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Today started off around 12:03 AM to my treo chimming about every 5 minutes. It wasn’t the way I wanted to wake up but we probably all know the feeling at one point or another. So why was my treo talking so much? Well at 12:03 AM a transaction decided to start blocking some updates. At this point SQLdm decided to let me know. By the time I logged in to check the blocked transactions were in limbo for around 5203 seconds. Put yourself in the users shoes and sit there for 5203 second sto wait for your transaction to finish 😉 Right, you’re not going to be happy. Needless to say this followed with the oncall person calling me.
Hence started the troubleshooting steps which this is going to go over. Blocking to me and in my experience is one of the most common performance issues after you get beyond the hardware setup and database setup itself. Blocking often is out of your control all together. Why I say that is because 9 time out of 10 blocking comes from a poorly designed application or small sector to an application. I don’t mean poorly in the entire application is bad and uninstall it but more so to the fact that you’re going to need to handle the downfalls, find out how you are missusing the application or get on the phone demanding a fix. In this case the application had been running for some time though and the blocking came on quickly and got bad real fast. This is common and don’t think your protected from it because it will happen at some point in your career working on database servers.
So the first step is to buy some third party tool to monitor these things. Huh? But we have no money for that. You should find it! A tool like Idera’s diagnostic manager can save you hundreds of hours and save you from a problem becoming so bad it’s hard to bring it back and at the same time the users hate you.
Alright so you won’t listen and fight for the PO. Here is the cheapest and less straining way on your SQL Server to send notifications if blocking is happening.
First I recemmend looking at setting the threshold. You can read more on that and blocking from Rob’s blog blogs.technet.com/rob/archive/2008/05/26/detecting-sql-server-2005-blocking.aspx
For now let’s be old fassion and cheap…
First query the master.dbo.sysprocesses view. There is a column named “blocked”. If the value is 1 then you have blocking going on. So if you wanted to do something really simple you could create a job that runs to check for this and send an email out to you.
T-SQL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Declare @body varchar ( 1000 ) Set @body = 'Blocking on ' + @@servername if Exists ( select 1 from master. dbo . sysprocesses where blocked = 1 ) EXEC msdb. dbo . sp_send_dbmail @recipients = '[email protected];[email protected]' , @subject = 'Blocking notification' , @body = @body, @profile_name = 'SQL DBA' Declare @body varchar(1000) Set @body = 'Blocking on ' + @@servername if Exists(select 1 from master.dbo.sysprocesses where blocked = 1) EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail @recipients='[email protected];[email protected]', @subject = 'Blocking notification', @body = @body, @profile_name = 'SQL DBA'
Yes that is crude. Not real great at all. I just wanted to show you that you can do it and there are mcuh better ways but not the point of this article 🙂
So what I had to do next now that I knew blocking was occuring was find out the blocking transaction. Again using SQLDM this is easy but sp_lock will give you the same information.
T-SQL 1 Exec sp_lock Exec sp_lock
What I could see then was the transaction locking the object and another transaction trying to grab another lock on it. My write up on deadlock notifications is close to come for how this could go even farther south.
Notice the intent shared lock and then 165 trying to issue an intent exclusive lock. That doesn’t work so well. We have our blocking situation and knwo our ID’s associated. This was all I needed to see who was doing it. Now we have to find out why and how to fix it. Usually you don’t have alot of time if this come on all the sudden either.
So the next step is to get the batch 177 is sending over. The way to do this is first using the dm_exec_requests DMV to grab the sql_handle and then check the dm_exec_sql_text function to return the text. In this example I’m going to use my own session id to return the text. Obviously I fixed my blocking issues so I can’t do it on that or I might not have a job rate now 😉
so first my ID is 208
T-SQL 1 select * from sys. dm_exec_requests where session_id = 208 select * from sys.dm_exec_requests where session_id = 208
This returned a sql_handle of 0x020000005B7A3A210C1B9AEEC5467BB6AFC4BA74F1C4964A for my session id
now we can grab the text
T-SQL 1 select * from sys. dm_exec_sql_text ( 0x02000000E7CB3C0ADF13F985EC06EB70C8FD4EB6F9F686BA ) select * from sys.dm_exec_sql_text(0x02000000E7CB3C0ADF13F985EC06EB70C8FD4EB6F9F686BA)
which returned “select * from sys.dm_exec_requests”
We could also use a CROSS APPLY to the sys.dm_exec-connections to grab all the SQL text like
T-SQL 1 2 3 4 5 select * from sys. dm_exec_connections a CROSS APPLY sys. dm_exec_sql_text ( most_recent_sql_handle ) select * from sys.dm_exec_connections a CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(most_recent_sql_handle)
Nice information to have for your analysis
Well in this mornings case it returned a query a bit larger but you see how I got there in this case. Once I had the query I was able to make sure SQL Server was first using indexes correctly. Yes people you should always check your execution plan. No matter how small the query is!!! In this case I did add and index increasing the performance by about 40%. Almost fixed it. So I thought anyhow. Then I checked statistics and there wasn’t much there. Second was to update the statistics and also check fragementation on the other supporting indexes. Still the blocking was coming up.
