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OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A Black Lives Matter protest of about 30 people dressed in black vandalized several downtown businesses and city hall Sunday night, according to Olympia Police.
Video released by the department from a security camera above city hall shows the group shooting projectiles at the building while also vandalizing stores nearby.
No one was arrested in the protest, which police said was broken up by officers around 11 p.m.
"I think it's totally, wholeheartedly wrong the way police are acting," said Raven Fire, manager at Dumpster Values, one of many downtown businesses tagged with graffiti. "People need to be aware."
As for the Sunday night protest however, "They just want to rush the street and break things," added Fire. She protested with Black Lives Matter earlier in the year and is sympathetic with the movement, as is her employer, "They don't realize who they're really hurting."
Meanwhile, another sort of protest took place on the sidewalk in front of Olympia City Hall on Monday. As part of an online, nationwide effort to "Chalk the Police State," a series of messages were written in honor of those shot by police and to raise awareness to officers who pulled the trigger.
Copyright 2016 KING |
West Haven initiates eminent domain to acquire 6 properties for The Haven South project 6 properties targeted for The Haven
Dave Saldibar, 83, a life-long resident of West Haven turns to speak directly to the city’s residents, March 23, 2016, during the West Haven Redevelopment Agency’s public hearing at City Hall regarding the aquisition by purchase or eminent domain of the nine remaining properties involved in the Haven South Municipal Development Plan Project. Saldibar, a proponent of the project doesn’t agree the city of West Haven should use eminent domain. less Dave Saldibar, 83, a life-long resident of West Haven turns to speak directly to the city’s residents, March 23, 2016, during the West Haven Redevelopment Agency’s public hearing at City Hall ... more Photo: Catherine Avalone — New Haven Register Photo: Catherine Avalone — New Haven Register Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close West Haven initiates eminent domain to acquire 6 properties for The Haven South project 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
WEST HAVEN >> The city, through its Redevelopment Agency, has initiated eminent domain proceedings to acquire six properties within The Haven South project area for the first phase of the proposed The Haven upscale outlet mall.
The agency filed the six “statement of compensation” documents Tuesday, according to attorney Gary O’Connor of Pullman & Comley.
The documents were filed with the City Clerk’s office and sent to attorneys for the property owners, some of which are holdouts and some of which have unclear status that the proceedings are meant to clarify, he said.
Each of the six statements specify how much the city proposes to pay the respective properties via the eminent domain process based on the legally mandated formula of 125 percent of the average of two independent appraisals.
The figures are as follows:
• $862,500 for the Citgo station property at 60 Elm St., owned by SZS Enterprises LLC, owner of the Citgo station and mini-mart at Elm Street and First Avenue. Representatives on both sides have said that at one point the developer had offered $1.8 million.
• $236,875 for 341 First Ave., owned by Robert McGinnity, his mother, Natalie McGinnity, and his uncle, Michael Perrone.
• $225,000 for 349 First Ave., owned by Robert McGinnity.
• $450,000 for 38 Elm St. (at the corner of Elm and Water streets), owned by 38 Elm St. LLC. City officials have said that at one point the owner agreed to a settlement, but never followed through with the closing.
• $198,125 for 395 First Ave., owned by Charles Gore. O’Connor said the owner at one point had agreed to a settlement, but the mortgage holder did not respond.
• $23,750 for the FMR Grinding Wheel Corp. property at 0 Center St. O’Connor previously has said that condemnation proceedings would clarify this property’s status. FMR no longer is in business. The city and developer, The Haven Group LLC, also are listed as potentially having interests in the property.
“Unfortunately, the city has been left with no other viable choice than to initiate the use of eminent domain for the advancement of The Haven South Municipal Development Plan,” said Mayor Ed O’Brien in an emailed statement.
“Eminent domain will proceed because negotiations in good faith between the city and the property owners have concluded with no success,” O’Brien said. “Accordingly, on Aug. 30, letters were delivered to inform the remaining property owners that the city has filed statements of compensation ... to begin the eminent domain process.”
But the attorney representing the owners of three of the six properties said the city and developer The Haven Group do have choices — and those choices include leaving his clients’ properties, or at least portions of them, out of the plan.
“They told us they were going to do this, so it is not a surprise,” said Dwight Merriam of Robinson & Cole of Hartford, who represents SZS Enterprises, as well as the McGinnitys and Perrone, who own houses at 341 First Ave. and 349 First Ave.
But “we have seen nothing that demonstrates that there is any public purpose to be served by the taking of these ... properties,” said Merriam, who teaches land use law at the University of Connecticut.
“The city should not really be taking properties by the coercive force of eminent domain ... unless they can demonstrate that it is absolutely necessary to take these properties,” Merriam said.
“It seems like all West Haven wants to do is the same tragic mistake that New London did” in the landmark Kelo v. New London eminent domain case, which ultimately went to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Merriam, who co-edited a 2006 book about the case and the issues it raised, “Eminent Domain Use and Abuse: Kelo in Context.”
The high court ultimately ruled in New London’s favor, but nothing ever was built.
Natalie McGinnity and Perrone “have life estate interests” in 341 First Ave. to live there “until they die,” Merriam said. If West Haven proceeds forward with condemnation proceedings, “they’re going to have to evict the elderly,” he said.
“You have two elderly people who don’t want to move and aren’t going to move,” Merriam said. (Natalie McGinnity doesn’t live there now but reserves the right to if or when she reaches a point where she needs the additional care that her family can provide, he said.)
Both the McGinnity family and SZS owners Saed Ahmed and Sheik Hossain have offered to sell their properties and lease them back, Merriam said.
“We’re ready to deal with the city and we’re ready to deal with The Haven Group ... and figure out ways that these properties can be incorporated with this project in the long run, but in the meantime” the current owners can continue to live and work in them, he said.
Hossain and Ahmed, who have owned the Citgo station for 18 years, “want to spend the rest of their working lives harvesting the fruits of their sweat equity and hard labor,” Merriam said. They are willing to paint or decorate it “to be consistent with the project.”
“But they are not going to leave that property without a fight,” he said.
Despite the offers, “nobody seems interested in doing that,” Merriam said. “They just want to grab these properties.”
O’Brien previously had said a number of times that he did not want to go to eminent domain and would only do so as a last resort, but suggested that that’s where things have arrived here. The City Council authorized the use of eminent domain if necessary on June 10.
“Five property owners — and six properties in all — remain (to be acquired) in The Haven South project area” while “more than 50 property owners have accepted generous offers from the developers in far excess of the fair market value of their homes or businesses,” he said.
“As mayor of this great city, I acknowledge that this decision is not without controversy,” O’Brien said. “However, in the interests of the tens of thousands of West Haven residents who according to a poll conducted by the University of New Haven support this progressive economic development initiative, I can no longer stand idle and watch a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create hundreds of jobs and generate millions of dollars in property tax revenue slip through our fingers.
“Indeed, The Haven will be a transformational project for West Haven and its proud residents, one that will positively impact the landscape of the city’s business climate, cementing its reputation as a major destination once again, in the generations ahead,” he said.
The mayor’s statement says the documents were filed in U.S. District Court in New Haven, although the documents themselves state that they were prepared for Superior Court in the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District.
The Haven developers Sheldon Gordon and Ty Miller have proposed to build the $200 million, 347,826-square-foot waterfront development project in two phases, with about 60 stores and seven restaurants in the first phase and about 100 stores if both phases ultimately are built.
Executive Vice President Matt Armstrong told the City Council March 30 that The Haven would be the only direct-waterfront, luxury retail center in the country, with 60 stores, seven restaurants and a public waterfront promenade with a 200-seat amphitheater.
It would pay $2 million in annual property tax and create more than $15 million in incremental sales tax for the state, he said.
The Haven would provide 800 full-time and 400 part-time jobs, plus 800 construction jobs using all Connecticut-based contractors, he said. The developers had spent $15 million on the project as of that date, Armstrong said. |
A glitch in a test version of Facebook's Web site inadvertently exposed the birthdays of Facebook's 80 million members this week.
The bug was discovered over the weekend by Sophos Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluley. While checking out Facebook's new design, Cluley noticed that the birth dates of some of his privacy-obsessed acquaintances were popping up when they should have been hidden.
Facebook allows users to control who sees private information such as their birth date, which can be a valuable nugget of data for identity thieves. But Cluley discovered that the new site was making this information public to other members. "Their new profile page essentially ignored the privacy setting to withhold the data of birth," he said.
"For a brief period of time, a small number of users were able to access a private beta of Facebook's new site design meant only for developers. During that time, some of those users had their birthdays revealed due to a bug," Facebook said Wednesday in a statement. The company could not say exactly how long this data was exposed or how many people viewed the beta site, but the bug was patched within hours of Cluley's discovery.
Facebook may intend for the beta site to be private, but it has been open to the general public for several days. It features a new profile design that should be rolled out as an option to Facebook users some time this week.
Cluley himself did not consider this a major data breach, but he said it should serve as a warning to people who put a lot of information on social networks. "It raises a more serious question which is, 'Can you trust these social networks to look after your data properly?'" he said.
Facebook is sensitive about privacy. In November the company scrambled to fix its Beacon ad system after a CA researcher discovered that the system was collecting data on users' online behavior, despite Facebook's assurances to the contrary.
"With Beacon we just screwed it up," said Matt Cohler, the company's vice president of product management, during a March session with reporters.
Cluley isn't sure that won't happen again. He's telling his friends to just make up a birth date on Facebook from now on. |
In a ruling issued on Monday, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky struck down a state law requiring would-be entrepreneurs in the moving company business to receive permission to compete from their established rivals.
At issue in Bruner v. Zawacki was a Kentucky statute forcing anyone interested in entering the moving business to first convince state officials “that the existing transportation service is inadequate.” How? By surviving a government hearing where existing moving companies were invited to “file a protest to the granting, in whole or in part, of the application.” In the words of yesterday’s ruling by Judge Danny Reeves, the Kentucky agency charged with issuing those licenses “has never issued a Certificate to a new applicant when a protest from a competing mover was made.”
That monopolistic state of affairs prompted Raleigh Bruner, owner of the unlicensed Wildcat Moving company in Lexington, to file suit. Represented in federal court by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a national public interest law firm, Bruner argued that the Kentucky law violated his right to earn a living under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The U.S. district court agreed. The “notice, protest, and hearing procedures” amount to “an act of simple economic protectionism,” Judge Reeves declared, and therefore “offend and violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.” Henceforth, the judge ruled, “prospective moving companies...will not be subject to a ‘veto’ from their competition before they may lawfully act as a moving company.” |
The nation’s leading coal companies are increasingly filing for bankruptcy, leaving behind enormous tracts of scarred terrain and rising doubts that they will ever meet their legal commitments to repair the earth. Concern is growing that the companies and their debtors will use Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to force the costs of mine reclamation onto taxpayers, despite the industry’s standing obligations to pay.
The profits of Big Coal have been plummeting in a shifting energy market. Abundant supplies of cleaner natural gas have replaced coal as the fuel of choice in an increasing number of power plants, while the industry has been disappointed in its plans to expand overseas into China and other markets. Jobs have disappeared, a major topic on the campaign trail. Also at stake in the more than three dozen bankruptcies declared in the last three years are hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup obligations, primarily in the Appalachian coal fields.
Companies insist they will not shirk their reclamation duties. Unfortunately, their track record is not good in West Virginia, where the mining method called mountaintop removal — the systematic dynamiting of summits to get at underlying coal seams — has devastated the Appalachian landscape, polluted waterways and driven entire hamlets into retreat. “Lipstick on a corpse,” was how Ken Hechler, a former West Virginia congressman, described the industry’s cosmetic repairs to the state’s mesa-like remains of mountains.
The court fights are focusing on a loophole, called self-bonding, in the 1977 federal surface mining control law. This allowed state regulators to recklessly let companies, in profitable times, offer a mere promise to cover reclamation costs instead of requiring that they purchase bonds as insurance. The fear is the industry will use bankruptcy to see their obligations to banks and hedge funds paid first, leaving little for environmental cleanups. |
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An array of Jewish groups urged President Obama and Congress to ease the path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Nineteen national groups and dozens of local groups and clergy signed on to a letter sent last Friday that was timed for Passover.
"American Jews know too well the impact of restrictive immigration policies, and we have seen how the immigration issue can become a flashpoint for xenophobia," said the letter, which was spearheaded by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
Signatories represented all four major Jewish religious streams as well as the major Jewish civil rights groups, and the federation and public policy umbrellas.
"We are concerned the failure of national leaders to fix the broken immigration system has fueled racist, nativist, and extremist groups who blame immigrants for our country’s problems, and has been a central factor in the spread of state and local policies and laws that legalize discrimination against immigrants,” the letter says.
It calls for legislation that "brings undocumented immigrants out of the shadows by providing a pathway to citizenship, creates safe and legal avenues for future flows of immigrants, reunites families, establishes border protection and enforcement policies that enhance our national security, and accords all immigrants the responsibilities and rights required for full integration into American society."
The letter asks that such a system be "realistic" and that citizenship be available "within a reasonable timeframe of years, not decades." It also urges reform that "fixes the broken system for admitting and integrating refugees and asylum seekers." |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Researchers are developing robots that can learn from previous work
Engineers have developed a robotic system that can evolve and improve its performance.
A robot arm builds "babies" that get progressively better at moving without any human intervention.
The ultimate aim of the research project is to develop robots that adapt to their surroundings.
The work by teams in Cambridge and Zurich has been published in the journal PLOS One.
It seems like a plot from a science fiction film: a robot that builds other robots - each one better than the previous generation. But that is what researchers in Cambridge and Zurich have done.
But those concerned about machines taking over the world shouldn't worry, at least not yet.
At this stage the "baby robots" consist of plastic cubes with a motor inside. These are put together by a "mother" robot arm which glues them together in different configurations.
Although the set up is simple the system itself is ingenious.
The mother robot assesses how far its babies are able to move, and with no human intervention, improves the design so that the next one it builds can move further.
The mother robot built ten generations of children. The final version moved twice the distance of the first before its power ran out.
According to Dr Fumiya Iida of Cambridge University, who led the research with colleagues at ETH Zurich, one aim is to gain new insights into how living things evolve.
"One of the big questions in biology is how intelligence came about - we're using robotics to explore this mystery," he told BBC News.
"We think of robots as performing repetitive tasks, and they're typically designed for mass production instead of mass customisation, but we want to see robots that are capable of innovation and creativity."
Another aim is to develop robots that can improve and adapt to new situations, according to Andre Rosendo - who also worked on the project.
"You can imagine cars being built in factories and the robot looking for defects in the car and fixing them by itself," he said.
"And robots used in agriculture could try out slightly different ways of harvesting crops to see if they can improve yield."
Dr Iidya told me that he came into robotics because he was disappointed that the robots he saw in real life were not as good as the ones he saw in science fiction films such as Star Wars and Star Trek.
His aim was to change that and his approach was to draw lessons from the natural world to improve the efficiency and flexibility of traditional robotic systems.
As to whether we'd ever see robots like those in the sci-fi films that inspired him, he said: "We're not there yet, but sure, why not, maybe in about 30 years."
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Rubber bullets are not safe for use in controlling crowds, concludes a new Israeli medical report – and some of the bullets are much worse than others.
The report catalogues a frightening list of rubber-bullet injuries of 152 people brought to hospital after Israeli Arab riots in October 2000. That includes everything from bruising to blindness and three deaths – one from a hit to the sinuses, one from a strike to the eye that caused brain damage, and a third from complications during knee surgery.
All of the serious injuries were caused by a rubber bullet called RCC-95 – a blunt cylinder made up of three metal cores coated in hard rubber that splits after firing. The parts wobble in flight, sometimes striking victims sideways.
“This type of inaccurate ammunition and the resulting ricochets evidently make it difficult or impossible to avoid severe injuries,” says Michael Krausz, lead author of the study and a surgeon from the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
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Rubber balls
Another type of bullet used to control crowds during the riots, the MA/RA 88, caused mild to moderate injuries. These bullets are made of 15 metal-cored rubber balls that have the same impact area as the RCC-95 but are only a third as heavy. These bullets spray out in a metres-wide circle from the gun, making them useful for dispersing a crowd but not for targeting individuals.
Since even these bullets caused injuries requiring a trip to the hospital, Krausz does not consider them safe. “New types of ammunition with higher accuracy and less force of impact are urgently needed for control of civil demonstrations,” he says.
Rubber and plastic bullets have been controversial ever since their first use in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Police in the province switched to plastic bullets in 1975, and to a new model last June, in an attempt to find the safest ammunition. The new bullets fly straighter and are more accurate, but also cause more serious damage if they do hit the head or neck.
“They’ve killed 17 people, including nine schoolchildren,” says Clara Reilly, of the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets in Belfast. “Hundreds have been injured, including paralysis, brain damage, loss of both eyes – the list is endless.”
Gel bullets
In the UK, plastic bullets are not used for crowd control. “They are only to be used when there is a very high level of violence involving serious risk of loss of life or serious injury,” according to the Home Office. But Reilly counters that those conditions leave room for wide interpretation.
Research continues to make a better, less lethal weapon. This includes using gel instead of plastic bullets, or modifying the speed at which a gun fires depending on the range of the target.
Others are investigating using water cannon that deliver electric shocks, or noise-generating weapons that stun victims.
In the meantime, Krausz says, police officers must comply with regulations to only fire rubber bullets at lower limbs, and he suggests it should always be from a distance of more than 40 metres.
Journal reference: The Lancet (vol 359, p 1759) |
MIAMI -- LeBron James and Chris Bosh are now members of the Miami Heat and both came at a cut rate.
The Heat's two newest superstars signed matching six-year, $110.1 million contracts, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher. Dwyane Wade took an even bigger discount to stay in Miami, signing for six years and $107.5 million, according to the sources.
Sources told ESPN.com's Chad Ford that James and Bosh are scheduled to make $14.5 million and Wade $14 million in 2010-11.
Each player took $15 million less over the life of the contract to sign with Miami, but the deals came with a caveat.
It was a party in South Beach on Friday night as Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James donned Miami Heat jerseys at a welcoming celebration. Doug Benc/Getty Images
All three contracts, sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein, have an early termination option after the fourth season that would allow LeBron, Bosh and Wade to return to free agency in the summer of 2014. Each player also possesses a player option entering the final season of the contract (2015-16).
Bosh and James' deals were completed through sign-and-trades, making all three eligible for 10.5 percent raises each year.
The Heat sent two future first-round and two second-round picks to the Cavaliers for James, while packaging two first-round picks to the Raptors for Bosh.
Sources told ESPN that Toronto reacquired its first-round selection in 2011, which Miami had from a 2009 trade that sent Shawn Marion to the Raptors, and added the Heat's own first rounder in 2011.
Miami then sent its first-round picks in 2013 and 2015 to the Cavaliers and Cleveland has the option to swap first-round picks in 2012.
Both the Raptors and the Cavs will receive trade exceptions valued at $14.5 million, sources told ESPN.com.
"This deal provides us with multiple key assets and additional flexibility as we move forward for both the short term and beyond," Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant said in a release.
With all three superstars wrapped up, it was time for the Heat and their fans to celebrate and they greeted the NBA's newest superstar trio in a fashion normally reserved for rock concerts and award shows.
James, Wade and Bosh all arrived in white Heat uniforms accompanied by plumes of smoke, lifted into the air on a forklift for their grand arrival.
"I understand now that I've made the right decision," James said.
A packed arena, plus another 10,000 or so outside the building, couldn't have been more thrilled to hear James say those words. As they cheered their new king, he took a look at his new home crowd, folded his arms across his chest after he and his teammates were dropped from the sky on a forklift, and nodded.
"We know what the fans want," James said.
In case there was some question, they told him: Yes, a "Beat L.A." chant broke out in July, call it an opening salvo aimed at the two-time defending champion Lakers. |
The years leading up to the declaration of war between the Axis and Allied powers in 1939 were tumultuous times for people across the globe. The Great Depression had started a decade before, leaving much of the world unemployed and desperate. Nationalism was sweeping through Germany, and it chafed against the punitive measures of the Versailles Treaty that had ended World War I. China and the Empire of Japan had been at war since Japanese troops invaded Manchuria in 1931. Germany, Italy, and Japan were testing the newly founded League of Nations with multiple invasions and occupations of nearby countries, and felt emboldened when they encountered no meaningful consequences. The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, becoming a rehearsal of sorts for the upcoming World War -- Germany and Italy supported the nationalist rebels led by General Francisco Franco, and some 40,000 foreign nationals traveled to Spain to fight in what they saw as the larger war against fascism. In the last few pre-war years, Nazi Germany blazed the path to conflict -- rearming, signing a non-aggression treaty with the USSR, annexing Austria, and invading Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile, the United States passed several Neutrality Acts, trying to avoid foreign entanglements as it reeled from the Depression and the Dust Bowl years. Below is a glimpse of just some of these events leading up to World War II. (This entry isof a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II |
Unclaimed Vehicle Auction
AUCTION RULES AND REGULATIONS : (Please click "Show More" to view)
In order to ensure that order is maintained, acts of theft are eliminated, and to keep the risk of any loss to a minimum on auction days, auction customers must:
Be licensed with the State of Missouri, as a salvage dealer in order to purchase salvage vehicles. If the buyer present at an auction is not listed on the state salvage license, a letter from the owner of the company must be on file, authorizing the buyer to purchase vehicles under the companies state salvage license.
If the buyer is a salvage dealer operating inside the city limits of the City of Kansas City, they must have been issued a State of Missouri salvage license and a KCMO Salvage Yard permit; OR be a KCMO licensed automotive repair business with a Non-Salvage Yard determination.
- All buyers must register with the auctioneer and be issued a buyer number. Buyer numbers must be worn at all times.
- All buyers must have valid state ID to register.
- All buyers must be at least 18 years of age.
Penalties may be imposed on auction customers for failure to comply with all established protocols and procedures. A buyer may be suspended or banned for a period of 3 years or permanently banned for violation of established auction protocols and procedures. Buyer may be removed immediately and given a 3 year suspension for:
- Disruptive, disrespectful, obscene or abusive language toward other customers, the auctioneer or City staff members.
- Refusal to follow legal direction of City staff or auctioneers.
- Bidders may enter the driver’s side door of a vehicle to access the hood release only. Entering vehicles to access trunks, glove boxes, or interior areas will result in immediate removal and permanent suspension.
- Dumping trash from purchased vehicles on the lot before taking the purchased vehicle.
- Failing to take all vehicle parts when taking the purchased vehicle from the lot.
- Failure to pay for vehicles purchased at an auction. (Upon completion of the three year suspension, a $500.00 deposit will be required for all purchases made)
- Failure to pay security deposit for vehicles purchased at auction, when required.
- 2nd violation of any offense listed as a 6 month suspension
Buyers may be banned permanently for:
- Any form of theft.
- Any 2nd failure to pay for vehicles purchased.
- Assault on another customer, city staff member, the auctioneer and their staff or anyone on Tow Service property.
- Any misrepresentation, as a buyer for a company, when not authorized or without written approval, from that company to act as a buyer for said company.
- Being found in violation of any city code pertaining to inoperable vehicles on property owned or controlled by the buying company or individual buyer.
- Attempting to purchase vehicles while under a 6-month or 12-month suspension.
All sales must be final and paid in full by 4:30 PM on the day of the sale.
The auctioneer will process all final sales and provide documentation of the sale to the City outlining each transaction by the close of business on the day of the auction. Additionally, the auctioneer will provide a check for the proceeds of the auction to the City by the end of business on the day of the auction as outlined in the contract. No exceptions.
The City does not guarantee a title to unclaimed vehicles sold at auction. All unclai |
Saddles used by the disabled stolen from Katy group 'They stole from a bunch of handicapped kids,' owner says
Harris County sheriff's detectives are trying to figure out who stole an estimated $20,000 worth of saddles and bridles earlier this week from a Katy nonprofit recreational horse riding program that serves special-needs children.
The break-in at the Halter, Inc. facilities at 17410 Clay Road marked the second time in three weeks that burglars have broken into the group's offices.
"They stole from a bunch of handicapped kids," said Halter, Inc. owner Maria Pinzon. "Whoever did this is going to have to really live with what they've done. If they have a change of heart and are willing to return it to us, we'd be very happy to get our stuff back.
"Our biggest fear is they're going to come back and steal our horses," Pinzon added. "That would be a monumental devastation to most of these children. I can replace a saddle, but I can't replace a best friend."
The latest burglary was discovered early Wednesday. Intruders cut through locks and chains to get into the facilities, then stole 16 western saddles and six bridles.
The loss is estimated at $20,000, Pinzon said. The stolen saddles included 10 horse saddles and six pony saddles.
Three weeks ago, intruders also cut through locks and chains to get inside and steal the group's stock trailer, which was used to take horses to Special Olympics and United Cerebral Palsy events, Pinzon said.
"It's just going to make it harder for us," she said today. "We can't do our riding lessons without saddles. We're a small nonprofit. We don't have much money."
About 100 children participate in the group's various programs each year, Pinzon said. Halter, Inc. offers educational and recreational riding programs in a therapeutic setting, she said.
Because the group uses miniature horses, children as young as 1 year old are able to ride, she said.
Sheriff's detectives have no suspects, said Lt. John Legg. No fingerprints could be recovered because considerable condensation had accumulated by the time the latest break-in was discovered, he said.
"We believe the key to solving this crime is going to be the suspects attempting to sell the equipment that was stolen," Legg said. "We're really relying on any information from citizens who may run across individuals attempting to sell saddles or other equipment."
Among the items stolen this week was a black pony saddle studded with diamond-shape silver, Pinzon said.
After the break-ins drew attention from the media, donors gave three saddles and one bridle to the nonprofit group, she said.
Pinzon said she is at a loss to explain the burglaries to the children who ride the horses.
"I'm going to keep going on and I'm going to find a way to make sure it works out for the kids," she said. "That's what I've dedicated my life to."
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But Pete Coors was quietly sitting on a gold mine all this time. While competitors continue to gut the authenticity of their brands, Coors Banquet enters this competitive market with a brand that's gone largely unnoticed, and therefore unscathed, for a long time. The beer that once drove fans to load up their trunks in Colorado and peddle it across the country is taking another shot at going national almost 30 years since it disappeared in the shadow of light lagers. There's nothing new about Banquet—same flavor, same family, even the same packaging since returning to its heritage stubby bottle and a "commemorative can." But that's precisely the point for the Coors team.
Alongside the return of brands like Genesee, there's a distinct "heritage" trend gaining steam in American brewing. It's not craft. It's not quite retro. But it's working. Double-digit growth for Banquet in Chicago proves it. And now Pete's in town to back it up. His perspective on the industry is a unique one, having the longevity many newer brewery owners can only hope for. He tells a good story, and he's pushing a beer that he believes is "in a perfect place" in the market. And he has craft brewers and consumers to thank...for some of it. |
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The nation's retailers could be in for the weakest holiday season in six years as the sluggish economy continues to squeeze household budgets, according to a trade group report issued Tuesday.
The National Retail Federation forecasts that retail sales between November and December will expand 2.2% to $470.4 billion. That's below the ten-year average of 4.4% and the lowest since 2002, when sales rose 1.3%.
"Current financial pressures and a lack of confidence in the economy will force shoppers to be very conservative with their holiday spending," said NRF Chief Economist Rosalind Wells in a statement.
Weakness in the housing market, rising unemployment and lackluster income growth are among the challenges that consumers will face this holiday season, the NRF said.
Additionally, high energy and food costs will continue pinch American consumers. And the crisis in the nation's financial system will erode consumer confidence in the months ahead.
"We expect consumers to be frugal this season and less willing to splurge on discretionary items," Well said.
Given the current outlook, the NRF does not expect the economy to rebound until the second half of next year.
Last year's holiday sales rose 3% (correct), driven largely by gains in the consumer electronics market, NRF said. The forecast was for a 4% increase.
-- An earlier version of this story erroneously reported last year's sales gain. CNNMoney.com regrets the error. |
This is a 'Love is Art' kit. It comes with a canvas and a bottle of paint. You just douse you and your lover (or in your case just you) with the body paint, then go at it like animals atop the canvas. When you're done, ART IS BORN (and possibly a baby nine months later). As you can see from the picture above, these two budding artists were clearly banging like rabbits. Mine would probably look like a lady's buttcheeks, my knee prints, and the impression of a sad little dong. Total time in the studio: less than four minutes. Kits start at $60 and go up from there depending on the canvas and paint color. Alternatively, save yourself $50 and take a trip to Home Depot. Just don't go with a high-gloss finish because my penis is so shiny right now I blinded myself trying to pee.
Hit the jump for several different color combos of sexy paintings, one of which looks like a skull, most of which I suspect were faked LIKE AN ORGANISM. "You mean orgasm?" I don't know what I mean anymore.
Thanks to Gabrielle, who came up with the same concept except instead of paint you use food leftovers. |
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At least seven people were injured after a two-car collision resulted in one of the vehicles crashing into a Starbucks in Valley Glen early Thursday afternoon, authorities said.
The initial crash took place in the 12900 block of West Victory Boulevard -- at the intersection of Coldwater Canyon -- shortly after 1 p.m., according to a Los Angeles Fire Department alert.
A blue car was going west on Victory and trying to make a left turn onto Coldwater when it collided with a red Chevrolet, Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Andrew Neiman said.
The red car spun out and crashed into the nearby Starbucks, which is located on the southeast corner of the busy intersection, according to Neiman.
A total of 8 people inside in the Starbucks were hurt, including three who were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, he said.
The remaining five patients were treated at the scene.
Neither of the drivers were injured in the collision, which is under investigation.
The crash caused "an unknown amount of structural damage" to the Starbucks location, according to the LAFD alert.
KTLA's Irving Last contributed to this story.
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This article about the Flexible Box Layout was written by Jérémie Patonnier, French open Web enthusiast.
The flexible box model
CSS 3 introduces a brand new box model in addition of the traditional box model from CSS 1 and 2. The flexible box model determines the way boxes are distributed inside other boxes and the way they share the available space.
You can see the specification here.
This box model is similar to the one used by XUL (the user interface language used by Firefox). Some others languages use similar box models such as XAML or GladeXML.
Usually the flexible box model is exactly what you need if you want to create fluid layouts which adapt themselves to the size of the browser window or elastic layouts which adapt themselves to the font size.
In this article, all my examples are based on the following HTML code:
< body > < div id = "box1" > 1 < / div > < div id = "box2" > 2 < / div > < div id = "box3" > 3 < / div > < / body > <body> <div id="box1">1</div> <div id="box2">2</div> <div id="box3">3</div> </body>
Distributing boxes: so what?
By default, the traditional CSS box model distributes boxes vertically depending on the HTML flow. With the flexible box model, it’s possible to specify the order explicitly. You can even reverse it. To switch to the flexible box model, set the property display to the value box (or inline-box ) on a box which has child boxes.
display : box ; display: box;
Horizontal or vertical distribution
The box-orient property lets you specify the distribution axis. vertical and horizontal values define how boxes are displayed. Other values ( inline-axis and block-axis ) have the same effect, but also let you define the baseline alignment itself (basically the boxes are treated like “inline” boxes).
body { display : box ; box-orient : horizontal ; } body{ display: box; box-orient: horizontal; }
Reversed distribution
The property box-direction allows you to set the order in which the boxes appear. By default–when you simply specify the distribution axis–the boxes follow the HTML flow and are distributed from top to bottom if you are using a vertical axis and from left to right if you are using a horizontal axis. By setting box-direction to reverse , you can reverse the boxes’ distribution order. It acts as if you actually reversed the order of the elements in the HTML.
Be careful with this property because it changes the way some other properties work, which can produce some unexpected behavior.
body { display : box ; box-orient : vertical ; box-direction : reverse ; } body { display: box; box-orient: vertical; box-direction: reverse; }
Explicit distribution
The property box-ordinal-group lets you specify the order in which the boxes will be distributed. This is the ultimate customization opportunity, because you can define the order you want, regardless of the HTML flow order. Those groups are defined by a number starting at 1 (which is the default value). So the box model will first distribute those groups, then all the boxes inside each group. The distribution occurs from the lowest value (the group numbered 1) to the highest (the groups numbered 2 and above).
body { display : box ; box-orient : vertical ; box-direction : reverse ; } #box1 { box-ordinal-group : 2 ; } #box2 { box-ordinal-group : 2 ; } #box3 { box-ordinal-group : 1 ; } body { display: box; box-orient: vertical; box-direction : reverse; } #box1 { box-ordinal-group: 2; } #box2 { box-ordinal-group: 2; } #box3 { box-ordinal-group: 1; }
And what about flexibility?
If changing the natural HTML flow order is huge, the real fun begins when you start to deal with the available space.
Box sizing
By default, a box is not flexible. It becomes flexible only if it has the property box-flex with a value of at least 1.
If a box is not flexible, it will be as wide as possible to make its content visible without any overflow. Its size can be forced with the properties width and height (or their min-* , and max-* alternatives).
If a box is flexible, its size will be computed as follows:
The explicit size declarations ( width , height , min-* and max-* ) The size of the parent box and all the remaining available inner space.
So, if the boxes haven’t any size declarations, their sizes will fully depend on their parent box’s size. It will work like this: the size of box is equal to the size of its parent multiplied by the value of the its box-flex property divided by the sum of all the box-flex properties values of all boxes included in its parent.
On the other hand, if one or more boxes have an explicit size statements, the size of all those boxes is computed and all the flexible boxes share the remaining available space on the same principle as above.
It probably sounds a bit tricky, but with some examples it will become easier.
All boxes are flexible
In the next example, box 1 is twice the size of box 2 and box 2 has the same size as box 3. It looks the same as using percentages to set the boxes’ sizes. But there is a big difference. If you add a box, you don’t need to recalculate its size. With the flexible box model, each time you add a box, all the others automatically shrink to make room for the new one.
body { display : box ; box-orient : horizontal ; } #box1 { box-flex : 2 ; } #box2 { box-flex : 1 ; } #box3 { box-flex : 1 ; } body { display: box; box-orient: horizontal; } #box1 { box-flex: 2; } #box2 { box-flex: 1; } #box3 { box-flex: 1; }
Some boxes have a fixed size
In the next example, box 3, which is not flexible, is 160px in width. In this case, there’s 240px of free space available for boxes 1 and 2. So, box 1 will be 160px in width (240px x 2/3) and box 2 will be 80px in width (240px x 1/3). If you wish, you can make box 3 flexible as well. In this case the way the size of this box is computed will be almost the same as with the property min-width .
body { display : box ; box-orient : horizontal ; width : 400px ; } #box1 { box-flex : 2 ; } #box2 { box-flex : 1 ; } #box3 { width : 160px ; } body { display: box; box-orient: horizontal; width: 400px; } #box1 { box-flex: 2; } #box2 { box-flex: 1; } #box3 { width: 160px; }
Managing overflow
Because we can mix flexible boxes, inflexible boxes, and flexible boxes which have preset sizes, It’s possible for the sum of all the boxes’ sizes to be larger or smaller than the parent box size. So you can have too much space or not enough.
I have too much space available; what do I do?
The available space gets distributed depending on the properties box-align and box-pack
The property box-pack manages the way the space is distributed on the horizontal axis and can have one of four possible values: start , end , justify , or center
start : All the boxes are on the left side of the parent box and all the remaining space is on the right side. end : All the boxes are on the right and the remaining space is on the left justify : The available space is divided evenly in-between each boxes center : The available space is divided evenly on each side of the parent box
The property box-align manages the way the space is distributed on the vertical axis and can have one of five values: start , end , center , baseline , and stretch
start : The top edge of each box is placed along the top of the parent box and all the remaining space is placed below. end : The bottom edge of each box is placed along the bottom of the parent box and all the remaining space is placed above. center : The available space is divided evenly and placed half above and half below. baseline : All children are placed with their baselines aligned and the remaining space is placed before or after as necessary (This is a simplification about how this value really works, but you see the point). stretch : The height of each boxes is adjusted to fit the parent box height
A warning about how those properties work: they are strongly influenced by the use of the properties box-orient and box-direction . They can cause some unexpected behavior (for example, the behavior of values start and end could be fully reversed). I hope that once the specification is finalized, we’ll have more information about how those properties work together.
body { display : box ; box-orient : horizontal ; /* The content of the body is horizontally centered */ box-pack : center ; /* and vertically as well ... o/ */ box-align : center ; width : 100% ; height : 100% ; } body { display: box; box-orient: horizontal; /* The content of the body is horizontally centered */ box-pack: center; /* and vertically as well ... o/ */ box-align: center; width: 100%; height : 100%; }
What happens if I don’t have enough space?
Just like with the traditional box model, the overflow property lets you to define the way it’s managed. No surprise here.
However, you must be careful here too. Indeed, the use of the properties box-orient and box-direction can mess it up. For example, you can see elements overflowed to the right instead of the left or to the top instead of the bottom. Take the time to experiment before trying to use it on a big project or you could go mad.
You can also avoid overflow by making the boxes run over multiple lines (or columns, depending on the orientation) by setting the property box-lines to multiple .
Okay, cool, but does it work in real life?
Yes it does! Both Gecko and WebKit have vendor-prefixed implementations of a box model (Note: The current state of the specification does not reflect Mozilla’s or WebKit’s implementation). This means that Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and any browsers that use one of those rendering engines are able to use the features described in this article. If you use one of those awesome browsers, here is a little demo of the flexible box model in action.
If you’re not using a browser implementing a box model, this screenshot shows you what it looks like:
To conclude
You can start to use this box model to layout your HTML documents with modern web browsers. Be careful though, it’s the really first iteration of a W3C Working Draft. There will certainly be some changes. Anyway, the implementations available in Gecko and Webkit are extremely consistent and mature, so if there are changes, they should not be that troublesome.
This box model is a very easy and simple way to solve some usual problems in web design (form layout, page footers, vertical centering, disassociation of visual flow from HTML flow, etc.). I strongly suggest you become familiar with it because it could become a standard tool for web designers in the near future (if Microsoft decides to include it in IE, it could become so very fast).
What is already available is a good start to play with. But at this point, the way the traditional box model and the flexible box model interact is not very clear (for example, it’s impossible to use position:relative with the properties left or top on a box which uses the property box-ordinal-group ). This will be improved, but don’t be surprised if your work habits are somewhat undermined. Another tricky point: the way all the properties relative to this new box model interact can be sometimes really confusing. This should remind you of the day you discovered the float property. ;)
For further information |
The half-edge data structure is called that because instead of storing the edges of the mesh, we store half-edges. As the name implies, a half-edge is a half of an edge and is constructed by splitting an edge down its length. We'll call the two half-edges that make up an edge a pair. Half-edges are directed and the two edges of a pair have opposite directions.
The diagram below shows a small section of a half-edge representation of a triangle mesh. The yellow dots are the vertices of the mesh and the light blue bars are the half-edges. The arrows in the diagram represent pointers, although in order to keep the diagram from getting too cluttered, some of them have been ommited.
As you can see in the diagram, the half-edges that border a face form a circular linked list around its perimeter. This list can either be oriented clockwise or counter-clockwise around the face just as long as the same convention is used throughout. Each of the half-edges in the loop stores a pointer to the face it borders (not shown in the diagram), the vertex at its end point (also not shown) and a pointer to its pair. It might look something like this in C:
struct HE_edge {
HE_vert* vert; // vertex at the end of the half-edge HE_edge* pair; // oppositely oriented adjacent half-edge HE_face* face; // face the half-edge borders HE_edge* next; // next half-edge around the face };
Vertices in the half-edge data structure store their x, y, and z position as well as a pointer to exactly one of the half-edges which uses the vertex as its starting point. At any given vertex there will be more than one half-edge we could choose for this, but we only need one and it doesn't matter which one it is. We'll see why later on when the querying methods are explained. In C the vertex structure looks like this:
struct HE_vert {
float x; float y; float z;
HE_edge* edge; // one of the half-edges emantating from the vertex };
For a bare-bones version of the half-edge data structure, a face only needs to store a pointer to one of the half-edges which borders it. In a more practical implementation we'd probably store information about textures, normals, etc. in the faces as well. The half-edge pointer in the face is similar to the pointer in the vertex structure in that although there are multiple half-edges bordering each face, we only need to store one of them, and it doesn't matter which one. Here's the face structure in C:
struct HE_face {
HE_edge* edge; // one of the half-edges bordering the face }; |
Cowboys cornerback Byron Jones dislocated his knee against the Jets on Saturday's Thursday Night Football. It's the kind of injury that makes you recoil in fear, but he made the whole thing seem so calm and worry free. Heck, this is how he explained the whole thing to the Dallas Morning News:
"It just felt stuck for a little bit. I just straightened it out and it felt good," he said in the postgame locker room. "I didn't notice it was over to the side. I felt it stuck a little bit, so I just slowly straightened it and it just felt good from there."
