapy.
"I knew if I did chemo, I wouldn't be able to put together Chris' parole packet," she says. "He was counting on me, and I was not going to deny him."
The Surfer submitted Boyce's request for parole in February 1997.
On March 24, 1997, a parole examiner took Boyce's testimony inside the walls of a maximum-security prison in Oak Park Heights, Minn. He soon recommended that Boyce be released after five more years.
The U.S. Parole Commission turned him down that April and set his next parole hearing for 2012. He would be 59.
The next month, the Surfer flew to Minnesota. She had laid eyes on Boyce just once before, from the gallery of a Seattle courtroom just after his 1981 recapture. She remembered his good looks and now would see how the years had treated him.
A corrections officer gave Boyce an interview room for a professional visit with his paralegal. When they met, he grabbed her and kissed her hard. The Surfer kissed him back.
"I don't think you're supposed to kiss your legal help," the officer said.
She visited five days in a row, then cried much of the way home.
The following month, the Surfer filed Boyce's appeal.
On Sept. 25, 1997, Boyce called her at home in San Francisco. He made small talk, asked about the surfing, the weather, her dogs. Then, as if an afterthought, he mentioned he had gotten a letter from the Parole Commission.
The Surfer launched a fusillade.
"We're gonna fight this," she told him. "In 24 months, we'll do the whole thing over again."
Boyce waited until she exhausted her venom. He read her the final line of the letter. He'd be out in 4½ years.
She had done it.
Boyce heard her voice seize. She was blubbering. A line of men stood behind Boyce at the bank of phones, and he did his best to hide the tears burning down his cheeks.
"I was no longer dead," he says. "There was reason to go on."
...
Boyce served his final two years at the government's medium-security prison in Sheridan.
On Sept. 16, 2002, his keepers cut him loose and ordered him to report that night at a halfway house in San Francisco for the last months of his sentence.
His parents drove down from their home in Washington's Gig Harbor and picked him up at the flagpole in front of the prison. Boyce remembers hugging his dad hard. His betrayals had deeply wounded the old man, a former FBI agent whose connections got him the job at TRW.
Boyce remembers the drive to the Portland airport. The sky was gray, and they passed fields of green and gold.
"I got complete sensory overload," he says. "I'm talking to my dad. I'm his son again after 25 years."
The Surfer was waiting for him at San Francisco International Airport. Boyce came down the ramp all by himself, and they kissed like teenagers.
As they strolled together toward her Ford Explorer, she noticed him craning his neck.
"Are you checking out my butt?"
"Well, yeah," he said.
...
The Surfer's real name was Kathleen Mills, but Boyce called her Cait.
They were married Oct. 12, 2002, by a certified minister wearing Spock ears for a Star Trek convention. A week later, they made it public in a ceremony in the Redwoods. Cait Boyce wore a Vera Wang dress she found on sale. Chris' entire family came. It marked the first time they had all been together since his arrest.
Cait's cancer recurred twice, but she kept powering through life. She surfed and took long runs at Golden Gate Park. She loved her home, her friends and the city's world-famous restaurants.
But California felt like a haunted place to Chris, where the ghost of his youth spied for the Soviets and busted out of Lompoc. As a man old enough to be his ghost's father, he found he still needed solitude. And falcons.
The snowman and the falcon outside the front door of Christopher and Cait Boyce's home in Terrebonne, Oregon.
The Surfer understood. In 2004, they bought a home in Terrebonne, a town that straddles U.S. 97 on the sagebrush flats north of Redmond. Boyce took a job at a local airstrip.
Cait's cancer returned. She suffered through radiation treatments five days a week and took medication that made her bones ache. Chris made them dinner every night and feigned good cheer but took long walks in the woods, petrified he might lose her.
In 2012, Cait's cancer went into remission.
She and Chris teamed up with Utah writer Vince Font on their book: "American Sons: The Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman." The Boyces found the process a staggering purge of crime and punishment, old wounds and sickness, hate and recriminations.
In the end, they were left with love and each other.
"I don't know anyone whose wife saved his life like Cait saved mine," Boyce says. "That has always been the greatest demonstration of love that anyone has ever given me in my life. Cait gave me my life back."
-- Bryan Denson |
Chris Cowdrey stands next to the new tree at Tuesday's ceremony
The tree stood just inside the boundary at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury and became a famous landmark.
The new one would have been planted by club president Brian Luckhurst, but he died from cancer on 1 March.
Former Kent and England skipper Chris Cowdrey said the ceremony would go ahead as "Lucky would have wanted it".
He added: "The show must go on... we'll try and make it a celebration rather than a sad occasion."
At the ceremony Mr Cowdrey read a poem called Farewell the St Lawrence Lime which was written by a Kent fan shortly after he heard the news of its demise.
Inevitable
A tree planted by the club in 1999 outside the boundary ropes was simply moved to the site of the old tree.
It had been planted because the club knew that one day the inevitable would come and the original would have to be replaced.
Mr Cowdrey said he had originally hoped the club would raise enough money for a full-sized tree to be planted instead.
The ground opened in 1847, built around the lime tree. When it was hit by a ball, the batting side scored four runs.
The club knew the tree, which stood more than 100ft tall at its peak, was in ill health in the late 1990s and had it pollarded to encourage growth. |
I told my SS about my love of books my dogs and coffee. And SS delivered! My pups have already eaten some of their new cookies and the are so happy about them. Next I got a pocket reading journal which is great because I try to keep track of when I finish books and I usually forget or I forget what the last book i read was about. Next and my husband is most excited for this, the toilet coffee mug. He immediately filled it up to use it. Finally was a mini coloring cards with blessings on them. My partner and I color at work all the time to pass time on night shift so it will be nice to color meaningful things to hang up. |
The Magickal Union of East and West: The Spiritual Path to New Aeon Tantra, by Gregory Peters
Llewellyn Worldwide, 9780738740447, 177 pp. (incl. appendices, glossary, and index), 2014
Gregory Peters was a student of Phyllis Seckler (Soror Meral), and New Aeon Tantra, a system which merges Aleister Crowley‘s Thelema with Buddhism and tantra, was developed for the Ordo Sunyata Vajra, an order Peters founded in 1999.
Though the practices Peters outlines in The Magickal Union of East and West rely on a Thelemic framework, he clearly states that they are not tied to Thelema, and may be used by other practitioners. That said, this is not an introductory text — a background in ceremonial magick is assumed, and even a passing familiarity with eastern systems would go a long way.
Many of the introductory practices follow a typical yogic regimen: hatha yoga, surya namascar, lunar adorations, as well as selecting a goddess to work with. (Though Peters doesn’t go into detail about how one should either choose a goddess, or find a goddess who would choose the practitioner; in place he offers a brief list of popular goddesses and their mantras.) Peters’ notes on dietary considerations are refreshingly forgiving, as they allow the practitioner to discover and use a dietary model that best suits their body’s needs, rather than proscribe constraints. Perhaps this is in light of the axiom from The Book of the Law, which states that the word of sin is restriction.
On the Thelemic side, rites are given for Thelemic Refuge, a method of protection and psychic armour, invoking Nuit and Hadit, along with a wonderfully lucid introduction to Thelema and its specialized terminology, such as the aeons, true will, and agape. Peters delves into Aleister Crowley’s influences and earlier models, such as Francois Rabelais and Saint Augustine of Hippo, and acknowledges that Thelema transcends Crowley, suggesting that “eventually something will come along to replace Thelema,” and notes that “gnosis is not static, not locked into a particular model from history.”
In the meantime, Peters uses Liber al vel Legis as a central text, quoting liberally from it, and actually works to make sense of it, demonstrating how it fits into his philosophy of New Aeon Tantra, such as with the three root vows, which will already be familiar to any Thelemite: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law; Love is the law, love under will; and To Me.
Peters’ description of the practical work involved in New Aeon Tantra is well grounded, and he links tantric tools with their ceremonial counterparts, though he does assume a working knowledge of kabbalah and Crowley’s Thoth Tarot. There are numerous rites and dedications: the Lantern of Thebes, a middle pillar rite; the Vajra Tower, a ritual of purification, consecration and connection to the higher self; the Midnight Sun, a rite of energization, invocation; and a myriad of others that serve to deepen one’s practice.
All of these practices serve as preparation leading towards the Diamond Sapphire Gem of Radiant Light, the central rite of New Aeon Tantra, and the primary outer rite of the Ordo Sunyata Vajra. This final rite is intended for groups, but can be modified for solitary use, and is deemed suitable for practitioners of any skill or experience, though those with some grounding in ritual practice will likely benefit more from it.
Although the Diamond Sapphire rite is informed by Thelema, unlike the Ordo Templi Orientis‘ Gnostic Mass, this rite has no set roles based on gender or sexual orientation. That said, it does assume a “male-female polarity,” which may be uncomfortable for some practitioners.
There are a few other cultural biases that jar, such as Peters’ description of zen as a “mutation” of ch’an, while Thelema is described as “an advanced synthesis and evolution of what came before it.” It may also be worth pointing out that, of course, Thelema is not actually “stripped of all non-essentials and cultural trappings,” as described. Rather it appropriates and “mutates” ancient Egyptian mythologies, among others, in building its pantheon.
Despite these caveats, Gregory Peters has done a remarkable job in synthesizing a new tantric model that’s easy to understand and work with, and The Magickal Union of East and West is a wonderful addition to the growing body of literature on Thelemic tantra. The essential reading list and list of further reading will be helpful to those wanting to learn more about the system and its roots.
Image credit: peaceful jp scenery
Footnotes: |
It has been brought to the mods attention that ableist language is a problem in this forum. Hopefully this will inform everyone and clear some things up.
What is Ableism?
For those who are uniformed, what is Ableism? Lets first find that handy dictionary:
[< ABLE adj. + -ISM suffix, after RACISM n., SEXISM n.2, etc. Compare ABLEIST adj., and also earlier ABLED adj. 2, ABLED n.] orig. U.S. Discrimination in favour of able-bodied people; prejudice against or disregard of the needs of disabled people.
"I'm not in favor of that!" You might say, but lets remember that speech is an action that can either be used to oppress or liberate. It is easy to forget that when we speak, we act. Using words like "crazy" to refer to something bad implies that having that disability is a mistake or failing, rather than an uncontrollable factor (Can you control your race? Same idea).
Examples
Lets look at some examples:
First,
Those Capitalists, they are so crazy!
By using the word "Crazy" to refer to groups that the user disagrees with, it is implied (whether he/she knows it or not) that being "crazy" (mentally disabled) is bad.
Second,
This thread is so lame!
You might not know it, but some words that are in the modern vernacular are ableist. In this example, lame is used. "Lame" is used to refer to people with mobility disabilities. Here, the user is using "lame" to describe the inferior quality of the thread, and implies that "lame" people carry similar qualities.
What Can I do to stop this/what other words can I use?
First, you need to know which words are ableist, and which are not. Once you have that figured out, then you need to stop using Ableist speech, and urge others to stop using it as well. Moderators will be paying attention to Ableist language and banning it from now on.
It might be hard to discern which words are ableist, and which are not, but there are many resources available on the internet:
Here are some of my favorites:
Asinine Insipid Vapid confused mislead uniformed the eye of satan's butthole
Starmeleon approved:
Starmeleon has been informed that these may be ableist, so they are now cancelled. Please alert the moderators to any other ableist speech. fool obtuse
Again: Moderators have been alerted to this issue, and will be sure to ban ableist speech in the future, as it is oppressive (and against the rules).
Don't fuck this up or else we'll switch to newspeak. |
America may have recovered handily from the Great Recession, and the bull market may now be five years old, but in no way should America think that it is remotely immune or even insulated from the next economic shock. It remains a fact that Americans just have too small a nest egg in savings — many with little or no savings and investments whatsoever.
A report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), which is collected on employees who participate or have the option to participate in retirement plans, says they just are not doing enough. Many metrics of the population as a whole have improved, but a whopping 36% of workers said they have less than $1,000 in savings. That figure was 28% in 2013.
To show how there is a huge split, the title of the EBRI’s 2014 Retirement Confidence Survey is even “Confidence Rebounds — for Those With Retirement Plans.”
It turns out that if a worker or his or her spouse have no retirement plan — an IRA, 401(k) or the like — then they are at an exponentially higher risk of falling into the no-savings category. That would be 73%, likely versus only 11% if they did have a retirement program.
The EBRI further went on to show that of the households with less than $35,000 income per year, some 68% have savings of less than $1,000.
Here is where the real shocker is: even further up the scale. Of all participants who have saved for retirement, some 38% of workers in a plan reported having savings of less than $25,000.
Some additional factoids are as follows:
Some 58% of workers and 44% of retirees report having a problem with their level of debt.
Overall retirement confidence is atrocious, even after improving: 18% are now very confident, up from 13% in 2013; 37% are somewhat confident; and 24% are not at all confident, versus 28% in 2013.
Here is why retirement planning (and savings) is so important: 90% of workers participating in a retirement plan had saved for retirement, while only one in five workers without a retirement plan managed to save for retirement.
The reason for not saving is universally cited, with 53% of workers citing this: the cost of living and day-to-day expenses.
So if the majority in the lower income brackets have less than $1,000 in savings, what will happen to them in the next recession or economic shock? |
The Cape ground squirrel takes sex very seriously. For the males, the scrotum is about 20% of their body length, and the penis is twice as long; if you don’t believe me, this particular image will probably change your mind – but be warned ! It will be burned onto your brain for quite a while.
Thing is, if you’re a male squirrel, you obviously want to make as many little squirrels as you can, so if you want to maximize your chances, you have to make sure it’s your sperm that fertilizes the female eggs (because we all know just how easy female squirrels are). So you make a whole lot of sperm – hence the big… testicles. But if their sperm is so valuable, why would they waste it by choking the chicken masturbating ? And even more interesting, how does a squirrel masturbate ? I’ll let Jane Waterman, an expert (in squirrels, not the other thing), tell you about it:
“An oral masturbation was recorded when a male sat with head lowered and an erect penis in his mouth, being stimulated with both mouth (fellatio) and forepaws (masturbation), while the lower torso moved forward and backwards in thrusting motions, finally culminating in an apparent ejaculation, after which the male appeared to consume the ejaculate.”
In case you didn’t know, lots of mammals masturbate, including primates and rodents. In every case the question remains – why waste the sperm ? The obvious answer is the classic one: males are horny, females aren’t. But there are alternate theories that spark particular interest; one of them suggests that maybe they flush out old sperm to make way for better and faster… cadets. But Waterman has another idea, at least when it comes to Cape ground squirrels; and she should know, after spending two thousand hours spying on them with a pair of binoculars and noting every sexual interaction between them.
Her notes suggest that squirrels masturbate more often when the females are in the mating period, and that dominant ones do it more often than subordinates (now that’s something). What’s even more surprising, those who have had sex do it more often than the unlucky ones; and they do it after sex, which rules out the ‘sperm cleansing’ theory, in which they would do it before. So she concluded that masturbating can’t actually be some sort of signal, it had to be something else.
The conclusion she came to ? It’s an act of self medication. They do it to clean their genitals and thus lower the risk of a sexually transmitted infection. It explains (read this in a crazy scientist voice) EVERYTHING ! They could do it by urinating, but since they live in desert areas, it’s pretty hard to lose water just like that, so masturbating is the next best thing. Now that’s something to ponder while reading squirrel stories to your kid.
Pictures 1 2
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With “Pitch Perfect 2,” Ms. Kendrick may add another accomplishment to her résumé. The PG-13 sequel, which finds the misfit Barden Bellas squaring off against a German a cappella group called Das Sound Machine, represents the first time Ms. Kendrick has anchored a summer blockbuster. Based on the enormous response to “Pitch Perfect,” which took in $113 million worldwide during the fall of 2012, spawned a hit soundtrack and became a sensation on DVD, Universal Pictures dropped the sequel into the May major leagues.
To compete with behemoths like “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Pitch Perfect 2” dials up the razzmatazz in the weird world of college a cappella competitions — an activity, as the movie puts it, “for girls all over the country too ugly to be cheerleaders.” This time, the plot turns on a catastrophic wardrobe malfunction suffered by a Barden Bella known as Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson). Barred from competing in the United States, the group tries to redeem itself overseas.
But “Pitch Perfect 2” — part “Animal House” with women, part “Glee” goes to college, part “Bring It On” — was not an idea that immediately thrilled Ms. Kendrick. She started thinking about critical washouts like “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” and “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “getting understandably nervous because comedy sequels are really hard to pull off,” she said.
In the end, Ms. Kendrick agreed to reprise Beca, a coolheaded Bellas member who functions as a counter to the ribald high jinks of Fat Amy and crew. The acting challenge was to avoid succumbing to the inevitable bloat of a sequel or what Ms. Kendrick described as “punch-drunk, banana-town land.”
“The machinery was so much more present on the second one,” Ms. Kendrick said. “There’s worrying over product placement and how many deluxe-edition albums are we going to be able to pull out of this one and heightened choreography.” The sequel, which was directed by Elizabeth Banks and has a rather loose definition of a cappella, ahem, cost roughly $29 million to make, about 70 percent more than the original.
Ms. Kendrick said she had relied on the director of the first movie, Jason Moore, and the screenwriter of both films, Kay Cannon, to remain grounded. “I would email Jason and Kay before certain scenes and just get words of wisdom or a little mantra from Kay,” Ms. Kendrick said. “Sometimes it was just great to be reminded by Kay that the Bellas are supposed to be people trying to find their place.” |
Legions of Benedict Cumberbatch fans will be delighted with the news that filming has just got under way for the fourth Sherlock Holmes series. Feature- length episodes are due to hit our screens in the autumn.
With a modern rather than a Victorian setting, the writers had to decide how to tackle the issue of Holmes’s addiction to cocaine and opium when the series began. Steven Moffat said: “I think you’d have to ask the question would a man like Sherlock Holmes be a coke addict today? In Victorian times everybody was taking some kind of drug, largely because there was no such thing as a painkiller. It is a very different thing to say that Sherlock Holmes is a coke addict now.”
It’s an interesting perspective. There has been an explosion in opiate prescribing, especially in North America. US opioid sales quadrupled between 1999 and 2010. This was in part a response to undertreatment of patients receiving palliative care and those with acute pain. However, opioid therapy for chronic musculoskeletal pain, including back pain, also grew substantially and disproportionately. And as US opioid sales quadrupled, admissions to substance misuse treatment programmes and opioid- related overdose deaths also increased fourfold.
Opiate prescribing dates back to Sir Thomas Sydenham, who, in the 1660s, promoted laudanum, a tincture of opium and alcohol. Sir William Osler, a famously cautious prescriber, called it “God’s own medicine”. For the first time doctors had access to a reliable painkiller, a sedative and, because of its tendency to constipate, a useful treatment for diarrhoea.
People bought opiates in much the same way as they buy paracetamol today: patented formulations such as Dover’s powder were kept in the kitchen cupboard. Godfrey’s Cordial or Street’s Infants’ Quietness not only reduced colic in infants but made it easier to sedate children. The intoxicant effects of opium were also appreciated – brewers added it to their products.
Opiates are compounds found naturally in the opium poppy plant Papaver somniferum. Heroin is perhaps the most famous opiate, but there are numerous derivatives including methadone, oxycodone and fentanyl.