Next was to check wait times. What I saw was there was a ASYNC_NETWORK_IO wait. Everyone loves blamming the network but in this case I wasn’t convinced because I checked the statistics of the network and the teaming on the servers and all was well. Although if you see these long waits you should ask your friendly network admin to check his or her statistics or if you have the ability go after it. Mostly if the blocking comes up all the sudden like this one did. If a table grows for some rason beyond the means of the systems written ability to handle it there is a good chance it is trying to pull so much data over the wire that it will bring you back to a bloated table and a cure.
I was left to look at both the blocking statement and what was being blocked. This showed me that the IS lock which returned around 3000 rows of data was open but something else was sending UPDATE’s with the IX lock to the same object. I was narrowing it down now mostly to a poor process in the system. Here is my problem at this point. The system uses one sql server authenticated account to connect to the database. Argh!!! If you are a developer reading this please do not do this. It makes the DBA’s life hard. I have no idea which part of the system is doing this. Only that the system was doing it. So now is the time to send an email to the company. So I did and they replied quickly thankfully with the exact service that was issuing the SELECT. This brought me to a windows service which I turned off and the blocks were gone. Great, but the business needs that thing huh? 🙁
Long story short I found there were status keys not being set right and I created a sql job to set them to prevent the program that was processing row for row and sending updates on each row to the same tables hence causing the blocking situation.
So you see the steps now…
identifiy the locking IDs
identify the statements and optimize. This 90% of the time will fixs it
identify the system or part of the system that is causing the problem
turn it off if you can while you work with the software company or get a workaround in while your hands are tied.
go back to sleep |
A MILITARY-STYLE semi-automatic rifle on its way to the Queensland Police Service has gone missing in the mail.
An investigation has been launched to find the Remington R4 carbine .223 after it was lost by a freight company dispatched by the company of arms dealer Robert Nioa.
The weapon, understood to have been sent months ago, was supposed to arrive in a remote part of Queensland but has mysteriously disappeared.
Mr Nioa confirmed that the freight company had lost the weapon but said he was unable to comment further about how and where it went missing or which organisation had been in possession of it.
"I can confirm there is a current and ongoing police investigation into the potential theft of the weapon," he said.
"I remain optimistic that the police will recover the weapon and charge whoever is responsible."
The Queensland Police Service spent almost $1 million buying 420 of the Remington R4 carbine .223 firearms with scopes for long-range vision late last year.
REMINGTON R4: Cops want this assault rifle to even the odds
The guns were bought to replace 25-year-old Ruger rifles at rural stations but at the time senior police said there would be policy considerations for the weapons being used by first-response police in siege situations.
The units cost police about $2200 each but sources told The Courier-Mail the stolen weapon could be sold for more on the black market if there was demand for it.
The weapon was not sent in a shipment of weapons but was a single package.
Specifications on the Nioa website state the gun weighs 3.18kg with a maximum effective range of 600m.
While the gun is semi-automatic, if it was ever able to be converted to full automatic its specifications state its fire rate capabilities between 700 and 950 rounds per minute.
Sources said police weapons were regularly sent via Australia Post without incident when officers relocated or replacement weapons were required.
However, a different freight company was involved in the recent weapon loss.
The Courier-Mail has been told an employee of a courier company was charged in relation to two handguns that went missing a number of years ago.
Regulations around the movement of firearms in Queensland state that the package should be a securely closed container and its shape should not suggest the presence of a firearm.
Marks, labels or names such as a gun shop that could indicate a weapon is inside are not permitted.
A police spokesman confirmed the rifle had been lost and an investigation had been launched.