Thank you Byron Jones. Thank you for making this injury seem way less terrifying. If any of us dislocate our knee we hope we can stay as calm as you did.
h/t Uproxx
* * *
SB Nation presents: The NFL's Microsoft tablets take so much abuse |
IN the battle of the codes, score this one as a significant victory to rugby league.
Sure, the Penrith players might have used - demeaned is probably a better word - women wearing nothing but their underwear to serve their drinks on Mad Monday.
But, as far as we know, they didn’t set fire to them.
You can hear the predictable yelps and screams. The bleating of those who believe we gave too much ground to the women’s rights movement when we allowed them to leave the cave unaccompanied.
“Just a bit of harmless fun.’’ ‘’Boys being boys.’’ “The women are happy to do it.’’
The same excuses, incidentally, made for the sadly dated and demeaning practice of having scantily clad women cheering on the sidelines at NRL matches. A ritual that emphasises and entrenches the ornamental place of women in the manly world or NRL.
Fortunately, most of us have moved on. We’ve grown up.
Is it time to scrap Mad Monday? Leave your comments below
We conduct public gatherings where alcohol is served, a good time is had and yet no one feels the night is incomplete without a healthy serving of dwarf flambé. We don’t generally harass blokes in wheelchairs. We don’t feel the need to have our snacks served by pretty women in their undies.
Indeed, as strange as it might seem to those who have put the madness into recent AFL and NRL Mondays, we invite women - and dwarfs and those with disabilities - along as participants, not amusements. Or they invite us.
Maybe this would take the madness out of some post-season Mondays. Replace Mad Monday with Family Monday. Bring the wives and kids. Provide a civilising influence.
Cue the cavemen again, this time with their fingers pointed at the ‘’keyboard warriors’’.
‘’But this is about the blokes who’ve gone to war together.’’ ‘’It’s about the bond you share with your teammates that no one else can understand.’’ ‘’It’s about mateship.’’
Which, the past week has revealed yet again, is self-justifying nonsense. Mad Monday is, for many, just an excuse to drink themselves into a blind stupor while finding the most bizarre way to demean and abuse others.
No, not always. Perhaps hardly ever. Certainly the media highlights the few incidents where the supposedly ‘’harmless fun’’ gets out of hand.
But those few publicised incidents betray a retrograde mentality that continues to infiltrate the ranks of top level football of different kinds.
The question is not whether a St Kilda player set fire to a dwarf. But why, at a gathering of highly paid and supposedly elite AFL players, a one-joke routine like performing dwarfs was even contemplated. Why the lingerie waitresses?
Harvey Norman, once a significant contributor to rugby league, will this season sponsor the A-League’s marquee Friday night fixture.
Harvey Norman’s managing director Katie Page, a former NRL board member, continues to support the NRL’s Women in League round. But you wonder if it is coincidental that the company has shifted its focus to the increasingly family-friendly world of football.
But you can’t kill Mad Monday. Ricky Stuart cancelled the day for his Eels, yet forward Mitch Allgood still managed to find a pub and, later, his car keys.
Sadly, his name represents the attitude to what happens on Mad Monday. Flaming dwarfs? Semi-naked waitresses? DUI?
Don’t worry about the standards the AFL and NRL and their clubs claim to represent, or the responsibilities that come with an out-sized pay cheque.
For one day of the year, it’s all good. |
”Thanksgiving at Plymouth”, oil on canvas by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1925, National Museum of Women in the Arts Pointedly, the anachronistic Plains Indians headdresses depicted in her 1914 painting, above, were not repeated in this, her 1925 painting of that event.
Early thanksgiving observances Edit
Shrine of the first U.S. Thanksgiving in 1619 at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia
Setting aside time to give thanks for one's blessings, along with holding feasts to celebrate a harvest, are both practices that long predate the European settlement of North America. The first documented thanksgiving services in territory currently belonging to the United States were conducted by Spaniards[10][11] and the French[12] in the 16th century. Wisdom practices such as expressing gratitude, sharing, and giving away, are integral to many indigenous cultures and communities.
Thanksgiving services were routine in what became the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607,[13] with the first permanent settlement of Jamestown, Virginia holding a thanksgiving in 1610.[10] In 1619, 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia. The group's London Company charter specifically required "that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned... in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."[14][15] Three years later, after the Indian massacre of 1622, the Berkeley Hundred site and other outlying locations were abandoned and colonists moved their celebration to Jamestown and other more secure spots.
Harvest festival observed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Edit
The most prominent historic thanksgiving event in American popular culture is the 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season. Autumn or early winter feasts continued sporadically in later years, first as an impromptu religious observance and later as a civil tradition.
The Plymouth settlers, known as Pilgrims, had settled in land abandoned when all but one of the Patuxet Indians died in a plague. After a harsh winter killed half of the Plymouth settlers, the last surviving Patuxet, Squanto (who had learned English and avoided the plague as a slave in Europe), came in at the request of Samoset, the first native American to encounter the Pilgrims. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn and served as an interpreter for them until he too succumbed to plague a year later. The Wampanoag leader Massasoit also gave food to the colonists during the first winter when supplies brought from England were insufficient.
The Pilgrims celebrated at Plymouth for three days after their first harvest in 1621. The exact time is unknown, but James Baker, the Plimoth Plantation vice president of research, stated in 1996, "The event occurred between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11, 1621, with the most likely time being around Michaelmas (Sept. 29), the traditional time."[17] Seventeenth-century accounts do not identify this as a Thanksgiving observance, rather it followed the harvest. It included 50 persons who were on the Mayflower (all who remained of the 100 who had landed) and 90 Native Americans.[17] The feast was cooked by the four adult Pilgrim women who survived their first winter in the New World (Eleanor Billington, Elizabeth Hopkins, Mary Brewster, and Susanna White), along with young daughters and male and female servants.[17][18]
The Pilgrim by by Augustus St. Gaudens , 1904. The "buckle hat" atop the sculpture's head, now associated with the Pilgrims in pop culture, was fictional; Pilgrims never wore such an item, nor has any such hat ever existed as a serious piece of apparel.
Two colonists gave personal accounts of the 1621 feast in Plymouth. The Pilgrims, most of whom were Separatists (English Dissenters), are not to be confused with Puritans, who established their own Massachusetts Bay Colony on the Shawmut Peninsula (current day Boston) in 1630.[19][20] Both groups were strict Calvinists, but differed in their views regarding the Church of England. Puritans wished to remain in the Anglican Church and reform it, while the Pilgrims wanted complete separation from the church.
William Bradford, in Of Plymouth Plantation wrote:
They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they can be used (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.
Edward Winslow, in Mourt's Relation wrote:
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.[23]
The Pilgrims held a true Thanksgiving celebration in 1623[24][25] following a fast,[26] and a refreshing 14-day rain[27] which resulted in a larger harvest. William DeLoss Love calculates that this thanksgiving was made on Wednesday, July 30, 1623, a day before the arrival of a supply ship with more colonists,[26] but before the fall harvest. In Love's opinion this 1623 thanksgiving was significant because the order to recognize the event was from civil authority[28] (Governor Bradford), and not from the church, making it likely the first civil recognition of Thanksgiving in New England.[26]
Referring to the 1623 harvest after the nearly catastrophic drought, Bradford wrote:
And afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving… By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine now God gave them plenty … for which they blessed God. And the effect of their particular planting was well seen, for all had … pretty well … so as any general want or famine had not been amongst them since to this day.[29]
These firsthand accounts do not appear to have contributed to the early development of the holiday. Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation" was not published until the 1850s. While the booklet "Mourt's Relation" was summarized by other publications without the now-familiar thanksgiving story. By the eighteenth century the original booklet appeared to be lost or forgotten. A copy was rediscovered in Philadelphia in 1820, with the first full reprinting in 1841. In a footnote the editor, Alexander Young, was the first person to identify the 1621 feast as the first Thanksgiving.[30]
According to historian James Baker, debates over where any "first Thanksgiving" took place on modern American territory are a "tempest in a beanpot".[30] Jeremy Bang claims, "Local boosters in Virginia, Florida, and Texas promote their own colonists, who (like many people getting off a boat) gave thanks for setting foot again on dry land."[31] Baker claims, "the American holiday's true origin was the New England Calvinist Thanksgiving. Never coupled with a Sabbath meeting, the Puritan observances were special days set aside during the week for thanksgiving and praise in response to God's providence."[30]
President John F. Kennedy issued Proclamation 3560 on November 5, 1963 stating, "Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together and for the faith which united them with their God."[32]
The Revolutionary War to nationhood Edit
During the American Revolutionary War the Continental Congress appointed one or more thanksgiving days each year, each time recommending to the executives of the various states the observance of these days in their states.
The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in 1777 from its temporary location in York, Pennsylvania, while the British occupied the national capital at Philadelphia. Delegate Samuel Adams created the first draft. Congress then adapted the final version:
For as much as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success: It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these United States to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth Day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please God through the Merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, Independence and Peace: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost. And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.
George Washington, leader of the revolutionary forces in the American Revolutionary War, proclaimed a Thanksgiving in December 1777 as a victory celebration honoring the defeat of the British at Saratoga.[33]
Thanksgiving proclamations in the early Republic Edit
George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789 (top) and 1795
The Continental-Confederation Congress, the legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, issued several "national days of prayer, humiliation, and thanksgiving",[34] a practice that was continued by presidents Washington and Adams under the Constitution, and has manifested itself in the established American observances of Thanksgiving and the National Day of Prayer today.[35] This proclamation was published in The Independent Gazetteer, or the Chronicle of Freedom, on November 5, 1782, the first being observed on November 28, 1782:
By the United States in Congress assembled, PROCLAMATION. It being the indispensable duty of all nations, not only to offer up their supplications to Almighty God, the giver of all good, for His gracious assistance in a time of distress, but also in a solemn and public manner, to give Him praise for His goodness in general, and especially for great and signal interpositions of His Providence in their behalf; therefore, the United States in Congress assembled, taking into their consideration the many instances of Divine goodness to these States in the course of the important conflict, in which they have been so long engaged, – the present happy and promising state of public affairs, and the events of the war in the course of the year now drawing to a close; particularly the harmony of the public Councils which is so necessary to the success of the public cause, – the perfect union and good understanding which has hitherto subsisted between them and their allies, notwithstanding the artful and unwearied attempts of the common enemy to divide them, – the success of the arms of the United States and those of their allies, – and the acknowledgment of their Independence by another European power, whose friendship and commerce must be of great and lasting advantage to these States; Do hereby recommend it to the inhabitants of these States in general, to observe and request the several states to interpose their authority, in appointing and commanding the observation of THURSDAY the TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF NOVEMBER next as a day of SOLEMN THANKSGIVING to GOD for all His mercies; and they do further recommend to all ranks to testify their gratitude to God for His goodness by a cheerful obedience to His laws and by promoting, each in his station, and by his influence, the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foundation of public prosperity and national happiness. Done in Congress at Philadelphia, the eleventh day of October, in the year of our LORD, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, and of our Sovereignty and Independence, the seventh. JOHN HANSON, President. CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.[34]
On Thursday, September 24, 1789, the first House of Representatives voted to recommend the First Amendment of the newly drafted Constitution to the states for ratification. The next day, Congressman Elias Boudinot from New Jersey proposed that the House and Senate jointly request of President Washington to proclaim a day of thanksgiving for "the many signal favors of Almighty God". Boudinot said that he "could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them."[36]
As President, on October 3, 1789, George Washington made the following proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America:
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness." Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.[37]
On January 1, 1795, Washington proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day to be observed on Thursday, February 19.
President John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799. As Thomas Jefferson was a deist and a skeptic of the idea of divine intervention, he did not declare any thanksgiving days during his presidency. James Madison renewed the tradition in 1814, in response to resolutions of Congress, at the close of the War of 1812. Caleb Strong, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, declared the holiday in 1813, "for a day of public thanksgiving and prayer" for Thursday, November 25 of that year.[38]
Madison also declared the holiday twice in 1815; however, neither of these was celebrated in autumn. In 1816, Governor Plumer of New Hampshire appointed Thursday, November 14 to be observed as a day of Public Thanksgiving and Governor Brooks of Massachusetts appointed Thursday, November 28 to be "observed throughout that State as a day of Thanksgiving".[39]
A thanksgiving day was annually appointed by the governor of New York from 1817.[citation needed] By 1858 proclamations appointing a day of thanksgiving were issued by the governors of 25 states and two territories.[citation needed]
Lincoln and the Civil War Edit
In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale,[3] proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the 26th, the final Thursday of November 1863. The document, written by Secretary of State William H. Seward, reads as follows:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth." Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.[3]
Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States. The holiday superseded Evacuation Day, a de facto national holiday that had been held on November 25 each year prior to the Civil War and commemorated the British withdrawal from the United States after the American Revolution.[40]
Post-Civil War era Edit
During the second half of the 19th century, Thanksgiving traditions in America varied from region to region. A traditional New England Thanksgiving, for example, consisted of a raffle held on Thanksgiving Eve (in which the prizes were mainly geese or turkeys), a shooting match on Thanksgiving morning (in which turkeys and chickens were used as targets), church services—and then the traditional feast, which consisted of some familiar Thanksgiving staples such as turkey and pumpkin pie, and some not-so-familiar dishes such as pigeon pie. The earliest high school football rivalries took root in the late 19th century in Massachusetts, stemming from games played on Thanksgiving; professional football took root as a Thanksgiving staple during the sport's genesis in the 1890s, and the tradition of Thanksgiving football both at the high school and professional level continues to this day. In New York City, people would dress up in fanciful masks and costumes and roam the streets in merry-making mobs. By the beginning of the 20th century, these mobs had morphed[citation needed] into Ragamuffin parades consisting mostly of children dressed as "ragamuffins" in costumes of old and mismatched adult clothes and with deliberately smudged faces, but by the late 1950s the tradition had diminished enough to only exist in its original form in a few communities around New York, with many of its traditions subsumed into the Halloween custom of trick-or-treating.[41]
1939 to 1941 Edit
Abraham Lincoln's successors as president followed his example of annually declaring the final Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving. But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with this tradition.[5] November had five Thursdays that year (instead of the more-common four), Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one. Although many popular histories state otherwise, he made clear that his plan was to establish the holiday on the next-to-last Thursday in the month instead of the last one. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would help bring the country out of the Depression. At the time, advertising goods for Christmas before Thanksgiving was considered inappropriate. Fred Lazarus, Jr., founder of the Federated Department Stores (later Macy's), is credited with convincing Roosevelt to push Thanksgiving to a week earlier to expand the shopping season, and within two years the change passed through Congress into law.[42][43]
Republicans decried the change, calling it an affront to the memory of Lincoln. People began referring to November 30 as the "Republican Thanksgiving" and November 23 as the "Democratic Thanksgiving" or "Franksgiving".[44] Regardless of the politics, many localities had made a tradition of celebrating on the last Thursday, and many football teams had a tradition of playing their final games of the season on Thanksgiving; with their schedules set well in advance, they could not change. Since a presidential declaration of Thanksgiving Day was not legally binding, Roosevelt's change was widely disregarded. Twenty-three states went along with Roosevelt's recommendation, 22 did not, and some, like Texas, could not decide and took both days as government holidays.[citation needed]
In 1940 and 1941, years in which November had four Thursdays, Roosevelt declared the third one as Thanksgiving. As in 1939, some states went along with the change while others retained the traditional last-Thursday date.[citation needed]
1942 to present Edit
Dr. Mordecai Johnson , president of Howard University, serving portions of Thanksgiving turkey to members of his family in 1942.
On October 6, 1941, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution fixing the traditional last-Thursday date for the holiday beginning in 1942. However, in December of that year the Senate passed an amendment to the resolution that split the difference by requiring that Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was usually the last Thursday and sometimes (two years out of seven, on average) the next to last.[45] The amendment also passed the House, and on December 26, 1941, President Roosevelt signed this bill, for the first time making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law and fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November.[46]
For several years some states continued to observe the last-Thursday date in years with five November Thursdays (the next such year being 1944), with Texas doing so as late as 1956.[citation needed] |
Reformed Abortion Clinic Director: ‘Our Goal Was Three to Five Abortions per Student’
(Examiner.com)
ROUND ROCK, Texas – Abortion clinics are businesses, just like muffler shops or fast food restaurants.
They need a steady parade of clients to survive, so they go out and create them in public schools.
That’s the conclusion Carol Everett came to after years of working as an abortion clinic manager in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Now a converted pro-life advocate, Everett is sharing this sickening reality with parents, lawmakers and anyone else who wants to listen, as often as she can.
Public school sexual education programs run by pro-choice groups “break down the natural modesty (of students), they separate them from their parents and their values … and they eventually give them low-dose birth control pills they know they’ll get pregnant on,” Everett told Progressives Today.
“They don’t tell parents what they’re doing.”
Everett understands the tactics used by pro-choice organizations like Planned Parenthood because she earned a living in the profitable abortion industry. She ran four different abortion centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area between 1977 and 1983, when she changed her position on the issue.
Everett says she oversaw approximately 35,000 abortions.
In 1995, Everett founded The Heidi Group, “a non-profit organization dedicated to helping girls and women with unplanned pregnancies make positive, life-affirming choices for themselves and their babies.”
Everett has offered expert testimony in courts across the nation, as well as for 33 state legislative committees and a congressional committee.
Despite her efforts, and the work of countless pro-life groups, many parents don’t understand what their children are learning about sex at school, or more importantly, how their kids are being targeted as potential clients by the abortion industry.
“We went to the schools as early as kindergarten,” Everett said of her years working in the industry. During those sessions, sex ed instructors “are planting the seed (in student’s minds) that parents don’t know what they are talking about.”
In elementary schools, the sex ed curriculum utilizes several books – such as Robie H. Harris’ “It’s So Amazing,” “It’s Perfectly Normal,” and “It’s Not the Stork” – to acclimate students to the idea of sex, and to promote sexual behaviors.
“By fourth grade they encourage them to masturbate alone, or in groups of four or five of the same sex,” Everett said. By fifth or sixth grade, the curriculum turns to “talking about having sex” and intentionally encourages a “parents don’t understand you” mentality.
“That’s when we gave them the low-dose birth control we know they’ll get pregnant on,” Everett said. The pills must be taken at exactly the same time every day, something those administering the pills know is very difficult, if not impossible, for most teens, she said.
Inevitably, many young girls become pregnant while still in school. Scared, vulnerable, and conditioned to avoid discussions of a sexual nature with their parents, they call the only people they think they can trust.
When crisis pregnancy counselors at Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics get a troubled young girl on the line, “they … pull out their abortion script and use that to sell an abortion,” Everett said.
Inside the clinics, those performing abortions often rush through numerous operations a day, often going from one room to another without sanitizing, essentially maintaining an assembly line of clients.
“It’s more deceptive than people realize,” Everett said. “The abortion industry sells and re-sells their product.
“Our goal was three to five abortions per student for every student we could get.”
About 45 percent of women who have an abortion have more than one, she said.
Last year, Planned Parenthood’s net revenue came in at $1.21 billion, with roughly $540.6 million coming from taxpayer-funded government health services grants, according to a Planned Parenthood annual report cited by CNSNews.com.
Planned Parenthood clinics in six states have also received $655,192 to serve as Obamacare “navigators,” CNSNews.com reports. That means the staff at those clinics help convince the public to sign up for the President’s subsidized health insurance program.
So the President scratches the abortionists’ backs, and vice versa.
Texas lawmakers recently reduced the number of abortion clinics from 47 to nine, Everett said, and other states are making strides, as well.
Last week, lawmakers in Missouri passed a mandatory 72-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions, to give them more time to contemplate the decision, though there’s no guarantee the governor will sign off on the legislation.
Yet despite the progress, “there’s still this problem with people not understanding” that abortion providers are steering students toward sexual activities, with the ultimate goal of creating clients.
“People don’t realize the abortion industry is an industry, and it’s doing really well,” Everett said.
Authored by Victor Skinner |
With Edinburgh about to enjoy its annual festival invasion, you’d think that the city’s Waverley railway station would be keen to welcome all visitors. Not so, it seems.
The station’s operator, Network Rail, has introduced new access arrangements that have infuriated cyclists, come under sustained attack from politicians and earned it the label “Fortress Waverley”.
Cyclists used to be able to ride in and out of the station via one of two road ramps up to Waverley Bridge in the centre of the city. Now they are required to dismount, and push their bikes along narrow, enclosed footpaths thronged with hurrying pedestrians, roller-bags and buggies.
The result is congestion, conflict and reportedly angry outbursts, as too much foot traffic tries to navigate long and inescapable bottlenecks. Meanwhile, road ramps the other side of metal barriers remain eerily empty most of the time.
“The message from the station to visitors and to the general public is appalling,” said the local cycling campaign group, Spokes. “What other major European station would corral two-way walking – with bikes, prams, wheelchairs and luggage – into narrow passageways?” Spokes has launched a campaign to improve access to Waverley for bikes. It has been backed by a cross-party group of MSPs at the Scottish parliament, who have written to Network Rail demanding changes. The SNP MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Jim Eadie, has accused the rail company of bringing in a “ridiculous policy”. He said: “I am extremely concerned about the impact of these changes, which have made travelling to and from the station an unwelcome experience for many.”
The Green MSP for Lothian, Alison Johnstone was also worried and puzzled by the new restrictions on cyclists. “We should be doing everything possible to encourage more people to cycle to the station, and I believe this sends out the wrong message,” she said.
“I cannot see what problem there is with cycling down either of the main ramps into the station. Indeed, the more southerly entrance on Waverley Bridge leads neatly round to the back of the station near the bicycle storage.” The cycling restrictions were introduced in the wake of a decision by Network Rail to ban all private cars and taxis from driving down into the station, as they’ve historically been allowed to do. This was to prevent car bomb attacks and to cut air pollution.
Trucks and vans still use one of the ramps to deliver supplies for the shops and food stalls in the station. But cyclists have been greeted by billboards telling them that they are banned from the ramps, and crowd barriers blocking their way. So far Network Rail’s response has been defensive. Acting area director, Lindsay Saddler, told Johnstone in a letter dated 1 July that the south ramp has been closed and that passengers and cyclists are banned from the north ramp because it is used for deliveries all day. “Looking ahead, the station team will look at other options to improve the station delivery process however, in the meantime, all cyclists should dismount before walking into the station with their bikes,” Saddler said.
“We are confident that there is adequate space for all station users requiring access to Waverley Bridge via the pedestrian ramp.” The station is used by 25 million people a year.
Johnstone, who is co-convenor of the Scottish parliament’s cross-party group on cycling, told constituents that she was not satisfied with the company’s response.
She said: “I am seeking further clarification as to why a reduction in overall traffic makes the environment more hazardous for cyclists in Network Rail’s view, and why they chose to close the south ramp entirely instead of, for example, taking the opportunity to create a dedicated cycle path into and out of the station.” |
December 5, 2008 The bayonet is largely a weapon of last resort - when the rifle jams, the ammunition runs out or the fighting gets to close quarters, you've still got something sharp and pointy to get the job done old-school. They've pretty much disappeared from today's more high-tech battlefields, but that doesn't mean there aren't mavericks out there still pushing the envelope - and we can't think of many inventions we've seen lately that would be more exciting to a 10-year-old schoolboy than this: the chainsaw bayonet. Whether you view this as blatant redneck idiocy or the coolest weapon in the world will largely depend on how much you enjoy wanton destruction - and if there's a more appropriate gun out there to be included in Gears Of War 3, we'd love to hear about it. |
Via Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Absolutely remarkable... and in Texas to boot! As I have said for years, pretty soon anyone that disagrees with Washington D.C., Federal Reserve policies and rule by TBTF Wall Street criminal banks will be labeled a “terrorist.” That is where all this is headed.
From CBS Houston:
HOUSTON (CBS Houston) – The most historical instance of protesting against taxation without representation is now being taught in Texas schools as a terrorist act.
As recently as January of this year, the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative included a lesson plan that depicted the Boston Tea Party, an event that helped ignite the American Revolution, as an act of terrorism.
“A local militia, believed to be a terrorist organization, attacked the property of private citizens today at our nation’s busiest port,” wrote the teachers in charge of organizing the curriculum about the Boston Tea Party. “Although no one was injured in the attack, a large quantity of merchandise, considered to be valuable to its owners and loathsome to the perpetrators, was destroyed. The terrorists, dressed in disguise and apparently intoxicated, were able to escape into the night with the help of local citizens who harbor these fugitives and conceal their identities from the authorities. |
On this day in 1994 in West Michigan, flickering lights resembling Christmas lights or a string of airplanes flying close together were reported to authorities by several perplexed 911 callers.
The UFO sightings and subsequent calls came in a frenzy on March 8, 1994 as these mysterious objects in the sky were described as flickering Christmas lights moving in frenetic fashion. Callers, almost second-guessing themselves at times, asked about low-flying planes, military activity and just about anything else they could think of.
"I feel kinda silly calling," one caller says. "I don't know if you guys do anything on UFOs at all, but I got the real one," a more confident witness says. "They're out there. They ain't airplanes," another woman says in the dispatch recording.
The reported UFO sightings grabbed national headlines, served as chatter for late night talk shows, radio shows, and even had its own History Channel special in 2008. While it's had its fair share of attention in 23 years, the incident remains one of Michigan's most head-scratching, unsolved mysteries.
Videos compiling the 911 dispatch calls highlight the confusion, disbelief and natural second-guessing between police and witnesses spread between Muskegon, Ottawa, Berrien and Allegan counties.
In a call between police and the National Weather Service, an officer says "we've had about 60 UFO calls," to which the NWS operator audibly sighs and replies "Oh jeez."
The conversation that starts at around the six-minute mark in the video below begins as light-hearted and dismissive before the NWS operator takes a look at the radar.
"Yeah, there's something big down there ... that's really strange," the NWS operator says in the call with police. "It's moving towards the west-southwest, looks like a big blob. It was up about 6,000-feet or so ... it disappears ... it's moving."
After a brief silence, the NWS operator says "I'm getting it now at about 12,000 feet, it's a pretty strong return. Oh my God what is this? Now I'm getting three of them and uh, there about separated by about 5,000 feet in height."
In describing the objects, the NWS operator says "I'm seeing three, they look like a triangle on my scope" one by South Haven, another over Lake Michigan, one east of Benton Harbor near Decatur, and a fourth appears while he's talking over Berrien County.
"I've never seen anything like this, not even when I'm doing storms," the operator says. "These aren't storms."
In the aftermath, researchers were able to say that, whatever it was, it wasn't a small plane, gas, a blimp, weather balloon, satellite, shooting stars, military aircraft or debris, the Chicago Tribune reports in 1995.
The passionate phenomenon of UFO sightings and seekers has been around for decades, fueled by stories eye-witness accounts, including the famous story of a spacecraft that reportedly crashed in the New Mexico desert in 1947.
UFO season? Three more flying objects reported in three days in Genesee County Feeling like you're approaching the final frontier, Genesee County?
Word of photographer's image of suspected UFO reaches president's desk Something possibly in the Flint-area's nighttime skies caught the interest of federal authorities in 1960. |
ANY scientist will tell you that most of the work which gets done at the conferences they attend happens not in the lecture halls but around the coffee machines outside them (not to mention in the bars that delegates repair to after the lectures are finished). That is where ideas are swapped, phone numbers exchanged and collaborations begun.
One of the undersold boons of the internet is that it functions a bit like a permanent, rolling global coffee break. A good example of the result is OpenWorm, an informal collaboration of biologists and computer scientists from America, Britain, Russia and elsewhere. On May 19th this group managed to raise $121,076 on Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website. The money will be put towards the creation of the world’s most detailed virtual life form—an accurate, open-source, digital clone of a critter called Caenorhabditis elegans, a 1mm-long nematode that lives in the soils of the world’s temperate regions.
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C. elegans is a scientific stalwart. It is simple, transparent, easy to feed and easy to breed. As a result it is one of the best-understood organisms in biology. Hermaphrodite individuals (which is most of them) have exactly 959 cells, of which 302 are neurons. The location and the function of every one of these cells is known. Thanks to work begun in the 1970s, scientists even have a complete map—a “connectome”—of how the neurons link up with each other to form the worm’s nervous system. Despite 40 years of technological progress, C. elegans remains the only animal for which such a diagram is available.
It is detailed information like this that makes OpenWorm possible. There are two ways to build a model: from the top down or from the bottom up. The top-down method is easier. Instead of worrying about how the thing being modelled works, you need only find some equations that reproduce its behaviour; economic models often work this way. It would be possible, for example, to model the snakelike locomotion of C. elegans using high-school mathematics. But that would not be very illuminating.
OpenWorm therefore proceeds in the other direction. The idea, says Stephen Larson, a neuro- and computer scientist, who is the project’s co-ordinator, is to model the biochemical behaviour of every one of the worm’s cells, and how they interact with each other. If that can be done, then movement—and all the beast’s other behaviour patterns—should emerge by themselves from that mass of interactions.
Building a complete electronic organism in this way, one that aims to be functionally indistinguishable from its fleshy counterpart, would be quite an achievement. It would also be useful. The human brain, for instance, differs from the worm’s tiny nervous system only in the number and interconnectedness of its neurons. But although plenty of cash and brow-sweat have been thrown at the problem over the years, nobody really knows how the brain works. Having a detailed, proddable model of a far simpler nervous system would be a good first step. And C. elegans is already used to probe everything from basic biochemistry to the actions of drugs in laboratories. The ability to run those tests electronically, with no need for actual worms, and to be reasonably sure that the results will nonetheless be the same as in the real world, would be a boon to biological and medical research.
Details, details
For now, no one is quite clear what a faithful simulation would look like. The point of a model is to remove unnecessary, cluttering details, while preserving the essence of whatever it is the model-maker wants to study. But even for an organism as well-researched as C. elegans, no one is sure which details are crucial and which extraneous. A living cell is a complicated mess of enzymes, ion channels, messenger molecules and voltages. Attempting to simulate everything faithfully would bring even a supercomputer to its knees.
For the moment, the team is planning systems that will simulate how the worm’s muscle cells work, how its neurons behave and how electrical impulses move from one to the other. There will be physics algorithms that give the worm a realistic simulation of a Petri dish to move through. They will also make sure its virtual muscles can deform its virtual body by the correct amount when they receive a virtual jolt from a virtual neuron.
The results will be compared with reality, in the form of a database of about 12,000 videos of how C. elegans behaves in the real world. The more kinds of behaviour the electronic worm can accurately reproduce, the better it will be. Crucially, says Matteo Cantarelli, another of the project’s founders, the system is designed to be flexible and easy to tweak. That lets the team improve it on the fly, either through subtle changes to what is already there, or by adding completely new chunks of code. For instance, proteins can diffuse through the worm, and change aspects of its behaviour when they do so. OpenWorm cannot model that at present, but the team has plans to make it do so.
This flexibility also allows the researchers to modify their model as science advances. On May 18th a group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Vienna published in Nature Methods a way to scan the nervous system of a live C. elegans in real time. That adds crucial data. If a connectome is like a road map, the ability to watch its neurons firing is like getting satellite video that shows how traffic is flowing along the map’s roads: which are busy (and when), and which are rarely travelled. The OpenWorm team is already keen to integrate these data into its model.
As its name suggests, OpenWorm is available to anyone to play with. And its success on Kickstarter may help raise interest—and cash—from elsewhere. “We’ve thought about applying for traditional grants,” says Dr Larson. “And the success of this crowd-funding proves that there’s public interest in this, which ought to help our case.” If he and his collaborators succeed in their ambitions, then doing biological research may one day become a simple matter of downloading some animals onto your computer, and getting started. |
The Beaufort Police Department is asking for help locating a man suspected of robbing a fast food restaurant Monday morning.
Officers say the incident happened around 3:30 AM at the McDonalds in Beaufort.
The suspect reportedly approached employees, demanded money, and fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money.
Police say the suspect walks with a distinct limp in his right leg and was disguised with a wig, sunglasses, and a red bandana around his face.
"The safety and well-being of our employees and customers is my highest priority and I'm grateful to report that no one was hurt during Monday's robbery," franchise owner Bill Purcell said in a statement. "Our restaurant is doing everything we can to assist the local authorities in their investigation."
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Beaufort Police Department at 252-728-4561. |
The lack of air superiority became quite a problem for the German army in both World Wars.
Very often you will hear people spouting about “invincible Tigers only defeated by enemy airplanes”, which of course was only somewhat true until the Soviets started fielding 122 and 152mm self propelled guns, not to mention the IS series, while British and Americans also put 76mm high velocity cannons to good use on the other side.
The Germans of course were aware of the consequences of loosing air superiority and developed several solutions, of which we will cover only the ones based on tank hulls, ranging from sensible battlefield modifications to daring paper tanks that never reached the battlefield, using mainly “Gepard” by Spielberger and “Panzer Tracts 20-2” by Jentz & Doyle.
2cm Flak 38 auf Panzer I A
Possibly the very first German attempt at a flak panzer, in 1941 at least 18 by then obsolete Panzer I ausf A chassis were converted into a flak panzer using the ubiquitous 2cm flak 38 and were used with moderate success of the battlefield until Stalingrad, where the last tanks were lost.
2cm Flak 38 auf RSO
A relatively simple modification of the “Ost” tracktor, it was developed as AA/Ground support vehicle for mountain troops. Given similar experiments with the heavier PAK 40 the design seems reliable enough, especially given the dismountable gun specification.
Developed in 1943, it never entered service.
Early modifications based on Panzer 38(t)
Between 1943 and 1944 over 150 of those tanks were produced, putting yet again the 2cm flak 38 in a Marder-like configuration. By then though, their firepower left a lot to be desired but as in late war everything that could be used was fielded, they ended up serving until the very end.
A second attempt was made relatively quickly to make a more flexible configuration, ending up in a recon/AA hybrid armed yet again with the 2cm flak 38 and a MG42, a configuration that would resurface on Paper for the 38D design later on.
Using the sd. kfz 222 turret, 70 of those vehicles were made.
Luftwaffe projects on Luchs/Leopard/VK2801 hulls
In September 1943 Krupp and Rheinmetall were requested to submit designs for a light flakpaner carrying the 3.7cm flak 36 (then upgraded to flak 43) or quadruple 20mm flak 38. The proposal was based on the Luchs but later on maximum integration with Leopard components resulting in a 25 ton tank.
Ground support role was also planned for the tank so the turret had a respectable 50mm front and 30mm sides armor, enough to face most light tanks.
Several configurations were proposed, including the use of a single 5cm Flak 41 or Gerat 58 but ultimately the project was aborted due to the cancellation of the Leopard tank by Speer.
The very same studies were conducted on the VK2801, likely as waffentrager as the same hull configuration was planned to carry the 75mm L/70, although limited to an traverse angle of 15° to each side until the chassis development was aborted in 1945.
Panzer IV based modifications
Being disappointed with earlier attempts, in 1943 Krupp was called in to develop a better solution based on Panzer IV chassis.
The very first solution was to still use the 2cm flak 38 but now in a “Vierling” or quadruple configuration.
This gave a much more intense barrage capability although still relatively short ranged.
Unfortunately the tank was not without drawbacks, resulting in very tall sides when enclosed (earning the nickname of “Mobelwagen” or furniture wagon) and in an unprotected crew when in firing position.
Additional requirements such as entrenching tools and a big supply of hand grenades for close defense (imho this was useless, the main guns could mince meat anything the grenades were meant for at much longer ranges and that close the crew would have been dead meat long before exhausting the grenade supply) meant that insufficient ammo was carried and thus the vehicle never left prototype stage.
A second attempt involved using a newer gun, the 3.7cm Flak 43:
While seemingly puny, the gun was a much stronger advancement from the early 1936 “door knocker” and it could dish out punishment at considerable distances spitting lead up to 250 RPM and also pretty effective against tanks when using special ammunition able to penetrate up to 140mm/0° at 100m.
Both proposals evolved into slightly more compact 22ton turreted designs, called “Ostwind” (east wind, armed with the 3.7cm flak 43), and “Wibelwind” (with the quadruple 20mm) which got over 100 tanks in production.
A derivative prototype was made out of Panzer III chassis but it never reached production.
Another design was an enclosed turret with twin MK 103 cannons using a turret derived from U-boat AA, called the Kugelblitz, or ball lighting with about 80 of those being produced:
Of course, being nice designs with reasonable features wasn’t enough and like everything else it was brought to the extremes late in the war.
In order to gear up the Wibelwind, the “Zerstorer 45″ program was started, bringing a slightly larger turret to mount this:
Quadruple 30mm MK 103 cannon, enough to make minced meat of even the vaunted IL-2 and most light tanks on ground. Only two of those prototypes were made but the hail of fire must have been impressive.
At the same time, Ostwind was planned to be upgraded to “zwilling” or twin, 37mm Flak 43, basically going akimbo:
This was later on planned to be upgraded to the slightly more powerful 3.7cm flak 44.
An heavier configuration was developed in 1942 based on a special Panzer IV chassis mounting the 8.8cm Flak 37 or Flak 41 in a fold-able platform that was later on proposed to be integrated first with Leopard components then with Panther ones but was ultimately discarded for more compact solutions using either 3cm MK 103 or the 5.5cm Gerat 58.
Later modifications based on Panzer 38(t) and 38(d)
As the Panzer IV was scheduled to be phased out, design moved on what was supposed to be its closest replacement, the Panzer 38(d) which could be described as looking like a turreted Hetzer redesigned to be produced in Germany.
Although not evident in the drawing, it sported two 20mm MG 151/20 cannons allegedly for ranging and two MK 103 for the kill, an impressive weapon array for such a compact design.
Later on during flak Panther development the 3.7cm flak 44 was also proposed for the Panzer 38(d).
A final modification was made on an enlarged 38(d) chassis in a waffentrager configuration, using the Gerat 58 in a twin mount.
Panther based modifications
As soon as Panther design started being finalized, flak panzers were being discussed with the very first proposals coming from Luftwaffe in 1942.
Initially a quadruple 20mm MG 151/20 configuration was proposed and trialled but while delivering an impressive barrage, it was deemed insufficient and discarded for twin 3.7cm flak 43.
This configuration, dubbed the “Coelian”, was later on upgraded to twin 3.7cm flak 44, which benefited from a longer, more powerful cartridge.
This was again upgraded in 1944 to make use of the new 5.5cm Gerat 58 still in a twin configuration.
Developed by Krupp and Rheinmetall, this impressive weapon could be elevated from -5° to +80°, firing its ammo at over 1000 m/s and 120-140 rounds per minute per gun.
The heaviest modification however regarded using the 8.8cm Flak 41 in an open turret, proposed in 1943 by Rheinmetall and discarded in 1944 as Panther chassis were direly needed for heavier tasts and 8.8cm cannons in fixed positions were felt more than adequate for the task.
Modifications by Porsche
Development of a light flak/ground support chassis by Porsche in collaboration with Rheinmetall started in 1943 as resources for heavier designs were drying up, using the 3cm MK 103, 5.5 cm MK 112 and the 10.5cm LEFH 43.
60mm frontal armor and a top speed of 58 KM/H would have made this tank double wonderfully as light scout and support, although that role would have been better covered by its enclosed turret version.
All in all, the germans developed quite a few interesting designs of varying effectiveness, especially as planes got faster and faster.
As with similar designs from other nations, the germans basically focused on sheer rate of fire for closer ranges, while using heavier guns was rapidly becoming the chosen option in later vehicles.
As analogous designs to the soviet ZSU 37 and 57 they could have lasted as anti helicopter/light ground support tanks even after the war, until being ultimately supplanted by a mix of SAM and Radar-equipped SPAAGs. |
Every few weeks, we get told that Canon will be using a Sony sensor in the upcoming high resolution Canon DSLR. Today was another one of those days.
Direct Quote
“Canon will buy sony sensors for the next full frame cameras. but they are more a joint venture from Canon and Sony. Sony will make them and they will have EXMOR technology, for Canon they will get the DualPixel AF. So it’s a patent exchange that helps both companies. Sony will still sell the sensors to Nikon, but only without the DualPixel technology. Sony has the capacity to produce two lines of these 53MP sensors.”