Some experts rank heroin as the most addictive drug. It causes the level of dopamine in the brain’s reward system to increase by up to 200 per cent. In addition to being arguably the most addictive drug, heroin is dangerous, too, because the dose that can cause death is only five times greater than the dose required to experience a high.
By 2010, deaths related to prescription opioid overdose had reached 16,500 a year in the US, far exceeding deaths from cocaine or heroin. Deaths from prescription opioids have also increased in the UK. The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) reckon as many as one in four people receiving prescription opioids in a primary-care setting struggles with addiction.
Earlier this year the CDC issued a formal warning to doctors about opiate prescribing. Acknowledging the important role of opiates in relieving suffering for patients with active cancer or others in hospice or palliative care, it noted that “studies are not available to indicate whether opioids control chronic pain well when used long-term”.
In addition to the serious risks of addiction and overdose, the use of prescription opioids can have a number of side effects, even when taken as directed. These include: physical dependence (ie symptoms of withdrawal when the medication is stopped); increased sensitivity to pain; vomiting; drowsiness; itching and sweating; and depression.
No one likes being in chronic pain for months or more. But before you move to a prescribed opiate for non- malignant pain it’s important to discuss with your doctor all pain treatment options. Be open about past or current drug and alcohol use. And have a detailed discussion about the risks and benefits of taking prescription opioids.
Correction: In Medical Matters, April 19th, the title of Viktor Frankl’s book should have read “Man’s Search for Meaning” |
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager in the Hebron district on Wednesday, security and medical sources said.
The sources said the 15-year-old was attempting to cross Israel's separation wall near the southernmost West Bank area of al-Ramadin when Israeli forces shot him dead.
Israeli troops gave him no warning before shooting him, the sources said.
The youth was identified as Yousef Nayif Yousef Shawamrah Abu Akar from the village of Deir al-Asal al-Fauqa south of Hebron.
Israeli forces have yet to deliver his body.
Witnesses said the victim had been foraging for local plants when he was shot, but the army claimed he and two others had been vandalising the security fence.
"Three suspects sabotaged the security fence in Deir al-Asal Atachta, and soldiers at the scene called them to distance themselves and fired warning shots in the air," an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
"After all efforts were exhausted the soldiers fired at the main instigators' lower extremities and a hit was identified."
The victim was evacuated to an Israeli hospital, where he died from his wounds.
But the victim's brother, Abed Shawamreh, 23, denied the army's account and said the teenager had been out looking for gundelia, a thistle-type plant used in cooking.
"Every year, people from the village go out to pick gundelia. Today Yussef went with his friends to pick some in an area close to the wall and the army shot at them. They hit him and arrested two of his friends," he told AFP. |
Israel’s ‘no-go zone’ – created by scorched-earth shelling that has leveled entire neighborhoods – has shrunk Gaza nearly by half.
A colleague in Gaza City’s Tal el Hawa neighborhood reported before dawn this morning that Israeli tank shells were falling all around the apartment building where he and his wife were hunkered in a hallway, contemplating where they could flee come sunrise. Between them and the Mediterranean sea to their west are fewer kilometers than those separating them from Shejaeiya to the east, where days earlier, Israeli tanks had reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble.
“They’re doing to us like they did to Shejaeiya,” my colleague said. Although the sun has barely risen in Gaza and the damage not yet fully surveyed, by all accounts, last night’s bombardment was the fiercest yet in central Gaza—and this time it came from tanks, too.
I strain to grasp the tactic. Hadn’t Benjamin Netanyahu, just hours earlier, forecast further violence by vowing to destroy Hamas tunnels? Never mind that the tunnels had only recently figured into his rationale for what Germany’s largest-circulation daily, Sueddeutsche Seitung, called the “Gaza-krieg.” If “destroying tunnels” was Netanyahu’s casus belli, what on earth were Israeli tanks doing so close to Gaza City, in the heart of the Strip?
And are the tanks there to stay?
As Israel stepped up its shelling of northern and eastern Gaza earlier on Monday, the first day of the Muslim feast marking the end of Ramadan, Netanyahu’s military endgame began to look a lot like what Palestinians feared most – a return to the status quo. Only this time, with the shelling reaching central Gaza, the picture looks far more bleak.
A map published Thursday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs paints the picture, offering a striking visual of what may be Gaza’s new de facto “border.” The map shows an Israeli-imposed “no-go zone” extending three kilometers into the Strip from its northern to southern tips—an area representing 44 percent of Gaza’s total land mass and within which, presumably, Israeli tanks unleashed hell upon Gaza City last night.
If past is precedent, that expanded area will be a virtual shooting gallery for Israeli soldiers long after the present military maneuvers end, and only Palestinians willing to risk life and limb will dare enter. Just ask residents of the eastern and northern Gaza districts abutting Israel. Long before their homes were devastated by shelling, they understood just how lethal their enforced penury was. In the so-called “buffer zone,” which officially extended only 300 meters into Gaza, human rights organizations had documented Israeli snipers firing at Palestinian civilians up to 1.5 kilometers from the border with Israel.
With Israeli troops now enforcing their “no-go” policy in an area twice as deep, Palestinian civilians beyond that zone face a similar and persistent threat, as evidenced last night. In fact, as the OCHA map shows, Palestinians living in the northern three-quarters of Gaza may all be within shooting distance of Israeli snipers. That is certainly the case in Gaza City, where thousands of displaced Palestinian families have sought shelter. UN spokesperson Chris Gunness said yesterday that more than 170,000 Palestinians—or nearly 10 percent of Gaza’s population—were seeking shelter at facilities run by the UN Relief and Works Agency.
Making matters worse, the Israeli military later in the day issued fresh evacuation orders to residents of northern Gaza, raising fears that attacks there would escalate to levels that saw entire neighborhoods leveled in Beit Hanoun and Shejaeiya. And even as more people fled toward Gaza’s center, the military dropped a new flyer on Gaza City, listing names of alleged Hamas members killed by airstrikes and asking, tauntingly, “In your opinion, whose name will be written in the coming publication?” (Palestinian journalist Lara Aburamadan displayed the flyer on Twitter).
Click here for +972′s full coverage of the war in Gaza
The threat came as news broke of yet another attack on a medical facility—this time also in the heart of Gaza City. As NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin reported, the attack struck an outpatient clinic of Gaza’s main hospital, Al Shifa, at around the same time that 10 people, including children playing outside, were killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Shati refugee camp.
The attacks show no sign of abating. Within hours of the Shati attack, Netanyahu called for Hamas to be demilitarized and said that Israel would continue targeting tunnels along its border with Gaza. But with that “border” now nearly halving Gaza’s territory and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forced to cram into central Gaza areas still under bombardment, Netanyahu is clearly targeting far more than tunnels. In fact, his actions are drawing Israel ever farther from a compromise, and it’s hard to imagine Hamas acceding to a ceasefire under these conditions.
Indeed, the group has vowed to continue fighting until Israeli troops leave Gaza and displaced residents return home. That, too, seems like a distant prospect: Even if a ceasefire deal allowed displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, it’s unlikely they would be able to stay there unless the ongoing Israeli embargo is lifted—a key Hamas demand—and they are allowed to rebuild.
All of which brings us back to a lesson John Kerry has already learned: Palestinians in Gaza are fed up with the status quo, and at this point—after bearing the blows of three full-scale Israeli assaults in five years—they have little left to fear. This much is for certain: if the bombing ends tomorrow but the so-called buffer zone remains, Gaza’s resistance will continue. The only question is whether the world will pay attention when today’s massacres become tomorrow’s one-off murders again. If it doesn’t, we can be sure that the massacres will return again soon.
In the meantime, the killing continues.
Related:
Why did Israel reject Kerry’s ceasefire proposal?
Five Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza; Palestinian death toll hits 1,088
Protective Edge: The disengagement undone |
Nokia Lumia 800 White official: Hands-on
Nokia has officially announced the White Lumia 800, the company’s fourth color version of its first Windows Phone 7 handset, and we wasted no time in getting our fondle on. Set to hit shelves later this month, the white variant is functionally identical to the black, cyan and magenta models we’ve already seen – and reviewed – but has a fashionable new finish. Check out our video and full gallery after the cut.
Like the white Nokia N9 before it, the white version of the Lumia 800 is gloss-finish rather than matte. That makes it a little more slippery to hold, though it’s still compact enough to grip neatly in one hand. Glossy phones are usually fingerprint magnets, but the white Nokia manages to hide them reasonably well.
Otherwise it’s the same Lumia 800 we know from before, so you get a 3.7-inch WVGA ClearBlack display, 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera with 720p HD video recording, and a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm processor. OS is Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and Nokia preloads its Nokia Drive app for free turn-by-turn navigation, along with Nokia Music for free streaming music.
Nokia Lumia 800 White hands-on:
[vms a7569d80eee2e035e2bd]
We asked Nokia whether the white Lumia 800 – and the which N9 before it – meant the company had a white version of the Lumia 900 in the pipeline, though it wouldn’t comment. Still, with the production process so similar for the slightly larger, LTE-equipped device, we really wouldn’t be surprised to see a white Lumia 900 show up later in 2012.
Until then, we’ll have to make do with the white 800, though that’s no great hardship. It’s set to go on sale sometime in February, country and network depending. |
It took Ahmed Ismael two years to earn minimum wage in Turkey. Like countless Syrian refugees living in the country, he worked six days a week, 12 hours a day in a textile shop to make about half of the 1,300 Turkish lira (395 euros/ $440) a legal resident would make for doing the same job. Then he got a raise in January.
"Now I can send money to my mom in Aleppo, so she's happy about that," says the 21-year-old as he enjoys a bowl of traditional fatteh from one of three Syrian restaurants in the Basmane plaza, where he is sitting.
Having left Syria after IS surrounded his city, Ismael compares his recent success to that of his older brother, who's been living in Germany for the past few years, has a full-time job, speaks four languages, is married to a German woman, and yet remains unhappy.
"He has everything, but there is still something missing," Ismael said. "He can't adapt to the culture."
This is why Ismael remains in Izmir, where he rents a tiny room in the Basmane district, an area known as the hub for human traffickers selling boat rides to Greece. Although he could buy a spot on a dinghy, the idea of moving to Europe doesn't appeal to him. Instead, he prefers to keep his low-paid job to stay in a culture where he feels comfortable - and he's not alone in his thinking.
Close to home
Of the 2.5 million Syrians living in Turkey, about 85,000 reside in Izmir, according to government data. Mohamed Saleh, director of the Relief Society of Syrian Refugees in Izmir, argues the real number is somewhere around 150,000 and the term 'refugee' is incorrect.
"I don't think of Syrians in Izmir as refugees," Saleh said. "They are just in a waiting room, like in a bus station, waiting to go home."
To make the waiting period a little easier, Saleh founded his organization in 2011 to help refugees find apartments, jobs and schools for their children. His most popular offering is the free Turkish-language course given by volunteer teachers, but overall, his organization's goal is to convince refugees to stay in Turkey by creating avenues for integration.
Saleh tries to accommodate refugees and convince them to stay
"I know [the Syrian] psychology very well, and the answer is to stay in Turkey," Saleh said.
A retired professor from Syria's Kurdish region, Saleh scrolls through messages on his phone from disillusioned refugees who arrived in Europe and now wish to return to Turkey.
"No one wants to speak with us," a friend in Sweden texted him. "We can't even find dogs to talk to."
Others complain about extended periods in refugee camps, bland food, bad weather, and the cold attitudes of some locals after the events in Paris and Cologne.
"They are surprised with reality in Europe and understand now that it's not heaven," Saleh said. "An old proverb says drums sound better from a distance."
As an alternative, Saleh says Izmir is a good home for Syrians because it's relatively safe and more affordable than Istanbul or Ankara. For about 300-400 Turkish lira a month, a family can rent a 20-square-meter apartment here. Quarters are often humid and the roof leaks when it rains, but establishing a new life in Izmir is easier than in other Turkish cities.
'Europe hates us'
The main problem for young refugees is education. Just 10 percent of school-aged Syrians in Izmir attend school on a regular basis, according to Saleh, and he recently struck a deal with UNICEF to fund Arabic-language courses for refugees in seven city schools. The afterschool program is expected to start in March; Saleh is anxious to begin addressing one of the less visible tragedies of the refugee crisis.
"My kids go to school every day, but just listen … they don't do anything," said Maher Mahmood (photo above), an Iraqi refugee. "The lessons are in Turkish and they can't understand the teacher."
Mahmood stirs a Syrian brand of instant coffee into a paper cup as he speaks inside a Basmane café. He sits with his Syrian-Kurdish friend, Abdulrahman Ebrahim. They both have families to support, and they're both out of work.
Stores carrying Syrian products have multiplied in Basmane in recent years
Holding a refugee ID card, Mahmood says he recently moved to Izmir after spending two years in Turkey's Cankiri province, where he worked in masonry six days a week, ten hours a day, for a daily salary of 20 lira (6.10 euros/$7).
"In Iraq, I had two cars, a home and a bakery, but I sold it all," Mahmood said. "I just want my children to live in a safe place."
It's been two years and three months since Mahmood applied for asylum in the United States, and though he receives plenty of ridicule from his friend, Ebrahim, he remains hopeful.
"Europe hates us and America hates us," Ebrahim tells him. "Too many refugees went to Germany and we forced them to hate us."
"Even if they offer me a job in Europe, I will stay here," Ebrahim continued.
Across the street, Faisal, a café worker who didn't want to give his real name, agreed.
"If I go to Europe, I will lose my children," Faisal said. "When a child becomes a teenager, you can't say anything to them. Teenagers in Europe are beyond their parents' control."
"Here we can live the way we've always lived so I accept 25 lira a day to keep my family secure." |
"We're excited to have Antoine Bibeau join our already strong goaltending stable," said Joe Will, Assistant General Manager of the San Jose Sharks. "He adds tremendous depth at an important position, has an incredible amount of American Hockey League experience for such a young man, and has proven he can play at the NHL level."
SAN JOSE - San Jose Sharks ( @SanJoseSharks ) General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the club has signed goaltender Antoine Bibeau to a one-year, two-way contract. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bibeau appeared for the Toronto Maple Leafs in two games last year, his first stint in the National Hockey League, recording a 1-1-0 record with a .927 save percentage and a 1.99 goals-against average.
He spent most of the 2016-17 season with the Toronto Marlies, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he registered a 13-14-5 record with a .894 save percentage and a 3.08 goals-against average. He was tied for 12th place in shutouts amongst all AHL goaltenders with three on the season.
In 104 career AHL games over three seasons with the Toronto Marlies, the 23-year-old tallied a 56-33-11 record with a .906 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average to go along with 10 shutouts.
During the 2013-14 season, Bibeau won the Guy Lafleur Trophy as the Quebec Junior Major Hockey League Playoffs Most Valuable Player after he led the Val-d'Or Foreurs to the 2014 President's Cup (the QMJHL championship). He also won the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as the Memorial Cup's Most Outstanding Goaltender. In addition, he was named to the CHL Memorial Cup All-Star team.
The six-foot-three, 210-pound native of Victoriaville, Quebec was originally drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sixth round (172nd overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft. |
As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney closed a big deficit with a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases, but he never raised tax rates.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Mitt Romney has portrayed himself as a tax cutter when he served as governor of Massachusetts -- slashing taxes 19 times.
His opponent Newt Gingrich and others have said Romney raised taxes.
So which is it?
This is politics, so there is hyperbole on both sides. And there's always disagreement about what can be categorized as a tax increase or cut.
The bottom line is that Romney cut some taxes as governor. But he also faced a big budget deficit when he took office in 2003, so he raised revenue as well. (State tax changes on the way in 2012)
The cuts: Among Romney's cuts was a one-year delay in a capital gains tax increase enacted before he took office. That resulted in a one-time savings of $250 million for Massachusetts taxpayers.
Other tax cuts or breaks Romney gave his stamp of approval to:
--a biotech manufacturing jobs tax rebate;
--prescription drug and property tax relief for seniors;
--tax breaks for commuters and veterans;
--and a deduction for businesses that install automatic sprinkler systems.
He also extended or made permanent some temporary tax breaks and signed into law two sales tax holidays, each of which lasted a day or two.
The Romney campaign did not provide an overall estimate of how much the 19 measures saved taxpayers. And the independent Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation didn't have one.
The new revenue: But since the tax cuts were relatively small, the revenue taxpayers saved was "vastly less" than the roughly $700 million in additional annual revenue the foundation estimates was raised because of other measures Romney signed, according to Michael Widmer, the foundation's president.
Romney's opponents call many of those measures tax increases; he says they weren't tax increases but rather corporate loophole closings and fee increases.
"A loophole is when someone takes advantage of a tax law in a way that wasn't intended by the legislation," Romney said at a campaign stop in Iowa last summer.
He noted that when he took office some Massachusetts banks were calling themselves real estate companies and getting a special tax break intended for real estate enterprises.
"We said no more of that. You're not going to game with the system," Romney said.
Fair enough.
But Romney did more than close loopholes, Widmer said. For example, he noted, the state's revenue commissioner was given unprecedented power to scrutinize corporate returns and decide if a transaction may have been engaged in strictly for the tax benefit rather than a business-related reason.
As for fees and penalties, sometimes they're just that. For instance, Romney increased the penalty for engaging in abusive tax transactions, said Kathleen Thies, a state tax analyst for tax publisher CCH.
But some of Romney's moves were a direct bid to boost revenue, especially in his first year when he needed to close a $2 billion budget gap, Widmer said.
A number of fees affecting individuals went up, including fees on home buyers and various license fees. Romney also proposed several new fees.
"I think there is an argument to be made that these changes were, in fact, tax increases. However, since they were not rate increases per se there is more wiggle room," Thies said.
Indeed, during Romney's tenure, individual and corporate income tax rates did not go up.
The verdict: Gov. Romney cut select taxes while in office. And he even proposed some new tax cuts that didn't pass the legislature -- like a 0.3 percentage point reduction in the 5.3% state income tax rate.
But he also had an obligation to balance the state's budget every year, and when he came into office he was facing a big deficit that he plugged using a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases.
"He solved for a $2.1 billion problem. Half of it came from revenue," Widmer said. "He brought a balanced approach."
The tax plan Romney has proposed in his bid for the White House would preserve today's income tax rates, but also lower investment taxes and eliminate the estate tax. His plan would reduce federal revenue by an estimated $180 billion in 2015 alone, according to a Tax Policy Center analysis. |
“It’s inefficient in some ways, and it’s efficient in others,” the CW chief said of TCA's topic du jour during his turn before the press.
CW President Mark Pedowitz is committed to pilot season.
Much like his broadcast cousin, CBS’ Nina Tassler, Pedowitz used the Television Critics Association press tour Wednesday to show his commitment to the development model. The merits of pilot season have become the topic du jour ever since Fox’s Kevin Reilly used the soapbox Monday to reveal his network's plans to abandon the age-old springtime tradition.
“It’s inefficient in some ways, and it’s efficient in others,” Pedowitz said from stage, noting that the CW has played a slightly different game than his broadcast competitors. With less real estate, he has had to order far fewer pilots and has been able to maintain a particularly high ratio when it comes to series orders. This past year, for instance, five of the younger-skewing network's seven pilots were ordered to series. (Pedowitz, who touted the potential to “learn things” from pilots, suggested he’ll have the same number of pilots this year.)