Questions in relation to policy for transporting weapons were not answered, other than stating procedures adopted complied with legislative obligations under the Weapons Act.
"The QPS is aware of an incident where a weapon was allegedly forwarded by a supplier however the item did not arrive at its intended destination," a police statement said.
"The QPS did not incur any cost as the item was never received." |
Qalandyia checkpoint on the first Friday of the Ramadan, 12 July.
The freedom of movement of approximately 2.75 million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is severely curtailed by Israel’s permit regime, wall and system of checkpoints. These movement restrictions prevent Palestinians in the West Bank from freely accessing holy sites in Jerusalem and other cultural and recreation sites and family in the city and present-day Israel. Meanwhile, Palestinians from the West Bank are not able to travel to Gaza, and vice versa, with only rare exception.
Documentary photographer Oren Ziv followed Palestinian families from the West Bank as they attempted to reach al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem for Friday prayers during the recently-concluded month of Ramadan and travel to the sea for the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy month.
Oren Ziv is a co-founder of the ActiveStills photography collective.
Palestinian women cross Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem to attend the Ramadan Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, 12 July.
Palestinian women cross Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem to attend the Ramadan Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, 12 July.
An Israeli border police officer stands in front of Palestinians as they wait to broad a bus from Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah and travel to Jerusalem to attend Ramadan Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque, 26 July.
Palestinian men walk near a section of the wall at Qalandiya checkpoint as they cross into Jerusalem to attend Ramadan Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque, 26 July.
Palestinian youth carry a ladder as they prepare to cross the wall between the West Bank town of al-Ram and Jerusalem, 2 August.
A Palestinian youth wearing a hooded sweatshert to cover his face prepares to cross the wall between al-Ram and Jerusalem, 2 August.
Israeli soldiers remove a ladder used by Palestinians to climb over the Israeli wall in al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, on their way to al-Aqsa mosque in the Old city of Jerusalem to attend the third Friday prayers during the month of Ramadan, 2 August.
A Palestnian medic sleeps on a stretcher at Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah, 2 August.
An Israeli border policeman (right) orders a Palestinian man to leave Qalandiya checkpoint as the man was not allowed into Jerusalem, 2 August.
Palestinians use a ladder to climb over Israel’s wall in al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, on their way to Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem to attend the third Friday prayers during the month of Ramadan, 2 August.
A Palestinian couple holds hands at the beach between Jaffa and Tel Aviv, 3 August.
Israeli and Palestinian activists play in the water with Palestinian kids from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh at a beach in the city of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, 4 August. Activists who attend the anti-occupation Friday demonstration at Nabi Saleh took kids from the village for a day of fun at the beach. Palestinian kids under the age of 12 who live in the West Bank don’t need a permit in order to enter Israel during Ramadan.
A Palestinian woman walks with her child at a Tel Aviv beach during Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, 8 August. Israel allowed the entry of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank into Israel, which they are normally barred from, since the beginning of Ramadan.
Palestinians from the West Bank enjoy a day at a Tel Aviv beach during Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, 8 August. Israel allowed the entry of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank into Israel, which they are normally barred from, since the beginning of Ramadan.
A Palestinian woman prays at a Tel Aviv beach during Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, 8 August. Israel allowed the entry of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank into Israel, which they are normally barred from, since the beginning of Ramadan. |
Feature
Interview with Japanese "kawaii-metal" pop group BABYMETAL
BABYMETAL recently performed their first UK concert to a sell-out crowd in London following a fan campaign to bring them to the British edition of the Sonisphere festival, where they also appeared on the main stage. Performances in France and Germany were also added, creating the start of their World Tour 2014. We managed to catch them before their concert in London for an exclusive interview.
Three young Japanese girls have recently been causing a stir, not only in Japan but across the globe with their new twist on Japanese pop culture that fuses earth-shattering heavy metal riffs with bouncy cute melodies and perfectly crafted dance routines.recently performed their first UK concert to a sell-out crowd in London following a fan campaign to bring them to the British edition of the Sonisphere festival, where they also appeared on the main stage. Performances in France and Germany were also added, creating the start of their World Tour 2014. We managed to catch them before their concert in London for an exclusive interview.
Congratulations on your first World Tour! When you started singing and dancing to ‘heavy metal' music, did you ever imagine it would become so popular all over the world?