I have yet to hear this from someone I know, it’s all coming from new and unknown sources. Take this with a salt truck. Thankfully, we won’t have long to wait to find out if this is true.
cr |
DANNEMORA, N.Y. — More than a month before two killers escaped from a maximum-security prison in far northern New York State last weekend, a worker there who befriended them provided them with some of the tools to do the deed: hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit, according to criminal complaints.
That worker, Joyce E. Mitchell, 51, of Dickinson Center, N.Y., was arrested on Friday and charged with promoting prison contraband in the first degree, a felony, and criminal facilitation in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor.
Appearing late Friday night in a Clinton County courtroom in Plattsburgh, N.Y., east of Dannemora, Ms. Mitchell — slight, blonde and looking weary — pleaded not guilty. She will be held in jail until her next court appearance, which is set for Monday.
Ms. Mitchell, a civilian employee at the prison, had been under surveillance after being identified by the authorities soon after the escape as a possible accomplice, perhaps as the pair’s planned getaway driver. But she had sought hospitalization at about the same time as the escape, complaining of a panic attack, the authorities said. |
As millions of tracks continue to be shared online every day without permission from copyright holders, it is clear that the 'free music' genie is well and truly out of the bottle. In the hope of returning revenue from these sources, a brave new system is aiming to legalize illicit music - even if it came from a torrent site, cyberlocker or friend's hard drive.
What if someone came up with a revolutionary new product to turn piracy into profit that didn’t hurt consumers and actually embraced pirates? What if that system thrived on the very existence of illicit music being made available from torrent, cyberlocker and other sites? What if it could monetize the illicit music already available online and elsewhere?
Bo Schønemann and René Nygaard of Danish company 7 Sky Media say that they have developed a system which could turn these crazy dreams into reality.
“Our software is designed to play all digital files and locate the copyright holders regardless of where the file came from,” Schønemann told Comon.dk.
“This means that we are the only company in the world that can offer the industry earnings from these vast quantities of [illicit] music, from which they currently do not receive a single penny.”
The company’s product is embedded into both a hardware digital music player and a software based solution. When a user plays their music through either an advertisement is displayed, the revenues from which 7 Sky Media pass to the copyright holders.
While users can pay a small free to obtain completely ad-free players, the free service will route ad money to rightsholders each time a track is played.
René Nygaard says that users of the software system retain their freedom to use whatever player they like (Windows Media Player, iTunes, WinAmp etc) since the 7 Sky Media product works as a plug-in. Integration with social media apps is also promised.
“My partner is from the music business and we will also use 7 Sky to help the ‘small’ musicians, partly by diffusion, so they can monetize their music without a record label,” Nygaard said in a comment. “We’ve spent 3 years so far on agreements and contracts, this is not just an idea we have, but a real product.”
Schønemann said that his company is currently negotiating with companies and investment firms in preparation for both domestic and international launches, adding that they could offer as many as 12 million tracks through their system. We’ve heard these kinds of numbers before and they should be taken with a whole heap of salt.
While 7 Sky are to be applauded for having the strength to have a go at tackling something like this, one can’t help but feel pessimistic. With the majors controlling 85% plus of the market, they really need to be on board to make something like this work on a decent scale. And to be frank, what are the chances of that?
Even the mighty Google are reported to be “sick of dealing with labels”.
But it’s not just label cooperation that’s required here. While there is undoubtedly a desire on behalf of consumers to ‘go legal’ when obtaining music from the Internet, will they buy a custom player to replace their iPods and cellphones, will they voluntarily install plug-ins that amount to adware?
While some will shout ‘no’ emphatically, the system itself could get off the ground with the right backing. Yes, we’re back to getting the labels on board again and yes, that seems massively unlikely. But if Qtrax can get licensed….
Update: Looks like even Spotify are having to restrict their ‘free’ ad-supported service. If they can’t make it pay, who can? |
A ghost bike was left at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street following the death of Dr. Anita Kurmann, who was killed by truck there.
The family of a Swiss cyclist who was killed by a truck in August at the busy intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street filed a civil suit Thursday against the truck driver and his company, alleging that the death was caused by carelessness and negligence.
The suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, names Matthew Levari of Vineland, N.J., as the driver whose flatbed truck collided with Dr. Anita Kurmann, a 38-year-old endocrine surgeon who worked at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston University.
The truck, loaded with steel and owned by Matthew Levari & Sons, apparently had been making a right turn onto Beacon Street when it collided with Kurmann about 7 a.m. on Aug. 7. The death stunned Boston’s cycling community and co-workers at the labs where Kurmann worked on transforming embryonic stem cells into thyroid tissue.
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Nine months later, the investigation into the fatal collision continues, and Kurmann’s father and two siblings are still seeking answers from authorities.
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“The family has been frustrated in its efforts to obtain information,” said Ronald Gluck, a Boston attorney who represents the family.
Gluck said the family, for example, has not been able to obtain a video from the city-operated camera at the busy intersection, which has gained a reputation as the most dangerous in the city for cyclists.
“The family understands and respects the need for a thorough and complete investigation,” Gluck said. “At the same time, the family feels that they should be able to receive certain details of the incident, including the video, which is a public record, they believe.”
File Dr. Anita Kurmann.
The family is seeking a trial by jury, which would determine whether any financial damages are warranted. The amount of an award would be left to the discretion of the jury, Gluck said.
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The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office and Boston police. Jake Wark, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Conley, said he could not predict when the review would be completed and a decision reached on whether to file criminal charges.
“The crash reconstruction report is still pending,” Wark said. The report will compile the analysis of crash experts, as well as witness statements and other evidence, he added.
For his part, Gluck asked that witnesses contact his office with any information about what they saw when Kurmann was struck and killed.
“At this point, that is the only way we will obtain the details of how this happened,” he said.
Kurmann, who biked often, had moved to Cambridge shortly before her death. She had been planning to return to Switzerland within weeks.
Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at [email protected] |
Leo Ulloa has completed his transfer from Brighton & Hove Albion to Leicester City, after the club reluctantly agreed to sell the striker for a club record transfer fee.
The Argentine forward - who joined Albion from Almeria in January 2013 - joins the Premier League newcomers on a four-year deal.
Albion chairman Tony Bloom commented, "Initially we did not want Leo to go, but once he made it clear to us he wanted to join Leicester and play in the Premier League, it was then a case of ensuring we received our valuation.
"Leo has been tremendous for us, he has given us some truly memorable moments in the last season and a half - with his header against Nottingham Forest the pick of the bunch.
"I would like to thank him for his efforts and wish him well in the Premier League."
Ulloa hit 25 goals in 52 appearances for Albion, with last season disrupted by a foot injury during the first half of the campaign.
As well as his dramatic last-gasp winner on the final day, which clinched Albion's play-off spot last season, he hit memorable cup goals against Arsenal, on his debut, and Hull City, in last season's fifth round.
He also fired Albion into the play-offs in 2013, with his winning goal against Leeds at Elland Road - and also hit a brace in a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace in March of the same year.
Ulloa is also the only player who has scored a hat-trick at the Amex, after he smashed a treble against Huddersfield Town in February 2013. |
RTS on Thursday announced several changes to its bus routes and stops. Changes to routes and route numbers will be made in conjunction with the opening of the RTS Transit Center on November 28, 2014. In addition, new bus stop signage will be installed system wide in 2015. Here’s what you’ll need to know…
First, a little background info. With the opening of the new transit center, all routes will now start and end downtown. This means if you’re used to traveling THROUGH downtown on the same bus without transferring, beginning on November 28, you will need to transfer to a second bus.
Because of this, route numbers will be changing.
For example, Lake Ave. and Park Ave. are now two separate routes. The #1 Lake Ave bus will no longer travel through to Park Ave – after arriving downtown, it will instead return back up Lake Ave. Therefore Park Ave. (and many others) will need its own route number. Below is the list of the new route numbers. West side routes are color coded blue, and east side routes are green…
In addition, RTS has completed a Bus Stop Optimization Study with the goal of reducing the overall number of stops and reduce travel time.
One RTS handout explains, “In Monroe County, we have about 3,400 RTS bus stops. Over time, the usage of some bus stops has changed, and some bus stop locations aren’t in ideal locations nor convenient for customers… In comparison to other communities of similar size, RTS has more stops per mile. While this may sound beneficial, too many stops can mean longer rides and delays for our customers.”
In order to decide which stops stay and which should go, RTS took inventory of all 3,393 bus stops, paying special attention to the condition of each one (is there a shelter? a concrete pad? mud/dirt? etc). They then analyzed the number of bus stops per mile on each bus route and in each direction of travel, considering key factors such as: customer use statistics; distance between stops; and if stops headed to or from the city were paired with one another.
Of 3,393 bus stops, 909 (or 26%) are being removed.
If you attended the public workshop, RTS representatives were on hand to help answer questions. But if you missed the workshop and would like to know if your stop is being removed, moved, or kept, you can either email [email protected], call 585-288-1700, or download the complete list of changes .
UPDATE: At Reconnect Rochester’s request, RTS has published a Google map of the changes for you to review.
But Wait, There’s More…
About three years ago some of us at Reconnect Rochester met with RTS and suggested redesigning the current bus stop signage. Rochester’s bus stop signs are, well, not always as helpful as they could be (see above). Remember this post on RochesterSubway.com?
Well, the folks at RTS listened! Finally, in 2015 Rochester will have much smarter looking (and more useful) bus stop signs. Take a look…
Contact RTS |
By Erica Verrillo
For decades, a heated debate has raged over the nature of the illness known variously as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and/or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Historically, the two warring camps have been divided between “it’s all in their heads” and “we’re still looking.” But while both sides have consistently referred to CFS/ME as an “enigma,” it turns out the source of the illness may very well have been under everyone’s nose the whole time.
In the May 2013 issue of Discover Magazine, an article by Jill Neimark bearing the intriguing title, “Are B-Cells to Blame for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?,” chronicled a remarkable discovery: wiping out the B-cells of patients with CFS/ME can actually cure the illness.1
In 2007 Øystein Fluge and Olav Mella, two Norwegian oncologists at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, accidentally discovered that rituximab, a drug employed to treat Hodgkin’s lymphoma (as well as autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and Wegener’s granulomatosis) cured several of their patients with CFS/ME. The news made instant headlines.
Inspired by their success, Fluge and Mella conducted a pilot study of rituximab on three patients with CFS/ME. The patients were given rituximab in an open-label trial (that is, the patients knew they were receiving the drug). All three patients experienced significant improvement; two of them responded within six weeks and the third had a delayed response, occurring six months after treatment. The positive effects lasted for between 16 and 44 weeks. After relapse, the patients were administered another dose of rituximab, with the same positive results. The investigators hypothesized that B-cells of the immune system might play a significant role in CFS, at least for a subset of patients, and that “CFS may be amenable to therapeutic interventions aimed at modifying B-cell number and function.”2
The positive results of this, as well as a second open-label trial, led Drs. Fluge and Mella to conduct a larger study with a more rigorous design to test the effects of the drug. In 2009 they initiated a double-blind, placebo-controlled phase trial with 30 CFS/ME patients. As in the earlier open-label studies, the responses to rituximab were significant. Sustained overall improvements were noted in 67% of the patients (as opposed to 13% of the control group). Four of the rituximab patients showed improvement past the study period. The authors concluded that the delayed responses starting from 2–7 months after rituximab treatment, in spite of rapid B-cell depletion, “suggests that CFS is an autoimmune disease and may be consistent with the gradual elimination of autoantibodies preceding clinical responses.”3
The unprecedented success of these small trials has led to a $2.1 million privately funded initiative spearheaded by the Norwegian nonprofit group, ME and You.4
This is all very topical, but is it news? Dr. Paul Cheney, an immunologist, and one of the physicians who treated CFS/ME patients during the Incline Village outbreak, stated nearly thirty years ago that CFS/ME was the result of immune system upregulation. In fact, the prevailing theory during the 1980s and 1990s was that the immune systems of people with CFS simply did not shut off after the initial infection, but remained on “high.” This was considered the driving force behind CFS/ME, and, not coincidentally, is the basis for autoimmune disease.
Nonetheless, the idea that CFS/ME might be an autoimmune disease languished for decades, even though the on-the-ground evidence has been apparent all along. The waxing and waning symptoms that are typical of CFS/ME are also typical of autoimmune diseases. Frequent comorbidities of CFS/ME with autoimmune diseases – e.g. Sjögren’s Syndrome and Hashimoto’s disease – were tip-offs that an autoimmune process was involved. And even if researchers didn’t care to take symptoms and comorbidity into account, there were dozens of studies documenting immune system abnormalities, particularly increased inflammatory cytokines, as well as a high incidence of markers such as antinuclear antibodies (ANA), and anti-cardiolipin antibodies (ACA), both of which are associated with autoimmunity.5
The sad fact is that although the evidence was there, it was ignored. In a recent review of the accumulated evidence for autoimmunity in CFS/ME (in a chapter titled “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Parallels with Autoimmune Disorders”) Ekua Brenu and associates site over 180 related articles. Their conclusion? “CFS/ME may have a potential to be described as autoimmune, as this is the only consistent immunological abnormality associated with CFS/ME.”6
Given the thorough nature of the review, Brenu’s conclusion, however cautious, is warranted. And, bearing out Brenu’s review, as well as the rituximab studies, in March 2013 a UK study by Bradley et al found an increased number of naïve B-cells in patients with CFS/ME. An increase in naïve B-cells is a hallmark of autoimmune disease.7 In short, if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
Apropos of the rituximab studies, and as an excuse for not noticing the duck-like nature of CFS/ME, Neimark quotes rheumatologist Jonathan Edwards as saying, “T-cells were in fashion for a long time. B-cells were just considered boring.” It is hard to imagine that the absence of research on fully half of the immune system could be due to the whims of fashion, but whimsy is only part of the explanation for this exercise in mass denial. The other component is that the major players in our health care system – government agencies, researchers, physicians, insurance companies – have had a vested interest in perpetuating the myth that CFS/ME is an unknown and unknowable entity.
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Norwegians, apparently, have less invested in the myth. When the results of Fluge and Mella’s rituximab study were made public, the Norwegian Directorate of Health Deputy Director Bjørn Guldvog was prompted to issue a televised apology. “I think that we have not cared for people with ME to a great enough extent,” he said. “I think it is correct to say that we have not established proper health care services for these people, and I regret that.”
We look forward to hearing something similar from the CDC.
References:
1. Neimark, Jill. “Are B-Cells to Blame for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?” Discover Magazine. May, 2013.
2. Fluge, Øystein, Olav Mella. “Clinical impact of B-cell depletion with the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab in chronic fatigue syndrome: a preliminary case series.” BMC Neurol. 2009 Jul 1;9:28
3. Fluge, Øystein, Ove Brulan, Kristin Risa, Anette Storstein, Einar K. Kristoffersen, Dipak Sapkota, Halvor Næss, Olav Dahl, Harald Nyland, Olav Mella. “Benefit from B-Lymphocyte Depletion Using the Anti-CD20 Antibody Rituximab in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A Double-Blind and Placebo-Controlled Study.” PLoS ONE 6(10): e26358. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026358
4. “Will MEandYou be the first to crowdfund a clinical trial?” ME and You.
5. Hokama, Yoshitsugi, Cara Empey Campora, Cynthia Hara, Tina Kuribayashi, Diana Le Huynh, and Kenichi Yabusaki. “Anticardiolipin Antibodies in the Sera of Patients with Diagnosed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.” Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis. 23 : 210–212 (2009).
6. Brenu, Ekua W., Lotti Tajouri, Kevin J. Ashton, Donald R. Staines and Sonya M. Marshall-Gradisnik. “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Parallels with Autoimmune Disorders” in Genes and Autoimmunity – Intracellular Signaling and Microbiome Contribution. Spaska Angelova Stanilova, ed. InTech. March 2013.
7. Bradley, A. S., B. Ford, A. S. Bansal. “Altered functional B cell subset populations in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome compared to healthy controls”. Clinical & Experimental Immunology. Volume 172, Issue 1, pages 73–80, April 2013.
A shorter version of this article was originally published on Blogcritics on April 7, 2013 as “Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome an Autoimmune Disease?” Reprinted with permission.
Erica Verrillo is the author of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, A Treatment Guide, 2nd Edition. You can visit her at her website, CFS Treatment Guide, and her blog, Onward Through the Fog. |
If you were to throw ROM Manager, MetaMorph, Titanium Backup, and SetCPU into a blender with a dash of steroids, then the result would most definitely be ROM Toolbox from JRummy. Clearly this is a root only app, and it is probably the most beastly one that I've ever laid eyes on. All of the features encompassed by ROM Toolkit will blow your mind, just take a look at the feature list, taken directly from the Market listing:
ROM Settings: Access the ROM Manager with hundreds of zips to download & install
Install ROM from SD card
Check for ROM updates/patches
Backup/restore nandroid
Wipe data/cache/dalvik/battery stats Theme Settings: Change your battery icon (Beta)
Restart status-bar
Change system fonts for your entire device
Set your boot logo (for supported phones)
Manage Theme Chooser themes (CM7 themes) Application Management: Remove, Freeze, unfreeze, launch, backup, wipe data/cache for any System or Data app
Backup and restore your apps
Set app install location (apps-to-SD)
Batch install apps to either System or Data Performance Settings: Set CPU (max/min frequencies & scaling governor)
Apply CPU at boot
Change sysctl values to improve performance
Free system memory Start-Up Tasks: Zipalign system/data apps on each boot-up
Clear cache on each boot-up
Fix permissions on each boot-up
Run your own custom script each boot-up Quick Commands: Mount system read/write
Reboot, Fast Reboot, Reboot Recovery, Shutdown, Reboot Bootloader
Zipalign apks to optimize performance
Block ads shown from other apps
Remove or enable the boot animation Build Properties: Change the lcd density (screen resolution)
Change the call ring delay to ring faster when dialing out
Set the VM Heap size (performance increase)
Set any property in any .prop file Extra Tools: Use your camera led as a torch/light
Quickly access: Terrminal Emulator, Hidden settings menu, all System app settings
Show ROM info
That is a serious amount of features jammed packed into one app. To accompany all these features is an equally massive amount of screenshots showing them off: |
Of all the lofty attributes Canada's world-class cities have touted in recent years, making a home unaffordable for average folks is perhaps the least enviable. It was also avoidable. But self-proclaimed "smart growth" policies have proven the opposite of smart, contributing to an affordability crisis with little to show in the way of a cleaner environment.
The biggest losers are millennials now entering their 30s, a generation urban planners and creative-class types predicted would always prefer downtown living over the suburbs. For these echo boomers, moving up to a single- or semi-detached home to raise a family is no longer even an option. Bringing up junior in a 600-square-foot condo is not as cool as it might sound. Yet that's the choice many face.
Vancouver is considered the world's second-most unaffordable housing market, after Hong Kong. A median-priced Vancouver home costs 10.6 times the city's median household income, according to the latest Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey. Vancouver's price-to-income ratio has doubled in the past decade.
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At 6.5 times income, Toronto's house price-to-income ratio has risen 65 per cent over the same period. Demographia defines a multiple above 5.1 as "severely unaffordable." Toronto is now even more unaffordable than New York.
Even those who think they can afford homes now may be fooling themselves. Record-low interest rates have slashed the carrying cost of a mortgage, but in doing so have masked what remains an unsustainably high price-to-income ratio.
Interest rates are virtually the same everywhere, but not every city has unaffordable housing. The economy is healthier in some cities than others. But Houston and Dallas are booming (or were, until oil prices collapsed) and they have among the most affordable houses in the world. They had no prerecession housing bubble, so no housing crash either.
What separates the most affordable cites, according to Demographia, is the absence of policies against urban sprawl, such as Ontario's 10-year-old Greenbelt Plan and B.C.'s Agricultural Land Reserve. Other anti-sprawl laws, such as Ontario's 2005 Place to Grow Act, have promoted densification and limited development to existing transportation corridors.
Demographia, a think tank critical of densification policies, says that "no major metropolitan market without urban containment policy has ever been rated with severely unaffordable housing." It adds that "strong restrictions on land supply drive up the cost of housing, which reduces the standard of living."
Smart growth advocates bristle at that suggestion. The Pembina Institute insists that 81 per cent of the land available for development around Toronto will still be unused by 2031. But that's in part because anti-sprawl laws have sent land prices soaring. As a new TD Economics study notes, "landowners continue to hold on to significant idle land, likely with the aim of earning a higher profit on sale due to appreciating values."
The biggest myth about anti-sprawl policies is that they're good for the environment – that they preserve scarce land for farming while encouraging a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. But there is no scarcity of agricultural land in Southern Ontario, while squeezing development into narrow corridors has led to traffic congestion (Vancouver's roads are tied with those of Los Angeles as the most clogged in North America) and higher carbon emissions from longer commutes.
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Any carbon reduction that does occur comes at an exorbitant cost. Demographia consultant Wendell Cox pegs the cost of reducing a single tonne of emissions at nearly $20,000 (U.S.), when accounting for the impact of densification policies on housing prices. Clearly, there are more cost-effective ways to cut emissions.
And what about the millennials? The condo booms in Vancouver and Toronto reflect not only the echo generation's current preference for downtown living, but the fact that a tiny box in the sky is often their only financial option. But as they age, millennials are just as likely as their elders to crave space.
"The millennial 'flight' from suburbia has not only been vastly overexaggerated, it fails to deal with what may best be seen as differences in preferences correlated with life stages," insists noted U.S. demographer Joel Kotkin, adding that "people with children tend to avoid urban cores, even in the most gentrified environments."
In Toronto and Vancouver, anyway, millennials are stuck. Smart growth policies have priced most of them out of a home in which to raise a family. Just what's so smart about that? |
Municipality and town in Pacific Region, Colombia
Quibdó ( Spanish pronunciation: [kiβˈðo]) is the capital city of Chocó Department, in western Colombia, on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of 3,337.5 km² and a population of 100,000,[1] mainly consisting of black and Zambo Colombians. [2]
History [ edit ]
In prehistoric times the Chocó rainforest served as a major barrier isolating the Mesoamerican and Andean civilisations, and the extremely humid climate also failed to attract the Spanish colonists. The region was eventually granted by the Emberá Indians to the Franciscan order in 1648, but subsequent attacks by hostile tribes meant attempts at settlement were abandoned,[3] only to be established again six years later.
It was not until the nineteenth century when there was interest in finding a shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to avoid traveling via the Straits of Magellan that the Chocó region again became of significant interest to European colonial powers, as the Atrato River Valley was thought the best possibility for this purpose by the explorer Alexander von Humboldt;[4] however it was eventually shelved in favour of the Panama Canal. At the same time research on using the Chocó to connect the Pacific and Atlantic was being carried out, gold and platinum were discovered in the Atrato Valley[4] and this ensured Quibdó’s growth and status as the chief town in the region.
Another crucial development at this time was the movement of freed black slaves into the Chocó, primarily engaging in shifting cultivation to cope with the extreme leaching from the super-humid climate, though fishing and the collection of forest products also helped these groups maintain their livelihood;[5] 1853 watercolors by Manuel María Paz document two mestizo or European men with an Afro-Colombian street vendor, and depict the dress of Afro-Colombian and European women in the town square.[6][7] These black communities established trade with highland cities such as Medellín via rough mule trails that lasted until the 1950s,[8] after which a combination of population growth and declining values for the region’s natural resources gradually led to an economic downturn for the region and especially Quibdó.
Climate [ edit ]
Quibdó has an extremely wet and cloudy tropical rainforest climate (Köppen Af) without noticeable seasons and by a large margin the heaviest rainfall in South America and of any city of its size or greater—the wettest city of larger size, Monrovia in Liberia, receives 3,050 millimetres (120 in) less than Quibdó. The extreme rainfall cause is because the Andes to the east of the city block the westerly winds driven by the Intertropical Convergence Zone which throughout the year, owing to the Humboldt Current off the west coast of South America, remains centred in the north of the continent at Quibdó’s longitudes. The result is that the extremely unstable ascending air from the Intertropical Convergence Zone is consistently forced to rise over the Chocó plain and as it cools it gives up enormous quantities of moisture. What is more, due to the exuberant nature and biodiversity in the region, a biotic pump phenomena causes the Choco low-level-jet as another important factor in driving atmospheric moisture from the Pacific into the Colombian Andes [9].
Rain precipitates almost every day from clouds in intense thunderstorms with an eternal wet season year round; that means 309 days (84%) of days are rainy, and sunny periods seldom last more than a few hours after sunrise. Quibdó only has 1,276 hours of sunshine annually, making one of the cloudiest cities on the world, with the sunniest month is July, with 135 hours of sunshine of entire month.
Climate data for Quibdó (Aeropuerto El Caraño) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C (°F) 36.6
(97.9) 35.0
(95.0) 35.4
(95.7) 37.0
(98.6) 35.0
(95.0) 38.0
(100.4) 36.8
(98.2) 35.4
(95.7) 35.0
(95.0) 34.8
(94.6) 35.4
(95.7) 35.6
(96.1) 38.0
(100.4) Average high °C (°F) 30.1
(86.2) 30.2
(86.4) 30.4
(86.7) 30.8
(87.4) 31.0
(87.8) 31.2
(88.2) 31.1
(88.0) 31.0
(87.8) 30.7
(87.3) 30.4
(86.7) 30.2
(86.4) 29.6
(85.3) 30.6
(87.1) Daily mean °C (°F) 26.2
(79.2) 26.4
(79.5) 26.6
(79.9) 26.6
(79.9) 26.7
(80.1) 26.6
(79.9) 26.6
(79.9) 26.4
(79.5) 26.2
(79.2) 26.0
(78.8) 26.0
(78.8) 26.0
(78.8) 26.4
(79.5) Average low °C (°F) 23.0
(73.4) 23.1
(73.6) 23.2
(73.8) 23.4
(74.1) 23.2
(73.8) 23.0
(73.4) 22.8
(73.0) 22.9
(73.2) 22.8
(73.0) 22.7
(72.9) 22.8
(73.0) 23.0
(73.4) 23.0
(73.4) Record low °C (°F) 19.0
(66.2) 21.0
(69.8) 20.8
(69.4) 20.0
(68.0) 20.0
(68.0) 19.0
(66.2) 19.8
(67.6) 19.6
(67.3) 20.0
(68.0) 18.0
(64.4) 20.0
(68.0) 20.0
(68.0) 18.0
(64.4) Average rainfall mm (inches) 579.3
(22.81) 505.4
(19.90) 526.1
(20.71) 654.6
(25.77) 776.2
(30.56) 761.6
(29.98) 802.6
(31.60) 851.7
(33.53) 702.4
(27.65) 654.0
(25.75) 728.1
(28.67) 588.5
(23.17) 8,130.5
(320.1) Average rainy days 24 21 22 25 27 26 26 27 27 27 26 26 304 Average relative humidity (%) 88 86 86 88 87 87 86 87 87 88 88 89 87 Mean monthly sunshine hours 90.5 83.4 85.6 92.9 112.5 114 135.1 132.7 112.7 116.7 112.2 88.1 1,276.4 Source: INSTITUTO DE HIDROLOGIA METEOROLOGIA Y ESTUDIOS AMBIENTALES[10]
See also [ edit ] |
Standing on the beach, with a gun in my hand, staring at the sea, staring at the sand Staring down the barrel at the Arab on the ground, I can see his open mouth. But I hear no sound. I'm alive, I'm dead, I'm the stranger. Killing an Arab - The Cure
The inspiration for that song by The Cure, a favorite of Sam Esmail, is the Albert Camus book “The Stranger” in which a man, almost as if in a trance, kills a random Arab man on the beach. For most of the rest of the book, he is trying to come to grips with his crime from a prison cell until he finally comes to grips with his crime and its illogic, as he explains:
“It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe.”
Sometimes things happen, or we do bad things, and we are not precisely sure why they happen.
I have talked to, for instance, fellow recovering addicts who tell me that they spent an entire day feeling great because they 100% knew that they were resolved not to act out (use their substance or engage in their addictive behavior of choice) only to wake up several hours later to the reality that they had broken their sobriety (FYI I am a recovering addict with 7.5 years sobriety, wrote a book about addiction and recovery, and am very active in my recovery community).
Just like Angela was struggling to come to grips with her own complicity last week, trapped in a loop of watching one of the 71 buildings as it collapses and come back to life, Elliot had to come to grips with his complicity this week.
And, for him, that complicity started with the fall of his father Edward, from cancer, in a movie theater while he literally walked away and didn't even try to help his Dad.
Sometimes, we have to come to grips with some hard realities about the ways in which we are broken and the ways in which being broken seems way beyond our ability to establish control.
The difference between knowing in your heart that you want to be good but facing the reality of having done something bad can be maddening.
I remember an interview that I once heard with the Director, actor, and artist Terry Gilliam where he talked about how he got the idea for his masterpiece, the movie Brazil. He mentioned something about sitting on a somewhat polluted beach alone (maybe in New Jersey) and the only other person on the beach had a small radio and he remembers that it was playing the song Brazil.
Somehow, he was haunted by this reality until a very surreal and dystopian movie grew up around that one idea.
In the movie Barton Fink, the main character (umm, Barton Fink duh), often imagines that he is sitting on a beach and that somehow that makes sense, or at least helps him escape in his mind, from the insanity that often surrounds him (or maybe he was sitting on the beach, like Terry Gilliam inspired by some idea or memory to create an insane and troubling narrative about himself in his head).
If there was ever an episode of Mr. Robot that gives some credence to the idea that Elliot is creating his own simulation, this could have been it.
But, my gut still tells me that this is more surreal than it is a signal.
A few years ago, after many years of silence, one of Sam Esmail’s main influences, David Lynch finally revealed his inspiration for the Movie Blue Velvet, when he was a kid, he started to turn down a dark alley and a strange woman came out of the alley and ran past him totally naked and frantic.
He recreated this scene that had been haunting him like a ghost an entire life but instead of placing it in a world of logic and linearity, he presented it in a world much more akin to the way he had been experiencing the memory his entire life.
He showed us his nightmare. He exposed the ghosts.
Elliot is letting us see his guilt and his ghosts.
In a later Lynch movie, "Lost Highway," he had two different characters that were, in a sense, actually different elements of the same character (sound familiar?). The second version of the character wakes up as a totally different person, only aware of having the same name and some of the same memories, but instead of being the married jazz musician he went to sleep as, he wakes up living in a prison cell and wearing a different face and owning a different history.
I suspect this is how Elliot feels when he wakes up almost every day (especially after Mr. Robot has been in charge).
As he shares with Darlene before he starts on his surreal journey:
“I tried everything, medication, therapy, fuck I even put myself in jail, he won't leave, he won't leave because I wanted this...I liked it”
Tonight's episode is about Elliot letting us see the reasons he decided he needed to kill himself (all the reasons, even the ones that are more ghosts than real) and he is also letting us see the reasons he ultimately decides he changes his mind (he can still make the world a better place - thanks to Trenton).
Elliot created Mr. Robot. He is to blame (I have been saying this since Season 1).
Now that he has accepted his complicity, he starts thinking out the only good thing he can do for the world is end himself and the part of him that enjoys the idea of burning down the world.
Dissociatives are a fragmented whole and the different parts do whatever they are best suited to do but they are all part of the same system (I have called this system E Prime since Season One).
So now that he has come to grips with what he has done, how does he tell the story?
He tells it like David Lynch, like Albert Camus, and like Terry Gilliam did.
Sometimes we see, have done, or do things that are so terrible that it is impossible for us to represent them in the cold light of real-time and linear time or logic.
Portia Doubleday has often said that Angela and Elliot are both chasing the same goal but through different means.
Now they are both living different versions of the same nightmare.
Spirit Guide |
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Feb. 18, 2017, 9:47 AM GMT / Updated Feb. 18, 2017, 7:03 PM GMT By Corky Siemaszko
Chicago is the poster city for violent crime to President Trump, but he’s got some mean streets right in his Florida backyard.
The city of West Palm Beach, which sits just across the Intracoastal Waterway from Trump's palatial Mar-a-Lago Resort — aka the Winter White House — on exclusive Palm Beach, had a violent crime rate in 2015 that was equal to that of the Windy City, according to federal crime records.
There were 23 homicides in a city of just 104,919 residents. And the rate of violent crime, which also includes rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults, was 9 for every 1,000 residents — the same as the far bigger Chicago, records show.
President Donald Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Mar-a-Lago Resort in West Palm Beach, Florida on Feb. 11, 2017. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
While Trump regularly rails about crime in the city that is the hometown of his predecessor Barack Obama and birthplace of Hillary Clinton, he’s not said a peep about the past troubles in the city that he drives through every time he comes to Florida.
That has not gone unnoticed by community activists like Ricky Aiken, who has been working hard with West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio and the local police to keep local crime in check.
"Trump is a guy who lives over there,” Aiken told NBC News, referring to Palm Beach. “If he is serious about making changes in the inner cities, he would be welcome. But people like him tend to avoid communities like mine."
Other than the 33-story Trump Plaza, which is the tallest building in town (and which he no longer owns) and the Trump International Golf Club (which he still owns), Trump has a relatively small public footprint in West Palm Beach.
The Trump Foundation has kicked in $25,000 for the Palm Beach Zoo, $5,000 to the Palm Beach Opera, and $1,000 to the Pediatric Oncology Support Team Inc. — all located in the city, according to published reports.
And during one of the presidential debates with Clinton, Trump complained that he never gets credit for opening a golf course where there is "no discrimination against African-Americans, against Muslims, against nobody."
But Trump mistakenly said it was located in "Palm Beach, Florida," which he alternately described as a "tough community" and "probably the wealthiest community there is in the world."
For that, Trump was zinged by Palm Beach Post writer Barbara Marshall.
“The only gangs on the island are the legions of designer-clad matrons thronging Worth Avenue during the season,” it read. “Nor is anyone likely to riot over injustice, unless the B&T runs out of gin for G&Ts.”
(B&T refers to the exclusive Bath & Tennis Club, where the old money WASPs still run the show. G&T is short for gin and tonics.)
Inner City Innovators founder Ricky Aiken holds a bullhorn as he stands with Johnny Davis' nephew Derran Kittrell, 12, and other family members during a peace walk near Tamarind Avenue in West Palm Beach on Sept. 2, 2015. Davis, 19, was killed in broad-daylight shooting the previous week on 19th Street. Richard Graulich / The Palm Beach Post via Zuma
In the most recent available crime records, meaning the first six months of 2016, the city of Palm Beach recorded no homicides, no rapes, no robberies and just one aggravated assault.
Since the election, what little Trump has seen of West Palm Beach (WPB) has been through the windows of his fortified SUV on the 20 minute or so sprint from Palm Beach International Airport (which is actually located in WPB) to Mar-a-Lago.
"Kind of driving through," was how WPB Police Chief Sarah Mooney characterized Trump’s impact on her city during a group telephone interview with an NBC reporter.
"He might come here to come to the performing arts center or have dinner at some of our marvelous restaurants," Mayor Muoio added. "That’s about it."
Located about 70 miles north of Miami, West Palm Beach has long lived in the shadow of Palm Beach, the winter playground for generations of rich and famous folks. And most of the homicides happened in historically African-American neighborhoods like Coleman Park, which has sent workers streaming across the Flagler Bridge to serve the rich and famous for over a century.
Mayor Muoio, who like Trump hails from New York City, bristles at crimes comparisons to Chicago.
“We’re a very different place from Chicago,” she said. “We did have a spike in 2015 ... it was very upsetting to us all. Young black men shooting young black men.”
West Palm Beach police investigate an overnight shooting on the 700 block of 5th Street that left a woman dead and a man hospitalized on July 20, 2015. Lannis Waters / The Palm Beach Post via Zuma
But unlike Chicago, where most of the violence is gang-related, what happened in West Palm Beach was fueled by "historic personal beefs," she said.
"We don't have traditional gangs, or ongoing gang activity," the mayor said. "Back in the day when guns were not as readily available there would be fights. Now, unfortunately, young people have access to guns and use them."
The Rev. Kevin Jones, who is a special assistant to the mayor, agreed.
"It’s more guys on a different street or different neighborhood having issues with one another," Jones said. "It became very retaliatory."
Phil McCausland
Also, unlike Chicago, the homicide wave that washed over West Palm Beach didn’t last. Last year, the number of murders dropped sharply from 23 in 2015 to 10 — although the total number of violent crimes climbed from 924 in 2015 to 955 last year, records show.
“Since 2007 our crime rate has steadily gone down,” Muoio said. “There will always be peaks,spikes that happen. Overall there is a significant downward trend.”
When kids started killing each other in the hot summer of 2015, Mooney said "we immediately upped our patrols in the area."
"The area where the spike was is very small," the chief said. "We would infiltrate those neighborhoods with our patrols."
Phil McCausland
They also got local religious leaders involved and were able to quickly identify some of the potential troublemakers.
“When one side of the neighborhood had an incident the other side would be next,” said Mooney. “We tried to do almost home visit type interventions to keep things from getting worse. “
Jones was tasked with organizing marches through the affected communities so on nights when tensions ran high residents could be “part of taking it back.”
“We would have big marches, two to three hundred people, where we walked the neighborhood and had a moment of silence,” Jones said.
Even before the outburst of mayhem in 2015 the city was working hard to integrate its traditionally white male police force, including launching an explorer program designed to get minority kids interested in careers as police officers.
"We’re trying to grow our own cops," Mooney said, adding that two former explorers are due to graduate soon from the police academy.
John Smykla, a criminal justice professor at Florida Atlantic University, said the West Palm Beach police deserve credit for trying out new things like body cameras and for making an extra effort to reach out to minority communities.
"They're very community-centric," he said. "They are willing to innovate and try new things. The result is that citizen complaints are down ... on both sides of the fence."
Mayoral spokeswoman Kathleen Walter said West Palm Beach has its problems, but so do a lot of cities. And the rest of the county has been grappling with a heroin epidemic that has been chronicled by The Palm Beach Post.
"Are we getting some attention because we have a famous neighbor? For sure," she said. "But this has always been an alluring community and I think there are a lot of residents here who are happy."
Despite all these efforts, Aiken said there are still places in town where it gets dangerous after dark.
"Things are better but we’re not there yet," said Aiken. "A lot of kids grow up in West Palm Beach thinking that crime is kind of what you are expected to do."
Aiken would know — he was one of them. The son of an absent father and drug-addicted mother, he was raised by an alcoholic grandmother in the Dunbar Village housing project, which became infamous in 2007 when up to 10 men raped a 35-year-old woman and forced her to perform sex acts on her 12-year-old son.
Aiken said he was following in the footsteps of his drug-dealing older brothers when fate in the form of an Urban Youth Impact summer program — and a married couple that adopted him — set him on a different path.
Now Aiken runs Inner City Innovators, which helps young black men break out of the cycle of poverty and crime.
"They don’t have role models in the community," he said. "There are no father figures."
And many of them, he said, are so trapped in their neighborhoods they’ve never even been to the ritzy Palm Beach.
"I talk to people all the time who would never cross the bridge out of fear of being stopped, arrested,” he said. "It’s never happened to me, but I understand that fear."
Aiken said on the rare occasions when he ventures into Trump’s neighborhood, he goes to look at the Atlantic Ocean and to collect his thoughts.
"It’s a different world over there," he said. |
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Only five teams have more salary-cap space available than the Green Bay Packers, who sit $21,885,142 below their adjusted cap for 2015, according to the latest figures from the NFL Players Association.
But let's break down where the Packers are using their cap space this season, noting that they still have some work to do to re-sign some of their own free agents such as B.J. Raji, Letroy Guion and John Kuhn.
Here's a position-by-position look at the Packers' cap spending, where it ranks among the 32 NFL teams and how it compares to the league average, according to ESPN Stats & Information salary data:
DEFENSE
Defensive end
Cap spending: $20,481,637
NFL rank: Eighth
NFL average: $14,102,819
Note: ESPN Stats & Info counted both Julius Peppers ($12 million) and Mike Neal ($4.25 million) even though they are technically outside linebackers in the Packers' base 3-4 scheme.
Defensive tackle
Cap spending: $2,316,120
NFL rank: 32nd
NFL average: $8,844,526
Note: This figure is likely to increase significantly if, or when, the Packers re-sign Raji and Guion. Currently, second-year pro Khyri Thornton ($673,813) leads this position.
Linebackers
Cap spending: $19,313,759
NFL rank: Eighth
NFL average: $16,514,907
Note: Clay Matthews ($12.7 million) has the highest cap number on the entire defense for 2015.
Cornerback
Cap spending: $12,150,969
NFL rank: 18th
NFL average: $14,517,034
Note: Sam Shields is the only player not still on their rookie contract. Shields signed a four-year, $39 million deal last March and will count $9,062,500 in this year's cap.