STORY: 'Wonder Woman' Prequel 'Amazon' Dead at CW
In addition to a buzz-worthy announcement about a Veronica Mars digital spin-off, Pedowitz addressed his increasingly high-concept brand, his plans for Flash and the broadening of his network during his half hour before the press. Here are the highlights:
High-Concept Fare
Recent years have taught Pedowitz a few things about what works and what doesn't on CW's schedule. In the latter category are docuseries (summer experiment Breaking Pointe will not return) and traditional procedurals. What does? High-concept, fantasy, serialized programming, as evidenced by the success of CW series such as Arrow and Vampire Diaries. Still, he stressed that those descriptors can be broadly defined, noting that a former CW staple, Gossip Girl, could have fit into all three categories.
Future of the Flash
Pedowitz pronounced himself "bullish" on the much-discussed The Flash project moving forward. Arrow showrunners Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Geoff Johns already introduced the DC Comics character Barry Allen/The Flash in Arrow's two-part winter finale, which ended with a cliffhanger for the character. Pedowitz added that "rather than try to squeeze in a spinoff" he'd like to see a Flash series launch "with a bang like we launched Arrow."
Series Fate
While Pedowitz suggested the fates of lesser-watched entries, The Carrie Diaries and Hart of Dixie, will not be decided until May, he's optimistic about a renewal for Julie Plec's The Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals as well as freshman series Reign and veteran Supernatural. (As for the Supernatural spinoff in development, he confirmed that there would be a spinoff episode in the original. "For me, for spinoffs to work they have to stand on their own two legs," he added. "And you can only organically do crossovers when the time is right.")
A Broader Reach
The network's bread-and-butter of fantasy-adventure dramas is in the sweet spot of the network's target audience of viewers 18-34, but Pedowitz and his team have made a conscious effort to bring older viewers into the tent with unscripted fare like Whose Line is it Anyway. (Another season of Whose Line will bow March 21 and run through the summer.) "It was our strategy to broaden out," Pedowitz told reporters, adding: "We are getting a fair amount of viewers who are 35+ and our affiliates are very happy with that." |
A man who claims to have been held as a slave labourer for 18 years in Russia’s Northern Caucasus region has reportedly escaped. How many more are left behind, asks RFE/RL
A man has been rescued after being held for 18 years as a slave forced to work in brick factories and herd cattle in Dagestan, in Russia’s turbulent Northern Caucasus region, according to Russian media reports.
The 43 -year-old from Murmansk, who was named as Sergei Hlivnym, said he had arrived in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala in 1996 looking for work. As soon as he got off the bus, his documents were stolen and he was forced to work in a brick factory, where he received only food and clothing for his labour, he said.
He told local media he had attempted to escape several times but was caught, and then forced to work as a cattle herder. The Russian NGO Alternativa said last week they had helped to secure the man’s release – the fifth so far this year. Alternativa says at least 12 people were rescued in 2013.
More than 3m people live in the turbulent, mountainous North Caucasus region, which is bordered by Chechnya, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Cases of forced labour have been reported in the area for several years, but largely go unchecked.
Victims are mostly male and Russian, with some from Belarus. Many say they were approached in Moscow or Yekaterinburg with the offer of work, but after signing contracts they were drugged and transported to Dagestan while they were unconscious. Reports of physical abuse are common.
The use of forced labour is outlawed in Russia. However, according to the 2013 Global Slavery Index, between 490,000 and 540,000 people are believed enslaved in the country, with the majority having been trafficked internationally. It is not known how many people may be working under such conditions in Dagestan.
Nine labourers (five from Belarus) were released in January 2013 with the help of Alternativa. At the time, Nariman Gadzhiyev, who was then Dagestan’s information minister, admitted that “slave labour is not a rare occurrence in Dagestan,” and that it was not confined to the construction industry.
In May 2013, police launched an investigation after one Dagestan blogger claimed there was a functioning slave market behind one of the city’s cinemas where it was possible to purchase a male slave for 15,000 rubles (£235).
The region’s prosecutor’s office announced one year ago, however, that inspections of brickworks in the towns of Makhachkala, Kaspiisk, Kizlyar, and Kizilyurt and in the Babayurt, Kizilyurt, and Karabudakhkent districts failed to yield any evidence of the use of involuntary or slave labour. Those inspections did, however, uncover numerous unspecified violations of labour, land, and tax legislation and of health and safety regulations.
On the whole, the republic’s authorities appear more concerned by the aesthetic and ecological impact of the brickworks and their importance for the republic’s economy than the status of their workforce.
Ramazan Abdulatipov, leader of the Republic, complained in February that seen from the air, Makhachkala is surrounded by flooded craters where clay for bricks has been excavated. Some of those craters are up to 150m in diameter and 25-30m deep. Other abandoned craters are used as rubbish tips, though by law the brickworks owners are obliged to re-cultivate them.
The brickworks are inspected at intervals: four of six brickworks in Kaspiisk inspected last month were ordered to suspend production “temporarily” to address ecological and sanitary norms violations. But any large-scale crackdown or reduction in the total number of such enterprises is unlikely in view of the importance of the construction sector to Dagestan’s ramshackle economy. According to official statistics, the Kaspiisk brickworks alone produce between eight and nine million tons of bricks per year.
In March 2013, an official from the Makhachkala prosecutor’s office for nature conservation told parliament officials that “until recently,” there had been a total of 86 functioning brickworks in Dagestan, 39 of them in Makhachkala and the coastal town of Kaspiisk. One month later, Daghestan’s ecology and natural resources minister Gasan Idrisov cited a figure of 27 for Makhachkala and Kaspiisk.
A version of the article first appeared on Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty |
This woman is truly awful:
I'm hearing from so many women that may not have considered voting for a Republican before, but said, "It's time for the grown-up to come, the man that's going to take this seriously, that's going to take the future of our children very, very seriously."
It's funny how anonymous women keep reporting things to Ann (that she can then report to Mitt so he doesn't have to talk to women directly) that seem, at best, unlikely, and more likely, pulled straight out of her pampered two-Cadillac-driving ass. These women keep telling Ann things that they're not telling anyone else—certainly not the pollsters out there who keep reporting back that women like President Obama much more than they like Mitt Romney; that women trust Obama more than they trust Romney; and that Romney kinda sorta scares the daylights out of them.
But Ann's not talking to those women. She's talking to the ones who think President Obama's not a "grown up"—which, according to my Dogwhistle-to-English dictionary, is a more subtle way of calling a grown black man "boy"—and that the not-grown-up Obama believes the "future of our children" is some laughing matter. If only the pollsters could find those women, Romney's chances might look better than they do.
As Mitt Romney's chief adviser on lady things, she's been reporting back to Mitt on what lady voters supposedly tell her they think, and she's so thrilled and delighted that he listens to her. But Ann doesn't really know what she's talking about, because when the Romney campaign is asked for comment on, say, women—well, gosh, they just cannot find a single "appropriate spokesperson." Suddenly, the nation's foremost confidante of lady voters doesn't have a thing to say.
But here's where Ann once again reveals herself to be just as mean and awkward and insulting as her husband:
I very much believe, Candy, that it's going to be an economic election, and I think a lot of women may be voting, this cycle around, in a different way than they usually are: that is, thinking about the economy, thinking about their own jobs, thinking about their husbands' jobs, but also thinking about the future.
Usually, we lady voters try not to hurt our ladybrains with serious things like the economy or our jobs or the future. We're far more likely to vote based on where we are in our menstrual cycle or whether we're having a good hair day. Sometimes, we just flip a stiletto: heel facing north, we vote Democrat; heel facing south, we vote Republican. After we find a big strong "grown up" man to tell us which way is which because you know how we ladies are with directions. |
Whether you’re looking to increase your strength, find a low-impact exercise, improve your flexibility and mobility, or simply take some time out of your day to center yourself, yoga is a great practice. Yoga has been proven to reduce stress, improve fitness, and can even help manage chronic health conditions.
Dreaming of becoming a yogi? We’ve got you covered. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know before trying your first downward dog.
Who Should Try Yoga?
Because yoga is such a variable activity, it’s a wonderful form of exercise for those of all ages and levels of fitness, from young children to older adults. Most of the poses used in yoga can be modified, meaning that each person can uniquely customize their experience. Although most often conducted as a group activity, yoga is not a team sport and therefore no one person is relying on another’s performance, which creates a stress-free but shared experience.
What Do You Need to Start?
Yoga also requires very little equipment and cost to get started. All you need is a yoga mat, appropriate clothing (something breathable and flexible such as yoga pants and a cotton shirt) and bare feet or Injinji yoga socks. Yoga classes can vary greatly in their intensity, so if you’re going to a power yoga or a hot Bikram yoga class, then wear clothing that can help wick away moisture during your practice. Form-fitting clothing can help your instructor check your alignment during poses, and can also help keep your top from coming up during inversions (upside-down poses). Yoga mats come in all colors and levels of thickness, and they can often be purchased at the studio or at any sporting goods store for a minimal investment.
Where Should You Practice Yoga?
Yoga’s diversity extends beyond the actual practice in that it can be done anywhere you choose. Whether it’s on a bluff overlooking the beach, in a spacious studio, or in the comfort of your own home, beginning your yoga practice is as easy as laying out your mat and simply getting started. Your practice can also be done at any time, and whether you choose to start or end your day with yoga is a personal decision. It’s also something you can take with you during your travels.
Should You Take a Class or DIY?
Depending on your preference, you can either watch videos online and instruct yourself or let a trained yoga instructor take you through your practice. If you’re just getting started, it’s a good idea to get a few classes under your belt with the support of an instructor who can demonstrate poses for you and also check your form. If you do choose to practice yoga at a studio, it’s important to know a little bit about common yoga etiquette before you lay out your mat for your first class. Here are a few pointers for first-timers:
Get to class early to get a spot and lay out your mat. Allow plenty of room between you and your neighbors. Take off your shoes before entering the room. Yoga is typically practiced barefoot or in socks. Turn off any cell phones and other electronics, and step outside if you must take a call. Don’t leave early. Wait until the end of class so that you don’t disturb the focus of others. Remain silent during class. The only one talking during yoga sessions should be your instructor.
The Basics: Namaste, Poses, and Breathing
A common term used in yoga is the word Namaste, which is a Sanskrit term meant to express honor toward one another. This is usually spoken at the end of class by the teacher, and then repeated back by the class.
Some of the common poses practiced during yoga routines include warrior 1 and warrior 2 (which look similar to lunges), the chaturanga (which looks much like the middle of a pushup), and downward dog (which looks much like a dog stretching).
The poses you perform should be challenging, but not at the expense of your form. Breathing is also a critical part of yoga practice, as matching breath to movement can help calm the mind and bring focus back to the present moment. Conscious breathing helps you stay centered and mindful of your physical activity. This can help keep your mind from wandering off to subjects outside of the studio. Just this simple practice of staying focused is a great way to keep stress from creeping in. It gives your mind a break from and offers you time to just be still.
A Final Word
In a busy life, much of the time is spent thinking about the past, or the to-do list of the future. Yoga practice is a healthy, meaningful way to stop the constant mind chatter and really take a physical inventory of your body’s health. Anyone can begin a practice of yoga, whether they begin at a young age or pick it up in their later years. Over a lifetime it can help you better handle day-to-day stress and remain flexible and balanced both mentally and physically. If you choose to incorporate it into your routine, yoga can become a permanent fixture that assures you take some time regularly to reconnect with yourself.
Namaste. |
Watching worms die may not sound particularly exciting, but what if when they kicked the bucket they started glowing blue? That’s what a team of biologists has observed in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. A blue “death wave” ripples down the worms’ bodies for up to six hours as the life drains out of them—a phenomenon that is yielding insights into how death spreads throughout an organism.
“Death actually propagates,” says David Gems, a biogerontologist at University College London (U.C.L.) and co-author of the study. “The presence of a dead cell triggers destruction in a neighboring cell.” Gems and his colleagues describe their findings in the July 23 edition of PLoS Biology.
The cascade of cell death in C. elegans rides a wave of calcium ions that travels through the worm from front to back. The influx of calcium into a cell triggers processes that dismantle cellular structures. Lysosomes—the waste-processing centers of cells—burst and “that’s when all hell breaks loose,” as Gems puts it. The lysosome eruptions cause the cell to digest itself. The calcium ions then jump to a neighboring cell and the death wave continues.
The blue fluorescence, seen only when the worms are under ultraviolet light, comes from anthranilic acid, an organic compound produced inside little granules that line the worm’s intestine. As the death wave propagates, the granules burst, releasing the acid into a lower pH environment. The drop in pH amplifies the anthranilic acid’s natural fluorescence, generating a blue flash that follows the calcium wave. The flash “is a marker of death,” Gems says.
By knocking out proteins called innexins that are essential to transferring calcium from one cell to the next, the researchers were able to stop the spread of death in the worm—but only in the case of injury. “Blocking necrosis doesn't expand life span,” Gems says. In the case of aging “there are other things happening in parallel that are contributing to death.”
So does this mean that targeted drugs can stop or slow injury-related death in humans? Not yet. “We're so much more complicated than that,” says Cassandra Coburn, also of U.C.L. and lead author on the paper. “I don’t think you can make that comparison.” But the finding could lead to a better understanding of tissue damage. The propagation of cell death in worms is a model for understanding death in higher order animals “during injury from stroke, infection or mechanical injury like a bone-break or a stab,” Gems explains. “Essentially, that’s universal. What we found is that the pathway involved in this chain of death [in C. elegans] is pretty much the same as in mammals. It's an ancient biology of spreading of death in organisms.”
“People are very excited” about this new insight, says Malene Hansen, a microbiologist who researches aging at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute but is not involved in the work. “The implication of this systemic collapse as a real process to the event of organismal death is something we had just not thought about before,” she says. For a long time biologists have viewed aging as something that just builds up over time: a wear-and-tear process. This study, however, shows aging and death as a triggered, controlled event. “The emerging picture,” Hansen explains, “is that there’s all these cellular processes that talk to each other…and these processes have been linked to aspects of disease that hopefully we can pin together in a cool way.”
The discovery of the worm’s glowing death wave owes a lot to luck. Coburn was studying blue fluorescence in C. elegans for her PhD project. Other researchers had reported an increase in fluorescence in worm populations over time, leading many biologists to assume it was a marker of aging. Coburn, however, still wanted to figure out what caused it. When she started watching individual worms—as opposed to an entire population—she got a surprise. Rather than slowly brightening as they aged, the worms flashed blue at death. “I stayed in the lab until 2 A.M. to see what was happening because I couldn't bear to not know,” Coburn recalls. “It was such a bizarre phenomenon to watch...it really took my breath away.”
Once Coburn and Gems discovered the death fluorescence, they wanted to know what it was—“what was the blue stuff, how does it form and what’s its relationship to death?” she says. This initial investigation led them to the discovery that the anthranilic acid fluoresces and the calcium wave triggers the event.
Many mysteries remain. For one, what role do innexins—the proteins that shuffle calcium from one cell to the next—play? To identify the calcium pathway, Coburn worked with worms that had a gene mutation that switched off innexin production. No innexins meant no calcium propagation and no death wave. But did the absence of innexins since birth introduce any side effects? “I’m not so sure whether or not having these genes during development could be a problem,” Hansen says. The ideal experiment would leave the innexins intact as the worms mature and then switch them off later in life.
Remarkably, biologists can do this. By feeding the worms a special blend of their favorite food—genetically modified bacteria—researchers can introduce a genetic “off-switch” anytime they like. The technique won Andrew Fire and Craig Mello the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2006.
Researchers would also like to know what starts the calcium wave. “That's the big question,” Gems says. He wonders whether it begins in the same way as rigor mortis, the stiffening of muscles after death. In rigor mortis the inhibition of ATP, the basic unit of energy within a cell, triggers a release of calcium into the muscles. That is, without ATP the cell can’t keep out the calcium ions. Hansen also speculates about what role other tissues play: “It would be cool to ask if it starts in the neurons or muscle,” which could reveal insights into human death.
Both Gems and Coburn are at a loss to explain why the death wave only propagates from front to back. Coburn suggests it might have something to do with a bundle of nerve cells sitting next to the beginning of the intestine. The researchers also think there must be some undiscovered organization in the intestine that differentiates front from back. The intestine is the worm’s only major organ and so has to simultaneously function as a liver and stomach as well. “It’s just a long tube of cells,” Hansen explains, “but there may actually be different compartments, just like our intestinal tube…, that is compelling to us.”
For the moment they have no clear answers but they remain enthralled with the phenomenon. “People are fascinated by seeing this spectral glow of death in an organism,” Gems remarks. “I think that’s important. You don’t get much wonder in C. elegans.” |
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Only Egos, Fears, and Illusion separate us.
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Service to you - With service of light Operation Disclosure - 3/15/2017 Quote Select Post
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Link to Post Back to Top Post by WeAreAllOne on The World is now Primed for massive change. Operation Disclosure update, 3/15/17
Restored Republic via a GCR
Compiled in the early morning hours EST of 15 March 2017 by Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret, CEO, Child Abuse Recovery
A. March 14 2017 Bruce's The Big Call: Thebigcall.net
1. Timing for the GCR is imminent based on info that came in today March 14 2017.
2. Things were accomplished overnight and we thought it would happen this am, but confirmations came in during the day that started to add up.
3. In Iraq a few days ago their social media was compromised and filtered so info did not come out.
4. Leaflets were dropped over Mosul to tell the citizens: "We have the victory."
5. All of the banks in Iraq have been syncronized, except for two, a couple of days ago.
6. The Iraqi Qi cards all had the same rate (published in their Gazette) and were paying out all the people, then it stopped - we don't know why.
7. In the US we are about to make the transition from the old to the new. The accounting was complete this am.
8. Tomorrow the new UN operational rates are supposed to come out. Shortly after midnight the new rates should show.
9. It is concievable we might get the notification 800#s tonight, tomorrow or tomorrow night March 15 2017.
10. The non NDA rate for the Zim is a few cents over $2.
11. Bruce has plans for 80 to 100 Veterans Retreats across the US. His plan should be the largest employers for veterans in the US.
12. If you want to partner with The Big Call on the Veterans Retreats and/or Rebuild America consider negotiating for the higher rates on the Zim.
B. March 14 2017 WSOMN AdminBill: Red Alert Status
This week the Ides of March is nearly here, there is much going on and we may be looking at the End Game. In the past few days the details are not yet confirmed, but info has been coming in from all directions. If what I'm hearing is true I may have to move the Alert Status to Red Hot Red Alert for the next two days.
C. March 14 2017 11:21 am EST Intelligence Alert: Operation Disclosure Intelligence Alert: Revaluation News -- March 14, 2017
1. European Royals and remaining Cabal political minions are permanently fracturing as it relates to membership in the European Union and the end of the Euro.
2. The British Pound would be affected first and fast, so they're working out final details now across all 27 members, finally, but at the last possible second.
3. The entire balance of power across Europe is shifting today March 14 2017. Old constructs of culture and finance crumbling, never to be restored.
4. Brexit's Article 50 initiation is waiting on Royal Assent approval from the House of Windsor (which is really the House of Rothschild) who is right now in a hard core horse trade for survival.