Safeties
Cap spending: $9,153,364
NFL rank: 16th
NFL average: $8,726,362
Note: Starters Morgan Burnett ($5,131,250) and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix ($1,895,114) account for 76.8 percent of this position's cap obligation.
OFFENSE
Quarterbacks
Cap spending: $19,600,000
NFL rank: Eighth
NFL average: $13,247,065
Note: Aaron Rodgers' cap number ($18,250,000) increased only slightly over last year and will increase by only one million next year. The biggest jump came from 2013 ($12 million) to 2014 ($17.55 million).
Offensive line
Cap spending: $22,723,411
NFL rank: 17th
NFL average: $22,165,276
Note: This figure won't change much until after 2016, when guards T.J. Lang and Josh Sitton plus left tackle David Bakhtiari all will complete their current contracts.
Receivers
Cap spending: $12,347,943
NFL rank: 19th
NFL average: $13,894,187
Note: The Packers have two of the top-seven highest paid receivers (Randall Cobb is sixth and Jordy Nelson is seventh) based on average per year yet still remain below the league average in cap costs.
Running backs
Cap spending: $3,197,703
NFL rank: 29th
NFL average: $7,122,637
Note: Backup James Starks ($1,837,500) has a cap charge nearly double that of starter Eddie Lacy ($925,203), who is entering the third year of his four-year rookie deal.
Tight ends
Cap spending: $2,909,004
NFL rank: 28th
NFL average: $7,308,216
Note: The Packers have only three tight ends under contract -- Andrew Quarless ($1.75 million), Richard Rodgers ($649,004) and Justin Perillo ($510,000).
Kicker
Cap spending: $3,550,000
NFL rank: Seventh
NFL average: $2,162,941
Note: Mason Crosby is entering the final year of his contract.
Punters
Cap spending: $1,775,000
NFL rank: 19th
NFL average: $2,037,423
Note: The Packers currently have two punters on the roster after signing Cody Mandell to compete with veteran Tim Masthay.
Long snapper
Cap spending: $976,250
NFL rank: 11th
NFL average: $878,044
Note: Brett Goode is entering the final year of his contract. |
Facing a rank-and-file GOP revolt, House Speaker John Boehner abruptly canceled a vote Thursday night on a plan to raise taxes for the wealthy, bringing the country closer to a plunge down the "fiscal cliff."
The House then recessed until after Christmas. The development raises questions about whether Boehner could muster support among Tea Partyers in the GOP-controlled House for a broader deal to avert the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts on Jan.1.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the sudden development showed that Boehner must now work with Democrats to try to avoid the cliff.
"Speaker Boehner's partisan approach wasted an entire week and pushed middle-class families closer to the edge," Reid said. "The only way to avoid the cliff altogether is for Speaker Boehner to return to negotiations, and work with President Obama and the Senate to forge a bipartisan deal."
According to a GOP source familiar with the vote coun, "the veto threat and opposition from the White House and the Senate Majority Leader made some members feel like they were taking a risky vote for no reason, even though the bill did not actually include a tax hike. Now, the President and Senate Majority Leader must find a solution to this crisis."
Stock future prices sank immediately after the vote cancellation, but recovered some lost ground. (Click here for the latest premarket prices.)
Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had predicted passage of the "Plan B" bill to raise taxes on people earning over $1 million a year, despite opposition from conservatives. But in a statement Thursday night, Boehner said: "The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass." |
As this is comic provides an overly simplified suggestion, please note that everybody works differently and you may have to adjust these rules accordingly to your lifestyle! I tried to make it flexible enough to be applicable for every individual, tho I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface on how to arrange your day to day chores tbh, so I’m not sure if I’ll even keep this up for long? orz I hope this’ll at least help with understanding the general idea.
Managing time for school work and your hobbies seem a bit daunting, but with a day planner, a weekly printout chart or even a little calendar you can filter out the unnecessary activities that are a distraction from accomplishing bigger things! Not too long ago I was working two jobs as a full time college student while trying to squeeze in art, it was tough, so I really had to pick and choose what was most important to me in order to give it my all!
Also, please please please make time for sleep and take care of your health, above all things, no matter what!
Check out these 20 quick tips, how to filter out unnecessary activities, and this time managing masterpost for additional resources!!
Tagged with: #comic |
The Delhi Janlokpal Bill, 2015, introduced in the Assembly on November 30, has been assailed by lawyer-activists Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan, key figures in the original Janlokpal agitation, as a betrayal of the anti-corruption movement. The Bill has also been slammed by the BJP and Congress. Senior AAP leaders like Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia, and Transport Minister Gopal Rai, have, however described the Bill as being the “strongest”. Here’s how the 2015 Bill stacks up against two earlier Bills with which it is comparable — the one drawn up by the earlier AAP government in 2014, and the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill.
The Lieutenant Governor
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2014 Bill: “Lieutenant Governor” means the L-G, appointed by the President under Article 239, and designated as such under article 239 AA of the Constitution.
2015 Bill: “Lieutenant Governor” means the L-G of the NCT of Delhi appointed by the President under Article 239 of the Constitution, who shall act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
Definition of a government servant
2014: Those of the GNCTD cadre, placed at the disposal of other state governments or UTs, or Centre, or those from the Centre placed at the disposal of the government of Delhi.
2015: Not provided.
Definition of public servant
2014: Everyone who holds public office, including the Chief Minister, MLAs, and other politicians.
2015: Not part of definitions. Ministers maintain it includes MPs as well.
Uttarakhand Bill: CM, MLAs, everyone who holds public office.
ALSO READ: How AAP is rebutting the counters
Selection of Chairperson and members of Lokayukta
2014: Chairperson and six members, can go up to 10. Search Committee consisting of eminent persons with impeccable integrity will seek nominations for Chairperson; put it online. Search Committee will shortlist candidates and give it to the Selection Committee, which will choose the Members and Chairperson to be appointed by the President. If four Members of Selection Committee disagree, candidate will be disqualified.
2015: Chairperson and two Members, appointed on the basis of recommendation by a Selection Committee, which shall have its own procedure for selecting the Members of the Janlokpal. The process of Search Committee recommendations have been done away with.
Uttarakhand: Chairperson and 5 Members, can go up to 7. Search Committee, Selection Committee roles as in 2014 Bill; Chairperson and Members to be appointed by Governor.
Composition of Selection Committee
2014: Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition, two High Court judges, one person from among previous Lokayukta Chairpersons. Two other members chosen from among retired Chief Justices of India or retired judges of the Supreme Court, or retired Chiefs of the Army, Navy, or Air Force. CM will be Selection Committee chief.
2015: CM, Speaker of Assembly, Leader of Opposition, and Chief Justice of the High Court, who will be the Chairperson of the Selection Committee. The Committee’s recommendation shall be binding on the LG, who shall make the appointments within 30 days of receiving the recommendation.
Uttarakhand: Selection Committee consisting of CM, LOp in Assembly, two High Court judges selected by a collegium of all HC judges, one person from previous Chairpersons of Lokayukta. Two other members from among retired CJI or judges of Supreme Court, retired Service Chiefs, etc. CM will be Selection Committee chief.
Who can be Chairperson or Member
2014: Chairperson shall be a retired judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice of a High Court; Members should be persons of eminence and integrity with expertise in public administration, finance or investigation. A third of Members should have extensive knowledge of law; half should belong to SC/ST/OBC/Women/Minorities.
2015: Same as 2014; Members and Chairperson can’t be MP, MLA or hold an office of profit; must resign first. An important clause barring such individuals even after suspension of their activities — given their past associations — has been done away with.
Uttarakhand: Same as 2014 Bill.
Powers of Lokayukta
2014: Janlokpal shall not entertain anonymous complaints. Complaints cannot be withdrawn; tough punishment for false complaints. Video recordings will be done and made available to the public against a fee. Will investigate, punish, prosecute through special courts, issue letters rogatory. Will appoint Janlokpal investigation officers, will have reward schemes for public servants. Will have an Investigation and Prosecution wing; can search any building or premises.
2015: Can investigate anyone’s complaint of corruption in GNCTD. Punishment for false complaint is rigorous imprisonment . Matter not subject to inquiry will be one related to which any inquiry is already pending with the Lokpal constituted under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (1 of 2014). Janlokpal shall also constitute a prosecution wing and appoint a Director of Prosecution.
Uttarakhand: Investigate, punish, prosecute through special courts; issue letters rogatory on pending cases; establish Investigation and Prosecution wing; appoint a Director of Prosecution.
Powers of Investigating Officers
2014: Investigation by Group A officers.
2015: Investigating Officer shall have all powers vested in a police officer while investigating offences under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Uttarakhand: IO will be of the rank of DSP and above
Removal of Lokayukta
2014: By the President on the recommendation of High Court after a proper inquiry on allegation of corruption.
2015: Impeachment by Assembly. Assembly has full powers to remove Lokayukta.
Uttarakhand: Removal by Governor on the recommendation of the Supreme Court
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Janlokpal Annual Report
2014: To be presented to LG; if not accepted, reasons to be given to Assembly.
2015: Annual report to government, which will be laid before the Assembly.
Uttarakhand: Annual report to Governor. |
Yes, just like the millions of people who watch the “Real World” and think WTF, sometimes the cast members cringe, too.
“Oh yeah… There was one episode or two that was hard on my family, and they were just like, ‘wow,’” recalls Landon Lueck of the on-screen partying during “The Real World: Philadelphia.” “But with respect to MTV they told me that. They’ll show the highest of highs and lowest of lows and everything in between.”
That about sums up every season of the “Real World,” and the Philadelphia cast was no different. It featured a jock in M.J. Garrett, the party animal in Landon, two gay men for the first time on the “Real World” in Karamo Brown and Willie Hernandez, a developing relationship between Landon and Shavonda Billingslea, as well as Sarah Burke and Melanie Silcott.
The last episode of “Real World: Philadelphia” aired just more than 10 years ago. The seven strangers have gone from college kids to adults. They’re mothers and fathers. One still works in showbiz, recently hosting a show on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Another is a lawyer. They’re actually in the real world.
After the show
As their time on the “Real World” ended, one director told the cast the best thing they could do was return to their normal lives. Landon found out it wasn’t so easy.
He tried going back to college at the University of Wisconsin. Before the show aired, he went through his regular routine of class and going out with friends. Then September 2004 came, and everyone saw him on TV. Landon started receiving calls about making appearances at bars to party or to speak at college campuses.
“Pretty soon I was traveling all the time and trying to keep up with my studies, and it became essentially impossible,” Landon says. “Eventually I had to drop out of school because I had straight F’s because I was never in class.”
The campus and bar circuit can be lucrative, particularly for men who appear on the show. Shavonda says “Real World” stars can make anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 for an appearance, depending on the location and their individual demand.
“You get there and someone entertains you and picks you up from the airport,” Shavonda says. “They bring bottles to your private room or whatever. Then you go out there. …The guys have it made. All you have to do is party. And then you’re done. You get paid in cash.”
Shavonda and Landon dated briefly during the show but broke up shortly afterwards. She’s now married to Shaun, the man she was dating when she went on the show, and living in San Diego. They have one toddler, and Shavonda, who is a homemaker, is pregnant with their second child.
For Melanie and Sarah, life basically was routine. Sarah says she made a few appearances but otherwise went to the University of Florida for law school. She now works as a lawyer for Butler Pappas in Tampa, her past TV life unknown to all but the most hardcore fans who might recognize her.
“My boyfriend watched the show,” she says, “and he didn’t put it together.”
Melanie finished college at UC Santa Cruz, got a master’s degree there and has spent the last several years working as a teacher and a bartender in San Francisco and traveling. She’s also married.
Karamo experienced the biggest shock of all after the “Real World.” A couple years after he left Philadelphia, he found out he was the father of a son from a previous heterosexual relationship. He petitioned for full custody and later adopted his son’s half-brother, too. With both sons now in their teens, Karamo, living in Los Angeles, has been trying to get back into the entertainment industry. He has hosted a show for the Oprah Winfrey Network and has appeared on HLN.
None of the cast members keep in touch with M.J. or Willie, and Billy Penn could not reach either for comment. Willie appeared on an interview at “Ian Drew’s The Interview” in 2012 in New York City but didn’t discuss anything about what he was doing now. M.J. was featured in a Vanderbilt alumni article in 2011. It stated he had helped found a Nashville transportation company called Grand Avenue. The operator for Grand Avenue said nobody with M.J.’s name worked at the company.
“M.J. and Willie just kind of fell off the map,” Melanie says.
After lots of appearances throughout the country on Real World/Road Rules Challenges, Landon works as an equipment and technology specialist for Benco Dental in San Diego. His presence on the “Real World” acted as less of a hurdle for getting his current job than it did for an attempt to remain in the entertainment industry.
“I remember right when I got off I was thinking about modeling,” Landon says. “Adidas was like, ‘No, we don’t want anything associated with you getting shitfaced in Philly.’”
Behind the scenes
The drama began before MTV filmed a single minute of “Real World: Philadelphia.” Unions were pissed MTV contracted nonunion workers to renovate the house — something MTV had done throughout the history of the show — and picketed the house, located at the northwest corner of Third and Arch streets. MTV announced it would no longer film the series in Philadelphia because of the complications. About a week later, the city and MTV agreed to terms, and “Real World: Philadelphia” was on once again.
Not feeling welcomed became a recurring theme during their stay. Somebody threw a chair at M.J. at a bar. Police once interrogated Karamo because they wrongfully thought he had a weapon. Landon says the cast received a “mixed audience” when they went out, with friendly people excited for Real Worlders to be out and others who wanted to antagonize them.
Shavonda remembers they got so tired of dealing with hostile people the cast started playing board games all the time, afraid of going out. Typically, she says, the production crew wouldn’t interfere with any of their actions. But MTV made an exception when the cast didn’t want to party anymore.
“They came out and said, ‘you guys have got to go out and experience the city,’” Shavonda says. “‘You can’t just stay inside all day.’ I believe they got us like a private police escort who stayed a few steps back.”
Favorite parts of Philadelphia
Any time you saw the cast members engage in “spring-breakish type behavior,” says Shavonda, they were probably out on Second Street in Old City. That also happened to be the area where they encountered the most problems with rowdy Philadelphians. For a calmer time, they’d go out in Manayunk or Rittenhouse Square. Landon says they also went to Fox and Hound.
With two gay roommates in Willie and Karamo, the cast often went out in the Gayborhood and frequented a Northern Liberties bar called Shampoo that closed in 2013.
“A lot of the friends I met in the city were mainly in the gay community,” Sarah says.
Adds Karamo, “One thing I did not experience there was homophobia. Not saying it doesn’t exist. I didn’t feel scared walking the streets…I never got called the F-word. I did get called the N-word.”
Cast members enjoyed Stephen Starr restaurants, particularly Continental, Pod and Jones. Landon couldn’t get enough of Jim’s Steaks on South Street.
“Whenever I meet people I say there are few real deals,” Landon says. “You go to Belgium and have waffles, go to Versailles and have crepes. You go to Philadelphia and you have a cheesesteak. No one else can make them like that.”
During one episode, the other roommates, mainly Landon and M.J., called out Melanie for having a secret place. MTV had two camera crews, and she had learned that they would generally only follow groups of at least two to three people. A cast member could sneak away for a quick bite, a drink or to go to the gym. Melanie started going on her own to Drinker’s Tavern.
Everyone interviewed except Shavonda has been back to Philadelphia at least a couple of times since the show. All five enjoyed the city. Melanie remembers being bummed out when she found out she’d be on the show in Philadelphia. She wanted to be in Hawaii, New York City or a place she considered more exotic but fell for the city after finding her niche.
Karamo has visited several times since the end of the show. Free of the cameras, he’s seen a lot more of Philly than he ever did, from Center City to South Philly.
“When you have cameras in your face, Philadelphians can be a little harsh,” Karamo says. “They don’t want you invading their city. Now going back each time I get to experience the warmth and who the true Philadelphians are.” |
New research reveals the genetic history of the cultivated strawberry and its closest wild relative. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo
DURHAM, N.H., Aug. 23 (UPI) -- It took four years, but researchers at the University of New Hampshire have finally finished mapping the genetic history of the cultivated strawberry.
Scientists focused on one of the closest wild relatives of the modern cultivated strawberry, Fragaria iinumae. Unlike other wild species and cultivated strawberries, which have as many as seven different chromosomes, Fragaria iinumae boasts diploid cells, with two homologous copies of each of its two chromosomes, one from each of its parents.
Researchers used a technique called marker-assisted mapping to trace the history of the wild strawberry's chromosomes.
"This remarkable genetic map, which is the highest resolution linkage map for any ancestral diploid strawberry species, is a valuable research tool," UNH researcher Lise Mahoney said in a news release.
The results of the genomic analysis was published this week in the journal The Plant Genome.
"Many people are trying to understand the ancestry of the cultivated strawberry so that they can better understand traits associated with specific genetic markers, such as fruit quality, flowering habits, and resistance to diseases," Mahoney continued. "Defining the genomes of the cultivated strawberry's wild ancestors will ultimately help guide the use of genetic information in breeding for a better cultivated strawberry."
Researchers hope to use their new genetic map to develop new strawberry varieties that are specifically designed for thrive in local soils and under organic growing practices. |
Female Circumcision
FRED DE SAM LAZARO, correspondent: In recent years, thousands of rural communities in Senegal have held extraordinary public rallies they call “declarations,” and they’ve declared an end to a deeply rooted practice, one rarely discussed in public, one commonly known as female circumcision.
MOLLY MELCHING: Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would be sitting here years later, saying that 4,792 communities in Senegal had abandoned. In the beginning it was just unthought of, unbelievable, because it was so taboo.
DE SAM LAZARO: Molly Melching founded a group called Tostan—“breakthrough” in the local Wolof language—in the early ’90s. She had modest goals: to educate people about health and human rights, especially in rural areas and in local languages. The Illinois native is fluent in the ways of Senegal but she keeps a low profile in the work of Tostan.
Tostan’s work often begins with an ice-breaker, like an old movie. Many in the audience have never watched a film. To overcome the language barrier, the selection is a Buster Keaton silent movie classic from 1923, and it’s a hit. A more serious film followed, on vegetable gardening. It’s all part of seminars on nutrition, health, basic human rights, and other issues—in groups, songs, dances, and drama.
Skit: She needs to be cut. All girls need that.
DE SAM LAZARO: It’s proven to be one of the most promising attempts in history to wipe out what Melching calls female genital cutting [FGC], a practice that dates back 2000 years. Each year, the World Health Organization says up to 3 million girls in Africa are subjected to genital mutilation, and up to 140 million women live with its consequences.
Skit: You can’t have a recognized marriage if she is not cut.
DE SAM LAZARO: That cut is a painful rite of passage for girls across a wide swath of predominantly Islamic African and Middle Eastern countries. However, the practice goes back hundreds of years before Islam or Christianity and is also practiced in both faiths and religions native to this region. It’s thought to have originated in the harems of ancient rulers as a means of controlling women’s fidelity, or as a sign of chastity among those who aspired to be consorts.
MELCHING: Those who were in the rest of society could move up, and you could marry someone who was more prestigious or had more money, more status, if you underwent this practice, because it was a sign of good reputation, and as the years went on, I mean 2,200 years, it became very much a part of what was considered criteria for good marriage.
DE SAM LAZARO: Melching came to this West African nation as a student in the 1970s and later as a Peace Corps volunteer. She stayed on to work on improving health education, which she found sorely lacking.
MELCHING: When you see a friend that you’ve known for several months and you’ve gone to her house for lunch, and then she tells you her child has some problem, that it’s someone who has cast an evil spell on the child, the baby, and that she’s going to take them to a religious leader to get the spell taken off, and you don’t know what to say, and it turns out the baby was dehydrated.
DE SAM LAZARO: But from the health education, women began to understand infection, and Melching says they began to connect the dots.
MELCHING: So suddenly as they started learning germ transmission and the consequences of FGC and how these infections occur and why they had more problems in childbirth than other women who had not been cut, they started saying wait a minute.
Seminar: People used to be afraid to talk about this before. Not anymore.
DE SAM LAZARO: But how did women in conservative, patriarchal societies become able to speak out, especially on a sensitive sexual topic? Melching says it’s because Tostan involves men and religious leaders who’ve confirmed that cutting is not required.
MELCHING: We share our modules with the religious leaders so that they see that everything that we do is for the well-being of the community, the health, and all these things are things that Islam espouses, and so they’re very happy in general, but first of all they’re happy because we start with them. We respect them.
DE SAM LAZARO: And that respect also carries over in the group’s message on genital cutting.
MELCHING: Tostan found that using approaches that shame or blame people really was just the opposite of what would work in changing social norms. When you say to someone, we know you love your daughter and you’re doing things because you love your daughter, but let’s look at this and let’s try to understand together exactly what are the consequences of this practice. But you are the ones who will have to make the decision. Then suddenly people are willing to listen. They don’t get defensive.
DE SAM LAZARO: It’s far more effective than the approach of many aid groups—religious, government, and private, says Princeton University professor Gerry Mackie.
PROFESSOR GERRY MACKIE: Not hectoring and preaching but having pro and con discussions. When we think of an ideal way of making a change, we’d say it’s democratic. We all get together and talk it over and decide what the best thing is to do. Whereas some development approaches would, say, force them to do it, pay them to do it, trick them into doing it.
DE SAM LAZARO: Tostan’s volunteers and staff who conduct its seminars all hail from the local communities. Often they are leaders and elders speaking from personal experience or anecdotes. Diarre Ba used to make a living as a female circumciser.
DIARRE BA: I was part of this process. I felt bad. This is not right. But I didn’t know anything at the time. I had no learning.
DE SAM LAZARO: Others have painful, vivid memories. Ibrahim Sankare was very close to an older sister growing up. He walked into her room one evening.
IBRAHIM SANKARE: I saw her lying in a pool of blood. I thought someone had really hurt her. I screamed. My father explained to me. Since then, even now I get goosebumps thinking about it.
MARIAM BAMBA: It was very painful. I will never—you ask me if I can forget it? I will never forget the pain. So painful.
DE SAM LAZARO: Marieme Bamba is a long-time campaigner against genital cutting, and she’s spared her ten-year-old daughter the trauma. Yet before she became involved with Tostan and early in her marriage, she was determined to keep up the tradition. Even her own husband was opposed to genital cutting.
SULEYMAN TRAORE: She insisted that she had to do it. There were so many problems if you didn’t do it. If you cooked meals, no one would eat your food. It’s because we didn’t know. People told us that it was our religion. If you don’t do it, you’ll be going against your religion. All this is false. But I alone can’t do this in the village.
DE SAM LAZARO: They say Tostan was able to insure they were not alone—that communities in which they intermarried were also thinking alike, that their daughters would still be marriageable. The large declaration ceremonies have been critical.
MACKIE: One part of bringing about a change like this is to get everyone to change at once, what we call “coordinated abandonment.” Everyone has to see that everyone else sees that everyone is changing.
DE SAM LAZARO: Genital cutting is not the only tradition they want to change. Many communities have vowed to end the frequent practice of allowing older men to marry adolescent girls, acknowledging both the health risks and the girls’ human rights. Molly Melching says there’s plenty of historical precedent for abrupt changes in social norms and attitudes. She sees a very current example every time she comes home. That’s in American views about smoking.
MELCHING: People were smoking, and nobody said anything about it much through the ‘50s, the ‘60s, and even the ‘70s. As people became more and more aware of the harm that it causes, more and more people—there was a critical mass of people who started really protesting. It was amazing for me, coming from Senegal to the United States, to see how quickly things turned around.
DE SAM LAZARO: Tostan’s efforts have now expanded to 14 other African nations.
For Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, this is Fred de Sam Lazaro in Kaolack, Senegal. |
ONE of the hostages killed during the Sydney siege died after being hit by fragments of police bullets fired after officers stormed the Lindt Cafe targeting the gunman, Man Haron Monis, an inquest has heard.
The NSW Coronial inquest into the deaths of two hostages, cafe manager Tori Johnson and mother-of-three Katrina Dawson, as well as Monis himself, opened this morning in Sydney.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormley SC, said Johnson was killed by Monis, who forced him to kneel on the cafe floor before shooting him without warning.
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Police officers from the force’s Tactical Operations Unit then stormed the building, with two members of the team firing a total of 22 bullets at Monis, who died as a result, Mr Gormley said.
“Ms Dawson was struck by six fragments of a police bullet or bullets, which ricocheted from hard surfaces into her body ... one bullet struck a major blood vessel, she lost consciousness and died shortly afterwards,” he said.
Monis fired five shots from a pump-action shotgun that he smuggled into the cafe inside a bag, the inquest heard.
SYDNEY SIEGE: How it ended
IN PICTURES: Martin Place memorial
TIMELINE: How events unfolded
Man Haron Monis, pictured in 2011.
“No shot fired by Mr Monis, other than the one that struck and killed Mr Johnson, struck anyone,” Mr Gormley said.
The inquest, which will run over coming months, will include an examination of the police management of the siege, with a team of British police officers brought in to conduct an independent review of what took place.
“Questions concerning the use of police marksmen, whether to wait or act immediately, have been discussed in public. I anticipate evidence on all of these matters. If there were defects in the management of the siege, they will be exposed,” Mr Gormley said.
There was a huge outpouring of emotion following the deaths of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson.
‘THIS IS AN ATTACK, I HAVE A BOMB’
Monis arrived at the cafe in camouflage long pants and baseball cap, with a large black backpack and carrying a blue plastic bag. He was also carrying a sawn-off shotgun.
After ordering a dessert, he stood up, got the doors to be locked and said “this is an attack, I have a bomb”.
“He ordered hostages to hold a flag”, which was described as being an Islamic-type flag.
At 9.44am, at the request of Monis, Tori Johnson placed a Triple-0 call and he was told to say that Australia was under attack from Islamic State.
Monis told hostages that he had a bomb in his backpack and didn’t remove it for the entire ordeal.
After his death, it was found that the bridge of his shotgun was open, seeming to indicate he was trying to reload before his death.
NO CCTV IN CAFE
The inquest has heard there was no CCTV inside the Lindt Cafe during the siege but there were “surprising levels of electronic sound recording.
Man Haron Monis fired five shots from a sawn-off shotgun, the inquest hears. How Monis came to be on bail will also be examined, as will the police management of the scene.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly SC, says every bullet fired by Monis and police is likely to be accounted for.
The inquest has also heard that Monis had not made contact with Islamic State before the siege, although someone from Islamic State endorsed him after his death.
The handling of the siege by NSW police would be analysed.
The coroner has arranged for an independent critical assessment of the police effort by UK police experts.
They will be assisted by interstate police providing insight into the domestic context.
Evidence is likely to be heard on questions surrounding the use of police marksmen and whether they should have acted early or not. “If there were defects in the management of the siege, they will be exposed,” Mr Gormly said.
The inquest will also probe how the police managed communications with families of the hostages during the siege. The investigation will shift film, sound recordings, texts, Facebook pages and other social media, CCTV footage, emails and more than 300,000 phone calls.
“For an event that took only 17 hours, there has resulted in what has been described to me as hundreds of hours of material,” Mr Gormly said.
Heavily armed tactical response officers on the scene during the first few hours of the siege.
DETAILED AND COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE
In his opening address, counsel Mr Gormly said that by the end of the inquiry, there should be a “high level” of information about what happened on December 15 last year.
“We will most likely have a detailed and comprehensive picture of the siege,” he said.
He said the inquest will look at what happened and why, and whether it could have been avoided.
It will also examine whether it had community implications.
“In this case, as in most cases, some facts are not contentious,” he said, adding the time and place of deaths is known.
“What needs full examination is manner and cause of each of the deaths of Ms Dawson and Mr Johnson.” Mr Gormly said a lot of the information will come from the hostages, who had gone through an unimaginable experience.
“They are our eyes and ears and memory,” he said.
POLICE OFFICERS ASK TO KEEP IDENTITIES HIDDEN
Two NSW Police officers from the team that stormed the Lindt Cafe, bringing to an end last month’s Sydney siege and killed the gunman Man Haron Monis, have asked the state coroner to keep their identities secret during the inquest.
Several officers from the force’s Tactical Operations Unit stormed the central Sydney building in the early hours of December 16 after a lonegunman, Man Haron Monis, took 18 people hostage the morning before.
The police force has asked that two of the police officers involved, who were both marksmen, be known only during the names Officer A and Officer B.
Three people, including Monis, were killed during the siege, which was brought to an end by the police operation shortly after 2am.
Two of the hostages, cafe manager Tori Johnson and mother-of-three Katrina Dawson were also killed, while three other hostages and a police officer were also injured during the police raid.
Several of Johnson’s family and one of the hostages, John O’Brien are among those who will watch the inquest open today. Held before NSW Coroner Michael Barnes, the public hearing will attempt to establish the cause of each of the three deaths.
The inquiry is running in tandem with a Critical Incident investigation being led by detectives from the NSW Police Homicide Squad and is expected to take several months.
A separate federal government inquiry into Monis, a self-declared Islamic scholar and acolyte of the Islamic State terrorist group, and his past interactions with the security services is expected to report soon.
With AAP |
Over the holidays I sat down with Bill Hartman to talk about working, learning, how to create the perfect athlete, as well as how he broke into the publishing industry.
If you’re not already familiar with Bill, he is a physical therapist working out of Indianapolis. There he co-owns a gym and PT clinic. His clients include kids, professional athletes, CEOs, and average joes.
His internship program at IFAST has generated a number of world class physical therapists and trainers, many of whom now work in the NBA.
This was a fun talk and I hope you enjoy it.
Click here to download the MP3 – Podcast Episode 2 – Bill Hartman
Show notes
0:56 – Building successful interns
6:42 – Staying ahead of the curve
10:13 – Breaking into the publishing industry
12:37 – Note taking and writing
17:45 – Raising the the perfect athlete
26:35 – Maximizing the intelligence of your child
30:08 – What to stop doing in the gym
36:18 – How to build relationships and a professional network
41:32 – How to start a successful gym
48:47 – Book recommendations for learning, neuroscience, and training
59:35 – How to make behavior changes
1:02:34 – Evolving trends in the fitness industry
1:05:28 – Postural Restoration (PRI)
1:07:55 – Highly Sensitive People and managing your superpower
Books mentioned in the podcast are linked here for convenience
Why Zebras Don’t get ulcers – Robert Sapolsky
On Intelligence – Jeff Hawkins
The Brain that Changes Itself – Norman Doidge
The Body has a Mind of It’s Own – Sandra Blakeslee
Balance: In Search of the Lost Sense – Scott McCredie
Recognizing and Treating Breathing Disorders – Leon Chaitow, Christopher Gilbert, Dinah Bradley
Running: Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology in Practice – Frans Bosch, Ronald Klomp
Supertraining – Yuri Verkhoshansky
Special Strength Training: Manual for Coaches – Yuri Verkhoshansky, Natalia Verkhoshansky
Ultimate MMA Conditioning – Joel Jamieson
Adaptations in Sports Training – Atko Viru
Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology – John Hall
Medical Physiology – Walter Boron, Emile Boulpaep
Neuroscience – Dale Purves
The Willpower Instinct – Kelly McGonigal
The Upside of Stress – Kelly McGonigal
If you’d like to see more from Bill
http://www.billhartman.net/blog/
https://www.facebook.com/BillHartman.net
http://indianapolisfitnessandsportstraining.com/
http://www.menshealth.com/author/bill-hartman-pt-cscs
If you liked this episode please share it with your friends.
Thanks!
Allen
Lead image curtesy Lance Goyke |
The dust had to settle first.
Wesley Matthews wanted to give Rudy Gay space before reaching out to him after Gay ruptured his left Achilles tendon in January. It was the same injury Matthews suffered in 2015 while with the Portland Trail Blazers. If anyone could relate to what Gay was feeling after that injury ended his season, Matthews could.
“Respect the process,” Matthews told Gay. “Respect it. Let every emotion out that comes across you because you’re going to get the whole gambit of them. Attack the rehab. Don’t push it.”
It was those words of encouragement from Matthews, as well as Kobe Bryant, who Gay admitted “motivated the hell out of me,” that assisted in his recovery.
But there was also another source that played a role: Music.
Gay, a recent acquisition by the Spurs, is a big music fan. Hip-hop, R&B, old school soul. Rick Ross, Dru Hill, The O’Jays.
Gay listens to it all. He embraces it. Gay uses it as ammunition to combat the cynics.
It was no different when he suffered the scariest injury of his career, one that threatened to derail him forever. Music was Gay’s deliverance.
“People don’t understand. Music to athletes is like an everyday thing,” Gay said. “We’re on buses, planes, back to buses and then to our cars. The weight room. Music enhances our mood.”
Days before Gay made his return to the court, to play his first regular season game in 272 days, he recapped the musical journey that assisted him during his recovery. It was a journey filled with a wide range of emotions, from hate to motivation, perspective and a feeling of renewal.
It was this musical exploration that assisted in the rebuilding of Gay.
Early days
“When it first happened, I was on some slow, R&B stuff,” Gay said.
The usual musical selections were suspended from his playlist. He had no desire to hear anything upbeat, which is what he would normally listen to before a game.
Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” and Drake’s “Fake Love” were at the top of the billboard charts when Gay underwent surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
But those songs were too fast.
“I could be in an (upbeat mood), but to do what?” he said.
Gay couldn’t dance to the music. There was nothing to celebrate at the time, either. Why listen to music that promoted such things?
Unable to fly following his surgery, Gay sat in his room at the London Hotel in Midtown, attempting to unleash what he was feeling, just as Matthews advised.
But what could he listen to that supported his reality?
“I’m sitting in a boot,” Gay said, describing his time at the hotel. “I couldn’t get up and go anywhere. I was chilling. It was one of those things where I was relieving stress. Get that stress off of me and focus on healing.”
Enter Stevie Wonder — “My dad is a big fan,” Gay said — and Teddy Pendergrass’ Love T.K.O. The soundtrack from the 1973 Blaxploitation film entitled “The Mack,” featuring the classic song “I choose you,” by Willie Hutch. The first verse:
You were there
When no one else
Would be in my corner
Girl and it’s you that I’ve learned to love
And I place no one above
Oh, how can I ever thank you
Except take you home and make you my loving wife
So we can always be together
Oh ain’t that nice
“I’m into old school music,” Gay said. “Every day it was something different when you’re going through something.”
More artists were added to his list. Miguel, Musiq Soulchild, Jagged Edge, Ricardo Valentine, who goes by the name “6LACK,” but pronounced “black.” They all had Gay’s attention. D’Angleo’s Brown Sugar. The end of first verse:
Brown Sugar babe, I gets high off your love
I don’t know how to behave
The lyrics reinforced Gay during his transition from a stage of depression to stability. He went from being stuck in New York to finally being able to fly to a new destination in Miami.
Slow music selections would suffice. The type of music Gay could play, nod his head slowly, and visualize better days, when he could finally walk, and bounce a ball standing on his two legs. The difficult part of the rehab was in progress.
Time to attack
“When I was getting back into it, training and rehabbing, it was more inspirational, upbeat stuff,” Gay said.
On April 17, a video appeared on Gay’s Instagram timeline. The future Spurs forward was shown moving side to side, passing a ball in what appeared to be a private office space with equipment used for cardio exercises.
Gay executed the drill without a walking boot. It was the first time Gay posted on social media without the protective device. Under the video, a caption read: “Attacking the rehab.”
At this point, the slow music began to subside. Gay could move again, so there was no reason to forgo listening to songs like “Bad and Boujee” by Migos, the number one hip-hop song on the charts at the time.
“It was back to upbeat stuff,” Gay said. “That’s when Playboi Carti came out. That makes you want to jump around. I had my little nephews in there, they’re dancing. It was just to keep my mind off of what I can’t do and just try to focus on trying to get myself back.
“It wasn’t about making shots or anything. It was just about listening to the music, having it move me, instead of moving to the music.”
Gay spent time rehabbing at Legacy Fit Gym in Miami, under the watchful eye of owner Manning Sumner, who trained Gay since 2015. They worked on belt squats which were designed to give Gay’s hips comfort while working on his legs. Romanian deadlifts and weight sleds helped Gay’s explosiveness and power.
Sumner told Gay he was ahead of schedule. It was the right message to send as free agency was ready to begin. Gay declined a $14.3 million player option with the Sacramento Kings. The search for a new team was ready to commence.
Back in New York City, ads started to appear around Manhattan. The message was simple: “4:44.” After days of mystery and speculation, one of Gay’s favorite artists released his 13th album. Jay Z was back on the music scene, and Gay was thrilled, using his Instagram once again to show his approval and support.
“4:44 came out and now I’m trying to accomplish more things in my life and career so it motivated me,” Gay said.
Shawn Carter’s new project was different. The lyrics on 4:44 gave Gay additional perspective the way the Brooklyn born hip-hop mogul always has. Gay started to reminisce about his favorite Jay Z song, “Some People Hate,” off the Blueprint 2 album. The middle of the second verse:
I roll with the punches so I survive
I bob and weave, move my feet from side to side
I’m back, stronger than ever surprise surprise
They try to take me out the game but I’s alive
“That’s like one of my favorite songs,” Gay explained. “He took a couple of Tupac lines and flipped them. It was crazy.”
And then Gay introduced another track he used during his rehab. It’s from Rather You Than Me, the ninth studio album from Ross.
Santorini, Greece
While former Longhorns star Kevin Durant was in the middle of the Western Conference Finals, as the Golden State Warriors were in San Antonio to play the Spurs, it was requested he select a song that described his first season with his new team. Durant picked Ross’ Santorini Greece
“The intro,” Durant said, “when (Rick Ross) is talking, that reminds me of my year. It’s just soulful.”
Gay could relate. He listened to Santorini Greece for clarity. When Gay needed to relax, this was the perfect song. The drums, the piano, that sample of Judy Bailey’s voice from Colours of My Dreams, the saxophone that played throughout.
“That beat was crazy,” Gay said. “That song to me, it makes you want to go to Santorini, Greece. You have to be able to walk there, so I’m like, ‘Man I got to get in this gym. I got to do this.”
A more detailed reason why Gay admired the track was the message Ross communicated.
“People probably didn’t know that place existed before that song,” Gay said. “He’s just talking about being in Greece, jogging on the beach, Versace (underwear). It was stuff like that. I mean, people day-to-day, you don’t think about stuff like. I feel like rap right now is so obvious. They want this. They want that. But that’s minuscule compared to what’s out there in life.
“It’s just a really good song,” Gay continued. “It’s a motivational song. Rap right now is about how much drugs you do. How many foreign cars you drive. How many watches you have. … (There’s) more to life than that.”
On June 29, Gay released another video on his Instagram account. The first message that appeared: “I’M READY.” Gay welcomed a new chapter in his career. The Spurs did their homework and made it known to Gay they were interested.
When free agency started on July 1, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called Gay to inquire about his services. A few days later, team officials made the trip to Austin, where Gay relocated his rehab, to speak with the veteran forward.
On July 6, Gay posted a photo of a Spurs jersey, No. 22. He had agreed to a two-year, $17 million deal with the team.
“He was our priority,” said Spurs general manager M R.C. Buford. “The more we got to know him and the more he got to know us, he felt like this was a good place for him.”
Said Gay, who is now 31, of why he picked the Spurs when teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder also showed interest: “I think it was a do-or-die point in my career. I wanted to be with an organization that was known for winning and can help me raise my game to the next level.”
The Nas effect
Weeks before the start of training camp, Gay was introduced to local media in San Antonio. He was bombarded with questions about his health. Is he the same player? How long will it take before he’s 100 percent? Is he cleared to return with no restriction on minutes?
The Spurs are known for their patience. It’s not about November, December or January. Popovich and company prepare for the long haul. April is the time the Spurs want to be playing their best basketball. There was no need to rush Gay back and risk another injury.
“He’ll need to be patient,” Buford said in September. “It’s not important for us right now. It’s important for us as we go through the season and to be ready at the end of the season.”
But Gay is too competitive. He wants to play. He has put in too much work over the course of his rehab, with the objective to make a return at the start of the regular season.
He thought about the last few months, from the time he was holding his left leg in Sacramento, to being stranded in his hotel room after surgery in New York, to the rehab process in Miami and Austin.
Gay summed it all up, referencing Hate Me Now by Nas. “That song motivated the hell out of me,” he said before offering what verse had the biggest effect.
(People) fear what they don’t understand
Hate what they can’t conquer, guess it’s just the theory of man
Became a monster, on top of the world, never fallin’
I’m as real as they come, from day one, forever ballin’
“I was young when I heard that,” Gay explained. “I was like, ‘Damn, what does that mean?’ But when you go through life, sometimes you get past that fear. You can’t think about what you can’t do. It’s all about what you want to do.”
And what Gay wanted to do was prove the naysayers wrong. He wanted to get back to playing the sport he loved, but this time as a better version of himself.
Days before the Spurs opened the 2017-18 season against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team got their first glimpse of confirmation. Behind closed doors at the practice facility, Gay threw down a ferocious dunk over a teammate.
There was no fear. Gay went up and made a statement.
Then came the public display: Late in the first quarter of the season opener, Gay found Manu Ginobili racing down the court on a fastbreak. Ginobili passed it back to a cutting Gay, who converted a massive dunk for his first points of the season.
“I got emotional earlier in that game because I’ve been through so much these past couple of months,” said Gay, who finished with 14 points and five rebounds, after that game. “I got a text from someone that said, ‘Five months ago, you couldn’t walk. Now you’re out there playing.’”
Gay’s mind returned to the song Hate Me Now. His mission was complete.
“People told me that I couldn’t start the season (in time),” he said, then paused for a few seconds. “And now, here I am. I’m motivated off people telling me what I can’t do. I’m weird like that. … I don’t like people telling me what I can’t do.”
Moving forward
The questions have been answered.
Now Gay can focus on the possibilities.
He started the season by scoring in double figures in the first five games, including a season-high 22 points in the win over the Miami Heat.
The basketball world has already taken notice, commending Gay on his return.
“I think he might be way further along than I was at the start of the season,” Matthews said.
Gay will admit he’s still not where he wants to be. Very few players are. Gay plans to get in better shape, and continue to build his endurance throughout the season.
But he’s back. That was the goal, and he achieved it with the help of music.
“People just think we (athletes) want to rap and live that life,” Gay said. “No. Music moves us. Music is big for us.”
And music helped rebuild Rudy Gay.
[email protected] |
With Rockstar reluctant to publish Team Bondi's next game, rumours are circulating that Brendan McNamara is in talks with George Miller's KMM studio - some employees believe that Brendan McNamara and the remainder of Team Bondi are being absorbed into KMM.
One verified source working at Dr. D, George Miller's animation studio, claimed that multiple members of Team Bondi, including Brendan McNamara himself, were seen getting a tour of the Dr D offices.
"Brendan McNamara was seen walking through the buildings of Dr. D yesterday, where Happy Feet 2 is being made," claimed our source.
According to the source this bothered some Dr. D employees, many of which were ex-Team Bondi employees.
"Because Dr. D is filled with former Team Bondi employees who left due to the abusive work conditions," the source continued, "this unexpected visit was quite... unsettling — to put it mildly."
Another verified source, from within KMM, claimed that it was broadly known within the company that George Miller himself was incredibly impressed with Team Bondi's efforts and McNamara's refusal to compromise his artistic vision in the face of deadlines.
This matches with the claims of the source at Dr. D.
"The word is going round that Team Bondi is being folded into KMM studios, Team Bondi is pretty much doomed after the scandal and can't find any new supporters, so by doing this they can hide their name."
Our source within KMM couldn't confirm whether or not this rumour had any validity, but stated they would be surprised if it wasn't true.
KMM studios is currently headed up Cory Barlog, who claimed earlier this year that he was working on a Mad Max game, to be designed in tandem with a George Miller movie based in the Mad Max universe. At the moment, however, all of Miller's resources are being moved to Happy Feet 2 to make an extremely strict deadline that many within Dr. D believe the team can't make.
For that reason, the Mad Max movie is currently on hold - so at this stage we really have no idea what KMM's Sydney studio is working on at the moment. KMM's Brisbane studio is currently working on a Happy Feet 2 video game to be released alongside the movie in November this year, but after that they're also without a project.
We're currently in contact with KMM/Dr. D in an attempt to get more details and will update as soon as we hear back. |
With an action-packed December on the verge of ending (happy holidays, MLBTR fans!), the most entertaining moments of Major League Baseball’s Hot Stove season have likely passed. As evidenced by what’s left of a free agent class that was uninspiring from the outset, the majority of this winter’s top available players have already found new homes. On the trade front, it’s possible we won’t see any more blockbusters, though this month’s Winter Meetings certainly brought a couple memorable ones that will hugely impact the involved franchises for years to come.
Of all the transactions that have taken place in December, there are a few which arguably stand out as head-scratchers. We’ll touch on a trio of those moves below and ask the readers to share their opinions via the poll and comments section:
Nationals send a prospect haul to the White Sox for outfielder Adam Eaton: Both sides made out well in this trade from my vantage point, but the Nationals have drawn criticism for surrendering two of MLB.com’s Top 100 prospects, right-handers Lucas Giolito (No. 3) and Reynaldo Lopez (No. 38), and 2016 first-round righty Dane Dunning to acquire Eaton. After making the deal at the Winter Meetings, Nationals president and general manager Mike Rizzo told predecessor Jim Bowden (now of ESPN and Sirius XM) that he was “getting barbecued.” Bowden is one of Rizzo’s most outspoken critics in this case, as he regards it as the “worst trade” he has ever seen (via Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post).
If you’re to believe wins above replacement, the well-rounded Eaton has been among the majors’ most valuable outfielders during his three full major league seasons, having combined for 12.8 fWAR and 15.3 rWAR in 1,933 plate appearances dating back to 2014. The 28-year-old also possesses one of the sport’s most team-friendly contracts for an established player, which made it all the more reasonable for rebuilding Chicago to demand a ransom in return. Eaton is controllable for the next five seasons, including club options in 2020 and ’21, at a maximum value of $38MM. He and Bryce Harper should form two-thirds of an excellent outfield in D.C. for at least two seasons (Harper will be a free agent after the 2018 campaign), though the latter’s presence in right will force Eaton to center. Eaton’s coming off a season in which he was an elite defender in right with a major league-high 23.1 Ultimate Zone Rating and 22 Defensive Runs Saved (second). The metrics haven’t liked Eaton nearly as much in center (minus-21 UZR, minus-8 DRS in 3,115 career innings), which – along with the young pitchers the Nationals lost – has led to skepticism regarding Washington’s half of the trade.
Rockies spend $70MM over five years on Ian Desmond … to play first base? After receiving replacement-level production at first last year from a slew of players (mostly Mark Reynolds), Colorado entered the offseason in desperate need at the position. The Rockies also came into the winter having promised to post a franchise-record payroll in 2017, so the fact that they prioritized first and allocated big money to it wasn’t a shock. But, instead of adding one of the many first base types available, they weirdly signed Desmond. The career shortstop/outfielder will now occupy the least valuable defensive position on the field, and his bat won’t play as well there as it has at short or in center field. With Texas last season, the 31-year-old Desmond spent the vast majority of his time in center and logged a solid 106 wRC+ (league average for the position in 2016 was 96). If he’d have recorded the same production at first, where the league-average wRC+ was 108, he’d have been a much less appealing offensive cog. Nevertheless, if you’re to believe Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich, Desmond will be their first baseman going forward. Considering both the money the Rockies gave Desmond and the first-round pick they lost to sign him (the eminently valuable 11th overall selection), it comes off as an odd choice.
Yankees reunite with Aroldis Chapman: It was hardly surprising that the Yankees brought back Chapman, whom they traded to the Cubs for star prospect Gleyber Torres at last summer’s deadline, or inked him to a record contract for a reliever. After all, MLBTR predicted he’d secure a five-year, $90MM accord from the Bombers, who ended up giving him an $86MM guarantee over a half-decade. The problem is twofold (and this ignores Chapman’s past domestic violence issues): 1. The Yankees are bent on getting under the luxury tax threshold soon (they’re on track to exceed it for a 15th straight year in 2017), and splurging on a reliever won’t help their cause. 2. The deal grants Chapman the ability to opt out after Year 3, which doesn’t seem to align with their window of contention. New York is amid a retooling phase and has been stockpiling youth as a result, so touted prospects like Torres, Clint Frazier and Jorge Mateo, among others, might not be ready to hit their respective strides for another few years. By then, Chapman could be in another uniform. In the meantime, and in fairness to the Yankees, the flame-throwing left-hander should continue serving as a dominant closer who helps them lock down late-game leads. But whether they’ll have enough of those leads to be a playoff team in the near future is in question.
(Poll link for Trade Rumors App users) |
Reboot (2012)
Starring Emily Somers, Travis Aaron Wade, Martin Copping, Sonalii Castillo, Janna Bossier, Troy Vincent, Charlie Weirauch, Traci Moslenko, Justin M. Via
Directed by Joe Kawasaki
Expectations: High, the trailer was great.
In the modern age, horror films rarely scare or provide anything we haven’t seen before. The genre has moved into satiating viewers with extreme, sadistic pleasures, instead of interesting ideas and fun scares. But in Reboot, Joe Kawasaki’s Kickstarter-funded, cyberpunk short film, he sets his sights on something truly horrific: Internet terrorism. I have no idea if what is outlined in the film is actually possible, but the idea alone is frightening. Reboot isn’t truly a horror film, but its implications will haunt your thoughts for days as you log into your social media accounts and take it all for granted.
Reboot begins with an intro reminiscent of Koyaanisqatsi, showing us wonderful time-lapse photography of Los Angeles while a radio interview with a couple of hackers plays over the top of it. This intro goes on a little longer than I think it needed to, but it does set up the premise of the film incredibly well. When the title card drops at the end of the intro, and we fade into our heroine lying on the floor with an iPhone glued to her hand, we know exactly the implications of the situation she’s in.
As a low-budget production (the Kickstarter campaign raised $12,622), Reboot is gorgeous. I watch a ton of low-budget movies, and if they were all made with this amount of care and skill, the stigma that the term “low-budget” carries would be completely shattered. Of course, that would also mean that I wouldn’t have all those wonderfully bad horror movies to review, but that’s beside the point. Kawasaki has a great eye for visuals, and each shot is perfectly composed. It’s also of note to mention that this isn’t some shoddy handheld movie; Reboot is traditional, methodical filmmaking, and I was thoroughly impressed. Equally impressive are the computer and phone screens in the film, which look realistic and help tell the story instead of taking you out of it like they do in so many Hollywood films.
The acting is also really well-done, going for subtle, somber tones that befit the reality of the situation at hand. Travis Aaron Wade plays the villain especially well, and imbues him with a lot of underlying rage and intensity. He was the most interesting character by far, and his scenes were especially electric. There are times when the film feels too somber, though, such as a violent moment in a restaurant, but I’m willing to forgive the film a small flaw in an otherwise impressive work. The ending also leaves you with questions, in a way that makes you consider everything you depend on for your daily life to function. You could call it “not much of a resolution,” but I choose to think of Reboot as more of a parable of what might be, and how quickly it can occur. Reboot isn’t a horror movie, but damn if it doesn’t deliver an intense, frightening feeling of unease.
I would love to see what Kawasaki could do with a feature-length film and a more robust budget. Reboot feels like just a hint at the talent within, and I’m sure he could deliver something unique and special. Overall, I’d call it a rousing success and I wish the team involved all the best. I just hope this movie isn’t a harbinger of the coming IT apocalypse! Check out the trailer, it’s got a great look and if you’re into hacking or cyberpunk movies, they don’t come much better than this.
Disclosure: Rosa Entertainment graciously provided me with a copy for review.
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It was less than an hour ago when we’ve told you that the guys at Sammobile received a tip form a Samsung insider saying that the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update for Galaxy S4 Google Edition will be officially rolled out next month. Well, the same tech publication has now got its hands on the leaked Android 4.3 Jelly Bean firmware for Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition.
Moreover, they even managed to port the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean firmware for the original Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505. The thing is we’re not dealing with a regular leak that can be installed on your device using Odin, but it’s more like custom ROM based on the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean that can be flashed on the Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505.
Since the guys at Sammobile didn’t have the Galaxy S4 Google Edition in handy they weren’t able to test the leaked Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on the I9505G, but fortunately, they were able to port it on the Snapdragon 600-powered Samsung Galaxy S4. As I was mentioning above, the leaked Android 4.3 Jelly Bean for Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505 is not flashable through Odin, thus you must have your device rooted and running a custom recovery mode.
In order to install the leaked stock Android 4.3 Jelly Bean firmware on your Samsung Galaxy S4 you will have to act like flashing a custom ROM. In fact that’s what the it actually is, a custom ROM for the Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505, but since the guys at Sammobile didn’t perform any changes to it, you will be able to enjoy the pure Android experience. They say that the build number will be changed to JWR66N and that it runs flawlessly, even though it’s “still in development phases and does not have all the features which are yet to be implemented.”
You might also want to know that installing the ported Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on your Samsung Galaxy S4 will void the warranty. Still, if you want to give it a try and install the leaked stock Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on your Samsung Galaxy S4 you can find all the information you need in our tutorial, here. You might also want to know that, by flashing stock Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on your Samsung Galaxy S4, you will lose all the TouchWiz-specific features like Air Gesture, Motion Controls, or Camera app special functions. Instead you will get the pure Android experience and the new interface introduced for the Camera.
Just in case you forgot, the Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505 boasts a 5-inch Super AMOLED display with full HD resolution and Gorilla Glass 3 protection, while being underpinned by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 SoC with quad-core 1.9 GHz Krait 300 CPU and Adreno 320 GPU. The flagship smartphone of the South Korea-based company also comes with 2 GB of RAM and three internal storage options: 16/32/64 GB, expandable through microSD cards of up to 64 GB.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505 has a 13 megapixel camera mounted on the back with autofocus, LED flash, HDR, image stabilization, and full HD video recording support. The front-facing camera is a 2 megapixel unit, also with full HD video recording capabilities. In terms of connectivity, the handset comes with LTE, HSPA+, NFC chip, IR blaster (might be disabled after updating to stock Android 4.3 Jelly Bean), all standards of WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and microUSB 2.0.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is 136.6 mm tall, 69.8 mm wide, and 7.9 mm thin, while weighing 130 grams and sporting a 2,600 mAh battery.
Have you flashed the leaked stock Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on your Samsung Galaxy S4? Feel free to use the comments section below to share your thoughts with us and other Android enthusiasts. |
Scientists are working to pinpoint the source of a giant mass of methane hanging over the southwestern U.S., which a study found to be the country's largest concentration of the greenhouse gas.
The report that revealed the methane hot spot over the Four Corners region — where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet — was released last year.
Now, scientists from the University of Colorado, the University of Michigan, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA are conducting a monthlong study to figure out exactly where it came from.
The answer could help reduce methane emissions that contribute to global warming. Here are some key things to know:
HOT SPOT
Last year's study by NASA and the University of Michigan was based on images from a European satellite captured between 2003 and 2009. They showed the methane hot spot as a red blip over the area, which is about half the size of Connecticut.
The study found the concentration of methane detected there would trap more heat in the atmosphere than all the carbon dioxide produced each year in Sweden.
Methane doesn't last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, but it's far more potent for capturing heat in the short term.
POSSIBLE SOURCES
Methane occurs naturally and also is emitted by landfills and the agricultural and oil and natural gas industries.
One possible source of the hot spot is methane released from the region's coal deposits.
The releases can happen naturally, especially where coal seams reach the earth's surface. They also occur deliberately when energy companies extract methane — the primary component of natural gas — from coal beds.
The region is home to the San Juan Basin, North America's most productive area coal bed methane extraction area.
Methane also is released by coal mining and oil and gas drilling systems, and cattle produce large amounts of the gas. Scientists can pinpoint the kind of methane created by fossil fuels by looking for the presence of associated hydrocarbons.
HEALTH EFFECTS
The methane emissions pose no direct safety or health risks for Four Corners residents, although the hot spot does factor into overall global warming.
Also, methane emitted from traditional oil and gas operations usually is accompanied by hydrocarbon emissions that can create ozone, a pollutant that leads to smog and is linked to asthma and respiratory illness.
INVESTIGATING THE MYSTERY
For the next month, scientists based in Durango will fly in planes with a variety of instruments that can sense methane in the San Juan Basin. Crews in vans will follow up on their leads on the ground.
The European satellite that captured the hot spot is no longer in use, but Japan's GOSAT satellite plans to focus in on the Four Corners when it passes over the area.
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It's possible methane levels over the Four Corners have changed since 2009, said Gabrielle Petron, a scientist at the University of Colorado's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences who is working on the latest study. Coal bed methane operations have declined since then, but oil production has increased.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
KOLKATA: About 1.25 crore of Bengal's estimated population of 9.67 crore suffer from a plethora of mental health problems and are in need of immediate treatment. When it comes to cases of severe mental disorder, 1.8% of Bengal's population is affected, the highest in the country.These are some of the findings of the National Mental Health Survey 2016 held recently and conducted in 12 states by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences ( NIMHANS ).According to it, Bengal is the fourth worst state after Manipur, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab as far as mental health is concerned.The first phase of the one-of-a-kind survey included Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the north, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the south, Jharkhand and West Bengal in the east, Rajasthan and Gujarat in the west, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in central India and Assam and Manipur in the northeast. It was commissioned by the Centre after the passing of the Mental Health Care Bill 2013, which provides for protection and promotion of rights of persons with mental illnesses.According to the survey , 13% of Bengal's population suffer from various mental issues. These include neurotic stress-related disorder, high suicidal risk, schizophrenia , obsessive compulsive disorder and depressive and anxiety disorder. Only 3 states -Manipur at 14.1%, Madhya Pradesh at 13.9% and Punjab at 13.4% -have a mental health condition worse than West Bengal's.What's more alarming is that the current prevalence of severe mental disorders in most states was less than 1%, except in Manipur and Bengal. While 1.3% of Manipur's population suffer from severe mental disorders, in Bengal it is as high as 1.8%.Around 3.5% of Bengal's people suffer from neurotic and stress-related disorders, 2.7% from depressive disorder, 1.9% from phobic anxiety disorder, 1.2% from other anxiety disorder, 0.4% from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorder, 0.8% from obsessive compulsive disorder and 2.8% from mood disorder. Nearly 1% of the population reported high suicidal risk. The prevalence of high suicidal risk was more in the 40-49 age group (1.19%), among females (1.14%) and in those residing in urban metros (1.71%).Assam is the best performer with 5.8% disorders, followed by UP (6.1%) and Gujarat (7.4%). These are the only three states with mental problems below 8%, the standard fixed by the institution. |
Discussions on how to reform the welfare state rarely trigger much excitement among the general public. The possibility of giving to everybody a guaranteed and unconditional basic income is, however, increasingly popular across the political spectrum.
Guy Standing, author of Basic Income, has been a front-runner of this debate, and is also a founder member of the grassroots Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). His book offers a timely introduction for the many who have heard about basic income, but who are unsure about what exactly it is. It makes an unapologetic case for basic income and aims to convince the reader of both its utility and feasibility in our societies. It is more impressive for its comprehensive list of arguments than for the coherence of its message. Standing really has something for everyone here.
The book was clearly written with the British public in mind and this has somehow limited the strength of its argument. It is not hard, indeed, to make a case for basic income against the draconian means-testing of contemporary British social security. But Standing too easily dismisses the existing alternatives to basic income, in the form of the Germanic Bismarckian system or the Nordic Beveridgean system. He is ungenerous in his assessment of policies that managed to keep inequality comparatively low in Europe in the past. And he believes that all European systems of social security are equally doomed under global capitalism. This may well be the case, but then more is needed to show that basic income could regulate global capitalism. On this point, the book could have dialogued with Thomas Piketty’s proposals on how to reform taxation and tackle inequality by redistributing wealth, not just income.
Throughout the book, Standing is very critical of the “defenders of paternalistic social democratic welfare states”, but welcomes the basic income experiment by Y Combinator in Silicon Valley. This leaves me a bit unsure on why we should support basic income at all costs, even if it means giving up any ambition of redistributing wealth and offers little compensation to the losers of the new technological capitalism. At times, the book develops a fetish of the instrument of basic income while forgetting about the purpose – be that improving people’s lives or decreasing inequality.
One argument stands out in the book: the idea that basic income could overcome the artificial (and gendered) division between work and non-work, rewarding all activities humans would like to engage in. Little is said about how to create the preconditions for public support of basic income by challenging the common contempt for those out of work and making people embrace universalism over means-testing. To be honest, the book did not change my pessimism of the intellect about basic income, but it did help my optimism of the will in imagining progressive reforms. With all the limitations of its reasoning, it is a must-read for those who are interested in imagining the kind of world we want to live in.
Lorenza Antonucci is senior lecturer in social policy/sociology at Teesside University and the author of Student Lives in Crisis: Deepening Inequality in Times of Austerity (2016).
Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen
By Guy Standing
Pelican Books, 400pp, £8.99
ISBN 9780141985480
Published 4 May 2017 |
4 Unique Productivity Tips Every Startup Should Follow
By Sam Makad
As they say, every adult was once a kid, so it goes that every technology giant, be it Apple, Amazon or Google, was once a startup. It was their decisions, choices and policies that favored their growth, making them what they are now.
For startups, it’s very important that they carry out their operations in a well-managed and planned structure. While the need of the hour will always be to excel in anything they do and then to make sure they do it in a unique way, this leaves enough scope to advertise and market their skills, thereby increasing their production, business and investors.
Here are some basic, but important, concepts that a startup should consider in order to boost their production and overall strategy.
1. Plan, Prioritize and Proceed
This is the best and most important productivity tip. Until you plan it out, you will not be able to finish it, let alone prioritize its time and management. Planning a deed comes with its own benefits. Once you begin to plan something, you can calculate how much time you can afford to devote to it and then using that information, you can decide whether to either outsource the issue or handle it internally.
Planners are time masters!
Until a company is among the leaders in its industry, startups are considered to be ideas which have evolved into money-making businesses. These businesses involve a significant amount of production done in a unique way; which, going by current trends, should be at the lowest cost possible.
When it comes to startups, it’s very important to have a plan – research the market and make a unique step towards the big leap. As the current trends say, it is more important for startups to make their mark as soon as possible; i.e. make a breakthrough and then carry the momentum forward.
2. Divide and Excel
Division of labor, as it is called, is a simple way of distributing various tasks to improve efficiency, yet retaining the energy and focus of the particular activity. It proves handy on a competitive scale and is extremely beneficial for a startup.
Despite this, outsourcing may not be a solution for most startups due to their budget constraints; hence, they rely heavily on think tanks that assist with reducing operating costs, thereby allowing for more investment in technology, which brings us to the next and most important tip. It is very important to determine the different business models and then use them to increase productivity.
The basic model that most companies use is MOM (Manufacturing Operation Management). Each individual company chooses a panel who is responsible for constructing MOM. Then majority of the task is outsourced, but the panel continues to keep a close eye on the productivity, which then grows the process.
Another model that can prove to be helpful involves dividing the workplace community i into groups and assigning them certain tasks, after accomplishment of which they then complete the final activity.
This last option is the most basic model and the one most-widely followed in most organizations. Because they are the specific, subject-matter experts, they handle their own specializations which lead up to the finished product.
Choosing the appropriate division of labor requires careful research and skillful organization as mismanagement will make the task broader and less efficient. Effective management, however, will make the operation grow effectively encouraging a healthy competition that benefits everyone.
3. Carry Technology Up The Sleeves
This is the third and final concept when considering the production boost of a startup. The foundation of including technology in several business models is based on getting huge quantities of data analysis done within seconds and then streamlining the process. Search engines give out data that can be analyzed, which allows for specific steps to be taken to increase efficiency.
Software can hold a large amount of data that is then stored easily and accessed from any point via cloud computing. Software creates an attractive form of presentation which can reduce operating efforts and costs, again helping the company to invest more in necessary aspects such as infrastructure and employees.
Software, such as ERPs, increases the production and segregation of the data process, making it smoother and easier. While selecting, understanding and implementing on-premise ERP is a big commitment in itself, cloud ERP (SaaS) has proved to be the ideal choice for the startup companies.
4. Employee Management & Rewards
In the current job market, job hoppers are a frequent sight at startups, but research also shows that most startups suffer from attrition. Though attrition affects the production by only a slight margin, some of it is always taken care of by software. However, technology cannot replace human touch altogether. Certain production capabilities require human resources and lacking them could impact the quality of the manufacturing process and the overall production.
Basic attrition reasons for startups:
Rapid changes within the organization.
Poor employee management/satisfaction.
Less focus on the individual employees and their benefits.
Apart from the first reason, the other two can be easily-managed. Rapid changes are something that startups strive for.
Startups are the revolution within themselves.
Depending upon demand and the current market, startups continually change to sustain themselves and take the lead. This is why it is very important for stakeholders to hire a talent who share that perspective.
For certain startups, this news comes out as a huge effect as startups function with a contort thought which is lauded when the investment is at its lower side. Startups try their best to accomplish tasks with little manpower and technology, but when demand is high, the manpower does not simply have to increase, it has to be well-managed as well and the technology has to be upgraded.
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As “The Mentalist” prepares to debut its final season on CBS beginning this Sunday, the team behind its success is revealing what viewers can expect to see over the next few months. Creator Bruno Heller says being gifted with one last “encore” season allows them to give fans the strongest sendoff possible. Viewers will be treated to a lighter, happier season seven with an underlying focus on Jane and Lisbon’s relationship.
We got a chance to talk with Heller, along with stars Simon Baker (Patrick Jane) and Robin Tunney (Teresa Lisbon). They dished on everything from season seven spoilers to the type of relationship we will see from Jane and Lisbon to favorite memories working together. And we can tell you this: These three clearly enjoy each other’s company. Throughout the interview they laughed a lot and joked back and forth. Baker continuously teased Heller while he tried to answer questions. Several times Heller apologized for taking his time to answer, saying Baker was razzing him in the background or whispering in his ear or even giving Heller nuts. And at one point Baker finished Tunney’s thoughts. Chemistry like this is undeniable. It’s one of the reasons the show has been such a success. And it’s a big reason fans can’t wait to see what lies ahead. So let’s get started. Here’s the scoop on season seven.
WHAT IS SEASON 7 ALL ABOUT?
WHAT KIND OF ROMANCE WILL WE SEE FROM JANE AND LISBON? ANY PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION?
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO PLAY THAT ROMANCE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO PLAY A LIGHTER, HAPPIER VERSION OF THE CHARACTERS?
BEYOND JISBON'S RELATIONSHIP, WHAT ELSE WILL WE SEE IN SEASON 7?
WHAT IS THEIR WISH FOR THE CHARACTERS IN THE FINAL SEASON?
IS IT POSSIBLE THE SHOW COULD EVER RETURN ON ANOTHER NETWORK AFTER THIS SEASON?
WHAT ARE THEIR FONDEST MEMORIES OF WORKING TOGETHER?
WILL THE SERIES FINALE THRILL FANS LIKE THE SEASON 6 FINALE?
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS FOR FANS?
About the Author - Tonya Papanikolas
Tonya Papanikolas is an online, print and broadcast journalist who loves covering entertainment and television. She spent more than 10 years as a broadcast news anchor and reporter. Now she does everything from hosting to writing. She loves being a part of the SpoilerTV team.
: Essentially this season is about what happens when life turns out the way you’d hoped. What happens when you do have a happy ending – what happens after that? Jane and Lisbon have been engaged in this epic journey for six years, trying to capture Red John, and now they’ve done that. How do you live again after that? How do you re-create a different kind of life? And leading on from the end of season six, how do you create a different relationship out of a relationship that was born in the kind of trauma that theirs was? This season is very much about the reconfiguring of that relationship that has been based on a mission, on a shared desire. That mission is now over and they have to find out: As much as they love each other, how can they live together? And what will they do with their lives?: There’s also an aspect to Simon’s character that is really authentic the way they’ve explored it. Up until he caught Red John, that’s why he was there [working in law enforcement]. He wasn’t fighting crime because it was something he was born to do or wanted to do. He didn’t want to work in law enforcement. It was settling this personal score. And now he’s there and I think he’s wondering why he is there. And I think that’s a really interesting thing to explore because it’s honest to the character.: It’s also about a modern woman with a career that she loves that she has a great talent for. And now she’s being confronted with a potentially different life path. How do you give up that career if that’s the way you want to go? Or how do you combine love and work in this particularly intense form of work? It’s difficult.: Because it defines you. It’s so much of your life. I think that Lisbon definitely feels like it defines her as a human being – what she does and not who she is.: These two are never going to be “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” because that’s not who they are. Both Jane and Lisbon are private, self-contained, protective people. So it’s a love story – but it’s not a very conventional love story. It’s a love story that is consonant with the relationship they’ve had, which is the interesting thing about it. When we started, it was very much… brother/sister is the wrong way to describe it, but it’s that kind of familial affection that over time has turned into something more. That, to a degree, makes the romance harder for both characters to negotiate because they’re not fiery, passionate, crazy people. They’re people who need to work their way towards seeing how this will play out in the future. It’s a very sort of Jane Austen type of romance – the good ones in Jane Austen. The ones you devoutly wish to be consummated [are] between two people who have known each other for years, and you can see that they’re made for each other – not in a fiery, kind of crazy way. But just in a human, gentle, correct way.: Yeah, season seven is not “50 Shades of Grey” done by “The Mentalist.” It’s sort of interesting because they are two people who don’t know how to be in a relationship. They’ve both been alone for such a long time. And [we’re] sort of exploring two people who are adults, who’ve only been responsible for themselves and haven’t really shared their life with anybody in a very long time – what it feels like to sort of explore that intimacy, [including] that it’s uncomfortable.: I think it’s relatively organic and natural and quite easy. We’re not exploring the sort of obvious side of having a relationship in a workplace, but more the pitfalls and speed bumps that you’ll come up against when you know someone so well and then you decide to have a relationship with them. I think there’s sort of a tenderness to it. And I think because I’ve spent so much of the last seven years looking into Robin Tunney’s lovely green eyes, we’re comfortable with each other in a way that is somewhat intimate.: It’s funny the way everything turns out. I remember season one, we had a press conference and Bruno, Simon and I all swore up and down there is no way these two would ever be together romantically. And I think we were telling the truth!: I’m still saying that!: When these two characters first came together, Baker and Tunney were strangers, so the relationship was very much between two strangers who were in a transactional relationship, however intense. But as years go by, genuine love develops [between the actors], genuine friendship, genuine understanding. And then just as in real life, what seemed not possible or plausible becomes extremely possible because there is a real basis for it. If these two actors had grown to despise each other over the years, then it would never have occurred to anyone to develop that on-screen relationship in the way that it’s gone. Frankly for me, it’s one of the things I’m most proud of about the show is that after all these years the cast and crew and directors and writers and everyone involved is going to walk away with respect and love for each other. That’s what makes the difference. That’s why we can tell these kind of stories with truth.: And I believe at that press conference that Bruno said if we had gotten together, we would have all the sexual chemistry of the Clintons. So the bar was really low for what people might expect. I mean, [now] it’s gonna seem hot.: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.: You killed it with that one.: I’ve got to tell you, it’s a bit of a relief. It’s easier to feel light and natural in scenes when stakes are so high all the time. And you can smile. So that’s been really fun. I think the idea of falling in love and feeling accepted makes [Lisbon’s] approach to work different than it was. And I also think as an actor you kind of get more comfortable in the role. In the beginning it seems so inappropriate to be doing things like [smiling] over dead bodies or while somebody is in so much pain. I was so worried that I wasn’t going to seem like an officer of the law if I smiled. I wanted to be taken seriously: ‘I’m supposed to be authoritative.’ And then I think you sort of feel a lot freer. And the character has permission to do that now. It’s been fun.: One of the things we’re trying to do this season is both give you kind of classic “Mentalist” episodes – old-school puzzles, old-school Jane being as clever as he always was – but also expanding the landscape somewhat. We’re in Beirut for the [third] episode. We go all over America for the rest of the season. [Then there’s new character Michelle Vega, a rookie FBI agent.] She adds a different touch of romance to the show. There’s a bit of a love triangle going on there [with her and Cho]. (: Cho’s relationship with Vega is really interesting because he’s sort of a mentor to her. There’s a lot going on because I think generally when you have a male and a female and they’re close and they’re working together, it sort of [pushes] their romance, and with them, it’s a really fine line because he has taken responsibility for her and they have kind of a big arc through the season. And Josie Loren is fantastic in the role. She’s really great. Also Wylie, he gets a lot more to do this season. There’s a lot of character development with Abbott. His character gets really fleshed out. He’s sort of involved in a pretty big scandal. It’s a really big arc and we get to know who he is and his life and what his family’s life is like. So I think we get to know a lot of who these people are and it’s interesting because there isn’t this sort of ominous presence of Red John. So there’s a lightness to the episodes. They’re fun.: And I think because it’s an encore performance, we don’t introduce a whole bunch of new characters and a whole lot of elaborate plot because it’s very much about living in the moment of our two leads and living their life, as opposed to setting up story for more story.: I want a nude sex tape.: That’s really just for the wrap party, for the crew to watch.: I don’t actually want a nude sex tape.: I kind of feel like I’ve gotten [my wish], that we’ve actually gotten a definitive last season and they can tie everything up. It’s really unusual and I know we’re putting it to bed in a proper way. Because it has been a really long run. And the fans are really attached to these characters. I feel lucky about that. I’m just really happy that we get to have a real ending. You get to satiate the characters and yourself that there is a solid ending to the story.: Never say never about that sort of thing. It’s show business. It’s a testament to what these guys have done and the characters they’ve created that they still have a life. These are still living, breathing characters that people are interested in and want to keep looking at. [There is still] a certain appetite to keep these characters alive. But a breath needs to be taken. Whatever happens, we need to step back and take a look at what we’ve done and breathe a little. There’s no conversations here about coming back. But never say never.: We have a whole season where we know we’regoing to have to follow it up. So even thinking, ‘Oh, it might come back’ or leaving a door open seems like it’d be inauthentic. It’s the sort of thing where we are trying to really finish it off in a different way. The episodes have wider scopes. They’re more serialized than they’ve been, with the exception of the Red John stuff at the very end. It’s a great season. I’m really proud of it. Getting to go out while still feeling like it’s strong is amazing. It’s not a big ensemble show like “Grey’s Anatomy” or even “House” where they just got new characters every year. It’s basically been Simon and I in most of the scenes. And that’s a really hard thing to keep up. We’ve never had more than five regulars and that’s not a lot of people. I’m excited to finish it. Grateful.: Sometimes the demand of the schedule or the demands of network television – they’re not necessarily story-friendly. Those things aren’t governed by, ‘Is the story finished?’ or ‘Can we juice it a little bit more?’ It’s generally, ‘We’ve got a hole that we’d like to fill with something.’ The last thing they consider is the story. The truth is, as an actor you put so much skin in the game that at the end, I’m happy to just be able to sort of scrape my skeleton up and be able to walk out of here in one piece. There’s so much effort and energy [put into] such a succinct period of time. Don’t get me wrong. I’m the luckiest [bastard] in the world to be able to be in this position. But it takes its toll.: We made 150 episodes of television and it’s exhausting, keeping the story going and trying to keep the quality up. Physically you’re so tired by the end of the season. It’s a lot, it’s draining. But we’ve done it. I think the show this year is really strong. It’s wonderful to be able to get out without it feeling tired.: So many. I think a lot of our joy at work [has revolved] around food. When you work this long, there are certain days where Simon looks over and says, ‘How about sushi?’ and I just feel excited. We eat food together. I bring him juices. It’s the little things.: Why don’t you tell about the time when you kissed me? We kissed….: … And your wife was at the monitor? She called me ahead of time and asked if I mind if she watched. We’re all friends. I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ And she watched. And she was moved.: It’s very, very hard to keep up a rational, generous relationship with your costars on a show that runs this long. The pressures you’re under, the amount of time you have to spend together. And it’s been a great joy to watch these two support each other and back each other up and never turn on each other and always be there for each other.: We’ll see.: Yeah, he would be very remiss to tell you what actually happens at the end.: It’s tough after all these years to round out a show and make a final statement. But we’re very grateful to have that chance. You are not often given that chance in network TV to really tell the whole story and finish it where you would like to finish it. So we are incredibly grateful to get this opportunity. I want to thank everyone out there for watching the show all these years. We hope everyone likes the final season because we made it with love and respect for those fans that have been supporting us all these years. So thank you very much. |
cheese-like substance made without animal products
Store bought vegan shredded cheese
Vegan cheese is a non-dairy or plant cheese analogue aimed at vegans and other people who want to avoid animal products, including those who are lactose-intolerant.[1] As with plant milk, vegan cheese can be made from seeds, such as sesame and sunflower; nuts, such as cashew,[2] pine nut, and almond;[3] and soybeans, peanuts, coconut oil, nutritional yeast, tapioca,[4] and rice, among other ingredients. Vegan cheese is cholesterol-free and may be a good source of soy protein.[5]
Availability [ edit ]
Several brands of vegan cheese advertise as closely mimicking the way dairy cheese melts. Popular vegan cheese brands include Daiya, GoVeggie, Follow Your Heart, Treeline Tree-nut Cheeses, Teese, and Tofutti. As these brands continue to grow in popularity they are becoming more readily available in major American supermarkets such as Whole Foods, Kroger, and Meijer. [6][7]
History [ edit ]
Non-dairy cheese became commercially available in the 1980s,[8] but at that time and into the 1990s,[when?] the vegan cheeses available weren’t as good quality as regular cheese having a waxy, chalky or plasticky texture[9]. From the early 1990s,[when?] a high-quality vegan cheese called Sheese has been available in Scotland and is distributed worldwide. In the United States, the only brand of vegan cheese available at the time was Soymage.[10] Since then, the variety and taste of vegan cheese have improved significantly.[8][10]
Market [ edit ]
As of 2018, the current market for vegan cheese continues to grow and develop on a global scale. This is speculated to be due to the continuance of growing health concerns, dietary restrictions, and popularity in veganism. This market increase can be seen directly in regions within the United States and Canada. The growth can also be seen reaching all the way to market economies across the world in places such as China, Japan, Australia, Germany, France, and Brazil. The more popular types of vegan cheese being manufactured, distributed, and produced through this market are those mimicking Mozzarella, Parmesan, Cheddar, and Cream Cheese dairy based cheeses. These vegan cheeses are most popularly being applied to the general area of food itself, be it via restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries, or personal cultivation. Vegan cheese is expanding and projected to continue to grow greatly into the mid 2020s.[11][12]
Controversies [ edit ]
In February 2019, a Vancouver, British Columbia vegan cheese shop, Blue Heron Creamery, was ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to stop calling their products cheese as it was 'misleading' to consumers, despite the Creamery stating that their cheese was always labelled as "dairy-free" and "plant-based."[13] The CFIA later reversed the rejection and stated that they have no objection to the Creamery using the nomenclature “100% dairy-free plant-based cheese” provided that "it is truthful".[14]
In the same month, a Brixton vegan cheese shop, La Fauxmagerie, was ordered by Dairy UK to stop describing products as cheese because it 'misleads shoppers'. Sisters Rachel and Charlotte Stevens, owners of the cheese shop, stated that it is not misleading as their "products were clearly marked as dairy-free."[15]
Production [ edit ]
Some of the success in the vegan cheese market can be attributed to the continuing development of plant based proteins in substitution for cow’s milk among dairy products. Plant based proteins or vegetable proteins are derived from edible sources of protein such as soybeans. These proteins are used to help mimic texture and overall structure of the food product they are attempting to replicate in a non-dairy version. Plant based proteins are partly responsible for vegan cheeses being able to imitate the stretching and melting property that dairy cheeses possess.[16]
A difficult challenge for food scientists is creating vegan cheese that melts and stretches like real cheese. Dairy cheese, and many lactose-free cheese analogues, melt and stretch because of the protein casein, which is a milk protein and therefore not vegan, so food scientists use a "blend of gums, protein, solids and fats" to attempt to duplicate the mouthfeel and melt of real cheese.[17] A project called Real Vegan Cheese aims to solve this difficulty by making cheese with casein produced by yeast rather than by cows. This cheese would have real casein, but would be vegan because the casein would not be animal-derived.[18]
As of 2018, there are a few different approaches to making vegan cheese, but one of the more intricate and scientific processes involves fermentation. In this approach the “cheese” maker would typically start with some type of tree nut and allow the desired amount of nuts to soak in a small amount of water for circa 36 hours. The soaking of the raw nuts allows bacteria to develop and then ferment. The natural sugars produced by the tree nut and the bacterial development are how the fermentation happens. The length of time involved in the before mentioned fermentation is what gives vegan cheese its variance in tangy flavor.[19]
References [ edit ]
Collection of primary sources [ edit ] |
The Cupid Shuffle is always a hit during the Play Date at the Children's Museum of Phoenix on Saturday, February 20 2016. (Photo: Melissa Fossum/Special for azcentral)
The Children's Museum of Phoenix is offering grown-ups the chance to embrace their inner kid during an adult-only evening of food, drinks and favorite childhood games.