5. The East Coast snow storm did create a temporary delay for public safety. But it's minimal.
6. All the global dominos are are set up to be push down all at once.
7. The Israeli / Palestine issue has been settled, with the public announcements forthcoming post RV.
8. The Chinese Elders will push the first domino at some point in time from the mountains above Beijing. Grandfather's call. Their gift. Our wait.
9. Few understand the scope and volume of mercy reserved for humanity for this time, though very soon all will. Our humanity, planet and world are on the verge of being set free permanently.
D. March 14 2017 Yesterday's ZIM rate: ZWD RATE TODAY, 13 MARCH
1 Zim = .00276319 USD, (or a 100 Trillion Zim note was worth $276,319,000)
E. March 14 2017 3:30 am EST Intel by Whoof: "Intel Regarding the Admiral" by Whoof - 3.14.17
1. My source was told that the Admiral was paid yesterday in that he exchanged his currency and commenced the funding of the RV.
2. Subsequently, and I'm not sure why, the Admiral then pays the Chinese which I was informed occured also.
F. March 14 2017 8:34 am EST Geopolitical Op-Ed Israel and China: "The Silent War Between Israel and China" - Geopolitical Op-Ed - 3.14.17
1. By controlling the new global financial system and demanding one simple mandate: either be with the Elders (humanity) or be against them (humanity), no exceptions, the Chinese Elders have quietly gained control of the entire region of Israel utilizing the size and strength of Russian, Turkish, Syrian and Iranian military forces.
2. Right now Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Iran have all joined forces and actively surround Israel's small military.
3. This report of advanced Russian build up in the Middle East is most likely true and done to reinforce an existential military threat against the nation of Israel.
4. The exact same military realty can be found in the Ukraine, the true home of Ashkenazi / Khazarian / cabal crime family members - for humanity or against humanity - their choice.
5. This is why Israel will suddenly and miraculously settle with Palestine, and come to a lasting peace between two sovereign nation states that diplomatically recognize one another.
6. Otherwise the Zionist nation that is Israel, with recent origins only going back to 1917, will be completely annihilated and it's holdings and territory fully returned to the Palestinian Authority.
7. The Elders want lasting peace so they are prepared for perpetual war should the Israelis/Ukrainians/Khazarians ever feel the need to dominate world affairs again.
8. The masses of global population are none the wiser. This is not a display of soft power, it's an invisible declaration of absolute power to avoid another world war.
Source: Operation Disclosure
Source:
operationdisclosure.blogspot.com/2017/03/restored-republic-via-gcr-as-of-march_15.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OperationDisclosure+%28Operation+Disclosure%29
"FBI: New Evidence From Anthony Weiner Will See Clinton 'Locked Up For Life'"
www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/214410-2017-03-14-fbi-new-evidence-from-anthony-weiner-will-see-clinton-39.htm?From=News
Compiled in the early morning hours EST of 15 March 2017 by Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret, CEO, Child Abuse Recovery Author, "Twenty Two Faces," www.22faces.com A. March 14 2017 Bruce's The Big Call: Thebigcall.net1. Timing for the GCR is imminent based on info that came in today March 14 2017.2. Things were accomplished overnight and we thought it would happen this am, but confirmations came in during the day that started to add up.3. In Iraq a few days ago their social media was compromised and filtered so info did not come out.4. Leaflets were dropped over Mosul to tell the citizens: "We have the victory."5. All of the banks in Iraq have been syncronized, except for two, a couple of days ago.6. The Iraqi Qi cards all had the same rate (published in their Gazette) and were paying out all the people, then it stopped - we don't know why.7. In the US we are about to make the transition from the old to the new. The accounting was complete this am.8. Tomorrow the new UN operational rates are supposed to come out. Shortly after midnight the new rates should show.9. It is concievable we might get the notification 800#s tonight, tomorrow or tomorrow night March 15 2017.10. The non NDA rate for the Zim is a few cents over $2.11. Bruce has plans for 80 to 100 Veterans Retreats across the US. His plan should be the largest employers for veterans in the US.12. If you want to partner with The Big Call on the Veterans Retreats and/or Rebuild America consider negotiating for the higher rates on the Zim.B. March 14 2017 WSOMN AdminBill: Red Alert StatusThis week the Ides of March is nearly here, there is much going on and we may be looking at the End Game. In the past few days the details are not yet confirmed, but info has been coming in from all directions. If what I'm hearing is true I may have to move the Alert Status to Red Hot Red Alert for the next two days.C. March 14 2017 11:21 am EST Intelligence Alert: Operation Disclosure Intelligence Alert: Revaluation News -- March 14, 20171. European Royals and remaining Cabal political minions are permanently fracturing as it relates to membership in the European Union and the end of the Euro.2. The British Pound would be affected first and fast, so they're working out final details now across all 27 members, finally, but at the last possible second.3. The entire balance of power across Europe is shifting today March 14 2017. Old constructs of culture and finance crumbling, never to be restored.4. Brexit's Article 50 initiation is waiting on Royal Assent approval from the House of Windsor (which is really the House of Rothschild) who is right now in a hard core horse trade for survival. www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/14/03/2017/From-referendum-to-green-light-for-Brexit 5. The East Coast snow storm did create a temporary delay for public safety. But it's minimal.6. All the global dominos are are set up to be push down all at once.7. The Israeli / Palestine issue has been settled, with the public announcements forthcoming post RV.8. The Chinese Elders will push the first domino at some point in time from the mountains above Beijing. Grandfather's call. Their gift. Our wait.D. March 14 2017 Yesterday's ZIM rate: ZWD RATE TODAY, 13 MARCH1 Zim = .00276319 USD, (or a 100 Trillion Zim note was worth $276,319,000)E. March 14 2017 3:30 am EST Intel by Whoof: "Intel Regarding the Admiral" by Whoof - 3.14.171. My source was told that the Admiral was paid yesterday in that he exchanged his currency and commenced the funding of the RV.2. Subsequently, and I'm not sure why, the Admiral then pays the Chinese which I was informed occured also.F. March 14 2017 8:34 am EST Geopolitical Op-Ed Israel and China: "The Silent War Between Israel and China" - Geopolitical Op-Ed - 3.14.171. By controlling the new global financial system and demanding one simple mandate: either be with the Elders (humanity) or be against them (humanity), no exceptions, the Chinese Elders have quietly gained control of the entire region of Israel utilizing the size and strength of Russian, Turkish, Syrian and Iranian military forces.2. Right now Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Iran have all joined forces and actively surround Israel's small military. m.jpost.com/#/app/article/483729 3. This report of advanced Russian build up in the Middle East is most likely true and done to reinforce an existential military threat against the nation of Israel. sputniknews.com/military/201703141051558320-russia-special-forces-egypt/ 4. The exact same military realty can be found in the Ukraine, the true home of Ashkenazi / Khazarian / cabal crime family members - for humanity or against humanity - their choice. blogs.timesofisrael.com/leaked-report-israel-acknowledges-jews-in-fact-khazars-secret-plan-for-reverse-migration-to-ukraine/ 5. This is why Israel will suddenly and miraculously settle with Palestine, and come to a lasting peace between two sovereign nation states that diplomatically recognize one another. m.jpost.com/#/app/article/484113 6. Otherwise the Zionist nation that is Israel, with recent origins only going back to 1917, will be completely annihilated and it's holdings and territory fully returned to the Palestinian Authority. thejerusalemconnection.us/blog/2013/01/08/according-to-international-law-is-israel-illegal/ 7. The Elders want lasting peace so they are prepared for perpetual war should the Israelis/Ukrainians/Khazarians ever feel the need to dominate world affairs again.8. The masses of global population are none the wiser. This is not a display of soft power, it's an invisible declaration of absolute power to avoid another world war.Source: Operation DisclosureSource:"FBI: New Evidence From Anthony Weiner Will See Clinton 'Locked Up For Life'" |
Washington (CNN) -- The much-maligned, color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System is about to be consigned to the proverbial dustbin of history.
Not that anyone is really paying attention.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to announce Thursday that the almost 9-year-old threat alert system will go away in April. It will be replaced by the new National Terror Advisory System that will focus on specific threats in geographical areas, a department source said Wednesday.
The source did not provide details of the new system, which Napolitano will unveil at what the department is calling "the first annual 'State of America's Homeland Security' address" at George Washington University.
The top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Commission reacted positively to the news, although committee chairman Rep. Peter King, R-New York, reserved judgment on the specifics.
"Though the system served a valuable purpose in the terrible days and months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, it was clearly time for the current color-coded system to be replaced with a more targeted system," King said. "I know they have been working on this for a long time. It sounds to me like the changes they are proposing make sense. We will have to wait and see how they implement this new, more targeted system. I expect the biggest challenge for DHS will be balancing the need to provide useful and timely information with the need to protect sensitive information."
"The old color coded system taught Americans to be scared, not prepared," said ranking member Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi. "Each and every time the threat level was raised, very rarely did the public know the reason, how to proceed, or for how long to be on alert. I have raised concerns for years about the effectiveness of the system and have cited the need for improvements and transparency. Many in Congress felt the system was being used as a political scare tactic -- raising and lowering the threat levels when it best suited the Bush administration."
President George W. Bush established the Homeland Security Advisory System by presidential directive on March 11, 2002, just a few months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. The five levels -- green for low, blue for guarded, yellow for elevated, orange for high and red for severe -- were intended to identify the risk of terrorist attack.
The initial level was yellow, which the system retained until September 11, 2002, when it was raised to orange to cover the first anniversary of the attacks. It was lowered back to yellow on September 24.
In its lifetime, the threat level has been raised to orange/high five times, although it went to that level three other times for specific industries. The threat level was raised to red/severe once -- on August 10, 2006, and only for commercial flights from the United Kingdom to the United States -- when British authorities announced they had disrupted a major plot to blow up aircraft. The level went down to orange on August 16, 2006, where it remains.
The general threat level is yellow/elevated. The two lower levels have never been used, and task force looking at the system recommended in 2009 eliminating them altogether and making yellow the lowest threat level but renaming it "guarded."
Almost from the start, the threat level system was the butt of jokes and multiple parodies.
The "Democracy Threat Advisory Level" went from green/low ("Wow, clean money systems really work") to red/severe ("Martial law, but it's for your own good").
A "Total Headcase Advisory System" began with "George Soros is arrested" and ended with "Hillary Clinton is elected president." Still another announced that Homeland Security and Crayola had jointly revised the system, changing green to aquamarine, blue to raw umber, yellow to burnt sienna, orange to neon carrot and red to cotton candy.
The public didn't care much for the system either, with polls conducted at the time indicating most Americans found it confusing and not very useful.
More seriously, however, some critics accused the Bush administration of using using the system to generate fear at politically sensitive times, such as just before the 2004 election. And just days after his 2005 resignation, then-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told a Washington forum that he sometimes disagreed with the rationale for raising the alert but was overruled by others on the Homeland Security Advisory Council, which made the decisions.
The council included Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI chief Robert Mueller, CIA director George Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"More often than not we (the department) were the least inclined to raise it," Ridge told reporters after the forum. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on (alert). ... There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?' "
And in 2009, Ridge wrote in a tell-all book that sometimes officials such as Ashcroft and Rumsfeld pressured the department to change the level, describing a 2004 event in which his arguments against raising the alert worked.
"I believe our strong interventions had pulled the 'go-up' advocates back from the brink. But I consider the episode to be not only a dramatic moment in Washington's recent history, but another illustration of the intersection of politics, fear, credibility and security," he wrote.
"After that episode, I knew I had to follow through with my plans to leave the federal government," he wrote.
Ridge announced his resignation on November 30, 2004, and left office on February 1, 2005.
The Bush administration denied Ridge's assertions, however.
"Nobody's more surprised than I am," then-Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "Of course, Tom Ridge never expressed those concerns while he was in the administration, nor did he when I spoke to him after he left ... (He) wasn't the only one in that meeting who suggested the terror alert shouldn't be raised. At no time was there a discussion of politics in that meeting. And the president was made a consensus recommendation from the council that he accepted -- not to raise the terror alert."
Townsend is now a national security contributor for CNN.
CNN's Fran Townsend contributed to this report |
This is the chapter entitled, Quebec, from the book,
The Flags of Canada, by Alistair B. Fraser.
This work is copyrighted. All rights reserved.
The Provinces
Chap XV:
QUEBEC JE ME SOUVIENS
(I remember)
Motto of Quebec
THE FLEUR-DE-LIS AND THE CROSS
...que V. Majesté croissant d'aage et de zèle puisse un iour arborer l'estendart
de la Croix avec ses fleurs de lys Royales, aux terres les plus escartées des Infideles... 1
[...that as Your Majesty's years and zeal increase, you may one day plant
the standard of the Cross with its Royal fleurs-de-lis upon the most distant Infidel lands...]
Pierre Baird, 1611 (Jesuit missionary in Québec, speaking of the young Louis XIII)
Extended by tradition back to fifth century France, the fleur-de-lis was first used as a royal device by Louis VI (1108-1137). He affixed it to his seal, his coins, his cloths, and his flag. The latter, called the Bannière de France displayed the fleurs-de-lis spread (semé) over a rectangular field of blue, a colour which recalled the cloak of the renowned fourth century bishop, Saint Martin. After the Bannière had been used for two centuries in this form, Charles VI (1380-1422) reduced the number of fleurs-de-lis to three-apparently in honour of the Holy Trinity.2
In mediaeval France, the Bannière took on many of the characteristics of a national flag, for, although it was a banner of royal authority, it was used extensively on land and at sea.3 However, by the time of the settlement of New France it was falling into disuse. With the exception of momentary appearances at three subsequent royal events within France, the Bannière effectively vanished with the death of Henry IV in 1610. Indeed, by the time of the French Revolution in 1789, it had been forgotten for so long that the revolutionists even neglected to have it desecrated as a royal symbol.4
There is no record that the Bannière, itself, was ever used in what is now Canada, despite imaginative latter-day artistic renderings to the contrary.5 Rather, almost universally, everyone from explorers like Cartier, La Salle and La Vérendrye who were marking territory, to local officials at Québec, Montréal, and Trois-Rivières, who were erecting gates and buildings, used the Royal Arms.6 Not that the graphic design was any different - the Bannière being but the banner of these Royal Arms - but it remains that French practice more commonly relied upon the greater permanence of arms than the ephemerality of flags. Thus, although the fleur-de-lis did not appear on the Bannière in New France, and, indeed, only rarely upon other flags, this royal mark was well-known during the old régime.
Nevertheless, the fleurs-de-lis did appear upon the very first flag to fly over Québec: the little swallow-tale pennant appearing in Champlain's illustration of his Abitation. It is sometimes assumed that this illustration shows the Bannière, itself. However, graphic design is not the only thing that distinguishes a flag; shape is also crucial, and Champlain's pennant is not rectangular. Although clearly derived from the Bannière, it appears to be one of the battlefield standards, or étendard, which was employed during the reign of Henry IV (1589-1610).7
On his ships, though, Champlain's flags bore a cross rather than the fleurs-de-lis. The ship illustrations on his map of 1612 show what seems to have been an early use of the flag of the French merchant marine: a white cross on a rectangular blue field.8 The use of a distinctive cross on a flag as a sign of national identity started in 1188, when on January 13, the kings of France, England, and Flanders settled on the colours they would use in the ensuing Crusade. Initially, the French cross was red on white, while the English was white on red, yet by 1277, England had reversed its colours to give the present Cross of Saint George. Then by 1375, France also reversed its colours, probably in response to the English, and from that time until the revolution, the white cross was a symbol of France.9 The present flag of Quebec emerges from Champlain's flags if a fleur-de-lis from the étendard on his Abitation is placed in each quadrant formed by the cross on the merchant flag of his ship.
But that is not the end of the story, for there was no continuity in the use of the fleur-de-lis upon flags in the three hundred and forty years between the foundation of the Abitation de Québec in 1608 and the adoption of the flag of Quebec in 1948. Upon flags, at least, the fleur-de-lis fell into an period of neglect which amazingly lasted over two centuries. The decline was under way soon after the foundation of New France as its inhabitants had begun to view a flag of white as an emblem of the French nation even during Champlain's lifetime.
LE DRAPEAU BLANC
Nous lui repondîmes tous, sans hésiter, que nous étions
nés sous le pavillon blanc, et que nous voulions y mourir. 10
[We all replied to him, without hesitation, that we were
born underthe white flag and that we wished to die there.]
Robert Chevalier dit Beauchêne, c. 1715
(an Acadian privateer, born in Montréal in 1686)
Joan of Arc strongly influenced France to think of white as the principal national colour when she used it as the field of her banner. As she commented at her trial for heresy and sorcery on February 28, 1431:
I had a banner of which the field was sprinkled with lilies; the world was painted there, with an angel at each side; it was white of the white cloth called 'boccassin'; there was written above it, I believe, 'JHESUS MARIA'; it was fringed with silk. 11
As white gradually became firmly established as a national colour, it replaced other colours upon royal, regimental, and naval flags. There it remained until the French Revolution. At sea, the White Flag was also often flown by the merchant marine "pour en tirer avantage dans leur commerce et Navigation."12 This occurred, despite the fact that the White Flag was reserved for the navy and that the merchantman were required, prior to 1661, to fly the blue flag with the white cross as had Champlain, or later, the same flag with an inescutcheon of the royal arms.
It was probably this use of the White Flag by merchantmen which identified it with the nation for those at Québec. In July 1632, Père Le Jeune described the return of some settlers after a three-year absence forced by English privateers:
Quand ils virent arriver ces pavillons blancs sur les mâts de nos vaisseaux, ils ne sçavoient à qui dire leur contentement... 13[When they saw the arrival of those white flags on the masts of our vessels, they could find no adequate way to express their happiness...]
Although at first the White Flag would have been seen primarily on ships, by 1656 it had spread to the land in the colony.14 A few years later in 1663, Louis XIV had proclaimed New France a royal colony and so changed its status from that of a commercial fiefdom. Now the royal purse could pay for the defense against the Iroquois with the result that in 1665 the Régiment de Carignan-Salières brought the White Flag to the forts it built along the Richelieu River.
Across New France, from forts in Acadia to ships on Lake Ontario, the White Flag soon flew. That it was the recognized symbol of France was evident to all: in 1714, the English recaptured Fort Nelson on Hudson's Bay, and General Knight wrote,
One of the Indians came to me when I hoisted the Union flag: he told me he did not love to see that, he loved to see the white one, so there are many Indians here who have great friendship with the French. 15
The White Flag was usually seen plain, but sometimes it bore either golden fleurs-de-lis or the royal arms; occasionally it bore both to form what was then the Royal Flag of France. Although records of such flags are rare, it is known that on December 3, 1738, when La Vérendrye entered a western fort in what is now Manitoba or western Ontario, he was preceded by a white pavillon painted with the Arms of France.16
Despite these variations, and despite the fact that the plain White Flag was officially the flag of the French navy, the inhabitants of New France identified with it from the early years until the fall of the French Régime.
After the transition to British rule, either the Union Flag or the (plain) Red Ensign replaced the White Flag upon official structures in Quebec. However, not only are these flags discussed thoroughly elsewhere, but the flags of greatest interest for Quebec are those which arose from the aspirations of the Canadiens.