Started four years ago, Play Date is an after-hours event that invites adults to explore the museum's exhibits. Proceeds from the evening, generated through admission fees, bar sales and donations, go toward raising funds to support the museum.
The next Play Date is 7-11 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20.
'Throwback' games, photo booth and Pokemon Go
The event has proven to be popular in the past, with the last two Play Dates selling out. The August event is "well on track" to sell out, said Alex Wurth, special events manager at the museum.
During Play Date, guests have free rein of the museum's facilities, which includes three floors of interactive exhibits.
"Our adult guests are more than welcome to play on all of our exhibits," Wurth said.
Crowd favorites include activities hosted in the art studio, a forest of more than 1,300 foam pool noodles, and the Schuff-Perini Climber, which Wurth described as a structure resembling a tree house.
Wurth said other activities planned for Play Date include "retro and throwback" activities like Twister and Atari video games. Guests can also play other old-school games with a modern twist, such as giant Jenga and beer pong.
MORE EVENTS: Things to do in Phoenix this week | Biggest upcoming events | Top events for kids this week | Latest concert announcements | 5 pool parties around Phoenix | Summer concert guide
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Unlimited photos at the photo booth by Arizona Event Pic are included at no extra charge.
Wurth said the museum is also inviting Pokemon to the party for the upcoming event.
"For our guests with Pokemon fever … (there are) over 20 Pokemon on-site and three Pokestops," Wurth said. "For their gaming convenience, we will be setting lures all night."
This woman made sand art during the Play Date at the Children's Museum of Phoenix on Saturday, February 20 2016. (Photo: Melissa Fossum/Special for azcentral)
Open to guests 18 years and older
Whether guests are catching digital creatures or dancing the night away to DJ Miss Mixx, they can quench their thirst at any of the four cash bars set up around the museum.
Food can be purchased from a lineup of food trucks that includes local favorites like Frites Street, CarH's Kitchen LLC, Kruzin Cuisine and DeMarco's Italian Ice & Creams.
Play Date is open to guests 18 years and older. A photo ID is required for entry.
Wurth said he thinks the event lets adults relax, have fun and be kids again.
"I hear people mention that they can’t come to the children’s museum because they don’t have kids," he said. "This is the perfect opportunity to invite those people to the museum to see what we offer to the community."
MORE AZCENTRAL ON SOCIAL: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
Play Date
When: 7-11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20.
Where: Children's Museum of Phoenix, 215 N. 7th Street, Phoenix.
Admission: $15 pre-sale on the Children's Museum of Phoenix website. $20 at the door while supplies last. Must be 18 years of age to attend, 21 to drink. Photo ID required for entry. 250 free parking spaces are available on-site.
Details: 602-253-0501, childrensmuseumofphoenix.org.
Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/2bxsL5A |
Jake Brown spends an afternoon with friends playing dominoes in West Baltimore, where police have long targeted those who congregate on the corners. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)
They’d come to the same church on the same night to confront the same quandary facing this city’s beleaguered police department. But what they wanted from the police couldn’t have been more different.
Eight days had passed since the Justice Department issued a scathing review of the Baltimore Police Department, detailing years of racial discrimination in its law enforcement practices.
Yet the 40 or so longtime residents who gathered in a West Baltimore church basement on this August night — many of whom were older black women afraid to walk to the store or leave their homes at night — had come to urge police to clear their corners of miscreants and restore order to their crime-plagued community.
“Please, help me,” pleaded gas station owner Chaudhry Masood, whose parking lot has been overrun by loiterers and where a 17-year-old was recently shot and killed.
[U.S. Justice Department calls Baltimore police practices discriminatory]
Baltimore Police Maj. Sheree Briscoe, who runs the Western District. At a community meeting at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, residents begged her to clear the corners and tackle crime. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)
At the same time, in an adjacent church hall, Justice Department civil rights attorneys were discussing how to overhaul the police department with another group of residents intent on curbing the abusive behavior of corner-clearing cops. Those attending included black youths long targeted by police.
The organizers of each gathering didn’t know the other was taking place. As people showed up Aug. 18, a priest from St. Peter Claver Catholic Church hurriedly attached paper signs to metal railings to direct the flow. The meeting with the police community relations council to the right, the meeting with Justice Department lawyers to the left.
The disconnect between those focused on crime and those focused on police reform looms large as Baltimore reaches an agreement with the federal government to restructure the department and end unconstitutional detentions, arrests and beatings.
The Aug. 10 report came more than a year after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. His funeral touched off riots, an unsuccessful prosecution of six police officers and the Justice Department investigation. Many of the abuses that investigators found centered on the way police officers interact with black Baltimoreans, including people congregating on street corners. The report concluded that Baltimore officers had “nearly unfettered discretion to criminalize the act of standing on public sidewalks.”
[Read the U.S. Justice Department report]
But for the residents gathered in the St. Peter’s basement, the shootings, robberies and assaults they live with are just as pressing as police abuses.
One man wanted to know where the promised foot patrol officers were. Arlene Fisher, a social worker who has lived all of her 67 years in West Baltimore, said the corner stores that dot the sullen landscape are petitioning to stay open 24 hours.
Residents in Baltimore respond to news that all charges have been dropped against the three remaining police officers in connection with the 2015 death of Freddie Gray. Three others were already acquitted. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)
“They’ll become a gathering place causing problems,” Fisher predicted. “We’ll need more police to watch it.”
Residents don’t like to call 911 when the corners fill, but Fisher said that without better places for young people to congregate, they have no choice. She looked down and whispered, “We have to.”
At the front of the room stood Maj. Sheree Briscoe, who runs the police department’s Western District in the post-Freddie Gray era. She and other commanders are caught between competing forces — curtail crime as the residents want, and change the way policing is practiced as the Justice Department demands.
“It’s not easy,” she acknowledged in an interview.
On this night, Briscoe walked a delicate path, assuring frustrated residents that “finding a way to deal with noncriminal but unwelcome behavior has to be addressed.”
‘The city is suffering’
Clearing the corners has been a mainstay of Baltimore policing for decades, a way for a beat cop to show who’s boss and to break up open-air drug markets that once numbered 200 across the city.
Anthony Barksdale, who retired from the force in 2014 as a deputy police commissioner, said he would tell young men, “Fellas, I know you’re going to give my corner,” and they would scatter.
After the Justice Department report, Barksdale said, “Everybody on the corner is challenging the police. Then when the police drive by and don’t push them off, the citizens are saying, ‘What the hell are the cops good for?’ ”
[Residents assess police ahead of trials of police in Freddie Gray’s death]
Barksdale took exception to the report’s criticism that stops of pedestrians were concentrated in a few black neighborhoods. Barksdale, who is black and grew up in West Baltimore, said that’s true only because “police are responding to crime.”
The Justice Department, he said, has effectively “turned over control of the corners to the criminal elements. The city is suffering already, and it’s going to suffer more. . . . They need to understand the streets of Baltimore are no joke, and they’ve given the bad elements more authority to destroy the neighborhoods.”
The “mighty Western,” as police in this district call themselves, is the smallest of the city’s seven patrol areas but historically has had the city’s highest crime rates. In 2015, there were 66 killings in the district’s 2.8 square miles, the highest among the patrol areas.
The city recorded 344 homicides last year, the highest per capita in history. This year, Western leads the other districts with 35 homicides.
Peter Moskos, who served as a Baltimore officer from 1999 to 2001 for his Harvard University thesis and a book called “Cop in the Hood,” said the Justice Department “forgot that people live in the Western District, and they deserve peace and quiet as much as anyone in the city.”
[Homicides surge in Baltimore after riots]
Moskos, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said that most people want anti-loitering laws and other quality-of-life violations enforced. But the widely embraced “broken windows” approach to law enforcement, which emphasized enforcing littering and graffiti ordinances to prevent further lawlessness, has fallen out of favor with many experts. In Baltimore, that strategy morphed into zero-tolerance policing, fueling hundreds of thousands of arrests and a combative mind-set among officers that continued even after the concept was officially abandoned.
The Justice report noted a poster found in Baltimore police stations that depicted a handcuffed man in a hoodie being escorted by officers to a prison van. It read: “Striking fear into loiters Citywide.” A sergeant ordered an officer to fabricate a reason for clearing a corner while a Justice Department lawyer was in the cruiser, the report said.
The report found that in two police districts, including the Western, officers made nearly 1.5 stops per resident over four years. One man was detained 34 times without being charged with a crime. Several hundred were stopped more than 10 times.
The Justice report said Baltimore police are using antiquated strategies from the 1990s to fight a modern drug war — banging corners, rousting groups of young men — in an era when open-air markets are not as prevalent as during the crack cocaine days of the early 1990s. “Every element of crime and criminal activity is different now and demands different laws, policies, and tactics,” the report concluded.
Moskos said the nationwide debate over law enforcement borne out of shootings by officers and in-custody deaths should center on “how we want police to police.
“I have moral issues about clearing corners,” he said. “But on the other hand, you could argue, ‘We’re doing this because people are literally dying.’ ”
‘We live here’
James Jones remembers the first time he was stopped by the police. It was 45 years ago in an alley off Edmondson Avenue, across the street from the strip of boarded-up rowhouses and storefronts where he spends six hours a day chatting with friends.
He is 63 and limps from his arthritis. He leans on a broken cane held together with duct tape. Back in the day, he boasted, he could outrun any officer who tried to stop him.
The corner confrontation was and remains part of the landscape. “The cops come and they tell you that you can’t stand here,” Jones said. “And we say: ‘Why not? We live here.’ Same conversation been going on forever.”
Jones is a retired maintenance worker for the city and toured Baltimore’s police stations making repairs. His hangout is Edmondson Avenue and Brice Street, near a motorcycle club and along a stretch of empty houses adorned with blue and white signs advertising a program called “Vacants to Value” — Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s latest effort to rid the city of blight.
He said that the police have largely left his group alone over the past year. He described two eras on the street: pre-Freddie Gray, in which he estimates that there were more than 150 police visits to his corner over a year, and post-Freddie Gray, in which he says that there have been none.
On Presstman and Stricker streets, about a mile away, an extended family occupies a quiet block of three-story rowhouses just a few blocks from St. Peter Claver. That doesn’t stop police from pouncing, according to interviews with half a dozen residents in their early 20s to mid-40s, several whiling away the time on the front steps. Four are playing a lively game of dominoes on a card table on the sidewalk.
Asked how many times he’s been stopped by police on this street, Jake Brown, 21, smiled and said, “How many times do you wake up every year?”
Brown made no apologies for being on the corner, and he denied selling drugs. “This is our home,” he said. “This is where we live. I grew up here. We all grew up here. Where else do we go?”
Melvin Baker, also 21, attended middle school across the street and graduated with honors from high school. He wants to be a truck driver but said that three marijuana arrests have gotten him turned down for several jobs. “Once you’re in this cycle, you’re in it,” he said.
He read the Justice Department report and said that although it backed the repeated complaints of Baker and his friends, he doesn’t believe anything will change. “It doesn’t matter who is mayor, who is head police,” Baker said. “We say something, it’s our word against theirs.”
Brown’s older brother, Kevin Brown, 34, said simply, “We want police to do their job.” He complained that after last year’s riots, “police stopped working,” and the homicide numbers spiked to all-time highs. “They let it be open season over here,” he said. “And it’s people like us they continue to harass.”
The younger men talked about what kind of police force they want. Violent offenders, “those doing the killings,” should be arrested, they said. People hanging out on the street should be left alone.
The sunlight faded as the day came to an end. An ice cream truck pulled up to the block, and the men rose from the shade of the steps to grab snow cones. Some returned to dominoes, arguing over the score, debating the plays, boasting about past triumphs. A police car sped down the block three times in an hour but did not stop.
All said they had friends and relatives who had been fatally shot. Asked how many, the younger Brown said, “Five.” He paused before adding, “A year.”
Baker said what they want is simple: “Respect.”
He stood just five blocks from where the two policing meetings were about to commence at St. Peter Claver. The Justice Department gathering was sponsored by a community group called No Boundaries, whose co-director, Ray Kelly, didn’t realize that the police community relations council was meeting at the same time.
The disconnect was profound. Those who felt abused by the police didn’t hear their neighbors expressing fear about crime. Those fearful of crime didn’t hear the voices of people who have been harassed by the police.
It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, Kelly said. The debate over whether the police discriminated is over. The idea now, he said, “is to change it so it can actually work, to find ways to address the culture, and not just criminalize everyone.”
Simply clearing the corners, he said, won’t work anymore. |
Regardless of how Scientology started, what it has become at the present is a total con job which promises potential converts a toolkit to solve the problems of their life and eventually a path to spiritual enlightenment and understanding. I say “con job” because over the past few years, it’s become more and more obvious to the world at large that Scientology is not everything it claims to be and it cannot fulfill any of the lofty promises it makes.
What’s even worse is that once someone joins its ranks, it is very hard to get out. For some who have broken away, they’ve found only pain and tragedy because Scientology has enforced its policy of disconnection on their friends and family, taking away their most precious loved ones simply because they exercised their right to think and act for themselves. Let’s not even talk about the really nasty stuff, when Scientology tries to publicly smear you and starts stalking and harassing you if you speak out against it.
With all the exposure in documentaries, the media and on channels such as this, we have certainly learned that Scientology is something to stay the hell away from. But have we learned anything else? Are there any other lessons we can take away from this which apply to the big wide world? You bet there are. Because the methods that Scientology uses to manipulate new recruits and existing members are not unique to Scientology. Not by a long way. And if we recognize that, we can learn to watch for some of them in other places and not get drawn into situations we don’t want to be in. Here are five harsh lessons I think we could all learn from Scientology:
(1) There’s no such thing as being too smart to fall for bullshit.
In living our lives, we tend to think of ourselves as the hero of our story, but let’s be honest, we often give ourselves far too much credit. If you take an honest assessment of times you have screwed up and why it happened, odds are you will find instances where you leaped before you looked or acted on an impulse which did not turn out to be a good one. Sometimes it’s hard for us to remember these because the way our minds work, we tend to forget those misses and only remember the hits, the times we made right decisions or chose the correct path.
We also tend to enjoy gloating or laughing at the mistakes of others. When it’s all in good fun or just comedy, then that’s fine. No harm, no foul. But when we tell ourselves that we are better than those people we are laughing at, when we think that we have never made stupid mistakes or that we couldn’t be fooled because we’re so smart – well, I’ll just tell you right now that when I was in Scientology it was those people I wanted to talk to first because they were the easiest marks.
In the best cons, the mark is not even aware he’s been scammed. The truth is that there is no one who can’t be deceived given the right ingredients. Even you. Maybe Scientology didn’t have the right mix to pull the wool over your eyes, but someone pulled a lottery ticket scam on you or one of many other cons like the mustard dip, the flop or the fake workmen. Just remember this: no one would be running the Nigerian prince scam if it didn’t work sometimes.
(2) Never ever give up the right to think for yourself.
Probably the most dangerous aspect of destructive cults is how their members give over the right to think for themselves. You’d think no one would willingly or knowingly do this and that’s the trick. Usually it’s done so smoothly that the person doesn’t realize it’s happening.
In Scientology, one of the methods used is to tell someone that if they don’t agree with something L. Ron Hubbard said or wrote, that it’s simply because they don’t understand it. Well, that could certainly be true in certain cases, but it could also be that Hubbard is simply wrong. Rather than admit to anything like that, Scientologists will spend literally hours plowing through dictionaries and encyclopedias trying to cure their lack of understanding of the words and phrases Hubbard uses to explain himself. It’s actually quite ridiculous and that’s the point. If you are being run through a series of hoops like that, you have to step back and say “Wait a minute. Is it okay if I simply disagree with this guy about this?” If the answer is “No, it’s not ok” than this is a group you should run, not walk, away from.
(3) Don’t excuse hypocrisy. It’s always a sign of corruption.
If you join a group and see the leaders are excused from the same rules as the ruled, you should have a problem with that. If the rules don’t apply to everyone, then they are really just ways for the leaders to control and take advantage of the members. In Scientology this occurs at many levels, especially within the Sea Organization where certain executives who toe the party line are given special advantages that others don’t get. Of course, those same executives could be scrubbing pots or sweeping floors the next day if they fall out of favor. The only one who consistently benefits from the money and power of Scientology is David Miscavige but Scientology is not alone in this kind of hypocrisy.
When corporations advertise themselves as caring and consumer-friendly but their store managers treat the employees like total crap, it’s hard to get behind their message. Employees of most retail outfits know this all too well.
As the late author Stephen Covey once said “What you do has far greater impact than what you say.” Rules and guidelines exist in groups to define what the groups values are, what is considered acceptable behavior and how the group should conduct itself. Whether it’s a work, play, sports or club environment, the rules should apply equally to everyone there.
(4) When you are making important decisions, park your ego.
This is related to the first point but deserves its own look.
We are emotion-driven creatures. We go with what feels good all the time over what we know we should be doing, whether it’s eating fast food, wasting time playing video games or having “just one more” before we leave the bar. Most of the time we get away with this and don’t think too much about it. What fun would any of this be if we didn’t do things we enjoy and which make us feel good?
However, when it comes to important decisions, being ruled by emotion often leaves us ignoring the facts and not thinking about the consequences. Advertisers, salesmen and con men know this about human nature and take advantage of it every single day.
Love bombing is a common tactic used to pump up our ego, showering us with praise or affection to get us to decide to go with whatever it is that we are being presented with. This is a blatant appeal to our emotions but it can come in so many different forms and usually feels so damn good that we sometimes don’t recognize it when it’s happening. In many cases, flattery will get people everywhere.
There’s a very easy way to tell if you are being put in a potentially compromising or dangerous position when someone is trying to convince you to do something. Simply tell them that you want to take some time to think about it, that you need to collect some more facts or talk it over with a friend or whatever. The degree that they try to stop you from doing that is a direct measure of how much they are trying to fool you. Because the truth is that there are very few big decisions you are ever going to have to make in life that require your immediate answer.
(5) Having special knowledge or secret wisdom does not make anyone better than anyone else.
Because we live in a somewhat dog-eat-dog world where it is advantageous for us to be better, faster, stronger or richer than people around us, our survival instincts tell us that it’s a good thing for us to gain any advantage we can. This includes gaining wisdom or knowledge that we think sets us above others, but this is actually just another ego trap, and one that cult leaders take special advantage of.
The way this works is someone claims to have special insight or knowledge which they are willing to share with only their chosen flock and that knowledge always comes for a price. This is not just religious knowledge. I’ve seen destructive cults of special knowledge involving politics, sales, medicine, martial arts and even acting. And the price members have to pay to gain this knowledge is not always just money. It also includes devotion or pledges of allegiance, unwarranted amounts of time and sacrificing interests in anything other than the group itself.
Here’s the thing: people who have gained real insight or wisdom are amongst the most humble and soft-spoken people you’ll ever meet and they are usually all to happy to share what they have learned for little or no price at all. Great intellectual leaders almost universally say that they are not smart and feel that they know hardly anything. We all know what braggarts and egotists look and sound like. While they may claim to be at the top of their field, they are actually the most insecure because they know they are not the best or brightest. So always take anyone who makes such claims with a grain of salt and don’t fall into the trap that thinking you’re something special just because you know some secret knowledge that no one else does. All it takes for you to not be so special is for them to learn it too and then where are you at?
What makes great people great is not what they know, it’s what they do with their knowledge.
Summary
I hope these tips can help extend our look beyond just Scientology and the nonsense it engages in with its members. It’s easy to watch and point fingers and think how stupid people must be to fall for such nonsense. Well, my advice is before doing that, take a good hard look at any nonsense you may be falling for yourself, because none of us are immune to it. If we can learn these lessons from Scientology and live better lives ourselves as a result, maybe it can do some good after all.
Thank you for watching.
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At Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate, one of the most heated exchanges concerned an unlikely topic: Henry Kissinger. During a stretch focused on foreign policy, Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont, jabbed at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for having cited Kissinger, who was Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, as a fan of her stint at Foggy Bottom.
“I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country,” Sanders huffed, adding, “I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger.” He referred to the secret bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war as a Kissinger-orchestrated move that eventually led to genocide in that country. “So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger,” Sanders roared. Clinton defended her association with Kissinger by replying, “I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas.” She cast her interactions with Kissinger as motivated by her desire to obtain any information that might be useful to craft policy. “People we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States,” she said.
What Clinton did not mention was that her bond with Kissinger was personal as well as professional, as she and her husband have for years regularly spent their winter holidays with Kissinger and his wife, Nancy, at the beachfront villa of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, who died in 2014, and his wife, Annette, in the Dominican Republic.
This campaign tussle over Kissinger began a week earlier, at a previous debate, when Clinton, looking to boost her résumé, said, “I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea about what it’s going to take to make our government work more efficiently.” A few days later, Bill Clinton, while campaigning for his wife in New Hampshire, told a crowd of her supporters, “Henry Kissinger, of all people, said she ran the State Department better and got more out of the personnel at the State Department than any secretary of state in decades, and it’s true.” His audience of Democrats clapped loudly in response.
It was odd that the Clintons, locked in a fierce fight to win Democratic votes, would name-check a fellow who for decades has been criticized—and even derided as a war criminal—by liberals. Bill and Hillary Clinton themselves opposed the Vietnam War that Nixon and Kissinger inherited and continued. Hillary Clinton was a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach Nixon, and one of the articles of impeachment drafted by the staff (but which was not approved) cited Nixon for covering up his secret bombing of Cambodia. In the years since then, information has emerged showing that Kissinger’s underhanded and covert diplomacy led to brutal massacres around the globe, including in Chile, Argentina, East Timor, and Bangladesh.
With all this history, it was curious that in 2014, Clinton wrote a fawning review of Kissinger’s latest book and observed, “America, he reminds us, succeeds by standing up for our values, not shirking them, and leads by engaging peoples and societies, the sources of legitimacy, not governments alone.” In that article, she called Kissinger, who had been a practitioner of a bloody foreign-policy realpolitik, “surprisingly idealistic.”
This Clinton lovefest with Kissinger is not new. And it is not simply a product of professional courtesy or solidarity among former secretaries of state, who, after all, are part of a small club. There is also a strong social connection between the Clintons and the Kissingers. They pal around together. On June 3, 2013, Hillary Clinton presented an award to de la Renta, a good friend who for years had provided her dresses and fashion advice, and then the two of them hopped over to a 90th birthday party for Kissinger. In fact, the schedule of the award ceremony had been shifted to allow Clinton and de la Renta to make it to the Kissinger bash. (Secretary of State John Kerry also attended the party.) The Kissingers and the de la Rentas were longtime buddies. Kissinger wrote one of his recent books while staying at de la Rentas’ mansion in the Dominican Republic and dedicated the book to the fashion designer and his wife.
The Clintons and Kissingers appear to spend a chunk of their quality time together at that de la Renta estate in the Punta Cana resort. Last year, the Associated Press noted that this is where the Clintons take their annual Christmas holiday. And other press reports in the United States and the Dominican Republic have pointed out that the Kissingers are often part of the gang the de la Rentas have hosted each year. When Oscar de la Renta died in 2014, the New York Times obituary reported:
At holidays, the de la Rentas filled their house in Punta Cana with relatives and friends, notably Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nancy and Henry Kissinger, and the art historian John Richardson. The family dogs had the run of the compound, and Mr. de la Renta often sang spontaneously after dinner. First-time visitors, seeking him out in the late afternoon, were surprised to find him in the staff quarters, hellbent on winning at dominoes.
In 2012, the Wall Street Journal, in a profile of de la Renta, wrote:
Over Christmas the Kissingers were among the close group who gathered in Punta Cana, including Barbara Walters, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Charlie Rose. “We have two house rules,” says Oscar, laughing. “There can be no conversation of any substance and nothing nice about anyone.”
A travel industry outlet reported that Vogue editor Anna Wintour was part of the crew that year. The Times described the house this way: “[T]hough imposing in the Colonial style, with wide verandas (and its own chapel on the grounds), [it] also had a relaxed feeling.” Last April, the Weekly Standard noted that the Clintons had spent a week around the previous New Year’s at Punta Canta and that Secret Service protection for the trip had cost $104,000. It was during this vacation that Hillary Clinton reportedly decided to run for president for the second time.
This gathering of the Clintons, the Kissingers, and the de la Rentas seems to occur most years. In 2011, de la Renta, a native of the Dominican Republic, told Vogue that he built this seaside estate so he could host his close friends, and he cited the Kissingers and Clintons as examples. “At Christmas,” he said, “we’re always in the same group.”
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Henry Kissinger or Annette de la Renta.
When awarding herself the Kissinger seal of approval to bolster her standing as a competent diplomat and government official, Hillary Clinton has not referred to the annual hobnobbing at the de la Renta villa. So when Sanders criticized Clinton for playing the Kissinger card—”not my kind of guy,” he declared—whether he realized it or not, he was hitting very close to home. |
Melbourne’s 1956 Olympic Games – as the first southern hemisphere city to host – were widely dubbed the “friendly games”.
But behind the calm façade, there were pitched battles, both on and off the field.
A gripping account of defections, undercover detections and romance across the tumultuous East-West divide, Harry Blutstein’s Cold War Games draws from ASIO files, US sources and stolen USSR archives supplied by a spurned KBG agent.
Then-prime minister Robert Menzies was at pains to protect the peaceful myth as countries vied to undermine their enemies, Blutstein says.
“The Cold War was a reality everywhere, except in Australia. They did everything possible to downplay it, because they really wanted this reputation of the friendly games.”
That was always going to be difficult with the world wracked by political turmoil and the spectre of nuclear war hanging heavy.
Earlier in 1956 the USSR invaded Hungary in an attempt to brutally end an anti-Soviet revolution. That prompted Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Cambodia to boycott the Games.
Israel, France and the UK invaded the Suez Canal, with Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq seizing this territorial move as reason to stay away too.
The clash between the People’s Republic of China and the breakaway nationalist government in Taiwan saw both sides demanding that the other be excluded.
Mr Menzies forbade the CIA from coming to Melbourne because he did not want them encouraging Eastern Bloc athletes to defect to the West before or during the games.
He also charged ASIO with doing everything in their power to prevent this from occurring.
Of course, both the CIA and the KGB fielded proxies, including one American agent who employed a very Melbourne trick – using AFL players as code for his targets.
Memorably, one man speaking Latvian approached the Latvian basketball players, trying (and failing) to convince them to defect while they were admiring the Myer Christmas window.
In the end, 61 athletes, officials and journalists defected. That included Ervin Zádor, a Hungarian water polo player left infamously bloody after an in-pool bust up with the Soviets.
“The Hungarians who protested were told to shut up in [local newspaper] editorials, ‘this is the friendly games, don’t bring your old world quarrels to Australia,’” Mr Blutstein says. “There was a lot of pressure to keep politics out of it.”
Mr Blutstein draws on a wealth of sources from both sides of the Iron Curtain.
“With most books on the Cold War, it’s all from the perspective of the West, particularly America. In my book, you actually hear the voices of the Russians.”
One of the most remarkable was discus-thrower Nina Ponomareva, the Soviet Union’s first gold medal-winner. A smart-talking character, sadly she wasn’t celebrated at home because she was born in a Gulag, an inconvenient history. Putin finally honoured her in 2012.
Star-crossed lovers, Gold-winning Czechoslovakian discus thrower Olga Fikotová and American hammer gold medal-winner Hal Connolly, also make for a fascinating couple, bridging the political divide against all odds.
“It’s a popular history,” Mr Blutstein says of the zippy and at times, totally barmy Cold War Games. “I have 500 references, but the way to engage people is through the characters.” |
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An Atlanta woman forced at gunpoint into the trunk of a car narrowly escaped her own kidnapping by jumping from a moving car, according to police.
Police say that the victim, a 20-year-old Georgia State student, unlatched the car's trunk from within the storage space while the alleged abductor fled the scene, WSBTV reported.
Authorities in Atlanta are now searching for a suspect who is also accused to attempting a second kidnapping less than a mile a way early Wednesday morning.
"We have a predator that's roaming the streets of Atlanta right now, and it's very serious to us,” police Sgt. Curtis Davenport told the television station.
The first incident reportedly began at approximately 2:00 a.m., when a masked gunman approached two women seated the porch of their Mayson Avenue home in Atlanta. The suspect allegedly grabbed one of the two women, forced her up the street and stuffed her into the trunk of his car, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The suspect drove off for approximately 10 minutes, at which point his victim forced her way from the trunk, rolled onto the street and ran from the car.
Approximately 30 minutes later, police say that the suspect struck again. This time, the alleged kidnapping victim, also a Georgia State student, was saved by an intervening neighbor who forced the suspect to abandon the crime.
Police describe the suspect as a black male in his 20s, approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a skinny body type and shoulder-length dreadlocks. His vehicle is believed to be a small dark sedan with damage around the hood. |
Flying Lotus may be known as a progressive hip-hop producer, but a Hillary Clinton joke that mocked her “blowjob” abilities as detrimental to her presidential resumé has riled up liberal fans.
While performing at the legendary Fox Theater in Oakland on Friday, Flying Lotus put aside a moment for banter with the audience — during which he delivered the controversial Hillary joke. Starting out with a monologue bashing Donald Trump, the rapper/producer quickly turned his sights toward the Republican nominee’s opponent.
Though such a move might usually sit well with Hillary supporters, his joke focused not on her leaderships skills but rather his perceived lack of her skills in the bedroom — alluding to former president Bill Clinton’s infidelity.
“I couldn’t possibly vote for a woman that doesn’t give an awesome blowjob.”
Despite the fact that Flying Lotus followed up the joke by saying that he would “vote for [Hillary’s] a** anyway,” the jab at Clinton did not sit well with her supporters.
Several fans at the show tweeted their displeasure with the comments about Hillary, a number of them even saying they left because of the Clinton joke.
Want more ladies at your show, @flyinglotus? Try not leading off the set with a misogynist joke about Hillary Clinton. — Katharine Moore (@KatharineTMoore) September 17, 2016
As the media storm brewed over the weekend, many expected the artist to come forward to ask for forgiveness or, at the very least, clarify. Instead, on Monday, Flying Lotus responded to the backlash with a clear message: He does not care if you are offended by his Hillary Clinton jokes.
Not only does he not care, he says that making such remarks about Hillary in front of his fans are a sign of intimacy. Clinton jokes, he says, are a way of “treating fans like family.”
The more PC and scared everyone gets, the more I love having a microphone to say some depraved shit u need to hear #cantwaitfortonight — FLYLO (@flyinglotus) September 17, 2016
Dear journos. I will always make dirty, racist, sexist jokes as long as I live because I think it’s funny. My mom raised me that way. — FLYLO (@flyinglotus) September 19, 2016
I treat my fans like fam in our time together. I will continue doing so. https://t.co/BmSvXCL8U4 — FLYLO (@flyinglotus) September 19, 2016
Fans were split about the way Flying Lotus chose to double down in the issue. On some counts, it looks like some of his admirers found the joke disrespectful, if not specifically to Hillary then to women in general. Others knocked his Clinton moment as juvenile.
I hope this is a joke I’ve looked up to you and your music for years https://t.co/Qy53Du2A9O — Murphy (@wildroseFL) September 20, 2016
flylo sounding like everyone’s rebellious teenage cousin on facebook https://t.co/M8Gbh9mAtU — not ravey anymore (@raveyspice) September 19, 2016
respecting ur mom is great but why respect ur mom’s lack of respect for others — ChordKnowerMaxo 9/25 (@chordslayermaxo) September 19, 2016
Still, that’s not to say everyone was upset. With such a divided presidential race, there were, of course, people happy to see Hillary get torn apart in any way possible. Also chiming in to defend Flying Lotus’ Clinton joke was the usual social media chorus speaking out against rampant political correctness.
@flyinglotus Stereotypes are funny when you don’t believe in them, they’re caricatures made of words — jacek (@1jacek) September 19, 2016
@flyinglotus never met u but proud of u, never change. Offend more people we need u. World needs it. — Gentle Ben (@benjaminnorthey) September 19, 2016
Flying Lotus may have even more up his sleeve than crude jokes about Hillary. He closed off his “no apologies” message by chuckling to himself about how these critics would react to his upcoming full-length feature film Kuso, which features tunes by electronic music legend Aphex Twin, reported Resident Advisor.
When the offending Hillary Clinton joke was delivered, Flying Lotus was performing at Brainfeeder — two-nights of funk and hip-hop featuring George Clinton, Shabazz Palaces, Thundercat, and the Gaslamp Killer, reported SF Gate.
[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan and Bryan Bedder/Getty Images] |
By Andrew Liszewski
If it wasn’t bad enough that stores were already tracking the purchase decisions and buying patterns of their customers, it now seems that Philips is developing a way for stores to track the interests of people who haven’t even come inside. Using a set of video cameras and eye tracking software the system will be able to tell what someone looking at a window display has been staring at the longest, and will then provide more detailed information about the product via a passive or even interactive video display in hopes it will push them towards making a purchase decision.
The system is also useful for keeping track of gazing trends for large groups of people. The data can help a store determine what type of layout or window display design is most effective for selling a given product. If you’re looking for a way to make your Monday even duller than it already is, you can read the full patent application for the gaze tracking system on the World Intellectual Property Organization website.
[ Gaze Interaction For Information Display Of Gazed Items ] VIA [ New Scientist Invention Blog ] |
The estimated cost of an MBA for a single student who lives off campus at Stanford University is slightly more than $212,000. Add to that tidy sum the opportunity costs of quitting a job at Google that paid about $75,000 a year, and your all-in cost for the Master of Universe degree comes to a formidable if not mind-numbing number: Nearly $390,000.
That’s the kind of hole Amanda Bradford dug for herself when she graduated from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business just three months ago. So what is she doing with that world-class education?
Would you believe she is launching an app on iTunes? Not just any app, mind you. It’s yet another dating app, a Tinder-like application for super picky people who want to meet other super picky people. In a world already cluttered with the likes of OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and Zoosk, there are more than 200 entries listed under dating apps on iTunes alone.
A TINDER FOR PICKY PEOPLE
Does the world really need another app for people who can’t get dates on their own? And does it really take an MBA from Stanford to launch an app company?
Probably not. But none of that seems to have deterred the 29-year-old Bradford, whose resume at least makes her prime dating material on what she is calling The League. Among other things, the app allows would-be daters to see the educational and work backgrounds of The League’s members, hooking then into the LinkedIn profiles and Facebook pages of users.
A glimpse of Bradford’s CV would lead most to wonder why she would waste her time with an app in a highly crowded field. After all, she graduated in 2007 from Carnegie Mellon with a degree in information systems, the relatively rare young woman with a STEM credential. Bradford then landed a job as a sales engineer and later account executive for salesforce.com. After a three-year stint there, she moved on to the hottest company in Silicon Valley: Google, first as a “pre-sales engineer” and finally in a biz dev role, working with Google product and engineering teams. Bradford even spent nine months at Sequoia Capital, the high-flying Silicon Valley VC, as an investor.
”WE WOULD SEND EACH OTHER THE MOST HORRIFYING TINDER PICTURES’
You’d think someone with that kind of glitter on a resume, topped by a Stanford MBA, no less, would think up a more substantive business than a dating app. Last year, a record 18% of Stanford MBAs founded companies, but few of those startups were created to do just an app (see table on following page).
Nonetheless, the path to app-dom was clear when Bradford and her first-year classmates put Tinder on their smartphones and became increasingly intrigued–and appalled–by what they saw.
“We would send each other the most horrifying Tinder pictures we’d seen that day, guys doing asinine things, half-naked people,” Bradford says in an interview at her San Francisco office. And though she and her friends would laugh about awful material on Tinder, she was struck toward the end of 2013 by something else: just about everyone she knew was using it.
“What I saw was a huge consumer behavior shift in my demographic,” Bradford says. “Guys and girls in my network who I’d never seen on a dating app . . . all of a sudden had this Tinder app installed on their phones. It was kind of this fun thing that everyone in my generation was doing.” |
A Ugandan pastor who screened same-sex pornography in a church to try to bolster support for proposed anti-homosexuality legislation has been condemned by gay rights groups.
Martin Ssempa, one of the main backers of a bill that would impose the death penalty for some offenders, aired the explicit slideshow to several hundred people during a church service in Kampala yesterday. Explaining his decision to display the images, the evangelical preacher said it was necessary to educate people "about what homosexuals do".
He told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "In Africa, what you do in your bedroom affects our clan, it affects our tribe, it affects our nation."
While Ssempa represents the extreme end of widely held homophobic views in Uganda, he does carry strong influence. On his website he describes himself as "consultant to the government of Uganda", and his congregants yesterday included David Bahati, the MP who submitted the private member's bill to parliament last year.
The porn stunt caused anger among gay activists. South African-based gay rights group Behind the Mask described it as "twisted homophobic propaganda".
Frank Mugisha, the chairman of Sexual Minorities Uganda, said Ssempa should be arrested for promoting pornography – and questioned his religious values. "He is showing these images in a church. What does he stand for?"
In neighbouring Kenya, where anti-gay sentiment is also strong, Peter Njane of gay support group Ishtar said that by showing pornography Ssempa was trying to imply that being gay was "just about sex".
In fact, that is one of the main arguments of the pastor and politicians such as Bahati, who argue that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice. Although gay sex is already illegal in Uganda under colonial-era laws, they have whipped up public sentiment by insisting that tougher measures are needed to punish homosexuals who they say are "recruiting" children at schools.
The legislation calls for life imprisonment for anyone caught having gay sex, with the death penalty for repeat offenders or those with HIV. But the proposals have generated much opposition abroad, with the governments of Britain, the US and Canada, all significant donors to Uganda, leading the condemnation.
The pressure appears to have worked. Last month President Yoweri Museveni broke his silence on the bill, saying it did not necessarily reflect government policy and "foreign policy interests" would be considered before it was put to a vote. |
On June 3, 2015, following reports in the Arab and world press that thousands of Iranian and Iraqi troops are being dispatched to Syria to defend the Syrian regime,[1] which is said to be on the verge of collapse, Amir Mousavi, a former advisor to the Iranian defense minister,[2] announced in a Facebook post that in a few hours the Iranian leadership will announce the activation of its mutual defense agreement with Syria.[3] The defense agreement between the two countries, which essentially places all of Iran's defensive capabilities at Syria's disposal, was signed in 2007.[4] In 2012 then-Iranian defense minister Ahmad Vahidi said that Iran would "activate the agreement upon [the Syrians'] request."[5]
In a June 6, 2015 interview with the Mehr news agency, Iranian Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezai denied "reports in the foreign press claiming that Iran is planning to officially enter the war in Syria and activate the security-defense agreement between the two countries." He claimed that "this topic did not arise amongst senior Iranian officials in any shape or manner. Iranian policy is clear from the first day. Iranian assistance to the region's countries is humanitarian and advisory. Such a topic , by which Iran would aid directly, or dispatch forces to a specific country, never arose in the responsible [regime] apparatuses."
The following is a translation of Mousavi's post: "In the next few hours, the leadership of the Islamic Revolution in Iran will announce, God willing, the historic decision to activate the mutual defense pact with Syria's legitimate government. I believe that parallel decisions will be taken in Lebanon and Iraq that will reinforce the comprehensive strategy of this decision, [resulting in] an improved state of the resistance axis countries for the purpose of confronting the spread of the extremist terrorist movements supported by the Aal-Sa'ud regime and the global Free Masons organization."
Endnotes: |
Everything British is better. At least that was the sentiment in 19th-century Canada when the upper middle class developed a hybrid speech style that was not quite Canadian and seemingly British.
That quasi-British accent — coined "Canadian Dainty" by Toronto linguist Jack Chambers — is now mostly extinct.
But as the country celebrates its 150th anniversary, the University of Toronto linguistics professor says the emergence of the accent and its later demise were a testament to "the maturing of the Canadian personality."
Listen to Canadian Dainty with Peter Stursberg
CBC reporter Peter Stursberg reports on Dutch famine zone in 1945. 4:37
"It was Canadian English, the kind of English that I'm speaking right now, except it had certain British features overlaid on top of it," Chambers said. "And it was considered to be a kind of prestigious Canadian accent."
Immigration influence
Its origins date back to the two earliest settlement waves, Chambers told CBC News.
In 1776 — the first wave — thousands of British Loyalists fled the American Revolution and put down roots in Upper Canada or what is present-day Ontario.
"What happened, at that point, was the accents all across North America — on both sides of what was the United States border, the new border — the accents were uniform.
Jack Chambers, a linguistics professor at the University of Toronto, says Canadian Dainty was a 'kind of prestigious Canadian accent.' (Petar Valkov/CBC)
"They were all formed from 18th-century British English. So people who had settled in Canada sounded like people who had settled in the United States by and large."
In the 19th century, however, the British governors of Canada "decided that there were far too many what they called American-based Canadians on our side of the border."
That resulted in the second wave of settlement, which brought an influx of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish immigrants to Canada.
"They intended this to dilute any American sentiment that might be here in Canada," Chambers said.
British speech deemed superior
But the massive migration brought with it a consequence.
They started teaching schoolchildren to say ' tomahto ,' to say ' shed-yool .' - Jack Chambers, linguistics professor at the University of Toronto
"They thought the people who were already here — that is, the Canadians who were born here — they thought they sounded odd because they sounded like North Americans instead of like Brits," Chambers said.
Listen to Canadian Dainty with Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene warns of holiday driving hazards in 1956. 4:50
And at the time, British etiquette and speech were perceived as superior, he said.
"They immediately tried to impose certain Britain standards on Canadian English and it was moderately successful. I mean, it lasted for almost a century."
Vincent Massey spoke with an Anglo-Canadian accent. (Library and Archives Canada)
During the Victorian era, children were instructed to "enunciate clearly" and swap native Canadian pronunciation for the British counterpart, according to Chambers.
"So they started teaching schoolchildren to say 'tomahto,' to say 'shed-yool' — all of those features they considered to be proper."
A prominent example of the accent in action is Vincent Massey. The country's first Canadian-born governor general spoke with an extreme form of the accent called Anglo-Canadian.
Listen to Vincent Massey's 1939 Dominion Day address
Vincent Massey’s Dominion Day message in 1939. 10:02
Canadian poet Irving Layton ridicules that phenomenon in Anglo-Canadian:
A native of Kingston, Ont.
—two grandparents Canadian
and still living
His complexion florid
as a maple leaf in late autumn,
for three years he attended
Oxford
Now his accent
makes even Englishmen
wince, and feel
unspeakably colonial.
"We were very proud that he was the first-ever governor general of Canada who was born a Canadian and yet when you hear him speak he doesn't sound like a real Canadian," Chambers said.
'Class accent'
The quasi-British pronunciations were a marker of the elite, Chambers said.
"The best educated people, the ones who went on to become doctors and lawyers and teachers in Canada, were the people who absorbed those lessons best."
Those in the working class "were untouched by it."
"Of course, it wasn't what the common people were doing," Chambers said. "Lots of people in Canada reckoned that they were not as educated, not as well-equipped to work in the world as certain others, and that's what happens when you get class accents."
The Canadian Dainty accent is similar to the Mid-Atlantic accent, native to Old Hollywood, which melded American English with British pronunciation.
Perception shift in latter half of 20th century
The accent started to wane in the 1950s and onward, Chambers said. And attitudes toward it started to shift, too.
"In the first decades of the 20th century, people who heard their bank manager or their minister speaking with the Canadian Dainty features thought that person is educated and intelligent," he said. "In the second half of the 20th century, when people heard their bank manager, clergymen speaking with a Canadian Dainty accent, they may have been thinking, 'Boy, that sounds pretentious to me.'"
Today, the age-old "tomayto-tomahto" debate may bear the remnants of Canadian Dainty but it is rarely, if ever, heard.
"Things have changed. It's taken a couple of decades but now we are speaking Canadian English, without any kind of patina of British respectability." |
A A
LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) -- November 6th marks the anniversary of an odd incident which happened here in Las Vegas in 1993.
Even if you weren't living in Southern Vevada at the time, there's a pretty good chance you heard about "Fan Man" on the evening news.
It happened at Caesars Palace, where Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe were in a rematch for the undisputed heavyweight title that Bowe had won the year before.
As the seventh round got underway, a paraglider began a spiraling descent toward the ring.
Then with 1:20 left in the round, Henderson resident James Miller descended on a fan powered paraglider, and came crashing into the ropes.
The crowd didn't take kindly to the interruption one bit, and immediately started to punch and kick Miller. They beat him like a dusty rug.
Miller was knocked unconscious, then taken to the hospital where he was treated, released... and arrested on a charge of dangerous flying. But he was proud of the stunt.
"That I'm Fan Man, and I'm the man with the fan," Miller told News-3 with a grin.
Miller tried the same thing at a Broncos-Raiders game a couple of months later, but was chased away by National Guard helicopters.
He also paraglided into Buckingham Palace and spent 42 days in a British prison for it.
In 2002, suffering from a number of physical problems, Miller took his own life in the Alaska wilderness at age 38. |
On June 28, BLACKPINK appeared as a guest on MBC FM’s “Kangta’s Starry Night” and talked about their music video.
On this day, BLACKPINK surpassed 30 million views on their latest comeback song, “As If It’s Your Last,” and when asked how many times they have seen the music video, Jisoo replied, “I saw it about 20 times. I wanted to contribute to the total number of views.” To this, Jennie added, “My mom always leaves the music video on. Whenever I go home, I see it playing,” and Rosé said she saw the music video about six times while she was alone. Surprisingly, Lisa admitted that she hasn’t been able to see it because she is too embarrassed.
Later, when the group was asked if their boss, Yang Hyun Suk, had said anything to them lately, Jisoo replied, “We ran into him on the street twice, and he said he would buy us food. Boss, we remember what you said.”
Source (1) |
Porter Robinson has garnered the acclaim to be quite the refined curator of music. Outside of his touring and production, he has quite the Spotify playlist that showcases his favorite tracks. Porter recently took the time to share his top 10 tracks of 2016 with Australian radio network Triple J, along with his favorite album (or in this case mixtape) of 2016, which he confessed is Coloring Book by Chance The Rapper.
“Coloring Book was definitely my favorite record of the year and ‘Same Drugs’ was the standout for me. It’s my exact sensibility right now with chords and instrumentation, and the emotion hits me juuust right!”
Outside of “Same Drugs,” Porter has highlighted nine other highlights from the year, including Lido’s “Murder” from his new album Everything.
Check out the full list below.
1. Chance The Rapper – Same Drugs
2. Lido – Murder
3. Hundaes – Be There
4. Bon Iver – 33 ‘GOD’
5. Kero Kero Bonito – Big City
6. 3LAU – Is It Love {Ft. Yeah Boy}
7. M83 – Do It, Try It
8. Manila Killa – All That’s Left – The M Machine Remix {Ft. Joni Fatora}
9. Tourist – Run
10. The Weeknd – I Feel It Coming {Ft. Daft Punk}
H/T: Reddit (r/PorterRobinson) |
If this is what’s next for Calgary, count me out.
Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. — parent group of the Flames, Stampeders, Hitmen, and Roughnecks — unveiled Tuesday the design for CalgaryNEXT, their much-ballyhooed, much-anticipated grand scheme for new professional sports facilities to house their franchises.
It came after a controversial debate over public funding for an arena in Edmonton. It came after Calgary’s mayor and entire city council staunchly harrumphed at the notion that a hugely profitable entity like CSE would get a penny of public money for a sure-fire business investment.
So they had to sell it. Make no mistake, CSE’s public pitchman and CEO Ken King knew full well this was their grand bid to the people of Calgary for a loosening of the public purse strings.
The pretty slides and maps and renderings showing the arena-stadium-fieldhouse complex on greatly-improved lands near downtown —- which currently host a dilapidated bus depot and car dealerships -— were surely meant to soften us up for the coming hit that would rival a tackle from Juwan Simpson or a punch from Deryk Engelland.
Twenty-three per cent. That is the contribution that the Flames, Stamps et. al. envision themselves ponying up for this project. More specifically, $200 million out of an estimated (surely low-balled) total of $890 million. The remainder would come from the City ($200 million), a ticket tax ($250 million) and a community revitalization levy ($240 million).
(And since their proposal doesn’t include cleaning up the creosote-contaminated lands, we can assume that’s another $200 million-ish of public money they’d like.)
Let’s talk about that last one. The idea of a CRL is that all these new buildings and businesses that sprout up around this new development will pay additional tax, so let’s just put that revenue towards the development (often in the form of debt repayments).
Twenty-three per cent. That is the contribution that the Flames, Stamps et. al. envision themselves ponying up for this project.
Calgary used this mechanism in developing the East Village. It’s controversial. Regardless of how you package it, in the end it’s a form of public money that could go elsewhere. The argument is, “Well, that tax revenue wouldn’t be there if we didn’t build this project.”
Except that studies have shown that these types of projects often only revitalize urban areas in the sense that they draw planned investment away from other parts of the city. And in this case the people profiting from the public money aren’t even funding a quarter of of the project.
It’s also worth questioning whether CalgaryNEXT is more desirable an outcome than the City’s current tentative design for the area, which aims to create a complete community rather than a sports megaplex. The renderings of those plans show quiet, walkable streets of offices and cafés and residences, none of which would disrupt the surrounding established communities with thousands of drunken fans.
Some people will like the design that CSE is proposing. That’s fine. There’s a worthy civic debate to be had over the best use for the West Village lands, which represent a blank slate upon which we can add to our great inner city.
But for the six extremely wealthy men who own CSE to say they will pay 23 per cent of a mega-project that will undoubtedly make them wealthier still — that is something none of us should tolerate. Two of the men, billionaires Murray Edwards and Clayton Riddell, have a combined fortune of $4.8 billion according to Forbes. The Flames are the 13th-most-valuable team in the NHL, worth $451 million, and they are just one of the teams that will benefit from this project.
Meanwhile, Calgary lacks a dedicated cancer centre, adequate drug rehab facilities, social services and sufficient affordable housing, to say nothing of funding for truely and broadly beneficial infrastructure such as the Green Line LRT.
The fieldhouse component of the project would be a wonderful civic asset. That’s probably why the City was planning to spend $200 million to build one once they had the money for it. All CSE has done is add another $690 million of cool stuff, which they will make millions off of and for which they will pay 29 cents on the dollar.
Given how jealously we guard our tax dollars in Alberta, I’m amazed at how brazenly this proposal demands we subsidize a wonderfully profitable corporation. Do they think Calgary will be so easily seduced by shiny new things?
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Perhaps we will. Edmonton’s leaders were opposed — until they weren’t. The real tactic here could be about negotiation: It remains to be seen whether our representatives on council will hold steadfast in their convictions; or, given such an extreme initial starting point, claim victory for the taxpayer when they meet the billionaires halfway.
National Post
Taylor Lambert is a Calgary journalist and the author of Rising: Stories of the 2013 Alberta Flood. His forthcoming book is Darwin’s Moving, about the Calgary moving industry. |
Amazon is suing a former Amazon Web Services strategic partnerships manager, Zoltan Szabadi, alleging that his new job at Google Cloud Platform violates the terms of a non-compete agreement that he signed when he originally joined Amazon.
The suit will be closely watched in the tech industry as a new test of the standard employment agreements that Amazon and some other large tech companies require employees to sign when they’re hired, restricting their activities if they leave.
[Follow-up: Former Amazon employee: Disputed non-compete deal ‘excessive’ and ‘overbroad’]
The case also underscores the growing rivalry between Amazon and Google in the cloud.
“Szabadi was directly and integrally involved with the marketing of Amazon’s cloud computing business to its partners and resellers, and played a significant role in developing Amazon’s business strategy and direction in this area,” the suit says. “Szabadi was involved in developing, implementing and managing Amazon Web Services’ strategy for many of its partners, and was the first point of contact for most partners who were considering working with Amazon.”
The suit, filed June 27 in King County Superior Court in Seattle, seeks to take advantage of a more favorable climate for non-compete deals in Washington state, where the terms of such deals have generally been allowed, if considered reasonable. Non-compete clauses have repeatedly been found invalid in California, where Google is based.
According to the suit, Google on its own required Szabadi to agree not to solicit business from customers that he worked with at Amazon for six months after joining Google. He also agreed not to recruit employees from Amazon for the same time period.
But Amazon says Google’s restrictions on Szabadi don’t live up to the terms of the non-compete, non-solicitation and trade secret restrictions in Szabadi’s employment agreement with Amazon.
The case against Szabadi is similar to Amazon’s 2012 suit against a former Amazon Web Services vice president, Daniel Powers, who joined Google as the search giant’s director of cloud platform sales. That case was transferred to federal court in Seattle, where a judge declined to enforce the most sweeping provisions of Amazon’s non-compete agreement.
Although large portions of the two complaints are identical, Amazon appears to have slightly adjusted its approach based on the previous ruling, testing the legal limits of non-compete agreements.
In the earlier case, for example, Amazon sought to restrict Powers from “any activity that directly or indirectly supports any aspect of Google’s cloud computing business that competes with Amazon’s cloud computing business” for 18 months after his departure. A federal judge found that overall ban on competition to be too broad, but said Amazon could keep Powers from working directly with his former Amazon customers for a shorter amount of time, nine months.
In the new case against Szabadi, Amazon is seeking a more specific injunction, preventing him “from engaging in any activities that directly or indirectly support any aspect of Google’s cloud computing business with partners or resellers.”
Here’s the full lawsuit. (Thanks to Venkat Balasubramani for spotting this one.)
Amazon v. Szabadi by Todd Bishop |
Toronto has been added to the list of cities selected for public consultations on police street checks after public outcry over the fact it had been left off. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services announced four consultation locations Friday morning.
Desmond Cole addresses the crowd gathered for the Black Lives Matter protest last month. ( Melissa Renwick / Toronto Star ) Mayor Tory expressed support after the province announced public consultations would be held in Toronto on "street checks." ( Steve Russell / Toronto Star )
Over the next two weeks, public meetings concerning carding were scheduled to take place in London, Thunder Bay, Ottawa and Brampton. Critics called the failure to include Toronto, which has a long history of public debate around carding, “cowardly.” “It’s clear they’re avoiding Toronto because they don’t want to come and face where the problem actually directly affects people,” said Tarisai Ngangura, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter Toronto before the list was updated.
Article Continued Below
“I think it’s puzzling to say the least,” said Desmond Cole, a freelance journalist and activist. “I would have fully expected there to be one consultation in our city.” Late Friday afternoon, a single line was added to the end of the locations list. “A meeting will take place in Toronto on September 1, 2015. Time and location TBD. Details will be added as soon as possible,” it read. In a statement emailed shortly after the update, Jonathan Rose, spokesperson for Yasir Naqvi, the minister responsible for the consultations, said, “We felt it was important to hold a public consultation in Toronto.” Questions as to why, if it was important to hold a meeting in Toronto, the city wasn’t included in the original list of locations, went unanswered Friday afternoon.
Toronto Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard) threw his support behind the announcement and said that he would be closely monitoring the consultations and their outcome. “Mayor Tory welcomes the Province of Ontario conducting public consultations on police streets checks,” a statement email from his office read.
Article Continued Below
Despite the manner in which it came about, activists in Toronto said they were pleased with the government’s change of stance. “It makes it better, it’s their way of showing us that they’re in some way attempting to fix the problem,” said Ngangura after hearing the news. “It was very last minute and very clearly rushed,” she added. Cole laughed when he heard the news. He congratulated the community for speaking up when they felt something was wrong. “I’m happy that the government seems to have responded to the very obvious need for such a meeting in Toronto,” he said. “I’m sorry that they weren’t able to think of it on their own, but it sounds like people have expressed that concern and they’ve heard it.”
Read more about: |
CTV London
Fanshawe College is in the process of purchasing the Market Tower from Farhi Holdings to add more students and programs in the downtown core, CTV News has learned.
Pending some inspections, the college has confirmed it has settled on a price and is planning a purchase.
The tower on the southwest corner of Dundas Street and Richmond Street currently houses a number of offices occupied by city staff, including Ontario Works.
There has long been a call to revitalize the iconic building and surrounding areas and draw more people into the city.
Dr. Howard Rundle, Fanshawe College president, says “If everything goes to plan, we would like to buy the building.”
He says the price tag is in the $10-15 million range, but will be much higher when renovations are factored in.
Though he is on the verge of retiring, Rundle says he’s been very close to the project and the college will utilize millions from the city to make it a showpiece.
“We want it to look good. So, if that means a few more millions dollars, as long as we can afford it, I want it to be a spectacular presence downtown.”
The expansion comes even before the completion of the college’s newest downtown campus location on Dundas Street just to the west of the Market Tower.
The first phase of Fanshawe’s Centre for Digital and Performance Arts was slated to open in September, but construction delays mean it likely won’t be ready until at least the middle of October.
Some 400 students will instead start their digital studies at the college’s main campus.
The phase is just part of a planned $40 million downtown campus that included plans to purchase additional buildings in the core.
Hospitality and Food Services are among the programs that could have a new headquarters in the core.
As for the city services currently housed in the building, London Mayor Joe Fontana says “Now, in order to facilitate Fanshawe moving to Market Tower, we’ve had to re-negotiate a lease - a very good lease - to move that personnel to the Bell Canada building.”
Bob Usher, general manager at the Covent Garden Market and a member of the Business Improvement Association, says the decision is great news for the downtown core.
“It will change the type of individual that is here. It will change the outlook of Londoners on the downtown and I think it’s all very, very positive.”
Rundle hopes the deal is finalized as soon as possible, and says the college will consider building residences for students downtown as well if demand increases.
It’s still unclear how many students will attend full-time classes at the Market Tower, but it is possible some unused space in the 200,000 square foot building could be leased to other community partners in the early stages. |
A girl eats cotton candy at a popular tourist area in Beijing. A university in northeastern China has banned students from displays of amorous affection on campus, prompting student ridicule at a time when schools are taking a more interfering role in the personal lives of students. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo
BEIJING, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Administrators at a university in northeastern China are taking heat after they issued a rule banning students from holding hands or romantically feeding each other in the school cafeteria.
Jilin Construction University in Changsha was the target of ridicule after introducing rules designed to eradicate "uncivilized behavior" among students, The Independent reported.
The list of unacceptable behavior includes amorous holding of hands and wrapping of arms around a partner. Loving gestures of spoon-feeding also are not allowed, according to the new rules, and surveillance equipment was installed in order to prevent the banned behavior.
"We have cameras covering the cafeteria to ensure safety. I'm pleased as it's necessary to prevent uncivilized behavior," said one cafeteria worker.
That rule, however, has been mocked. Students have described the move as "weird."
"[We] can't help laughing. It's the 21st century. As adults, we don't dare to behave so explicitly in public places. I never see lovers feed each other rice, so the norm is unnecessary," one student said.
Teachers, however, defended the rule because "improper behavior like kissing and hugging in public places such as the subway, have been [widely] revealed by the media," according to one unnamed teacher quoted in China's New Culture View newspaper.
RELATED China files complaint with John Kerry as maritime dispute grows
Any student in a romantic relationship is to have a private conversation with an assistant teacher, who is to tell them "not to have physical contact or engage in improper behavior on campus."
Not all are condemning the rules. One Chinese social media user said the rule is a "gift from the university to single students" ahead of "Single's Day" a commercialized holiday in China that provides shopping deals for China's uncommitted singles.
But the trend of overprotective or interfering measures over students' personal choice could be on the rise.
The BBC reported on Monday a college in the northwestern city of Xian recently required female but not male students to take a chastity pledge as part of a school course.
The pledge, shared on social media in China, read, "I promise to myself, my family, my friends and my future spouse and children that I will refuse all kinds of premarital intercourse before I step into a lifelong monogamous marriage."
The pledge was condemned as sexist by some commenters. |
If you are reading this article, there’s a good chance that you are working as a software tester or intend to. Congratulations…and sorry for you. Why should I be sorry for you? Because this is far from being the easiest job in the world and you probably have to defend your positions and idea almost every day. However, if you’re passionate about your job, then I’m sure that it’s a kind of pleasure to discuss about it, argument with people having a different point of view and explain them why you can congratulate yourself about having made the good choice with this activity.
So what are the misconceptions about Software testing you may have to discuss?
Testers are breaking the product
“I didn’t break the software. It was already broken when I got it.” – Michael Bolton
I love this one from M. Bolton. Of course testers don’t break the product: instead, just by using it, they try to dispel the illusion that everything works like a charm. Your developer friend will always say to you “it works” and I’m sure each time you hear this you have this strange feeling that something must be wrong somewhere. That’s normal, you’re a tester with this specific mindset who likes to explore things, check the known knowns, evaluate the known unknowns, try to reach the unknown unknowns. If you break something while testing, you’ll have to gather all information possible (logs, screenshots, steps to reproduce, environments involved, etc.) because your job is not to break the product (users will do this for you) but to give information to stakeholders about the state of the product.
You are a tester because you are not technical enough to be a developer
I started my career in IT as a developer. At the time the IDE was vi or emacs, and you needed to execute make in a terminal and wait for the end of compilation to know if what you did was correct or not. Trust me, it was not easy without a real IDE. I guess that if I had made the choice to continue as a developer then 15 years later I probably would not be that ‘bad’ developer we sometimes meet. Being a tester is most of the time a choice, because it’s a very exciting activity. Those who haven’t really practiced testing may think it is boring, and may spread the wrong idea that you don’t need any technical background to be good at it.
Of course, if you intend to develop automated checking, you will be far more efficient if you are a brilliant developer as it is far from easy. Besides, in order to understand some issues, and try to reproduce them, simply clicking on buttons within a browser won’t be enough: you need to understand the system under test, find and analyze the right server or client log, be able to use tools to slow down network, and a lot more. You can be a penetration tester, a security tester, an API tester… A software tester is not a dethroned developer who just clicks on buttons and cross his fingers waiting for a bug to magically appear.
Something does not work in production, it has not been well tested
What? I have already heard that sentence several times: “It works like a charm, congrats to developers”, and also that one: “There’s a problem in production, why did testers let this happen”. Why should ‘fame’ be for developers (and management of course) when everything is ok, and ‘shame’ be for testers when something is wrong? I hope this is no more the case, but it was usual some days in companies with blaming test cultures.
“Testing is not responsible for the bugs inserted into software any more than the sun is responsible for creating dust in the air.” – Dorothy Graham
It is impossible to test ‘everything’: even if, hypothetically, you think you covered 100% of the tests scenario, the next day may bring some surprises whose effects can not be predicted by anyone: update of a tier library, new configuration, new environment, etc.
“No amount of testing can prove a software right, a single test can prove a software wrong.” – Amir Ghahrai
Most of the time testers are part of the Quality Assurance department. This name (QA) is some kind of non-sense: testers cannot be held as the only people accountable for the software quality. Testers don’t take any decision regarding the issues to fix before the release, that’s the Product Owner responsibility. Testers cannot fix bugs, that’s the job of developers. Hence, as a tester, how could you assure Quality if you cannot improve the product by any way. Our job is to give information, we can only be responsible for not telling stakeholders what is not tested, not telling where a risk is, etc.
About the QA name and its misuse, I advise you to watch this video from @friendlytester
Testing is here to find all the bugs
“Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence” – Edsger Dijkstra
I think this is the perfect answer for this misconception. Besides the impossibility of testing everything, you will never find all the bugs. Just imagine you are testing an Android app and think about the Android fragmentation: based on that annual report from OpenSignal, 682,000 devices are surveyed. Even if you decide to support only one of them, let’s say a Samsung Galaxy S6, it is not only about the device itself, but also regarding the Android version, depending on where you bought it you may have an overlay software that your reseller added (like Orange). Similarly, if you decide to only support one model with one specific ROM, how many configuration options do you have in your software, in the client and in the server? There are probably so many configuration options in your software, client and server that it will lead to an infinity of possibilities. Specifically with smartphones, I’ve seen several issues reproducible on one device (the customer one) and not on another one (the one in test).
Testing can be automated
“It’s automation, not automagic.” – Jim Hazen
There are a lot of articles about checking versus testing, this one and this other one from James Marcus Bach and Michael Bolton are still a good reference even after the twitter storm about this perception of automation and personality of CDT (Context-Driven Testing) leaders. At least using checking (for what is done by a machine automated, or by a non-expert following steps without trying to find anything else that what is written in test cases) and testing (for all activities that a real human tester can do) helps to communicate and separates two kind of activities by using two distinct words easy to understand.
Testing is more than checking. Do you remember the last time you found an issue while testing something else? It happens almost all the time, I love serendipity of testing. Do you also remember observing a small glitch that only your eyes can see? Some elements flickering on the screen, a part of the product disappearing for an unknown reason… There is a high chance that automated checks executed by a computer will miss those (unless you specifically ask to check this part), but not your brain.
The main problem here is that some may think that everything can and should be automated. In fact, we should only automate most boring tests, those that are repeated numerous times with only a small variation, those that can be used with a lot of data as an input…not everything needs to be automated and must not be automated. Don’t forget that each test has a cost in development, running and maintenance.
Anyone can test
Anyone can code, anyone can play guitar, anyone can be a manager, anyone can be a CEO, anyone can cook..etc. As any other skill, testing needs experience, practice, learning. Being a real good tester requires a specific mindset. Though you may work very close to developers and far from real users, you still need to advocate for what is the best behavior for the product, and continuously stand your position for the good of future users. You also need to restrain any emotional involvement when issues are classified as “working as expected” because the code dictates the behavior.
“Pretty good testing is easy to do (that’s partly why some people like to say ‘testing is dead’ – they think testing isn’t needed as a special focus because they note that anyone can find at least some bugs some of the time). Excellent testing is quite hard to do.” – James Bach
Pointing at the weaknesses and unspotted issues in a product which has filled in the team with hope may not be well received at first, however remaining confident at that precise moment may spare your company, workmates and future users lots of hassle later.
To put it in a nutshell , not everyone can be a good tester.
Testing is done at the end
If you read above, you now know that testing is not clicking like a monkey in an interface in order to find all the bugs, and it’s not only checking at the end. You can test at any time, and you can test anything. You can test the requirements, the user stories, you can test before any line of code has been written. You can prepare your future test session with any documents given to you. You don’t only test a User Interface, but when available you can test an API, or the server with curl commands. As a tester, I also like to read code reviews. Even if I don’t have a lot of interesting comments to give (specifically with those weird javascript languages) it helps me understand what to test and sometimes I may find something inconsistent without waiting for the first Release Candidate ready to be tested.
“The more an issue is found early, the less it will cost to fix it” – Me
Testing can be estimated
You’ll never know in advance what you will find. This may be perceived as a weakness, but I have never been able to estimate a testing phase accurately. You can give an accurate estimate of testing only if you know everything about what you have to test. However, in order to have a good understanding of what is needed to be tested, you need to test, explore further and learn new things which will themselves lead to new tests and maybe to a scope change.
“Testing is an infinite process of comparing the invisible to the ambiguous in order to avoid the unthinkable happening to the anonymous.” – James Bach
Thanks for reading, and please if you have any comment, there’s a feature for this above. |
The Chinese have suffered a problem during the launch of the Indonesian Palapa-D communications satellite via a CZ-3B Chang Zheng-3B (CZ3B-12) launch vehicle. The launch took place at the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center, in Sichuan Province on Monday at 09:28 UTC, but failed to place the spacecraft in the required orbit – due to an issue with the CZ-3B’s third stage.
The Palapa-D satellite was scheduled to replace the Palapa-C2 (23864 1996-030A) satellite – which is due to come to the end of its life in 2011 – at 113.0 degrees East. It is unknown at this time if the spacecraft can be saved, though this is unlikely.
Latest reports from the Chinese State media – which appeared to undergo a news blackout for several hours after launch – claim the problem is related to a failure of third stage ignition.
The new satellite was ordered to Thales Alenia Space in July 2007 and is based on the Spacebus 4000B3 platform – which has a larger capacity than the Palapa-C2. It is equipped with 24 standard C-band, 11 extended C-band and 5 Ku-band transponders, and will cover Indonesia, ASEAN countries, Asia, Middle East and Australia.
See Also Chinese Forum Section
60 Launch Vehicle Manuals (L2)
Click here to Join L2 Palapa-D has a launch mass of 4,100 kg, a payload power of 6 kW and a service life time of 15 years.
The launch of Palapa-D is – or was as the case may be – part of a commitment drive by the Indonesian communications industry to provide services that include TV broadcasters, VSAT providers and other corporate customers.
The satellite was set to be used to support other services such as cellular communications, fixed voice telecommunications and fixed data services. The cost for the development and launch of the Palapa-D is between US$200 million and US$300 million.
China’s return to their launch manifest – after a four month lull – came via their most powerful vehicle in the fleet, the CZ-3B Chang Zheng-3B.
The CZ-3B features enlarged launch propellant tanks, better computer systems, a larger 4.2 meter diameter payload fairing and the addition of four strap-on boosters in the core stage for additional boost during the first phase of the launch.
The rocket is capable of launching a 11200 kg satellite to a low Earth orbit, or a 5100 kg cargo to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The vehicle has a total length of 54.84 meters and a core diameter of 3.35 meters.
The first launch of the CZ-3B took place on February 14, 1996 but ended in what is now known has the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”.
That failure occurred when the first CZ-3B stage suffered a problem just two seconds after lift-off, resulting in the vehicle listing heavily off the pad. With no range safety on board, the vehicle flew almost sideways for around a minute, before nose-diving into a nearby town, killing an untold amount of people. Recently unearthed raw video (30mb) of the launch, impact, and the aftermath are available on L2.
The first successful launch took place on August 19th, 1997 when the second CZ-3B orbited the Agila-2 ‘Mabuhay’ (24901 1997-042A) communications satellite. Palapa-Ds launch was the 13th use of the CZ-3B.
This was the 119th launch for the Chinese, the 118th launch of a Chang Zheng launch vehicle and the 51st orbital launch from the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Centre.
The Xi Chang Satellite Launch Centre is situated in the Sichuan Province, south-western China and is the country’s prime launch site for geosynchronous orbital launches.
Equipped with two launch pads (LC2 and LC3), the centre has a dedicated railway and highway lead directly to the launch site. The Command and Control Centre is located seven kilometers south-west of the launch pad, providing flight and safety control during launch rehearsal and launch.
Other facilities on the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Centre are the Launch Control Centre, propellant fuelling systems, communications systems for launch command, telephone and data communications for users, and support equipment for meteorological monitoring and forecasting.
The first launch from Xi Chang took place at 12:25 UTC on January 29, 1984, when the CZ-3 Chang Zheng-3 (CZ3-1) was launched the Shiyan Weixing (14670 1984-008A) communications satellite into orbit. |
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New York state's top prosecutor has made inquiries into Donald Trump's nonprofit foundation after questions about impropriety.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman revealed the inquiry on Tuesday, telling CNN that "we have been concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety," although he did not go into detail.
"We’ve inquired into it and we’ve had correspondence with them," Schneiderman said. "I didn’t make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference. We have been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York."
A source familiar with the matter later told NBC News that correspondence with the foundation began on June 9.
In response to the news, Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller released a statement calling Schneiderman "a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years and has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President."
He also called the inquiry a "left-wing hit job."
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The New York Attorney General's Charities Bureau, which oversees regulating nonprofits in the state, has asked about a $25,000 donation the Trump Foundation made in September 2013 to "And Justice for All" — a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
All nonprofits are barred from making politically-related contributions.
The Trump Foundation had 20 days to answer the Charities Bureau's letter. While the Trump campaign has previously declined to comment about the case, Trump during a campaign stop Monday in Ohio dismissed questions about the contribution, according to The Washington Post.
Trump paid a $2,500 penalty for failing to disclose the gift to the Internal Revenue Service, and representatives for the Trump Organization said he also paid back $25,000 to the foundation after the media began asking questions, the newspaper reported.
Trump Foundation treasurer Allen Weisselberg wrote in a June 28 letter to the attorney general that the error was first realized in March and was a "case of mistaken identity involving organizations with the same name."
Other questions by the attorney general had to do with the Trump Foundation supposedly paying $20,000 for a six-foot-tall portrait of Trump and four separate charities reportedly claiming they never received donations that the foundation said it gifted them.
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The amounts that the foundation said it donated included a $10,000 contribution in 2008, $5,000 in 2010 and $10,000 in 2012, according to The Post, which reported about the discrepancies last week but issued an update on Tuesday noting that at least three of the charities in question did in fact receive money.
The portrait was referenced by President Barack Obama on Tuesday while he stumped for Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia.
"One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives around the world," Obama said, referring to the Democratic presidential nominee's own charitable foundation run with former President Bill Clinton.
"The other candidate's foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a 6-foot-tall painting of himself. I mean, he had the taste not to go for the 10-foot version," Obama quipped.
Schneiderman, a Democrat who has endorsed Hillary Clinton and raised money for her campaign, has previously gone after one of Trump's ventures.
In 2013, he filed a $40 million civil lawsuit against Trump University claiming the online school had fleeced would-be real estate investors.
That trial is going forward, and another fraud trial against Trump University in a San Diego court is scheduled to begin Nov. 28. |
NREL Models The Increasing Use Of Wind & Solar On Eastern US Power Grid
September 6th, 2016 by Joshua S Hill
The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has modeled in “unprecedented detail” how the US eastern power grid could accommodate higher levels of wind and solar PV electricity generation.
Many have been the claims that existing power power grids are unable to deal with the influx of fluctuating renewable electricity such as wind and solar generated electricity. It is believed that the ageing nature of so many power grids around the world make them incompatible with the perceived future of widespread renewable energy, with its natural fluctuations that come with the sun rising and setting, and the wind blowing and not.
However, a new study representing work done by the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has used high-performance computing capabilities together with visualization tools to model, in what the NREL describes as “unprecedented detail,” how the power grid along the eastern United States could operationally accommodate higher levels of wind and solar PV electricity generation than are currently in place, but which are likely to be over the next decade.
Just how “unprecedented” is this study? Other studies which have attempted to detail these concerns have studied operations at one-hour intervals, however, the model used by NREL’s Eastern Renewable Generation Integration Study (ERGIS) analyzed a year of power grid operations at 5-minute intervals — that’s the same real-time interval used currently by grid operators.
“By modeling the power system in depth and detail, NREL has helped reset the conversation about how far we can go operationally with wind and solar in one of the largest power systems in the world,” said the Energy Department’s Charlton Clark, a DOE program manager for the study. “Releasing the production cost model, underlying data, and visualization tools alongside the final report reflects our commitment to giving power system planners, operators, regulators, and others the tools to anticipate and plan for operational and other important changes that may be needed in some cleaner energy futures.”
The study relied on a high-resolution model of the entire Eastern interconnection — which includes power traded in from Canada — and modeled more than 5,600 electricity generators and more than 60,000 transmission lines in a power system that spans the territory running from Florida to Maine, portions of Canada, and extends west as far as New Mexico. Four separate hypothetical scenarios were concocted, with varying levels of fossil fuels, wind, solar, and natural gas — including renewable energy penetration of up to 30%.
“Our work provides power system operators and regulators insights into how the Eastern Interconnection might operate in future scenarios with more wind and solar energy,” said Aaron Bloom, NREL project leader for the ERGIS study. “More importantly, we are sharing our data and tools so that others can conduct their own analysis.”
According to NREL, the findings from the ERGIS report shows that as wind and solar power generation increase:
The operation of traditional power sources (such as coal, natural gas, and hydropower) changes. Turning up or down more quickly to accommodate seasonal and daily variations of wind and solar in order to maintain the balance between demand and supply. In addition, traditional generators would likely operate for shorter periods of time as wind and solar resources meet more of the demand for electricity.
Flows of power across the Eastern Interconnection change more rapidly and more frequently. During periods of very high wind and solar generation (e.g., 40 percent or more of daily load), model regions trade frequently and in large volumes according to new net load patterns.
Regulatory changes, market design innovation, and flexible operating procedures are important to achieving higher levels of wind and solar. Looking at a year of operations at a 5-minute level, ERGIS shows that the power system can meet loads with variable resources — like wind and solar — in a variety of extreme conditions. However, technical feasibility depends on other transmission and generation operators providing the necessary ramping, energy, and capacity services; wholesale market design changes; and various capital expenditures, all of which will have financial and other implications that may need to be addressed and were outside of this study.
What’s interesting about these findings is that they appear (at time of writing, the NREL websites were having trouble, and I do not currently have access to the report in question) not to include the use of battery storage technology to mitigate any of the variance found in renewable energy generation. This further underscores the mis-truths that have been portrayed — namely, that it appears at least the eastern US power grid will be able to stand up to more fluctuations than originally suspected. Integration with battery storage will only serve to further solidify renewable energy’s position in the future energy mix. |
DOTA 2 is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The game is the stand-alone sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), which was a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion pack, The Frozen Throne. DOTA 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a powerful character, known as a “hero”, who all have unique abilities and differing styles of play.
We are proud to present licensed DOTA 2 Hero collectibles in collaboration with Valve and Shapeways. The collectibles are designed by BMK and the growing collection hosts favorite heroes from DOTA 2. The collection is being featured at Shapeways currently as a flagship product for the new licensing agreement. Valve has plans to integrate this into the Valve workshop and subsequently bring it to the DOTA 2 Marketplace. |
We know by now what the Flames have in their forward ranks. They have one of the best 2-way lines in the entire NHL featuring Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik. They have a pair of young, prolific scorers in Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. They have Sam Bennett, who could be really good but has struggled throughout the season. They have a couple veterans who can be shuffled around the top-9, the versatile bargain Kris Versteeg and Troy “full of leadership but not that great at other things” Brouwer. Then there is a collection of 4th line forwards, featuring Matt Stajan, Micheal Ferland, Alex Chiasson, Lance Bouma, Garnet Hathaway and Freddie Hamilton. Add it all up, you have 8 top-9 forwards and 6 players that should not be playing much more than 4th line minutes.
The Flames are short one top-9 forward, meaning someone regularly has to play out of their depth. That guy is usually Alex Chiasson. Although he is an NHL player and has things to offer, his ceiling is rather limited. The Flames could really use one more top-9 guy, preferably someone who can play on the right-wing. As of right now, Troy Brouwer and Kris Versteeg are the only two right-shots in the top-9 and Versteeg prefers to be deployed on the left-side. Conversely, Frolik is a left-shot that prefers to play on the right-side. There is an opening on the right-wing and currently there is nobody within the organization that appears ready to step in and contribute offensively. An external acquisition is likely required.
All of this being considered, the Flames need to be smart here (and I am sure they will be). While they are very much in the mix for the playoffs, it could go either way at this point. Even if they do make the playoffs, it would take a run of upsets similar to 2004 for them to make serious noise in the playoffs. Therefore, a rental is not the right way to go about this. But, there are plenty of teams close to the cap, teams that are at risk of losing good players in the expansion draft and players that could use a change of scenery. There are opportunities for the Flames to improve their team at varying levels of cost and some of these players could be acquired before the trade deadline.
The Flames current situation at forward in regards to the expansion draft is really good. Monahan, Gaudreau, Bennett, Backlund and Frolik are locks to be protected. Tkachuk is exempt. The Flames can protect two more forwards. At this point, Troy Brouwer and Micheal Ferland seem the most likely candidates to be protected. However, if the Flames are able to upgrade their forward group, they would not be hurt by exposing one of those guys (preferably Brouwer) and be able to keep the new player for the long haul.
The Flames also have some tradable assets they could leverage to acquire help. Not from the forward ranks of course, but the Flames are loaded with some quality prospects and have a full slate of draft picks for the upcoming draft. For a significant upgrade they would likely need to include one of their top young defensemen from the organization, like Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington, Brandon Hickey, Adam Fox or Brett Kulak. While it would sting to see one of those guys go (please, not Kylington) you have to give up something to get something. Other prospects the Flames could leverage would include Emile Poirier, Morgan Klimchuk and Hunter Shinkaruk, all with varying amounts of value.
All that being said, here are some possible targets that I have accumulated. Who knows if these guys are actually available, but I think that any of them could be possible. Some could come pretty cheap, others more costly. None of these guy are elite and are going to be singlehandedly lead the team into the playoffs, but they are attainable and could improve the situation as a whole. Here are some candidates, in no particular order, that I think could be a part of a solution to the forward group.
C Nick Bjugstad (Florida Panthers) 24 Years Old, $4.1 M per through 2020-21
25 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 12 PIM, -10, 49.7% CF
Nick Bjugstad has had a very bad season so far. 1 goal in 25 games is not inspiring at all. However, the guy has a solid track record of 34 to 43 points in each of the 3 previous seasons. Furthermore, the guy is a 6-foot-6 right shooting centre. If he could be shifted to the wing, that could be an interesting presence on a line with Monahan and Gaudreau.