For an amazingly long time, those aspirations were not to be expressed with the fleur-de-lis. Although this symbol was to become dominant in the twentieth century, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, it had virtually vanished from consciousness. Not only had the fleur-de-lis rarely been seen upon flags during the French Régime, but any of the Royal Arms which had not been purged in 1759, were in 1775 ordered removed from "every Church or Court where they may at present remain."17 Indeed, even the motherland had vanished as a source of renewal of the fleur-de-lis, for when France went republican in 1789, it expunged all of its old symbols. In the twilight of the eighteenth century, it is doubtful that an bookmaker would have given the fleur-de-lis much of a chance for a comeback.
Yet, the absence of an appropriate symbol, did not mean the absence of the desire for a flag. As the historian, Benjamin Sulte, described the situation as it was in 1807,
On exprimait déjà d'un côté le voeu d'avoir un drapeau canadien (canadien-français) et, d'autre part, on prétendait que celui de l'Angleterre nous devait suffire, de même que celui de la mère-patrie nous avait suffi sous le gouvernement français. 18 [Already, some expressed the wish to have a Canadian (French-Canadian) flag, although others claimed that the flag of England should suffice, just as that of the motherland had sufficed during the French régime.]
But what should that Canadian flag be? The question prompted little response for the next quarter-century, but from 1832 until the beginning of the twentieth century various symbols competed vigorously for the position of honour. The 1830s were years of considerable political unrest and the strong feelings erupted in a profusion of flags that were characterized as much by what they were not, as by what they were; the flags recalled neither royalist France nor the United Kingdom; some recalled either revolutionary France or the United States; others, significantly, evoked Canada, itself.
THE PATRIOTE PERIOD
The very first of these flags is notable as (what is probably) the longest-lasting indigenous Canadian flag: the Patriote Flag. Still in use today in Montréal by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste (SSJB), this flag was inspired by the French Tricolore, but its design was distinctive: a horizontal tricolour of green over white over red. Created in 1832 by the Patriotes, the primary Francophone political party of the day, its reference to republican France, and to other conquered peoples-the green represented the Irish-spoke eloquently of the struggle for representative government in Lower Canada. From the beginning, the Patriote Flag proved popular: it was used by the SSJB from the inception of the society in 1834.19
Despite the fact that the Patriotes dominated the elected House of Assembly, most of the power was held by the appointed Legislative Council. An appeal to the British Government to make the system more democratic was rejected, and March of 1837 the power of the Assembly was further eroded when the governor of Lower Canada was even authorized to bypass them on budgetary matters. The resulting resentment was expressed through words, rallies, rebellion, and many more flags.
On June 1, 1837, the leader of the Patriotes, Louis-Joseph Papineau, was led into an assembly at Ste-Scholastique behind the Patriote Flag, which had been adorned with a maple leaf, beaver, and muskellunge. Another flag bearing maple leaves, and apparently prepared for this gathering was the one carried the following December 14 by the Patriotes in the battle of Saint-Eustache. This assembly in June marked the first appearance of any indigenous Canadian symbols on flags, and, in particular, the first appearance on flags of maple leaves.
The maple leaves were not uniformly used as an appeal to nationalism: one flag showed a branch of maple leaves in the claws of a Canadian eagle which was winging its way to a star representing the U.S.A. Unless the graphical message was not already abundantly clear, it also bore the inscription "NOTRE AVENIR" [ OUR FUTURE ]. Another flag appealed to the same destiny with stars and an American eagle.
Throughout, these and other flags made a strong appeal for democracy in Canada. The principal flag, however, remained the green-white-red tricolour of the Patriotes, and, on October 23, 1837, it was adopted as the flag of the rebellion. But the rebellion failed, and the flags, like the Patriotes, retreated from the scene. Nevertheless, from the point of view of symbols, the decade was a period of a glorious awakening of Canadian flags. And if the designs sometimes spoke of other lands, their basic appeal for democracy was laudable.
In the 1840s the symbolic ground shifted away from the Patriote Flag. Not that the only recently established practice of embellishing flags with Canadian symbols changed, although the beaver did seem gradually to lose ground to the maple leaf as the century progressed. Rather, the change was in the basic pattern which shifted to European French design, either royalist or republican, with the republican dominating the rest of the century.
THE TRICOLORE TRIUMPHS TEMPORARILY
This move was under way as early as 1842 when the just founded Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Québec chose a vertical bicolour of green and white rather than the Patriote Flag. Then, in 1844 the SSJB in Montréal switched from the Patriote Flag to the French Tricolore, and later the same year the newly founded Institute Canadien adopted it also. Later (in 1888), the Québec SSJB was even to drop its green-and-white and join the Tricolore ranks.
The use of the Tricolore was given a boost with the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853. Britain and France were allies in this battle against Russia and so flying it became at once pro-French and pro-British. From this time until it began to lose ground to a royalist symbol early in the twentieth century, the revolutionary Tricolore was the flag favoured by most French-Canadians. Although the flag was usually seen plain, in Quebec the white pale sometimes sported maple leaves, a beaver, or both. Outside Quebec, the Acadians created their own flag in 1884 by adding the golden Stella Maris [ Star of Mary ] at the top of the blue pale.
The 1840s not only brought the Tricolore, they also brought the royalist symbol which was eventually to trounce the Tricolore. In one of the most remarkable symbolic rebirths of all time, the fleur-de-lis reentered Quebec consciousness in an almost bizarre fashion.
However, insofar as there is such reference to a historic past, the peculiarity
of 'invented' traditions is that the continuity with it is largely factitious. 20
Eric Hobsbawm, 1983 (British historian)
Although the fleur-de-lis had rarely appeared on a flag since the days of Champlain over two centuries earlier, and although it had sunk so far into obscurity that it had taken not so much as the smallest part in the rise of nationalist flags in the 1830s, yet, in the 1840s it abruptly began to be promoted as the strident symbol of yesteryear. Driven by a yearning for a symbolic identity, the public transformed a confected tradition into a real tradition and in the process transformed the fleur-de-lis into the symbol of the people of Quebec in a way in which it had never been the symbol of the people of France: today, the fleur-de-lis is Quebec. To understand how this transformation came about, it helps to return to the eighteenth century to trace the remarkable fortunes of a religious hanging, or banner, which came to be known much later as the Carillon.
Often displayed in churches or carried in processions, banners have long been used to express religious principles and to enhance religious ceremonies. Typically, such religious banners were hung from a crossbar attached to a vertical pole, and, in the early eighteenth century when the Carillon was apparently made, their use was common. The Carillon, measuring two metres wide by three metres high, was made with three strips of what once must have been white silk.21 The centre of one side is dominated by a full length image of the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus, while the other bears the royal arms of France. Crucial for the present story are the fleurs-de-lis which grace the four corners of each side; while all are upside-down, the top ones point inwards, the bottom ones, outwards.
Early in the Seven Years' War (1756-63) the Carillon probably resided in a chapel at one of the two French forts on the shores of the upper end of Lake Champlain.22 Fort Saint Frédéric (known to the Americans as Crown Point) and Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) had been built to protect the Saint Lawrence Valley from an approach by the British down Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River. A field about a kilometer inland from Fort Carillon was the site, on July 8, 1758, of the last major French victory when the forces under Montcalm soundly defeated an Anglo-American force of over four times its size. However, subsequent military reversals caused a French withdrawal from both forts the following summer. The retreat was not hurried, and items, such as the Carillon Banner, which were not destroyed to keep them out of enemy hands, where transported north.
Although it is tempting to assume that the Carillon would have resided at the fort of the same name, not only is the banner's name an unreliable guide as it arose nearly a century after the forts' abandonment, but the best, albeit indirect, evidence suggests that the banner would have been at Fort Saint Frédéric. It seems that Father Jean-Antoine Depéret, the chaplain there, carried the banner north upon the abandonment of the fort in 1759, and then turned it over to another military chaplain and Recollet priest, Father Félix Berey des Essarts, who, in turn, deposited it in the church of the Recollets, in Québec. There it remained until rescued by Brother Louis-François Martinette from a fire in the monastery in 1796. Brother Louis kept it in a coffer in his attic until, upon his deathbed in 1848, he gave it to Louis de Gonzague Baillairgé, a young lawyer who had been trying to locate the banner after hearing stories of it.
In transferring the banner to Baillairgé, Brother Louis allowed that it was rumored to have had a heroic provenance: "a torn and tattered flag which, it was said at the convent, had seen the fire of Carillon."23 Baillairgé then displayed his preference for certitude over certainty as speculation was transformed in his mind into fact. Soon, the religious banner had been transformed into a battle standard, and a few months later, when it was carried in the procession of the SSJB, it was incontrovertibly presented as "the flag under which our ancestors gained renown at the Battle of Carillon."24 Indeed, under the persistent proselytization of Baillairgé, the primary symbolic value of the banner, incongruously dubbed the Drapeau de Carillon, was that it was a relic of a glorious past when Canadians fighting under its folds had played a brilliant part in the defeat of the enemy. In an age earnestly seeking an identifying symbol, here seemed to be one of truly heroic proportions. As the public stock of the Carillon climbed, so, too, the fleur-de-lis it bore arose from the ashes to assume a legendary past it had never experienced.
In fact, Canadians had really played only a marginal role that grand July day in 1758: the Battle of Carillon was won by the French regulars. Canadians occupied only seven percent of the French force, and in their position on the right flank were never directly attacked. Further, although a contemporary source clearly shows the flags of the French regulars, it reveals none for the Canadians;25 nor would it have been easy for them to carry such a large banner as the Carillon for they were stationed in a forest. Indeed, there is every indication that at no time had the Canadian militia ever used flags or banners.26
Over the years there were many people who did not accept Baillairgé's fanciful and self-promotional version of events, but it was only after his death in 1896 that others were allowed to examine the Carillon in detail. In 1905, after it had been repaired at the Québec Seminary, a former superior there commented, "I have never been able to see in that relic that we guard so carefully here, anything but a banner carried in religious processions."27 Finally in 1915, historian, Ernest Gagnon published a learned article which dismantled the myth Baillairgé had woven.28 But it was too late: the juggernaut was rolling; the Tricolore had been displaced; and the fleur-de-lis now truly did wear the mantle of Quebec history.
To leave the story here, would be to neglect another important, and independent, source of renewal for the fleur-de-lis in Quebec: heraldry. Short of religion, there are few human activities that possess as long and carefully nurtured a memory as does that of heraldry. In 1868, just following Confederation, Quebec received arms by royal warrant. Appearing on a gold field in the chief were two blue fleurs-de-lis which now served to give the device its first official approval in over a century. However, unlike the situation in every other province but Newfoundland, in Quebec, the arms did not play much of a role in influencing the design of the provincial flag.
In 1848, when the fleur-de-lis was reintroduced into Quebec society by the lawyer, Baillairgé, the Tricolore was ascendant, but slowly, the fleur-de-lis began to take hold. During the British-French alliance of the Crimean War, a frigate, La Capricieuse, became the first French naval vessel to sail up the St. Lawrence since the defeat of 1759-60. It was greeted at Québec with much fanfare by a panoply of officials, troops, Indians, and numerous sections of the SSJB. Many of these groups lofted flags and the Tricolore abounded, but among them, some students from the Seminary of Québec carried colourful flags bearing the fleur-de-lis.29 From that time until the end of the century, there was a sporadic but gradual increase in the use of fleurs-de-lis on flags in Quebec.
For most of the rest of the nineteenth century, the contest over the flags was but one aspect of a battle fought on many fronts between ultramontanism and liberalism in Quebec. The ultramontanes, a conservative Catholic group who espoused the supremacy of the church over the state, generally promoted the old royalist symbol of the fleur-de-lis. The liberals, inspired by the democratic, republican and free-thinking ideas which emerged from the American and French revolutions, advocated the Tricolore. The ideologies of the ultramontane never triumphed and were finally dismantled in the mid-twentieth century by Vatican II and the quiet revolution. Nevertheless, there is a irony in the fact that the symbol they supported was to win even though there cause was lost.
What had been, in the nineteenth century, a trickle of fleur-de-lis flags, became, with the turn of the twentieth century, a veritable flood-a flood probably driven as much by the imperialism of anglophones as by the nationalism of francophones. In the 1890s, Canadians of both stripes had often displayed their nationalism (Canationalism?) by flying the Canadian Red Ensign. While fundamentally a British flag, it did bear a distinctive Canadian badge on the fly, and that badge did include the arms of Quebec. But among anglophones, an imperialist mood was gaining ground, driven, in part, by the patriotism engendered by the desire to fight alongside the motherland in the South African War (1899-1902). Amidst this wave of jingoistic imperialism, the Union Flag became canonized as the symbol of the British Empire. Until recently, this flag had taken a distant second to the more nationalistic Canadian Red Ensign, but now it swept the ensign aside in a mood that made the Union Flag de rigueur for all right-thinking Canadians to fly.
Inexplicably (that is, for anglophones), the French-Canadians just failed to understand the compelling virtue of adding the Boers to the long list of Britain's subjugated peoples. This incomprehension lead to the Montréal riots of March 1900, during which, the students of McGill University took it upon themselves to make sure that shops, newspapers, city hall, and the Université Laval, all adopted right-thinking attitudes and flew, if necessary by force, the Union Flag.30 Such microcephalic thinking was unfortunately not limited to the students: the Ontario press savagely excoriated French-Canadians for not possessing the proper imperial attitude.31 This environment cannot but have added an urgency to the need francophones already felt for a flag which would distinguish them from other Canadians.
FILIATRAULT'S FAVOURITE
The dénouement arrived on September 26, 1902 when Abbot Ephège Filiatrault hoisted a flag on his presbytery of Saint Jude at Saint-Hyacinthe. Anticipating the present flag of of Quebec, Filiatrault placed a fleur-de-lis in each quadrant formed by a white cross on a blue field. But, Filiatrault's fleurs-de-lis all pointed to the centre, while those on the provincial flag are erect. The inspiration for the Abbot's flag was unambiguous. As he described it in a pamphlet he published under the pseudonym of "un Compatriote":
Or, puisque le temps semble venu pour nous de nous créer un drapeau national, quels éléments convient-il que nous employions? -Avant tout, NOTRE BANNIÈRE DE CARILLON c'est-à-dire, son champ bleu et ses quatre fleurs de lis blanches. Pourquoi notre bannière de Carillon? - Parce que la bataille de Carillon est la seule qui soit restée légendaire parmi le peuple, à cause peut-être de la part brillante que nos pères y ont prise...32
[Now, since the time seems to have come for us to create our national flag, what elements is it suitable for us to use?- Above all OUR CARILLON BANNER that is to say, its blue field and its four white fleurs-de-lis. Why our Carillon banner? - Because the battle of Carillon is the only one that has stayed legendary among the people, on account of, perhaps, the brilliant part played by our fathers...]
So strongly had his design been influenced by what he believed to be the properties of that infamous banner, that Filiatrault's flag also was promptly, if somewhat confusingly, dubbed the Carillon. And, if most of Filiatrault's historical assertions were spurious-the Canadiens' participation in the battle of Carillon had not been significant; the banner had not been present at the battle; its field was not blue; his claim that the cross was inspired by those on the flags of the chevalier de Lévis (of the 1760 capitulation at Montréal) was just wishful thinking-nevertheless, Filiatrault's primary objective was beautifully fulfilled. He wanted the flag to use the symbols of the past to convey "les mânes de nos ancêtres...du pieux souvenir de leur postérité"33 [to posterity a reverent recollection of the spirits of our ancestors]. In this aim, he succeeded superlatively, and, if some of the ancestors were a little more distant than he had imagined-Champlain rather than Montcalm and Lévis-it is doubtful that Filiatrault would have minded.
Filiatrault had omitted the maple leaf and the beaver, not because they were inadequately Canadian, but rather because they were quintessentially Canadian. He was designing a flag for French Canadians, not for all Canadians.34 However, in looking at the beauty of his design, it is clear that he understood that elegant simplicity is paramount in effective flag design. Possibly, he was just seeking to do a better job than the then current version of the Canadian Red Ensign, the aberrant seven-province flag which presented a dog's breakfast of unrecognizability. Possibly, he just had a good eye. Not surprisingly, what happened next was not to the Abbot's taste.35
LE CARILLON-SACR&EACUTE;-COEUR
On March 24, 1903, some influential citizens of Quebec formed Le Comité du drapeau national de Québec [ The Committee of the National Flag of Quebec ] and decided that Filiatrault's flag was but a good start; what it really needed was the addition of a few more motifs: a sacred heart of Jesus and a wreath of maple leaves.36 This composite design was soon known by the equally composite name Le Carillon-Sacré-Coeur. Flag design by committee all too often produces a smorgasbord, as a little something is included to keep each faction happy.37 Abbot Filiatrault was not alone in his dislike for these modifications, but despite his objections, before long other modifications were proffered which added, say, a statue of the Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre, or the arms of Quebec with or without wreath, beaver and motto, and so it went. Indeed, completely new designs continued to be proposed in abundance right into the 1940s.38 One accepted for many years by the SSJB (Montréal) was designed by L.J.A.Derome about 1912.39 The upper hoist presented three golden fleurs-de-lis on blue, the lower hoist, a rampant lion on red, and the fly, an image of Saint John the Baptist replete with lamb, maple leaves and beaver.
But a strong campaign developed in favour of the Carillon-Sacré-Coeur which was backed not only by the influential citizens, but by many of the Sociétés Saint-Jean-Baptiste which, in both Canada and the United States, passed resolutions of support of it.40 The campaign was often conducted on a grand scale: on March 1905, the newspaper, La Verité, promoted the flag by printing and distributing 15,000 postcards, 60,000 stickers, 20,000 prints, 150,000 buttons and insignias, 76,000 flags of all sizes, of which 500 were over 5.5 metres in length.41
The promotion continued, and, in 1926, the Carillon-Sacré-Coeur received quasi-official approval as a law in the Legislative Assembly recognized it as the flag of the SSJB in the Québec diocese.42 This step followed hard on the heals of both the 1925 brouhaha in the federal Parliament over whether it was even acceptable to contemplate the possibility of a national flag for Canada, and the 1926 contest in La Presse, which recommended a British-pattern ensign for the country.43 It seems that once again, the vexillological uncertainties of the larger Canadian community, served to heighten the need to establish an appropriate symbol for Quebec.
Opposition to the retention of the sacred heart on what was fundamentally a civil flag remained, and support grew in the 1930s for a return to Filiatrault's Carillon flag.44 Yet, there is scant evidence that the Legislative Assembly would have settled the issue and created a provincial flag had not events at the federal level intervened to reveal, once again, the parochial nature of the country's leaders.
The Second World War, as wars are wont to do, heightened a sense of national identity. Although the Union Flag flew on the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa throughout, from the beginning there was a sense that it was not the flag under which Canadians wished to fight. The First Division went overseas under the Battle Flag of Canada, approved by the war cabinet in 1939. Even though this flag had not been designed by a committee, it contained a little something for everyone: the Union Flag in the canton, three red maple leaves in the centre, and three golden fleurs-de-lis on a blue roundel on the fly. The flag did not gain the approval of the troops, but it was a step in the right direction.