Verdict: Lots to like, rough season could make him a cheaper acquisition. The 4 years left on his contract would be an anchor if he does not rebound.
C Ryan Strome (New York Islanders) 23 Years Old, $2.5 M per through 2017-18
49 GP, 8, 13 A, 31 PIM, -4, 44.7% Cf
Ryan Strome has had a pretty up and down career with the Islanders so far, so it is possible the Islander would be willing to move on from him, for the right price. In the 14-15 season, he had 50 points in 81 games, but last season he dropped to 28 in 71 games and was sent to the AHL for a couple of weeks. This season he has been a healthy scratch at times. While his offensive stats are decent, his possession numbers are terrible, although to be fair, many Islanders have similar numbers.
Why target Strome? Once again, he is a right-shot. He had a very good junior career and has produced at times in the NHL. He is only 23 so he would be an acquisition for the long-term. Plus he only has a cap hit of $2.5 M for this season and the next one, so he would be very affordable. A player with the skill to fit on the Monahan or Bennett lines.
Verdict: If the Islanders would be willing to move him, I think trading a second round pick and a prospect like Emile Poirier would be worth a shot.
Nail Yakupov (St. Louis Blues) 23 Years Old, $2.5 M this season, then RFA
31 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 10 PIM, -6, 52.3% CF
Haha I know right? Sounds crazy. But honestly, is it that much crazier than continuing to trot out Alex Chiasson with your high calibre scoring forwards? Yakupov has had flashes of brilliance, but has generally had a very disappointing career. The toxic environment in Edmonton likely had plenty to do with that, alongside his apparent inability to play in NHL systems.
But, he is a right-wing. St. Louis barely paid anything for him and hardly plays him, so he would not cost much at all. He is an RFA at the end of the year, so try him out and if it does not work, let him walk. The guy scored at an elite level in the OHL. He has scored at a 0.41 points per game pace in the NHL. That really is not bad at all. Definitely not first overall calibre, but absolutely NHL calibre. Plus, Gulutzan has proven to be a patient coach, similar to Ralph Krueger, the coach under whom Yakupov had his greatest success with. I would not mind giving him a tryout on a scoring line.
Verdict: If he could be had for a late pick or a fringe prospect, I don’t see what there is to lose.
Gustav Nyquist (Detroit Red Wings) 27 Years Old, $4.75 M per through 2018-19
54 GP, 7 G, 21 A, 10 PIM, -6, 48.4% CF
Like Bjugstad, Nyquist is another talented forward that is having a bit of a down year compared to previous seasons. While he is still going along at just over half a point a game, his goal totals have drastically dropped, where he is on pace for just over 10, when in previous seasons he has scored 28 (in 57 games!), 27 and 17. While he is not a right-shot, he does play right-wing and he is a skilled player. He is signed on for two more years at a fairly reasonable $4.75 M a season. He could definitely fit in with some of the talented forwards on the Flames at even-strength and could contribute on the powerplay. Detroit has fallen off this season and may look to begin retooling, so they may be willing to listen on Nyquist.
Verdict: It may cost the Flames and he has been trending downward the past couple of seasons, but he is worth checking in on. Same with his teammate, Tomas Tatar.
Marko Dano (Winnipeg Jets) 22 Years Old, On Final Year of ELC Deal
28 GP, 3 G, 7 A, 8 PIM, +2, 48.8 CF%
Marko Dano is a somewhat under the radar player, but I catch a good amount of Winnipeg games and I think he would be a great fit for the Flames. He is young and has not produced a ton in the NHL yet, so he would not have high salary demands going forward. He is a skilled player that plays the right-wing and he is willing to be physical and go to dirty areas.
He could be available too. As it stands, the Jets will likely protect 4 defensemen (Dustin Byfgulien, Toby Enstrom, Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers). 3 forwards are guaranteed to be protected (Bryan Little, Blake Wheeler and Mark Schiefele). That leaves Dano, Matheiu Perrault (another player who could be a good trade target), Joel Armia, Adam Lowry as expansion eligible players and only one of those guys can be protected. If they are going to expose Dano, it would be smart for the Flames to look at picking him up from the Jets.
Verdict: If they could flip a prospect or pick for him, I think Dano would be a great pick up.
Anthony Duclair (Arizona Coyotes) 21 Years Old, Final Year of ELC Deal
41 GP, 3 G, 6 A, 14 PIM, -8, 46.9% CF
The Coyotes already offered this guy to the Flames in the past. The problem was, their ask was Dougie Hamilton. However, that was before this season, when Duclair was coming off a strong rookie season. This year has been terrible for Duclair. He has been sent to the AHL, he is not producing and apparently he may be getting shopped. He’s a young player that has shown he can produce in the past, so if Arizona is willing to be reasonable this time around, it could be worth a look.
Verdict: May not add a significant amount of value this year but an intriguing addition for the long-haul, at the right cost.
Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay Lightning) 26 Years Old, $3.33 Million, RFA in July
54 GP, 16 G, 17 A, 28 PIM, -8, 48.8% CF
Tampa is in trouble with both their salary cap and expansion draft situations. They are likely going to lose one forward out of Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn and Ondrej Palat. I would be interested in any of those players if I were Brad Treliving, but Johnson may be the most likely to shake free. While he is not a big guy at 5-foot-8, he has produced at the NHL level, including a career high 72 points in 14-15. He is a right-shot, so while he may not be a great fit for playing with Johnny Gaudreau, he could be a solid add to Sam Bennett or Mikael Backlund’s lines.
His next contract will include a raise, but it is not likely to be unaffordable. He would provide a boost in skill to the top-9 and since Tampa has struggled this season, they may be willing to trade him before the deadline.
Verdict: Not the perfect fit due to his size, but adding his skill level would make it worth a shot. He has been great in the playoffs too.
Jordan Eberle (Edmonton Oilers) 26 Years Old, $6M per through 2018-19
55 GP, 11 G, 21 A, 12 PIM, -3, 51.3% CF
This will not happen, but it is an interesting thought. There are a lot of rumours flying about on how Jordan Eberle needs a change of scenery and that the Oilers would like to rid themselves of his salary for the upcoming Draisaitl and McDavid contracts. On the Flames’ end, Eberle could really help the team. He is a goal scoring right-winger. He would provide a massive upgrade to the Flames forward group and could easily fit in with the Monahan or Bennett lines.
It will not happen though. This trade would help out both Alberta teams too much for it to occur. I would hate to think of what prospects the Flames would send to Edmonton and if they ended up punishing the Flames for years to come. It is also unlikely the Oilers would trade a player like Eberle when they are on the verge of finally making the playoffs.
Verdict: Player would help, not worth trading with the Oilers for.
All salary information courtesy of CapFriendly.
All Possession numbers from CORSICA. |
Sometimes you want to change the behavior of a function call in a Python test. Let's assume you have the following code:
# a.py from b import subfunc def func (): # do something subfunc ( 1 , 2 ) # do something else # b.py def subfunc ( a , b = 1 ): # step1 # step2 # step3
You are testing the func function and would to change the behavior of step2 in subfunc without affecting step1 or step3.
Mocking: Replacement Function One way to solve this would be to mock the entire subfunc : def test_func ( monkeypatch ): def _mocked ( a , b = 1 ): # step1 # step3 monkeypatch . setattr ( 'b.subfunc' , _mocked ) # do testing of func() (Note, all example code assumes that you're using pytest with the monkeypatch fixture. But you can also use other testing frameworks and the mock library instead.) But that would require you to copy the body of the function and adjust it as desired. This violates the DRY principle and could be a source of bugs (e.g. if step1 and step3 change later on). |
Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs/Divine Fits member Dan Boeckner formed Operators in 2013 with New Bomb Turks/Divine Fits drummer Sam Brown and multi-instrumentalist Devojka. The band then released EP1 in 2014. Today, Operators have announced their debut album, Blue Wave, and shared its first single, "Cold Light," which you can hear above. The album is out April 1 via Last Gang Records, and it was produced by Holy Fuck's Graham Walsh (Metz, Alvvays, Viet Cong). Check out the album art below.
Operators have also announced that they'll head out on tour in support of Blue Wave. See the tour dates below, too.
In other Boeckner news, his band Wolf Parade are back after an indefinite hiatus that began in 2011. They're working on new music and will play their first shows in five years.
Operators:
02-17 Waterloo, Ontario - Starlight Social Club
02-18 Hamilton, Ontario - The Casbah
02-19 Toronto, Ontario - Call the Office
02-20 Saint Catherine, Ontario - Detour Music Hall
02-24 Saint Therese, Quebec - Cha Cha
02-25 Ottawa, Ontario - Ritual
02-26 Petersborough, Ontario - Red Dog
02-27 Kingston, Ontario- The Grad Club
03-28 Chicago, IL - Schubas
03-29 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
03-30 Omaha, NE - Reverb Lounge
04-01 Denver, CO - Lost Lake Lounge
04-03 Spokane, WA - The Bartlett
04-04 Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
04-05 Vancouver, British Columbia - Fortune Sound Club
04-06 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
04-08 San Francisco, CA - Social Hall SF
04-09 Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theatre
04-10 San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
04-11 Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar
04-13 Austin, TX - The Sidewinder
04-14 Dallas, TX - Three Links
04-15 Houston, TX - The Raven Tower
04-16 New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
04-17 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
04-19 Washington, DC - DC9
04-21 Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right
04-22 Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
04-23 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Upstairs
Watch Operators perform "True" at Pitchfork Nightcap in Portland: |
Welcome to the first in a series of pieces about the Hunter x Hunter franchise; more specifically, a in-depth analysis between Nippon Animation’s original adaptation of the show, from 1999, and the more recent brilliant 2011 adaptation from Madhouse. Today’s focus will start perhaps the most comprehensive comparison of the two versions to date. (Also, this is NOT about “which is better”- that’s a different conversation and a totally subjective one at that.)
Hunter x Hunter. Just thinking about the show brings a rush of memories and moments to my head, not coincidentally involving a lot of Killua Zoldyck, one of my personal favorite characters, and his best friend, series protagonist Gon Freeccs. However, this article is not primarily about character building, themes, or the usual potpourri entailed in our reviews, both written and filmed, but rather, the most (or is it the first?) in-depth journey of both anime adaptations that exist for the franchise- the original 1999 adaption from Nippon Animation, and its subsequent OVA’s, or original video animations that only saw release in Japan, and Madhouse’s highly acclaimed, well loved 2011 version which retold the entire story from the ground up, and added two additional arcs as well- the Chimera Ant and Chairman Election.
To start with a bit of a primer: If you don’t know this series, turn around now if you wish to avoid spoilers. If you fall in this category and wish to continue, know that Hunter x Hunter is a franchise created by Yoshihiro Togashi, initially as a manga series, which has the unusual position of being adapted into two high quality anime (and that I’ve wrote a review of the most recent version). If you haven’t watched it, either version is fine but this author’s suggestion is the 2011 version, which you can find on Netflix and across the Internet, with an excellent English sub, while the dub is still coming out on Toonami as of this writing (and recent episodes can be found on their site.) If you want further information, you can also reference the graded review I’ve linked above for 2011, and if you’d like to get a better grasp on the characters, I wrote a piece about Killua. As for everyone else, you know what happens, so we’ll dive in for real now.
The 1999 anime from Nippon is not quite as well known, but covers the same territory as the 2011 version, stretching from the Hunter Exam to roughly three-quarters of the Yorknew City arc in its initial 62 episode run. The OVA’s, or original video animations, which were released after its initial Japanese run at the turn of the millennium, finished Yorknew and added the entirety of Greed Island. However, these OVAs ended in 2004, and with them, so did Nippon’s involvement with Hunter x Hunter. As a result, the focus of this study will be from the Hunter Exam to Greed Island, which is covered up to episode 75 in Madhouse’s version. While this covers a great deal of territory, don’t expect (spoilers!) Knuckle, Palm, Morel, Ikalgo, Meruem, or any other characters exclusively from the Ant arc onward to appear here… but most of HxH’s major players appear by the end of Greed Island as it stands, and the material that is comparable turns out to be a very fulfilling comparison as is.
While there are some key differences (which we’ll be covering most, if not all of them), and a slew of smaller ones (mostly pertaining to aesthetics and animation), the two versions largely follow the same track through the arcs that will be focused on. However, one of 2011’s defining hallmarks was its tighter focus on the original manga material, and so some sneaky “filler” in ’99’s adaptation was either omitted or never came up. Aside from analyzing the episodes themselves, one way to know this is the episode count: It took Madhouse 75 episodes to cover the exact same ground as Nippon, whose entire adaptation topped out at 90 episodes with OVAs included. So the question begs itself: What changed in 15 extra episodes? As you’ll see, the answer will become quite clear.
ARC 1: THE HUNTER EXAM
(Nippon ’99, Episodes 1-30, Madhouse ’11, Episodes 1-21)
Ah, the place that started it all- the Hunter Exam. Fraught with danger, a whimsical sense of adventure, and the first glimpse into the expansive world and cast of Hunter x Hunter, it also boasts the distinction of being the most classic to form shonen arc in the entire show. Immediately, you may have noticed the episode discrepancy in the beginning of the section. There’s a answer to that, but the first comparisons to make are with our main cast. Being the start of the entire franchise, the arc gives us our four main characters- Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio- but it also introduces a slew of other notable and important recurring characters as well, from Hisoka and Illumi, to Hunter Chairman Issac Netero. So to begin, we’ll start with pictures (Hey, this is an animated show- it matters!)
GON FREECSS
1999 2011
KILLUA ZOLDYCK
1999 2011
LEORIO PARDKNIGHT
1999 2011
KURAPIKA
1999 2011
From top to bottom, you can see the main foursome have retained their distinct characteristics and identities in the transition from ’99 to ’11, though there are varying degrees of differences. Compared to some of the other cast members though, the differences are rather minor, as you’ll come to discover.
Starting with Gon, you’ll see his basic design hasn’t changed too drastically, but he is actually a tad shorter in the ’99 anime (picture notwithstanding), and his shorts are actually a bit longer…or is it his legs? Another thing to note about Gon and the rest of the characters in their style comparisons is these of far brighter colors and slightly thinner looking models. Ultimately, the change in art direction made everyone in Hunter x Hunter look sharper, but at least personally, I like the style of both anime adaptations, as it’s also one of the main factors that sets them apart. Gon also has spiker hair that seems a bit taller in his 2011 model against his ’99 one, and this slight change also seems to work just fine. Gon’s outfit remains mostly the same, but his boots are solid green and white in Madhouse’s version, removing the brown laces and tops, and his jacket no longer has black cuffs and collars.
Next up is Killua, who out of the main cast received the biggest overhaul from ’99 to 2011. Aside from the palette and general model shifts that are present in all 2011 versions of the characters, Killua has been updated in a way that makes his character a little fluffier, starting with his hair. It goes more evenly around in its distinct, messy style instead of out like in ’99’s version, and while still detailed, is less so comparatively. His eyes have also been altered too, making them more expressive, and his face thinned out a little so he’s a more believable 12 year old. Killua’s signature outfit that he wears during the Hunter Exam is fundamentally the same, but the colors have been altered to a brighter palette, and his shorts have been made gray, longer and slightly baggier, and his legs appear thinner as well. Finally, his shoes are roughly the same design, but received the same brighter coloration in line with the rest of his model. Of course, Killua wears more distinctly different outfits than anyone else over the course of Hunter x Hunter, but for his basic model comparison, we’re sticking with his signature appearance, which is from this very first arc of the show.
Following the two boys is Kurapika, who of the four received the least amount of tweaking model-wise. While Kurapika shares the newer brighter colors and slightly thinner body notable in Madhouse’s version, there’s not much different aside from his feet (where he has socks in 1999, and a slightly different shade of blue for the shoes), and his eyes, which also get slightly more expressive in the newer version. Kurapika may in fact be the least changed character, model wise, from 1999 to 2011, perhaps a testament to great design in the first place, or that there’s only so many ways to do the distinct outfits he wears. However, the biggest change isn’t pictured: the representation of the scarlet eyes in animation between ’99 and ’11.
Finally, Leorio receives some slight tweaking from his 1999 version, his hair being noticeably more spiky, and his suit a little more form fitting, accentuating his height. His briefcase, which in the picture here only can be seen in Nippon’s version, was also redesigned in 2011, sporting a red a black checkered pattern on the front. Overall, Leorio’s appearance can be described as “sharpened” between the two versions.
Admittedly, a lot of aesthetic differences can easily be spotted just by looking at the main cast. The most noticeable is that the original ’99 anime was at the tail end of the era where shows were mostly hand-drawn, and the shading and lines are distinctly different than a modern 2-D anime with computer shading. There is more detail in some ways from the original anime, be it the individual strands of Killua’s hair to the wrinkles in clothes, and while some nuances are lost in transition, other positives are gained as well; 2011’s models have a much brighter color palette compared to the relatively muted tones of 1999, which is typical of the overall transition in the industry from hand-painted cels to computer shading.
As for the Hunter Exam arc itself, there are several differences between the two versions; 1999’s could be considered more “substantial,” featuring an entire (well-done) extra leg of the Exam, while 2011’s remains more faithful to the manga version, save a few instances. Let’s dive in.
Gon’s Backstory: The First Appearance of Kite (1999: Episode 1, 2011: Episode 76)
In the 1999 anime, the first episode starts by featuring a younger Gon in danger from a adult foxbear, a larger predatory animal. As he is about to be killed by the creature, a mysterious man appears, and using a katana takes out the foxbear, sparing Gon. It turns out to be Kite, a Double Star Hunter who came to Whale Island searching for someone… This scene is actually faithful to the first issue of the Hunter x Hunter manga, whereas it occurs as a flashback in 2011’s version in episode 76, the starting point of the Chimera Ant arc. Because chances are that we won’t be revisting Kite in this series, here’s a quick comparison of his character models:
KITE
1999 2011
We can continue to compare the scenes. In 2011’s, Gon is slapped by Kite afterwards, an action that is praised at a different point by Ging Freeccs, his dad. Ging’s Hunter License is left in the care of Gon (as Kite had been carrying it), but in ’99 is specifically wedged in a tree. Finally, Gon protects the orphaned foxbear cub in both versions, but only in 1999 do we get to see the efforts of his results as he raises the cub; the fully grown foxbear is incredibly fond of Gon, who obviously spent a great deal of time with it growing up (and considering he didn’t have a human friend until Killua, this makes lots of sense.)
Journey To the Hunter Exam Site (1999: Episodes 1-5, 2011: Episode 1-3)
In both versions, Gon travels with Leorio and Kurapika on the captain’s ship from Whale Island to the next city. However, in 1999, two entire episodes are spent on the island, including a filler episode where Gon meets Leorio at the port instead of on the ship (and also showcased Leorio arm-wrestling, and Gon’s connection with animals.) As with many of the supporting characters, the captain also has different colors for his clothes and model than 2011:
CAPTAIN
1999 2011
(In both versions, the trio bond on the ship after a rough night at sea.) Upon arriving in Zaban City, Leorio turns around and heads up the mountain with Gon and Kurapika after momentary hesitation. In ’99, he actually gets on the bus at first, only to realize it’s going in circles.
In both versions, the trio must pass the trivia test, though in 2011 it shows the aftermath. (Leorio also goes ballistic in both.) The mountain guide scene goes relatively the same, as does the initial confusion over the fact that the restaurant and not the church is the actual entrance to the Exam. The 2011 version also gets to the actual Exam quicker; it only uses 3 episodes for the journey as opposed to 5 for 1999.
The Hunter Exam: Part 1 (1999: Episodes 6-8, 2011: Episodes 4-6)
Ah, Tonpa the “Rookie Crusher.” (I know that’s what y’all were waiting for- he’s the real threat to everyone.) Model aside, he’s peddling spiked laxative juices in 2011, something that immediately makes Gon and company suspicious, and that Killua actually drinks with no ill effects, thanks to poison immunity. In ’99, Tonpa instead plays coy to begin, has no juice, and deceives the the trio initially. Killua also does not speak until he talks to Gon in the first phase, simply eying him in his first-on screen appearance. He also does not intially give his name to Gon, but in both versions dismounts his skateboard. The 1999 version also has an extended part to the first leg of the exam: a booby-trapped passage filled with poisonous sap. Tonpa brings an exhausted Leorio and Nicholas (remember him?) here to die: while the latter is driven insane, the former, along with Gon and Kurapika who cam back to check on him, are saved by flash grenades from Killua- actual tools of the trade.
TONPA
1999 2011
HISOKA MORROW
1999 2011
Hisoka also makes his first appearance. Most notably, the ’99 version has Hisoka sporting blue hair during the Exam as opposed to his usual red, which appears from the Heavens Arena arc onwards. In 2011, he gets that amazing Spanish guitar theme and the really flashy trick where he disintegrates an applicant’s arms; in ’99 he merely scares the crap out of a guy with his usual card-throwing tricks. Take a look:
Either way, you can’t say Hisoka doesn’t make quite the first impression.
Finally, there’s the first examiner of the phases: Satotz. Sporting his distinct hair and mustache-without-a mouth combo, he’s very similar in both versions, the most noticable difference being the stride he uses to lead the group of applicants to the next stage. In 2011 he has an exaggerated step with an arm swing that despite its strangeness, covers a lot of ground quickly. In 1999, it’s much more of a very fast walk.
SATOTZ
1999 2011
In 2011, Gon and Killua have a footrace to the end of the underground tunnel, in which they tie at the end. In both versions, the man-faced ape attempting to deceive the applicants in the swamp is killed by Hisoka’s cards, followed by praise and a warning of expulsion from Satotz. Also true to both is the swamp encounter where Hisoka “plays Examiner,” and becomes acquainted with Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika; notably, this is still one of the only combat scenes in the entire series for Leorio (and he doesn’t do much here except take an anchor punch to the face.) Finally, Gon and Kurapika manage to barely make it to the second phase in both versions- the latter’s sharp sense of smell being the reason they make it.
The next installment will finish the Hunter Exam, starting with Phase 2 featuring Menchi and Buhara, and will also talk about the special “bonus phase” only present in the 1999 anime! Feel free to leave a comment.
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Welcome to the official website for the Playa Hermosa Artificial Reef Project, located just north of Playas del Coco in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The project has been affectionately nicknamed “Condo-Fish” for the fish habitats, or “condominiums,” that we have constructed here.
So far, things are moving along swimmingly. This is the first project of it’s kind to be approved by the Costa Rican government. The fish and aquatic plant life are taking well to their homes and multiple species have already begun laying eggs on the structures. We see more and more life each time we scuba dive down to it. Our History section gives a detailed story of how this project started and where it’s headed. To read more about the drive and energy behind this venture please read the message from the founder.
For those interested in supporting the The Playa Hermosa Artificial Reef Project, Condofish units are now available for adoption 10 meters (30 feet) below the surface. How to Adopt a Reef?
Read Latest Updates to see our most recent news about the project.
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Hey all! We did it! Parkitect is funded, and we can make this awesome game a reality. We really couldn't have done it without you, and let's be honest, it was all you. Thank you so, so much from us on the team! We're so excited to be able to make this game for you, and we can't wait to show you more as development continues.
So where do we go from here? We have 10 days left to push this campaign as far as we can. Every little bit helps us make Parkitect a better, bigger game. All of you have done so much already, but if you could keep sharing the kickstarter and the game around. Really, anything helps.
We're gonna keep working away on the game, and we'll post a few more updates before the time runs out. There's also our Tumblr, TIGSource and Twitter for more frequent game-related stuff. Stay tuned!
Thanks again everyone!
-Garret, Sebastian and Gordon |
Welcome to the War of Omens wiki. This is a collaborative guide and knowledge base that you can edit! It aims to document everything related to Fifth Column Games' War of Omens.
War of Omens is a Collectible Card Game (CCG) created by Fifth Column Games, and is in active development with weekly content releases. So far, the game contains four unique Factions, each with it's own distinct gameplay and cards. Each faction contains several different Heroes, which mixes up the gameplay even further. The game offers three modes of play: A Campaign mode, which tells the story of one of the Heroes; Skirmish against AI-opponents of different skill and card levels; as well as Multiplayer and a Tournament format against other players. The game is available for play in several locations: Facebook, Kongregate and it's own website, as well as on mobile for Android and iOS devices. It completed Steam Greenlight on August 13, 2014.
Content Edit |
Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) today announces new, nonstop flights from Memphis, Tennessee, New Orleans and Richmond, Virginia to Jacksonville, Florida. The company, known for its exceptional travel deals, is offering one-way fares for as low as $39.*
"We are truly pleased to add these three new flights to Jacksonville in such a short time period after launching service in 2015," said Jude Bricker, Allegiant senior vice president of planning. "We are confident that travelers from Memphis, New Orleans and Richmond will embrace our convenient, low-fare flights, bringing even more visitors and economic growth to the Jacksonville area."
Year-round nonstop service to Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) from:
New Orleans - Begins April 14, 2016 with fares as low as $39*
Memphis, Tennessee - Begins April 15, 2016 with fares as low as $39*
Richmond, Virginia - Begins April 15, 2016 with fares as low as $39*
The new flights will operate twice weekly and expand on the routes Allegiant currently operates to Jacksonville International Airport (JAX). With these three new flights, Allegiant will now serve five markets to the Jacksonville area after launching its first flights in 2015. The new flights will bring more than 50 thousand additional visitors each year to the Jacksonville area. Flight days, times and the lowest fares can only be found at Allegiant.com.
"With the announcement of nonstop flights to New Orleans, Richmond and Memphis, Allegiant will now provide service to five communities from JAX," Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) CEO Steve Grossman said. "Our community's support of these flights is critical for travelers."
Allegiant offers a unique travel option to Jacksonville travelers. Focusing on low-cost leisure travel, the company provides customers with low base fares averaging nearly half of the cost of the average domestic round-trip fare. Allegiant's innovative business model has allowed the company to grow from one aircraft and one route just over a decade ago, to providing convenient, affordable service in over 100 communities nationwide.
*About the introductory one-way fares:
Seats are limited. Price includes taxes and fees. Fares are one way and not available on all flights. Must be purchased by Jan. 13, 2016 for travel by Aug. 16, 2016. Price displayed reflects purchase by debit card; purchase by credit card subject to surcharge not to exceed $8 each way per passenger. See Allegiant.com for details. For optional services and baggage fees, please visit Allegiant.com. Additional restrictions may apply.
About Allegiant
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ: ALGT) is focused on linking travelers in small cities to world-class leisure destinations. The company operates a low-cost, high-efficiency, all-jet passenger airline through its subsidiary, Allegiant Air, while also offering other travel-related products such as hotel rooms, rental cars, and attraction tickets. All can be purchased through the company website, Allegiant.com. The company has been named one of America's 100 Best Small Companies by Forbes Magazine for five consecutive years. In 2014, AVIATION WEEK ranked Allegiant the Top-Performing Airline in North America for the third consecutive year.
Source: Jacksonville Aviation Authority |
The editorial staff of Wellesley College’s student newspaper recently wrote that anyone who dares utter a politically incorrect thought should be met with “hostility.”
The editorial started out as an explainer about why there’s not a free speech problem on their campus and that their reputation as “house flowers who cannot exist in the real world” is entirely unfair. Then things get weirder. The student editors say it’s fine to suppress and deny people the right to speak their minds if their thoughts offend others.
“We have all said problematic claims,” the editorial reads. “Luckily most of us have been taught by our peers and mentors at Wellesley in a productive way.”
If that doesn’t sound like it was ripped from a dystopian novel, what comes next is truly Orwellian: “If people are given the resources to learn and either continue to speak hate speech or refuse to adapt their beliefs, then hostility may be warranted.” In other words, if you say things some people find offensive, then there will be physical consequences.
In late March, six professors at the liberal arts college asked the school to rescind invitations to controversial speakers because they worried the invited speakers’ ideas might upset some of the students.
“There is no doubt that the speakers in question impose on the liberty of students, staff, and faculty at Wellesley,” the professors wrote in an email.
This weird interpretation of free speech — that saying offensive or politically incorrect things deprives others of rights — is not exclusive to the faculty. Here’s how the student editorial staff describes the objective of free speech: “The spirit of free speech is to protect the suppressed, not a free-for-all where anything is acceptable, no matter how hateful and damaging.”
Hoo boy.
The newspaper has since hidden the editorial behind a login page. It’s unclear if the editorial was masked by this landing page in an effort to shield it from further public scrutiny, or if this is in response to a overload of traffic.
But you can read most of the juicy bits in the screen grab below.
The Wellesley editorial advocating a hostile response to nonconformist speech seems limited access now. Grabbed:; https://t.co/GD5t4bcWg2 pic.twitter.com/dETquYo8v2 — Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) April 14, 2017
Calls to the Wellesley College news desk went unreturned. |
By Nathan Powers
Nudists (or “naturists” as some prefer to be referred to), have been the brunt of many a joke for many years. However, the truth of the matter is that living a nudist lifestyle may actually be far better for you, physically, ecologically and economically.
That dirty word – “Laundry”
Let’s start with the obvious. Nudists tend to wear as little clothing as possible, usually nothing at all, as often as possible or whenever conditions allow. Most live in climates that are tropical enough to maximize this opportunity. Wearing less clothing means washing less clothing and washing the clothing that they own less frequently, requiring the repair and replacement of clothing less often. They also tend to have less of a wardrobe, requiring less storage space. So here, we are seeing a saving in money spent on laundry detergents, gas and electricity to operate a washer and dryer, replacement clothing and repair costs, home closet or storage space. We also see less chlorine, phosphates, ozone and carbon dioxide pumped into the environment as well as a reduction in health issues related to exposure to the chemicals needed for properly washing clothing. (Chlorine bleach is one of the deadliest chemicals we can expose ourselves to).
Cooling Down
Since for practicality reasons, most nudists live in either tropical or subtropical regions, many homes and businesses in those regions have some form of air conditioning. Nudists can save money and as in the case of laundry, the environment, by being able to turn up the thermostat a few degrees and allowing the natural cooling system provided in our bodies to do it’s job. Also, if things get a little too hot, it is very easy to simply jump in a cool shower or hose off for a second or two with having to take the time to get undress and redressed. Besides, who wants to throw those sweaty clothing back on right after a shower.
Health Costs
There are other bonuses as well. It has recently been found that exposure to natural sunlight is far healthier to the human body than attempting to hide from the sun altogether. Regulated exposure to natural sunlight lets the body naturally produce all of the Vitamin “D” it needs to ward off a host of deadly and debilitating diseases, cancers and conditions, including MS, ALS, osteoporosis, breast, ovarian, prostate and brain cancers. (source) Even more recent reports indicate that almost all sunscreens are completely ineffective in reducing the deadliest forms of cancer, melanoma (source). Several reports indicate that the ingredients used to manufacture sunscreens are actually more harmful that the cancers they purport to prevent. However, by balancing the ratio of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, combined with an adequate amount of Vitamin “D”, incidence of melanoma has shown to be reduced by around 40% (source). It is therefore better to gradually expose the body to the sun, slowly building up our body’s own natural sunscreen, melanin, being careful not to get sunburned in the process.
The bottom line is that nudists can save a ton of money by not buying sunscreen, simply exposing themselves to natural sunlight in appropriate amounts; there by creating Vitamin “D” for free and by simply eating a diet that balances omega 3 acids. This can be done through supplement or through adding fish, flax or kiwi fruit to their diets. The real savings come from not having to pay medical bills for treatments for all of the conditions.
Stuff
Nudism is often referred to as the “Great Equalizer”. When people are naked around other people, it is difficult to tell if a person is the president of a bank, or a school janitor. Consequently, nudists tend to be far less “class-conscious”. Nudists are typically less likely to want to keep up with the Joneses, realizing that not only do clothes not really make the man, but neither do homes, cars, boats etc.
More Health – Less Stress – More Money
Studies have also found that children raised in nudist homes tend to be more socially developed (and often more intelligent) than those raised in “textile” families. Nudists generally feel that they have nothing to hide. That attitude permeates the rest of their psyche as well, so they tend to be less stressed out and more sure of themselves. We have probably all heard about the health problems produced by living under stress. Nudists save money by not having to treat as many stress related disorders. (source – pdf format) Also, by being more self confident, and supposedly better educated, they are more likely to get better jobs, making more money.
Society
Those same group of studies indicated that children raised in nudist homes are less inclined to become burdens to society. They are less likely to become involved in early sexual or drug experimentation or to commit crimes against society. This is partially because they are not as materially oriented and because they are already familiar with the looks and workings of the opposite sex. In general, nudity allows them to be more open and honest in their family life, which is expressed in how they relate to others in general. Nudists save money by not having to bail their children out of jail, take them to the doctors to treat sexually transmitted diseases or help them raise unwanted grandchildren (as frequently). If all families raised their children with the same attitudes as nudists, we would all be able to save money by having to pay less in taxes to support fewer children of unwanted pregnancies, drug addicts, juvenile delinquents, vandalism, etc. |
I’m the Greenpeace Activist Who Asked Hillary Clinton to Pledge to Reject Fossil Fuel Contributions at the Purchase NY Campaign Rally
Well, this has been an interesting day to say the least.
Since the media, Twitter, and Facebook world have spread this of Secretary Clinton and me, I thought that it would be important to share my experience and why I was there today.
I care deeply about tackling climate change and I’m deeply concerned about the state of our democracy. I work for Greenpeace USA as a democracy organizer. I do not work for and am in no way affiliated with the Sanders campaign, as Clinton seemed to suggest in her response.
Greenpeace USA, along with 20 other organizations, launched the pledge to #FixDemocracy , asking all presidential candidates to reject future fossil fuel contributions, champion campaign finance reform, and defend the right to vote for all.
When we launched the campaign, Sanders signed the pledge immediately. Hillary’s campaign responded, but did not sign. Unsurprisingly, the Republican presidential candidates who won’t even admit that climate change is real — while real communities on the frontlines are already impacted — did not respond to our request.
While we appreciated Hillary’s response, the first step a candidate can take to stop fossil fuels is to stop taking fossil fuel money. That money matters when we hear great things about climate in Clinton’s speeches, but want to be sure she’ll truly listen to the people when she is in office. For instance, she supports a Department of Justice investigation of ExxonMobil and yet she takes money from an Exxon lobbyist.
That level of coziness makes voters like me who care about climate change uncomfortable.
To prove to people that she’s really serious about keeping fossil fuels in the ground, she needs to stop taking that money today.
Today, I said to Hillary, “Thank you for tackling climate change. Will you act on your words and reject future fossil fuel money in your campaign?” I was genuinely shocked by her response. But I want to make sure we are focused on the issue at hand: asking our candidates to take a stand to fix our democracy. Rejecting fossil fuel money sends a strong signal.
Greenpeace, 350 Action, and dozens of concerned activists have been attending events, rallies, debates, and fundraisers for many months asking Hillary Clinton to reject fossil fuel money in her campaign. This is by no means the first time that we asked her the question. In fact, last night, more than 40 activists gathered outside of a Clinton Fundraiser at the Dakota, asking Senator Clinton to come out and talk to the people she is fighting for.
She did not cross the street to talk to us.
To be clear, we are talking about more than just individual contributions from oil and gas employees. According to data compiled by Greenpeace’s research department, Secretary Clinton’s campaign and the Super PAC supporting her have received more than $4.5 million from the fossil fuel industry during the 2016 election cycle. Eleven registered oil and gas industry lobbyists have bundled more than 1 million dollars to her campaign.
If she takes the pledge, she’ll be sending a strong signal to our country and fossil fuel companies that it’s time to keep it in the ground, not just for the future of our planet, but for people that are living on it.
On April 18 in Washington DC, thousands of activists from groups like Public Citizen, the NAACP and Communications Workers of America will take action as part of a Democracy Awakening, calling on our leaders to get the big money out of politics, restore voting rights, and start building a strong and healthy democracy.
When #DemocracyAwakens, leaders will put people before corporatations. Join the movement >> https://t.co/X37BnmEqio pic.twitter.com/ehdrPQi0fP — Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) March 22, 2016
I hope that this video starts an important dialogue on the national scale about fixing our democracy and taking a stand against corporate interests like the fossil fuel industry, so we can run a democracy that is beholden to the people, not campaign contributions. |
INDIANAPOLIS -- Monday is the final day of workouts at the NFL Combine in Indy, where they'll finish up with the Eagles' two most obvious needs -- cornerback and safety. Here we'll look at the safeties, which is not a great group. In case you missed any of our other positional Combine previews, you can find them at the bottom of this post:
Safeties:
• Ibraheim Campbell, S, Northwestern (5'11, 208): Campbell is a Philly kid and a four year starter at Northwestern. He's a good tackler, and looks to create fumbles. In 2014, he forced four fumbles and intercepted three passes. He also has nearly identical size to Earl Wolff, who was drafted during the Chip Kelly regime.
• Landon Collins, S, Alabama (6'0, 228): At 228 pounds, Collins has a thick build. He is a great tackler and looks to punish ball carriers. The Eagles have not had a punishing presence at safety since Brian Dawkins left in free agency more than a half-decade ago (#NextDawkins). The Eagles are a "stop the run first" defense, which could make Collins very appealing to Billy Davis. However, Collins' coverage skills are not on par with his run game skills. He has become a popular pick for the Eagles in many mock drafts.
• Kurtis Drummond, S, Michigan State (6'1, 208): We covered Drummond earlier this offseason:
Drummond was around the ball all week at the Senior Bowl practices. He's a good cover safety with great hands who can drop down and cover slot corners when opposing offenses go to 3-WR sets. He may fit what the Eagles value in their safeties better than anyone in this class, and could be a late Day 2 pick.
• Gerod Holliman, S, Louisville (6'0, 218): Holliman had a ridiculous 14 INTs in 2014. Unfortunately, he's one of the worst tacklers you'll ever see.
• Cody Prewitt, S, Mississippi (6'2, 208): Prewitt has excellent size, but he doesn't play like it. He's more Nate Allen than Jack Tatum.
• Jordan Richards, S, Stanford (5'11, 211): Richards was a captain on a Stanford team with a lot of soon to be NFL players. Last season, the Eagles spent a pick on a Stanford safety with good character in Ed Reynolds.
• Eric Rowe, S, Utah (6'1, 205): Rowe started at CB for Utah this season after playing his first three seasons at safety. If the Eagles see Rowe as a CB at the next level, he has the long frame at 6’1, 205 and physical nature against the run that they have prioritized. If they view him as a safety in the NFL, he has versatility to cover receivers, which enables them to stay in their base defense against three WR sets. Rowe did not stand out at the Senior Bowl.
• Derron Smith, S, Fresno State (5'10, 200): We covered Smith earlier this offseason:
In 2014, Smith had just one INT, but he filled up the stat sheet in 2013, finishing second in the nation with seven INTs, while adding eight tackles for loss and four sacks. He also had six INTs in 2012.
Smith is another one of those "Malcolm Jenkins type" of safeties, who the Eagles like to use both as a guy who can drop down and cover slot receivers or play centerfield. However, at 5'10, he does not have ideal height.
• Jaquiski Tartt, S, Samford (6'1, 221): Tartt had a good showing at the Senior Bowl. He is big safety like Cody Prewitt above, but unlike Prewitt, Tartt will lay the lumber.
Other Combine positional previews:
• Quarterbacks
• Running backs
• Wide receivers
• Offensive line and tight ends
• Defensive line
• Outside linebackers
• Inside linebackers
• Cornerbacks
Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski |
It’s nearly 2015, and I’m still not sure any of us know exactly what we’re supposed to be doing with Google+. The increasingly invasive social network has been one of Google’s most puzzling platforms for years, surviving despite what seems to be a generally negative public reaction. But it turns out the users aren’t the only ones trying to figure out Google’s game plan.
FROM EARLIER: Whether you like it or not, Google+ is here to stay
Last week, former Google+ UX designer Chris Messina took to Medium to share a few thoughts on the social network which he’d worked on for years prior to leaving Google in 2013. He begins with three simple questions:
What’s going on with Google+? Where is it headed? What the f*** is it for, anyway?
Messina wasn’t satisfied with the answers provided in the recent Re/code interview, slamming the Googler David Besbris for providing “no vision” and “no insight” into the future of the platform. So why does Messina still care?
“[The] future of digital identity should not be determined by one company (namely, Facebook). I still believe that competition in this space is better for consumers, for startups, and for the industry. And Google still remains one of the few companies (besides Apple, perhaps) that stands a chance to take on Facebook in this arena — but Google+, as I see it, has lost its way.”
Be sure to check out Messina’s full blog post in the source link below. |
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