By early 1944, the Canadian Red Ensign flew officially at army and air-force bases overseas, and on September 5, 1945, it permanently replaced the Union Flag on the Peace Tower. In making these changes, Ottawa was following, albeit lagging far behind, public opinion in Canada. Those who had served overseas sought a solely Canadian flag-as a representative letter put it: "To the devil with the Fleur-de-lis and the Union Jack."45 That this sentiment was mirrored at home soon became evident, as, across the country, only 14% of the public were to include the Union Flag, and 7%, the fleur-de-lis, in the designs submitted to the Parliamentary flag committee in 1946.46
OTTAWA DITHERS
Prime Minister King had bowed to popular pressure in November, 1945 when he established the joint committee of the Senate and House to consider a suitable design for a distinctive national flag. Instructing the committee, Secretary of State Paul Martin asked that the flag of Canada be unlike any other, and in particular "symbolic of the country and of its position as a sovereign state".47 Reenforcing this position, the Legislative Assembly of Quebec unanimously beseeched the committee to choose "un drapeau véritablement canadien"48 [a flag that would be truly Canadian]. Along with the majority of Canadians elsewhere, Quebec sought a flag that excluded any sign of subjection, or colonialism. It was not to be; the committee lacked the courage to go against Mackenzie King's private instructions to the Liberal majority that they were to support his personal favourite: the red ensign with the golden maple leaf on the fly. The whole thing was a mummery, and in the end, Mr. King made some feeble excuses and the committee's subservient recommendations were shelved.
This caused the passionate Canadian, T.S. Ewart, to make the too general, but poignant remark:
Canadians are not yet sufficiently Canada-conscious to appreciate the necessity for a flag of purely Canadian design; the patriotism of very many of them is still given to the United Kingdom and only what is left is given to Canada. They do not consider, as do their French compatriots, that Canada is their homeland, their fatherland.
QUEBEC ACTS
But while anglophones, such as Ewart, lamented and chose to bide their time, francophones acted-if Canadians as a whole did not know who they were, at least the Québécois did. So it was that the ineptitude of the federal politicians prompted René Chaloult, independent deputy from Québec-Comté, to present a motion to the Legislative Assembly (November 19, 1946) inviting
le gouvernement de Québec à arborer sans délai, sur la tour centrale de son hôtel, un drapeau nettement canadien et qui symbolise les aspirations du peuple de cette province. 49 [the government of Quebec to fly without delay, from the central tower of its parliament, a truly Canadian flag, symbolizing the aspirations of the people of this province.]
This was clever, for, under the guise of promoting a national flag of Canada, he was actually seeking a provincial flag of Quebec. In the debate the following March, opinion over whether Quebec should adopt a flag was divided, and so a committee was established to study the problem. The labours of the committee produced nothing but support in principle for a flag. Although the politicians dithered, for the rest of 1947, the public clamored for the Fleurdelisé, a name applied by that time to Filiatrault's Carillon. On December 2, Chaloult presented a new motion which argued that if Nova Scotia could claim a flag, so should Quebec. Finally on January 21, 1948, the government acted decisively, and before the issue could be debated again, the cabinet presented a decree:
QUE la drapeau généralement connu sous le nom de drapeau fleurdelisé, c'est-à-dire drapeau à croix blanche sur champ d'azur et avec lis, soit adopté comme drapeau officiel de la province de Québec et arboré sur la tour centrale des édifices parlementaires, à Québec, et cela avec la modification ci-après, savoir: QUE les lis qui figurent sur le drapeau soient placés en position verticale50
[THAT the flag generally known under the name of the Fleurdelisé Flag, that is the flag with a white cross on an azure field with fleur-de-lis, would be adopted as the official flag of the province of Quebec and raised on the central tower of the parliamentary buildings of Quebec, and with this modification: THAT the lilies which figure on the flag would be oriented vertically.]
To Premier Maurice Duplessis's announcement that the Fleurdelisé was already flying over the tower, the Assembly erupted in thunderous applause. Formal approval of the Legislative Assembly arrived two years later on March 9, 1950. Before long the Fleurdelisé, as the provincial flag was now known, had attained a comfortable familiarity which made it seem as if it had been the flag of Quebec since the Abitation. Abbot Filiatrault would have been proud-but then, for that matter, so would have been Champlain.
Before the authorization of a special flag badge for the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec on July 17, 1870, he probably flew the plain Union Flag at his residence.51 As the special flag for the Lieutenant-Governor was originally intended for use aboard a ship, it is not clear how long it was before it began to replace the plain Union Flag on land.
The badge that the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec placed in the centre of the Union Flag was, like that of the other four founding provinces, the provincial arms enwreathed in maple leaves. So, even though the arms were of minor influence in the design of the provincial flag, they were very important for the Lieutenant-Governor's flag.
Each of the four founding provinces received arms by royal warrant on May 26, 1868. Quebec's reads like a chronology: fleurs-de-lis in the chief representing the French Régime, an English lion in the centre (fess) representing the British Period, and maple leaves in the base for the Canadian period. Curiously, although three golden fleurs-de-lis on a blue field had been the traditional representation, yet, two blue ones on a golden field appeared on the 1868 arms.
No explanation was given at the time for these choices, but plausible ones are not hard to find. The practice of reversing colours on derivative arms is well established: just as the saltire on the 1625 arms of Nova Scotia (New Scotland) is a reversal of the white saltire on blue used by Scotland, it would be equally appropriate if the fleurs-de-lis on the portion of the arms representing New France were a reversal of those of France. It has also been suggested that the change in number and colour was just a polite way for Queen Victoria's heralds to distance themselves from the historic claim England had for land in France.52 After all, in pursuant of this claim, the royal arms of Britain had born golden fleurs-de-lis from 1340 to 1801; there was no point in opening old wounds now by returning them to the arms of a British dominion. Finally, the choices may have been driven as much by design considerations.53 Certainly, as presented, the arms of Quebec are a beautiful match to those granted to Nova Scotia at the same time.
Whatever the original reasons, with the rise of interest in the fleur-de-lis in the early twentieth century, the representation of Quebec by two blue ones did not seem consonant with images of the past. On December 9, 1939, a provincial order-in-council declared that there would now be three golden fleurs-de-lis on a blue field in the chief of the arms. At the same time, the motto, JE ME SOUVIENS , was added on a scroll below and a crown was placed above. Aesthetically, these changes were very effective, although it remains the fact that arms are something granted by the sovereign and are not subject to capricious modification by those who hold them.54 Thus, there were now two versions of the Quebec arms in use: the official (1868) ones, and the assumed (1939) ones. Needless to say, the assumed version was preferred within the province, while either might be used outside.55
While the 1939 version of the arms was ultimately to appear upon the flag of the Lieutenant-Governor, it is not clear that it was ever used as a badge upon the Union Flag, for, in 1940, the new Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Eugène Fiset (1939-50), chose to fly the plain Union Flag, rather than one defaced by any badge. As the king's representative in Quebec, it is possible that he just found it easiest to avoid the question of what were the appropriate arms to use on the flag: Quebec's version, or the sovereign's version.
The next Lieutenant-Governor, Gaspard Fauteux (1950-8), started using the Canadian Red Ensign on the gubernatorial residence of Blois de Coulogne. Certainly, this was in keeping with the shift to the Ensign rather than the Union Flag which had occurred in 1945 at the federal level. However, this usage did not last very long, for with the adoption of the provincial flag by the Legislative Assembly on March 7, 1950, the Union Flag on the tower of the Legislative Assembly had been replaced by the new provincial flag. It seems that at this point Fauteux also decided to have a new flag to identify the representative of His Majesty. With the assent of the Governor General, he chose to fly a flag patterned after the one used by the Governor General: royal blue in colour, with the (1939) arms on a white roundel in the centre.56 When this flag was introduced, it bore the crown with the raised arches, sometimes called the Tudor Crown. It now bears the depressed arches of the Saint Edward's Crown, favoured by the Queen.
Quebec did not join the majority of the other provinces in the 1980s when they adopted the modern pattern for the flag of the Lieutenant-Governor. However, despite the minor design differences, such as the wreath of golden maple leaves and the flag shape, in many ways it was the other provinces which were, after some thirty years, following the lead of Quebec.
The use of a flag to mark a special occasion has a long history in Quebec. An early one was the one hoisted to mark the Tercentenary of the City of Québec in 1908. A white cross was place upon a powder blue field strewn (semé) with fleurs-de-lis.57
The best known flag of occasion in Canada, the one for the 1967 Centennial of Confederation, is often mistakenly believed to be the flag of Montréal's EXPO 67 . But, EXPO had ones of its own. The flag for the Canadian Centennial Exposition presented the theme for the whole fair, Man and his World, by reproducing the symbol, , eight times in a ring. The device was usually presented in white on a blue field.
Montréal also used distinctive flags as the host of the Summer Olympics in 1976, and the horticultural fair, Les Floralies internationales, in 1980. The latter bore a symbol which evoked not only the floral context of the exposition (a hand-held bouquet), but Montréal (the M at the bottom), Quebec (the fleur-de-lis), and the world (the disk).58
Each of Quebec's two oldest universities flies an armorial banner based from the arms its eponym. In 1922, M c Gill University received arms derived from those which had been granted posthumously to its founder, James M c Gill. The red and white armorial banner of the university displays three martlets, a mythical bird which, lacking feet, is portrayed in motion. The crowns bearing fleurs-de-lis are a reference to both the city's royal name and its French nature, while the open book is the heraldic symbol of an institution of learning.
In 1952, Université Laval was granted arms which are but a colour inversion of the blazon of François de Laval, the first bishop of Québec. The armorial banner flown by the university bears a golden cross on a red field. Five blue shells on the cross recall the crusades in which Msgr. de Laval's ancestors took part; the sixteen silver allerions are spread eaglets without beck or talons and represent defeated and disarmed enemies.
The Université de Montréal adopted a new monogram in 1967. It forms the university's flag when displayed in gold on a blue field.
The Collège militaire royal de St.-Jean uses a flag which follows the pattern set by its sister, the Royal Military College, in Kingston, Ontario. Flown first during the graduation ceremonies on May 11, 1985, the flag is divided into three pales of light blue, white, and light blue, while the crest of the college, a mailed fist holding three maple leaves, is place in the central pale.
The capital city of Québec has one of the most effective and prettiest municipal flags in the country. Lifted from the city's arms, a golden ship on a blue field recalls not only the foundation of the city in 1608, but also the long-time maritime activities of its residents. The silver, crenelated border represents the fact that Québec is a walled city. This flag was adopted by a city by-law on January 12, 1987 and raised on the City Hall on February 3. From 1967 until 1987, the city flew a white ensign with the Fleurdelisé in the canton and the city arms on the fly.
Montréal uses a banner of its arms: in the quadrants formed by a Saint George's cross there appear a fleur-de-lis, a rose, a thistle, and a shamrock. The flag has been used since May 1939 when it was introduced to mark the visit of King George VI. At that time, the arms had only recently been revised from the pattern used since 1833 which had employed a Saint Andrew's cross. At the end of March 1981, a logotype was introduced and it now appears on almost every article used to represent the city-except flags. Actually, it did appear on a flag briefly at the symbol's inception, but as this use was not continued, the traditional flag remains in place.
Since its centennial of settlement in 1938, the delightfully styled Kingdom of Saguenay has flown a striking flag. Its creation, by Monseigneur Victor Tremblay, the director of La Société Historique de Saguenay.59 was prompted in part, it seems, from the lack of either a national or provincial flag at the time.60 The flag bears a double cross: silver representing industry, over red for the population. The upper two quadrants are green, symbolizing the forests, and the lower ones, yellow, for the ripe harvests. The approach adopted in the Saguenay, of specifically designing a flag, as such, seems to be rare among the Quebec municipalities. More often, flag design appears to be a secondary byproduct of other forms of identification. Possibly, this is but a reflection of the preference early settlers and explorers had for the use of arms rather than flags.
It is a widespread practice in Quebec for municipal flags to have a white field. It is pleasant to imagine that this constitutes a reference to the White Flag of the old régime. In the centre of the flag will be placed either a heraldic or logotypic badge. Normally communities carefully record the date when arms were granted (or assumed), or when a logotype was adopted. But the date the device was placed upon a flag, which may be a decade or so later, often goes unrecorded. So, it is often unclear when the flag, itself, began to be used. With a few exceptions, the raising of most municipal flags in Quebec seems to have awaited the adoption of the National Flag in 1965.
All the municipalities on the Île de Montréal have been been represented in the Montréal Urban Community since 1970. Although most of their flags were adopted after that time, in 1969, LaSalle adopted one which combined the eight-pointed star from the arms of its eponym, Robert-René Cavelier de LaSalle, with blue wavy lines from the municipal arms. In 1976, Saint-Laurent adopted a logotype evocative of a tree, blossom, or open-armed greeting. This was subsequently placed upon a white field to form the municipal flag. The same approach was followed by Outremont and Lachine. Lachine's badge, adopted about 1980, shows two stylized leaves, the ribs of each forming an L. The blue leaf evokes water and the old way of life and the green one, foliage and modern dynamism.
The neighouring communities of Boucherville, Pierrefonds and Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville place their arms upon white, while Brossard and Longueuil employ a logotype in the same way. Before adopting its logotype in 1978, Longueuil flew a flag with a white cross on red on the hoist and a blue fleur-de-lis on white on the fly. Laval places its logotype, an L built out of cubes, upon a grey field. All five write their names upon their flags. Until 1987, nearby Saint-Eustache placed its arms in the white canton of an otherwise horizontal tricolour of red, green and blue. Thereafter, two blue swallows flew against a white sky. Saint-Jérôme uses a pictorial scene within a maple-leaf outline and places it upon a yellow field. Joliette, has a vertical bicolour of white and blue; the city's arms are placed upon the blue, while its name is written on the white.
Along the Ottawa River, the cities of Aylmer and Gatineau, both have flags. Aylmer's badge, which is placed upon a white field, recalls not only the adjacent Lake Deschênes, but the villages of Deschênes, Lucerne and Aylmer, out of which the city was formed in 1975. Gatineau placed its arms in the central pale of a vertical tricolour of green, white and orange. In 1987 a logotype, in the form of a stylized green G on white, was adopted.
The arms, which Sherbrooke places upon a white field along with its name, evoke the city's location at the junction of the Saint-François and Magog Rivers in the Eastern Townships.
The city of Cap-de-la-Madeleine, situated along the St. Lawrence between Montréal and Quebec, specifically designed a flag and adopted it in 1969.61 It is divided into three diagonal panels: the red at the hoist bears the national symbol of a maple leaf; the white in the centre, the city's arms; and the blue on the fly, the provincial emblem of a fleur-de-lis. The design bears a striking similarity to the flag that Red Deer, Alberta, adopted eight years later.
Across the river, Bécancour reestablishes the pattern that characterizes much of the lower St. Lawrence: a badge on a white field. Bécancour and Rivière-du-Loup employ a logotype while Sept-Iles, Matane, and Ste-Anne-des-Monts use arms. Each includes its name upon the flag. Ste-Anne-des-Monts has also revived a much older flag, bearing the monogram SA, which had been employed in the mid twenties to embellish homes on the occasion of the Fête Dieux, Saint-Jean Baptiste day and the festival of Ste Anne.
Baie-Comeau has had a flag since 1985 when it reversed the colours of its logotype to display white upon blue. This, along with the absence of any writing, contributes to a very effective flag.
This sampling of the municipal flags of Quebec is far from exhaustive. Yet, the selections appear representative.
This is the chapter entitled, Quebec, from the book,
The Flags of Canada, by Alistair B. Fraser.
This work is copyrighted. All rights reserved.
1. Reuben Gold Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, 1610-1791, Vol. 3 (Cleveland: Burrows Brothers, 1896-1901), pp. 28-29.
2. Whitney Smith, Flags through the Ages and Across the World (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975), p. 131.
3. August Vachon, "The Royal Mark in New France,"The Archivist, Vol 17, No. 1 (Ottawa: National Archives of Canada, January-February 1990), pp. 11-13.
4. Gustave Desjardins, Recherches sur les drapeaux français (Paris: Vve A. Morel et Cie, 1874), pp. III-IV, 15, 18, 60-62, 113. The three occasions were the coronation (1610) and funeral (1643) of Louis XIII, and the funeral (1715) of Louis XIV.
5. There is a record of the Bannière's use on Pierre du Gua de Monts' lodging at his settlement on île Sainte-Croix in 1604. But this island in the St. Croix River is just over the border in Main rather than New Brunswick. The record can be found in Marc Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle-France ... suivie des Muses de la Nouvelle-France, Vol. II (Paris: Edwin Tross, 1866), p. 450.
6. Many more examples, extending over two centuries, of this use of the Royal Arms in North America are cited by Vachon, The Archivist.
7. Desjardins, Recherches..., pp. 50-51.
8. Certainly, by 1643 the merchant marine was identified by the rectangular blue flag with the white cross. In 1661, an edict of Louis XIV required an inescutcheon of the royal arms to be added to this merchant's flag. The swallow-tale pennant also appearing on his ship is, like the one on the Abitation, a battlefield standard. See Vachon, The Archivist.
9. Smith, Flags..., pp. 44-45.
10. Alain René Lesage, Les aventures de Monsieur Robert Chevalier dit Beauchêne..., t. 1 (Maestricht: Jean-Edmé Dufour S. Phil. Roux, 1780), p. 126.
11. Smith, Flags..., p. 66.
12. Timothy Wilson, Flags at Sea (London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1986), p. 61.
13. Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, Vol. 5, p. 42.
14. Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, Vol. 43, p. 138.
15. René Chartrand, "The Flags of New France," The Flag Bulletin, XV:1 (1976), pp. 13-21. See also Chartrand, "Les drapeau en Nouvelle-France," Conservation Canada, Vol. 1, No. 1, (1974), pp. 24-25.
16. Antoine Champagne, Nouvelle études sur les La Vérendrye et le poste de l'Ouest (Québec: Les presses de l'Université Laval, 1971), p. 152.
17. Alan B. Beddoe, Beddoe's Canadian Heraldry (Revised by Col. Strome Galloway) (Belleville: Mika, 1981), p. 41.
18. Benjamin Sulte, Melanges Historiques, La SSJB 1834-1852, Vol. 15 (Montréal: Ducharme, 1921), p. 65.
19. Raoul Roy, Pour un drapeau indépendantiste (Montréal: Les éditions du frac-canada, 1965), pp. 14-15.
20. Eric Hobsbawm, "Introduction: Inventing Traditions" The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p. 2.
21. The silk has turned a light brown and very brittle with age. The design and workmanship of the banner was of low quality.
22. This reconstruction of the early history of the Carillon is based largely on the careful scholarly work of D. Peter MacLeod and C. Michel Boucher, "The Drapeau de Carillon, History and Legend," The Flag Bulletin,, XXXII, 2 (1993), p. 66-87.
23. E. Gagnon, "Le Drapeau de Carillon," Revue canadienne, new series, Vol. II (March 1882), pp.129-139, see p. 133.
24. Le Journal de Québec (June 27, 1848). See also the Quebec Gazette (June 28,1848).
25. H.-R. Casgrain, Lettres et pièces militaires, instructions, ordres, mémoires, plans de campagne et de défense, 1756-1760 (Québec, 1891).
26. MacLeod and Boucher, "The Drapeau de Carillon ."The Flag Bulletin,, XXXII, 2 (1993), p. 70-71.
27. J.C.K. Laflamme to Gagnon, February 10, 1905. See Gagnon, "Le prétendu drapeau de Carillon," p. 306.
28. E. Gagnon, writing as Pierre Sailly, "Le prétendu drapeau de Carillon," Revue canadienne, new series, Vol XVI (October 1915) pp. 304-306.
29. H.-J.-J.-B. Chouinard, Fête nationale des canadiens-français (Québec: A. Coté et Cie, 1881), pp. 78-79.
30. Rauol Roy, Pour un drapeau indépendantiste (Montréal: Les Éditions du Franc-Canada, 1965), p. 44.
31. Robert J.D. Page, Imperialism and Canada, 1895-1903, (Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972), p. 7.
32. Un Compatriote, Aux Canadiens-français, notre drapeau, (St. Hyacinthe: La Tribune, 1903), p. 17. Although it is widely claimed in the literature, and it seems reasonable, that this pamphlet was written by Abbot Ephège Filiatrault, no one seems to provide any basis for the assertion. Further, the literature sometimes claims that the pseudonym was "un patriote" and that the date was 1902.
33. Aux Canadiens-français, notre drapeau, p. 21.
34. Aux Canadiens-français, notre drapeau, p. 22.
35. Elphège Filiatrault, Nos couleurs nationales (Saint-Jude, 1905), 12 p.
36. Le Comité de Québec, Le Drapeau National des Canadiens français: un choix légitime et populaire. (Québec, 1904), 309 pp.
37. Although this is norm, there are striking exceptions such as the National Flag of Canada, where there was strong artistic leadership and the committee did not design as much as it chose between designs.
38. See: Edouard Blondel, "Les drapeaux canadiens" La Presse (1920 April 10), pp. 1, 8; and François Beaudoin, "Flags of Quebec"The Flag Bulletin, XXIII, 5 (1984), p. 157.
39. Jean-Guy Labarre, Non au Drapeau Canadien (Montréal: Les Éditions Actualité, 1962), p. 48.
40. Rodolphe Fournier, "Historique du Fleurdelisé" Le Manuel des Sociétés Saint-Jean-Baptiste (Québec: Les Editions du Richelieu, 1953), p. 89.
41. François Beaudoin, "Flags of Quebec"The Flag Bulletin, XXIII, 5 (1984), p. 157.
42. Labarre, Non au Drapeau Canadien, p. 49.
43. "The National Flag Contest" La Presse (Montréal, May 26, 1926), an editorial and an illustration.
44. Roy, Pour un drapeau indépendantiste, p. 76.
45. See the discussion in T.S. Ewart, A Flag for Canada (Ottawa: self, 1947), p. 5.
46. John Ross Matheson, Canada's Flag: A Search for a Nation, (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1980), p. 59-60.
47. Matheson, Canada's Flag, p. 50.
48. Labarre, Non au Drapeau Canadien, p. 51.
49. Jacques Archambault and Eugéne Lévesque, Le Drapeau Québécois (Québec: Éditeur officiel du Québec, 1978), p. 22.
50. Archambault and Lévesque, Le Drapeau Québécois, p. 23.
51. Although the new flag was approved on July 16, 1870, the despatch was not received by the Privy Council in Canada until August 8, which likely marks the earliest time the new flag would have been in use.
52. Alan B. Beddoe, Beddoe's Canadian Heraldry (revised by Col. Strome Galloway) (Belleville: Mika, 1981), p. 72.
53. Conrad Swan, Canada: Symbols of Sovereignty (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1977), p. 100.
54. In this way, arms are like a trademark or a patent, which are similarly not subject to arbitrary redefinition by the recipient.
55. The 1967 Centennial Fountain on Parliament Hill uses the 1868 version, while the 1986 Canadian Symbols Kit uses the 1939 version.
56. Memo from Micheline Dussault to Group Captain Gabriel Taschereau, Executive assistant to the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, circa January 1971.
57. Beaudoin, "Flags of Quebec", pp. 157. One of these Tercentennial flags is preserved in the museum at the Collège militaire royal de St.-Jean.
58. The symbol of the Montréal Olympics was created by Georges Huel, while that of Les Floralies internationales de Montréal was by Marcel Cadieux.
59. Hugh MacLennan, Rivers of Canada, "The Saguenay" (Toronto: Macmillan, 1974), p. 221.
60. Kevin Harrington, "The Saguenay Flag," Flagscan, Issue 11, Vol. III, No. 3 (Fall 1988), pp. 3-8.
61. Cap-de-la-Madeleine adopted its flag on Aug. 25, 1969.
This is the chapter entitled, Quebec, from the book,
The Flags of Canada, by Alistair B. Fraser.
This work is copyrighted. All rights reserved. |
Yesterday, Softbank Mobile announced its Fall 2015/Winter 2016 product lineup. While some here may have been impressed at the carrier’s offering Huawei’s Nexus 6P, the event arguably had greater significance in what it didn’t contain: plans to release either the Galaxy Note 5 or the Galaxy S6 Edge+. As both NTT docomo and KDDI au – Japan’s other two major carriers – had already held events to launch their new offerings, this was essentially the last shot.
Softbank, which until just a few months ago had never carried a single Galaxy smartphone, surprised the local mobile market when it announced both the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, albeit months after the global release. In light of the unexpected pair of products, some had held out hope Masayoshi Son’s conglomerate might be the sole bastion to offer the “greater” Galaxies.
This news represents the latest hardship for the Korean conglomerate here in Japan, having completely re-branded itself as “Galaxy” earlier this year in an apparent attempt to shift attention from its brand name, and amid reports that both flagships were an immediate flop in the market. In addition to the Note 5 and Edge+, to date, neither the Galaxy Tab S2 nor the Gear S2 models have been announced for release.
The only one
The sole Samsung offering this Fall is the rather meager Galaxy Active neo, a Japan-only device that features a 4.5-inch WVGA-resolution TFT display, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 SoC, 2GB of RAM, and an 8-megapixel rear camera to list but some of the specs. The device will come in at a price point of under $200.
This Active variant is a peculiar surprise given that its sole carrier, NTT docomo, had previously released both the Galaxy S4 Active and Galaxy S5 Active, yet has apparently passed on the S6 variant. Perhaps even more importantly however, docomo had been supportive of the Galaxy brand since the early days, being the sole carrier to offer the Galaxy S1, and subsequently the only one that offered the Galaxy Note 1.
While there is still ample opportunity for Samsung to make an announcement at a later date, at the moment things are looking rather bleak over here. Samsung Japan was unable to provide any specific information and instead recommended speaking directly with the local carriers. |
Yards Brewing Company Cicada Indigenous Ale: A New Hop Variety taking on a Classic Beer Style
As I perused the shelves of my local beer shop (shout out to Norm’s Beer and Wine, they’ve got a great selection of beers and are my go to for my beers), the label of Yards Brewing Company’s Cicada caught my eye. I always love going to the beer store and just browsing beers just by looking at their labels. I usually go in having an idea of what I’m looking for, be it a new release or a certain style, but I almost always find myself being sidetracked, with a flashy or funky label drawing my attention. However, with Yard’s Cicada, I wasn’t drawn by the flashiness of the label. I was drawn by its simplistic and yet detailed nature, with its drawing of a cicada on a hop vine looking like something taken out of an 18th or 19th century science textbook. At the same time, the drawing of the cicada brought back memories of the last “invasion” of the red eyed beasts that took over my town during middle school as they made their emergence after seventeen years underground. But I digress.
Yard’s Cicada Indigenous Ale is a Belgian style India Pale Ale, which is brewed with “local wildflower honey, a classic Belgian yeast strain, and a hop variety so new it hasn’t been named yet.” In my last review, I looked at New Belgium’s French Aramis IPA, which also used a new hop variety: the Aramis hop. I chose that beer to review because I thought reviewing a beer with a new hop variety would be fun, but when I chose Yard’s Cicada, I had no idea they were using a new experimental hop variety. And I was pretty stoked to find that out. In my last post, I talked about how it is really cool brewers are using these new hop varieties in new beers, and I’m glad that I stumbled on another beer using a new variety (although I wish I had a little more information on the hop. Further research proved fruitless when I tried to glean any more information on this “new hop”).
Numbers-wise, this Belgian IPA comes in a 750mL bottle, and is 8.5% ABV. Watch out for the ABV, since this beer proved to be quite drinkable! Poured into a tumbler pint glass, this beer is as aesthetically pleasing as any.
Mugshots of Yards Brewing Company’s Cicada Belgian IPA
Appearance– The beer poured amber in color, tinged reddish-orange. A thick and luxurious tan head rushed to the top of the glass, creating a dense and frothy head that subsided over a few minutes, but never disappeared fully, with tiny bubbles of carbonation racing to the head as long as there was beer in the glass.
Aroma– The aroma of this IPA is decidedly one of floral hoppiness. It starts off with an earthy character, with a mild citrus undertone. It has an herbal character to it, but that takes a backseat along with the citrus aromas when compared to the floral notes. About halfway through the first glass, once the beer sits and warms up a bit, more citrusy aromas are released. There are also some malt aromas to the beer, which makes for a very interesting balancing act of malty and hoppy aromas, which is reflected also in the flavor profile of this IPA.
Taste– This IPA is very malt forward. It has a malty flavor which resides somewhere in between biscuit, roasty, and caramel in character. This maltiness is balanced out by bitter hop flavors that are mostly floral, with hints of citrus that are more apparent when the beer warms up a bit and settles. It finishes with an overall malty body with moderate hop bitterness. It has a surprisingly clean finish, where the hop bitterness doesn’t overpower and overstay its welcome. It does finish with a warm alcoholic bite, but that is to be expected from the addition of the wildflower honey, packing in an 8.5% ABV.
Mouthfeel– Lots of carbonation, but not overly carbed, giving it a full body without being thick. The beer has a warm alcohol mouthfeel to it, but it is a pleasant sensation that accentuates the malt backbone. It finishes dry, which makes it a really drinkable beer. Which is great if you are wary of its 8.5% ABV.
Overall Impression– Yards Brewing Company’s Cicada is a solid Belgian IPA. It has a flavor profile that is well balanced: malty, roasty-biscuit flavors balancing out a hop bitterness that is driven by floral and earthy flavors, with an underlying citrus hoppiness. It finishes dry, with a hop bitterness that is to be expected from an IPA, but it isn’t so overly bitter that you can’t taste the next sip through a residual drowning hop bitterness. For an IPA, it is definitely malt forward, and it is a good example of the style of the Belgian IPA.
For being an impulse buy based mostly off of the label, I am pretty happy with picking up this bottle of Yards Brewing Company’s Cicada Indigenous Ale. Established in 1994, the guys at Yards are brewing some solid beers. This Belgian IPA, which I personally think is an interesting style to begin with, is a really great beer to drink. It makes use of a “classic Belgian yeast strain,” which reflects traditional Belgian brewing culture, “indigenous wildflower honey” which adds an American spin on a Continental style, and a “new experimental hop variety,” which reflects the innovation and experimentation that craft brewers are embracing in order to create new and engaging beers that consumers are going to be eager to try. And on top of all of this, Yards Brewing Company is Pennsylvania’s first 100% wind powered brewery, and works to reduce its environmental footprint in its brewing processes. So when you’re supporting them, you’re supporting Mother Nature! What’s not to like about that?
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All the Good News August 16, 2016 WRITTEN BY George Khoury
Hello Fellow Traders!
Welcome to All the Good News, the weekly update that gets you a little bit closer to understanding the Council’s Dilemma. First and foremost, a quick recap of the newest Conspiracy set’s official preview week, which started on Monday. Then, there’s a brief debriefing of the events that happened over the weekend: GP Portland, GP Rimini and the SCG Modern Open Syracuse. After the debriefing, there’s an update on the number of points PucaShield removed over its first month. Lastly, there’s the weekly reminders of the good things to look forward to or out for.
Conspiracy: Take the Reprint
While we all have a Burning Wish for a few certain cards to get reprinted, nobody expects the Inquisition of Kozilek! And it just so happens, both Burning Wish and Inquisition of Kozilek are getting reprinted in CN2.
Conspiracy: Take the Crown is getting previewed this week, and as expected based on the packaging previewed last week, not only has Marchesa, the Black Rose assumed the throne, she also crossed over from Grixis to Mardu during her ascension to Queen Marchesa.
Take a look at some of the fantastic previews revealed yesterday:
New cards like Archdemon of Paliano and Animus of Predation will make drafting CN2 a totally unique experience. In keeping with the set’s namesake, there are new conspiracy-type cards that will introduce an additional element of the unknown.
You can click here to see the Conspiracy: Take the Crown preview cards as they are added to the PucaTrade database and start adding the cards you want, need and love to your PucaTrade want list.
New Conspiracy Mechanics
The newest set mechanic, Monarch, was also unveiled. Basically, some cards explicitly state that you “become the Monarch,” and as long as you retain the title you get to draw a card at the beginning of your end step. However, if a creature deals damage to you, that creature’s controller becomes the Monarch.
Along with the return of Conspiracies, Will of the Council has been revamped to Council’s Dilemma allowing each vote to provide some gain rather than the majority-wins requirement of Will of the Council. Another new mechanic, Melee, incentivizes players to attack more than a single player each combat phase since a creature with Melee will get +1/+1 for each opponent attacked during that combat phase. Lastly, Goad forces a creature an opponent controls to “attack each combat if able” until the Goad-er’s turn and prevents the creature from attacking the Goad-er. You can read more about the new mechanics here.
WotC also updated their page explaining the Conspiracy Draft format. If you’re curious about the back-story of the design of Conspiracy, take a look at Mark Rosewater’s article “It’s Another Conspiracy”.
Conspiracy: Taking the HypeTrain to Paliano
In addition to preview season starting this week we were treated to the next chapter of the storyline. What’s more, an Australian LGS, Games Laboratory, showed off their special package received from Paliano, a work of art that really brings the Conspiracy: Take the Crown story to life. Only a handful of stores were lucky enough to be picked to take part in the Conspiracy Pre-Release (picture via facebook: click here). Don’t forget to keep an eye on social media over the weekend to see what those few lucky LGSs do to celebrate the occasion.
Last stop on the Conspiracy hype-train: The packaging features Queen Marchesa on the box and pack-wrapper art, as well as Kaya, Ghost Assassin on the pack, and a currently unnamed goblin (though it is speculated that the goblin is Daretti).
Grand Prix Portland
Over 1,700 players started on day 1 of GP Portland, and the top 100 day 1 meta shows a shift in the Standard metagame back towards Bant Company which made up a third of the top 8. However, at the very end, it was Robert Santana playing Jund Delirium who won it all defeating Travis Woo on WB Control, despite not being one of the four undefeated players at the end of day 1.
You can take a look at the Top 8 here. Top 9 - 32 can be found here.
Full coverage from WotC can be found here.
Grand Prix Rimini
Nearly 900 players came to Rimini, Italy to sling spells. Similarly to Portland, Bant Company had a significant presence in the meta and made up 75% of the Top 8. The finals was a Bant Company mirror match. Arne Huschenbeth, who traveled to Rimini from Germany, won the mirror to become GP champ.
You can take a look at the Top 8 here (which is all Bant Company and U/R Fevered Visions). Top 9 - 32 can be found here.
Day 2 metagame analysis can be found here.
Full coverage from WotC can be found here.
SCG Modern Open Syracuse
Ross Merriam defeated the competition piloting a new build of Modern Dredge featuring four Insolent Neonate and four Prized Amalgam. Two weeks prior, a similar Dredge list piloted by Justin O’Keefe won the SCG Modern Classic in Baltimore.
The Top 8 was rather diverse with five distinct archetypes: two Dredge, three Jund, one U/W Control, one Infect, and, finishing in second place, one R/G Breach deck. In light of the Top 8, the day 2 metagame breakdown provides interesting insight into the state of the Modern metagame.
You can take a look at the Top 32 here.
Full coverage from SCG can be found here.
PucaShield Update
PucaShield went into effect back on July 11th and after one full month 999,065 points have been paid into PucaShield. Landing just shy of one million points in one month seems to be a positive indicator that PucaShield will have a significant impact on point reduction over the long term.
Reminder! Future Site is FIVE Days Away
The PucaTrade team is hard at work putting the final touches on Sunday’s highly anticipated release. Dan provided an update last Friday letting us all know that things are progressing according to plan to meet the projected release date. Get those non-English, moderately played cards ready to send!
Reminder: FTV: Lore
Good News! This weekend, From the Vault: Lore will become available.
Event Reminders: RPTQ, SCG Invitational & Worlds
If you qualified for an RPTQ, these are being held this weekend. Check the schedule to see if you can attend one of the many taking place this weekend.
This weekend in New Jersey, the SCG Invitational will be focused on Modern and Standard with the final Top 8 being Modern. Live coverage will be provided by SCG via Twitch.
Lastly, Worlds is still a few weeks away, but if you plan on attending PAX West, Worlds is being held there from Sept. 1-4. There will be side events galore. Check out the Roster of players for Worlds here.
That’s All the Good News!
-GK
GK is a Modern, Legacy and EDH player that has been playing the game addicted to M:tG since 2011. Follow him on Twitter @LiberatedKarn
If you don't have a free PucaTrade account, learn how it works! Sign up or upgrade today! |
Convicted of attempted murder in the 2013 shooting death of Sammy Yatim, Toronto police Constable James Forcillo will remain a free man — for now — after his bail was extended until Oct. 1 on Tuesday.
Forcillo was sentenced to six years behind bars after a judge found the second volley of shots he fired at prone Yatim on a TTC streetcar was “unreasonable, unnecessary and excessive.”
During Forcillo’s trial the court heard from witnesses who said Yatim, 18, pulled out a knife while riding the busy streetcar, terrifying passengers. Videos of the incident and subsequent police shooting were played in court.
Jurors ultimately found that Forcillo was justified in firing the first volley of shots which felled Yatim, acquitting him of the more serious charge of second-degree murder.
Related stories:
Yatim’s family delivers emotional statements at Forcillo sentencing hearing
Mandatory minimum sentence ‘overboard’ for Forcillo’s case, lawyer says
Police officers need better training, and they need it urgently: ombudsman
Upon sentencing in July 2016, Forcillo’s legal team secured his bail pending an appeal.
Forcillo’s appeal dates are scheduled for October 2-4.
Here’s a look back at our live reporting during Forcillo’s sentencing. For a mobile-friendly version, click here.
With files from The Canadian Press |
Six months after radiation leaks from the nuclear plant led to their evacuation, residents of nearby towns briefly return
Takashige Kowata thought he was prepared for the worst when he opened the door to his house for the first time in six months. But the trauma of seeing his family home abandoned amid the panic of a nuclear meltdown was compounded when he noticed a broken bathroom window.
"It looks like we have been burgled," the 63-year-old says, still too shaken to establish what is missing. "I can't believe that someone is capable of stealing from the victims of a disaster."
The intruders would have committed their crime with ease: Kowata's spacious house and garden lie about a mile from the scene of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which has turned large swaths of nearby land into an official no-go zone.
He was one of 80,000 people living within a 12-mile (20km) radius of the nuclear plant who were told to evacuate by the government in the hours after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake launched a tsunami that crashed through its protective seawall and triggered meltdown in three of its six reactors.
Kowata and more than 200 of his neighbours have been allowed to make a brief visit home to collect as many belongings as they can carry. It is a homecoming that many accept is likely to be their last.
Dressed in protective suits, masks and goggles, they have been given just two hours to survey the damage to the houses they have been barred from entering since the triple disaster struck north-east Japan on the afternoon of 11 March.
Months of radiation leaks from Fukushima Daiichi have rendered Okuma and the nearby town of Futaba uninhabitable for years, perhaps decades.
According to a recent government report, the annual cumulative radiation dose in one district of Okuma is estimated at 508.1 millisieverts, more than 500 times the acceptable yearly level and, experts believe, high enough to increase the risk of cancer.
"We've been told that we can't return home because of the radiation," says Kinuko Yamada, a 53-year-old woman who is making the trip with her husband. "I hope we can go back, but it could be 20 to 30 years before that happens. I'll probably be dead by then."
Radiation levels in the town are so high that decontamination could take years, or not succeed at all. Residents have so far been allowed just this one brief visit, organised by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco] and nuclear safety officials. The Guardian was the only foreign media permitted to accompany them.
Evidence of the area's dismal place in the history of Japan's nuclear power industry becomes visible soon after the convoy of buses passes through the police checkpoint.
All traces of ordinary life have been cast in eerie suspension: roadsides are overgrown with grass and weeds; shops and restaurants lie empty, and grand farmhouses – evacuated in the hours following the accident, when Tepco officials were considering abandoning the plant – stand quiet and deserted. Toppled walls and scattered roof tiles are reminders of the staggering force of the quake that caused the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
The only sound is the chirping of late-summer cicadas and the occasional beep of a Geiger counter. A scrawny black dog wanders into the road, sizes up his human visitors and scampers back into the woods.
And just visible above a line of trees is the roof of one of Fukushima Daiichi's reactor buildings. As our bus drives past, radiation levels inside surge to 61 microsieverts an hour (compared to the typical Japanese average of 0.34 microsieverts).Elsewhere inside the exclusion zone, at least 1,000 cattle are roaming wild after escaping from their farm homesteads, according to local authorities. Most pets, and tens of thousands of cows, pigs and chickens have starved to death.
A few days after residents returned to their homes, police officers and firefighters resumed the search for almost 200 tsunami victims in the area still listed as missing.
Some residents are reluctant to openly criticise Tepco, a major local employer. "I never worried about the nuclear plant before the tsunami," says one of Kowata's neighbours, a woman in her 60s who declines to give her name.
"When we left on 11 March we thought we would be back in a week or 10 days. Then the reactor buildings started exploding and we were more cautious, but even so I never thought it would be as bad as this. The power plant put food on the table around here ... I can't find the words to describe how I feel.
"I'm going to take back some valuables and our ancestors' spirit tablets – my parents are both dead. The earthquake left our family Buddhist altar in pieces, so I brought some flowers to place in front of it."
Her garden, usually a blaze of colour at this time of year, is a tangle of weeds and wild grass. "I spotted a few flowers blooming among the grass," she says. "I love flowers and told them I was sorry for not being able to look after them properly."
Inside, the doors have come away from their hinges and the walls have been pushed up by the force of the quake. "It's terrible," she says. "The kind of shock from which you can never recover. I want to come back, but it might be better for my peace of mind to stop hoping."
However, Kowata, a former local government official who witnessed the arrival of MOX (mixed oxide) nuclear fuel at Fukushima Daiichi last year, makes no attempt to hide his bitterness towards Tepco.
He has lived in this neighbourhood all his life and had only just built a new house, which he shared with four other members of his family. His father, like many other elderly tsunami survivors, died soon after being evacuated.
"I don't know how much Tepco and the government will give us as compensation, and in any case it will take a long time to arrive," says Kowata, who is living in rented accommodation in Aizu-Wakamatsu, a town farther inland.
"We can't wait around for them to take action. The nuclear accident is a man-made disaster.
"The government and Tepco kept telling us that this kind of thing could not possibly happen. Tepco hasn't changed when it comes to covering up trouble."
Just two hours after they arrived, Okuma's residents must board buses to take them back outside the exclusion zone to be screened for radiation.
They emerge from their homes gripping plastic bags bulging with clothes, valuables, heirlooms, children's toys and photo albums.
Kowata gathers his belongings, walks out of his front door and turns the key one last time. "As far as I am concerned, this is the last time I will see my home," he says. "The house itself isn't very old ... it's a great shame."
Halfway down the driveway he turns and fixes his gaze on the home he is leaving behind.
"I wanted to say thank you one last time. Now it's time to move on." |
Daniel Florien, my Patheos colleague, lives in Aurora, Colorado. He wasn’t at the theater that night, but his account of what happened and his analysis of the aftermath deserve a few minutes of your time:
… It’s comforting to think people are in a better place, that God saved lives, that Satan was behind the incident, and that there is a Master Plan behind such tragedy.
It’s an empty comfort, however. Brains must be partially shut off to partake in it. Faith must trump fact. If the foundations of the comfort are analyzed rationally, cognitive dissonance arrives and hope fades.
Consider this: If I had the power to save everyone at the theater because I was all-powerful and all-knowing and all-loving and all-whatever, and I didn’t do it, wouldn’t I be evil — or at least greatly negligent? With great power comes great responsibility. Their God does not seem up for the task. |
Just when you thought you knew everything you needed to leading into Avengers: Age of Ultron, a new mystery arises. Disney is getting ready to premiere the film later this month and in a list of cast members attending the red carpet premiere, two names jumped out: Julie Delpy and Linda Cardellini. Neither actress has been in a Marvel movie before but both are well-known, which suggests more than just a fleeting cameo. So what does this mean? Read more below.
Disney confirmed that having Delpy and Cardellini on the Avengers Age of Ultron cast list for the premiere was not a misprint. Beyond that, there was no comment.
The ramifications of these two actresses being cast in the movie are endless. Are either of them Captain Marvel, appearing magically at the end of the film? That initial thought seems unlikely. If that does happen, Disney would never let that surprise leak in this manner. More likely is some kind of supporting role that doesn’t have any real MCU significance, but just requires a more seasoned, talented actress. I’m thinking a role like Ashley Johnson’s in the first movie.
We’ll have to wait until next week when the film starts screening to know for sure but it’s pretty exciting that these two awesome actresses are in the film.
For a quick refresher, Julie Delpy is best known for her starring role in Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy. She also co-wrote several of those films and is now a director herself, with films like 2 Days in Paris. Linda Cardellini came into our lives as Lindsey Weir in Freaks and Geeks and has since appeared in the Scooby-Doo movies, on ER, Mad Men and much more.
As of press time, Avengers: Age of Ultron is not on the IMDB page for either actress.
Who do you think Julie Delpy and Linda Cardellini are playing in Avengers: Age of Ultron?
NOTE: This is not an April Fool’s Joke: |
A Montreal man is suing TD Bank because it closed all of his accounts five years ago, arguing the bank discriminated against him because he is Iranian.
Hossein Pourshafiey's mortgage, business and personal bank accounts were suddenly closed by TD in 2012. He says he was never given a written explanation for the bank's decision, but believes he was targeted over his Iranian heritage and what he says are unfounded concerns that his money-transfer business violated Canadian sanctions against Iran.
In 2012, Canada's sanctions law prohibited banks from providing financial services to, from or for the benefit of anyone in Iran. Non-commercial money transfers of $40,000 or less were permitted if the person providing the financial services kept a record of the transaction. Mr. Pourshafiey said in an interview that while his business provided personal money transfers to people in Iran, the transactions did not exceed $40,000. The government repealed that section of the sanctions law in February, 2016.
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TD Bank Group said in a statement it does not comment on any matter before the courts. Global Affairs Canada, which oversees the government's sanctions laws, did not respond to a request for comment.
Five years after TD closed his accounts, Mr. Pourshafiey, 66, said his life is in financial ruin. Although he was able to transfer cash out of his personal account, he has drained all of his money trying to repay the $767,000 that was remaining on the mortgage. He said he cannot earn an income because other banks were not willing to provide him with the special money-services business account he requires to resume operating his money-transfer company, Moneywise Financial.
Mr. Pourshafiey, a father of five, moved to Canada from Iran 45 years ago. He is a Canadian citizen. He cried as he described to The Globe and Mail the toll the past five years has taken on his life. "In our culture, we always like to take care of the kids, but the situation that I have, when I go to see my grandchildren, I can't afford it because I don't have an income to buy them something. I have to go there empty-handed all the time. This is humiliating for me," he said through tears.
Mr. Pourshafiey's statement of claim says his experience with TD started in 2009, when the bank encouraged him to transfer all of his banking services, including the business account for his company, to the institution.
In a letter to Mr. Pourshafiey on Oct. 1, 2012, a TD representative said that after reviewing its customer relationships, the bank "can no longer continue to support your current accounts and/or services."
Mr. Pourshafiey's lawyer, Alan Stein, said his client has never received any written reasons for the closing of his accounts, even after repeated inquiries. However, he said a lawyer who represented Mr. Pourshafiey in a previous court action was verbally told why the accounts were closed.
"It was only when my client's former lawyer instituted proceedings that suddenly they [TD] raised this issue – the fact that, because of the federal government guidelines in regards to dealing with Iranians who were carrying on business in Montreal and Iran … they decided to close his accounts," Mr. Stein said.
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TD was making national headlines at the time after some Iranian-Canadians complained their accounts had also been frozen or closed under the sanctions against Iran. Mr. Stein said he thinks Mr. Pourshafiey is the only Iranian-Canadian to sue TD for closing his bank accounts since the bank's response to the sanctions in 2012. His client is seeking $425,000, which includes $275,000 for loss of business and $150,000 for stress, legal fees and punitive damages. He is also demanding TD reinstate his banking services, including his business account and mortgage.
A five-day court hearing in the case started on Dec. 5 in Montreal. Mr. Stein expects a decision will be made in the months come. |
EMBED >More News Videos There is an official order for a judge to review the Peoples Gas project that could cost at least $6.8 billion.
CHICAGO (WLS) -- There are developments into the I-Team investigation into a multi-billion dollar Peoples Gas project . Critics say it is way over-budget, potentially raising your gas bill.There is an official order for a judge to review the Peoples Gas project that could cost at least $6.8 billion. Critics call it a bloated budget. Now, there is a new decision by the Illinois Commerce Commission to hold more hearings and investigate it further."Since the inception it's been plagued with cost overruns," said Abe Scarr, Illinois PIRG.Illinois Public Interest Research Group is supporting the state's new decision to hold more hearings and testimony about the Peoples Gas Pipeline Replacement Strategy, its the project underway to modernize and replace old or leaky gas lines."The decision to continue the investigation is better than the alternative to rubber stamp the status quo," Scarr said.Attorney General Lisa Madigan told the I-Team in January that Peoples Gas customers could see their bills double in the next 14 years because of the growing cost. Peoples Gas said it expects the project to raise consumer bills by 2.7 percent annually, less than Madigan's estimate."They are asking rate payers to pay an exorbitant amount of money," Madigan said.An independent 2015 audit revealed the cost of the project had grown from $2.5 billion to more than $8 billion. Peoples Gas counters, estimating he cost to now be at $6.8 billion.The Illinois Commerce Commission decision directs the administrative law judge to review the project and hold hearings to determine how to: best prioritize leaks, reevaluate the cost and budget, and to determine the impact on the average annual customer bill.Peoples Gas said it's being responsive to the ICC. The company also says it has already made significant improvements, saying: "Our modernization program replaces an outdated natural gas delivery system, which consists of thousands of short segments of cast and ductile iron pipe, some installed more than a century ago. The benefits of the program will result in Chicagoans receiving the safe, reliable and modern natural gas distribution system they deserve."The consumer watchdog group Citizens Utility Board said the project is on an "unsustainable path" and "will be devastating" to Chicago consumers as it is now. CUB says it will work with state regulators to hold Peoples Gas accountable and control costs."We have made significant improvements implementing our System Modernization Program (SMP). Our modernization program replaces an outdated natural gas delivery system, which consists of thousands of short segments of cast and ductile iron pipe, some installed more than a century ago. The benefits of the program will result in Chicagoans receiving the safe, reliable and modern natural gas distribution system they deserve. The ICC process has been very helpful to all stakeholders and we're happy to be responsive to the additional information the ICC has requested. We remain committed to working with the Illinois Commerce Commission and all parties as we continue implementing SMP. We remain committed to working with the Illinois Commerce Commission and other stakeholders throughout this process." |
A year ago, Tammy Rose never imagined she’d be active again in church, holding a palm branch with a community of Christians marking the beginning of Holy Week.
For nearly two decades, in fact, she had more or less abandoned the faith, disillusioned by what she saw as a constant focus on conservative social issues and pressing needs for more donations.
But if politics helped drive her away, it is politics that, in some ways, is drawing her back to the fold. And on this sunny Sunday morning at Greenpoint Reformed Church, not too far from the Brooklyn artists collective where she lives, Ms. Rose is beaming as she joins the responsive call to prayer:
“Who are we?” intones the Rev. Jennifer Aull, the congregation’s minister for community service. Responding, the congregation says together: “We are young and old, gay and straight and in between. We are single and partnered, happy and sad, confused and inspired. We are street smart and college-educated. Some of us can’t pay our bills and others have more than enough to share.... We are God’s people. We are the body of Christ.”
Like a number of progressive congregations across the country, Greenpoint Reformed has seen both a surge in attendance and a newfound energy within its pews over the past year. Since the rise of Donald Trump to the US presidency, in fact, liberal enclaves have reported something of an awakening.
Hundreds of churches have joined the “sanctuary” movement to protest the administration's immigration policies since the election, and thousands have begun donating more money to religious groups supporting social justice issues, many report. At liberal seminaries like Union Theological in New York, students and community members have packed into public lectures on the “social gospel,” standing-room-only crowds that have left administrators stunned.
The call to worship on this Palm Sunday embodied some of the reasons Rose decided to return to church last year. “When I visited for the first time last Easter Sunday, I was like, oh my God, these are my people!” she says, noting she had been drawn by the rainbow flag and Black Lives Matter banner draping Greenpoint Reformed’s front facade. “I suddenly felt comfortable in this gang of – how can I put it? Everyone’s a little quirky. I was really happy that there was a place where that diversity could be celebrated.”
Yet the congregation also offered something a bit more intangible, says Rose, a playwright and artist with a day job in Manhattan’s tech industry. Already part of a community of politically-active artists, she is a regular presence at street protests.
But here in a community sharing prayer concerns together, or celebrating a gay couple’s renewal of their marriage vows, or including children coloring their Easter eggs – “I come here and I just feel replenished,” she says.
Revival of 'social gospel'
The current “Trump bump” now energizing many progressive congregations, however, may only be a blip on what has been a decades-long decline of liberal Christianity and some of the mainline Protestant denominations that have carried its torch since the early 20th century, many scholars caution.
“The social gospel has found its biggest moment of relevance since the Reagan years,” says Brett Grainger, professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University near Philadelphia. “The energy is feeding directly off the current administration's proposed budget cuts, which target the most vulnerable members of society, and its policies on immigration, which rub against the belief that ‘love of the stranger’ is central to Christian teaching.”
“But if there is a revival, it's most likely to be temporary, in that it thrives on its antagonism to Trump,” Professor Grainger continues.
Liberal Christianity and mainline Protestantism have been contracting for decades, in fact, losing millions of members and the cultural influence it once was able to wield. Mainline Protestant churches, including those in Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Methodist denominations, have lost roughly 5 million adult members since 2007, and now comprise about 15 percent of the US population, according to Pew Research.
Formed in the “modernist” controversies of the 1920s, liberal Christianity began to “demythologize” certain teachings like the virgin birth, the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth, and the literal meaning of Scripture. In response, conservatives emphasized the traditional “fundamentals” of Christian doctrine, which eventually gave rise to the term “fundamentalism.”
At the same time, many liberal congregations began to emphasize the “social gospel,” which focuses on Jesus’ ministry to the outcast and poor and the call to Christian service. Indeed, Christian congregations on the left were major players in the Civil Rights movement and the rise of the “sanctuary churches” movement that supported Central American refugees in the 1980s. Many were also part of the spread of “liberation theology,” first preached by Central American Catholics in the 1960s, who proclaimed that God primarily identifies with the oppressed and marginalized.
“Churches that are channeling this new anti-Trump energy into justice and caregiving issues, they’re not leaving their understanding of the Christian gospel behind,” says Bill Leonard, professor of Baptist studies and church history at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. “They are saying: This is who we are, we have a history of this, and we can’t be silent.”
A 'Trump bump'?
Rev. Ann Kansfield, the minister of proclamation at Greenpoint Reformed, isn’t sure how much the congregation’s recent surge can be attributed to a “Trump bump.” More people voted for Bernie Sanders in Greenpoint, after all, than any other area of New York City in the Democratic primary last year, and Reverend Kansfield noticed a simmering political energy going back to 2015.
Up to then, the church had plateaued with about 35 adult members. On Sunday, there were more than 60, including children. “We were already established as the progressive church in the neighborhood,” she says, noting that LGBT inclusion and its soup kitchen and food pantry were its primary ministries. “But with this new energy, we’ve been doing some deciding over who we are and what we do, and what following Jesus should look like in our context.”
After many members were abuzz following the Women’s March on Washington in January, the congregation put together a social justice task force. Kansfield has been making contacts with consortiums of faith groups mobilizing for progressive causes.
“But this is a marathon, not a sprint,” says Kansfield, who is also one of the chaplains serving the Fire Department of New York. “It would be really easy for us to tire ourselves out with all our spreading and fretting. But how do we actually invest our energy and time and resources to where it will strategically matter?”
Attending church is most effective when it is the “spiritual engine that drives the rest of the week,” she says, “the way we’re going to recharge and refuel for the rest of the week. And that isn’t going to be ginormous, but church and the spiritual practices that we share together can provide sustainable, ongoing energy that’ll keep you capable of the work of the long game.”
Search for spiritual resources
Sustaining the current spike in attendance at liberal churches may be difficult, however, given the long-term trend of decline, scholars say.
“If we do in fact see an uptick in attendance, it will reflect the fact that liberal Christians are searching for spiritual resources to speak to the sense of despair they feel about the current political direction of the country,” says Grainger. “What organized religion offers is not only that broader network of support but also the theological reassurance that, even if things aren't going well in the short term, in the longer arc of history, God is in control.”
Yet with the religious landscape in the US still in the midst of seismic changes, including the decline of church attendance and the rise of the so-called “nones,” those who do not affiliate with a religious tradition, a liberal de-emphasis of traditional doctrines and a focus on a social gospel might be attractive.
Professor Leonard at Wake Forest notes that many liberal churches have already developed outreach programs to engage “nones” in public theology discussions, home study groups, and dinner conversation groups. “These endeavors are drawing many individuals back to church, or to church for the first time,” he says.
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For her part, Rose says she wants to become more involved in Greenpoint’s ministries.
“I usually just go the Sunday services now,” she says. “But I’m thinking more and more about volunteering in the soup kitchen every week. I don’t want to come here just to participate in the family I’ve found. Now I want to give back to the family.” |
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