[SU-METAL] I couldn't imagine at all how popular it would become. At the start, when I first listened to metal music, I thought it sounded interesting and as things began to progress it was more like we were just having some fun! I never expected that it would become such a fully fledged thing!
What do you think it is about BABYMETAL that appeals to so many people, even outside of Japan?
[SU-METAL] What is it I wonder...? Via Youtube, there have been many people that learnt our dance moves. I think that being able to dance along to our songs is one merit!
- For many British people I'm sure it must be their first time to experience dance routines put to heavy metal music!
What are your expectations for your concert in the UK?
[SU-METAL] When we announced our first ever UK concert, the tickets sold out straight away! And at our performance at Sonisphere, the audience were really getting into it, so we are very much looking forward to performing in London! There will also be a live viewing in Japan - we haven't perfomed there since our concert at the Tokyo Budokan (in March this year). It's been a long time, so we thought we would like to give our fans in Japan a chance to watch us perform in the UK!
How was your experience playing at Sonisphere?
[SU-METAL] For us it was the biggest stage we had performed on - infront of the biggest audience so far. I was overwhelmed! At first I think the audience were a bit stunned, but they started to get into the music more and more, and by the time we finished the applause was so loud - I was so happy!
Have you been to the UK before? What are your impressions of the country?
[SU-METAL] Not just the UK, it's our first time to visit Europe! In particular, I think the buildings here are really lovely and stylish...
[YUI-METAL] I really enjoyed having afternoon-tea!
[SU-METAL] Oh yeah! We had an authentic afternoon tea - it was great!
I’m sure you must be studying English as part of your school studies. Have you been able to use it on your tour so far? Are there any English words that you like?
[MOA-METAL] Of course we are studying English at school so I'm trying to use it little by little. During our performance, we do a 'call and response' with the audience in our song "Gimme choco", so we've tried to do it in the language of the country we're performing in to communicate with our fans.
- So you did that in French and German too? That's great! (Babymetal performed in France and Germany earlier this month.)
[MOA-METAL] For English, I like "Have a nice day!"
Do you have any free time during your tour to go sightseeing? Is there anything you would like to see in particular?
[YUI-METAL] We did some sightseeing yesterday and I was really excited to see Big Ben as I've seen it in the film Peter Pan! It was so beautiful and huge - I took so many pictures!
[SU-METAL] We travelled around so much yesterday and did a lot of shopping. I was really happy! We also went to Buckingham Palace - and by chance, just as we arrived the guards started a parade (changing of the guards) and we were able to watch it from up-close. It was great to see!
JICC Top |
It’s only been two weeks since we launched, and today, we’re introducing the Instant Mini Back for the Lomo'Instant Square! Thanks to the incredible support from the Kickstarter community, we’ve been working flat out to make the Lomo’Instant Square a multi-format master.
Simply attach the Instant Mini Back to the back of the Lomo’Instant Square and load it with Fujifilm Instax Mini Film and you’re ready to shoot. That means you’ll get all the super sharpness, perfect exposure and funky features of the Lomo’Instant Square on two different film formats! Grab yours now for an incredible 15USD.
If you're curious how the Instant Mini Back works, check out the video below:
Get shooting some seriously sweet mini shots! It's super easy to add the Instant Mini Back, Instax Square or Mini film or any other items to your pledge. Just edit your pledge and add the amount specified in our Add-ons Menu to your pledge. Once you've done that, please send us a message detailing what you pledge for. Visit our full Add-on Menu here: microsites.lomography.com/lisq-addons/
Get Ready to Share Some Squares – and Minis! – on the Lomo'Instant App
Become a member of a thriving online photography community. Archive and share your snaps or bring your instants to life by turning them into a stop motion video using our free app. Read up on creative photography news, or enter one of our many competitions to win amazing prizes! Download it from the App Store.
Get Funky with a Future Monocle!
This fabulous experimental 50mm circle monocle is custom made with the a psychedelic rainbow filter. Move it around in front of the lens and watch your shots disperse into crazy kaleidoscopic vistas! Pick up yours now for only 25USD! |
“A masterful distillation of classic action-platforming gameplay, doling out tension and elation in equal measure.” 92% – PC Gamer “The excellent gameplay alone makes it worthy of your time, and the stylish presentation seals the deal. Play this.” 9.5/10 – God is a Geek “Having played through a couple of hundred of the rooms, not once did it feel like anyone at Metanet let a sub-par level make the cut. Every level feels like it has been obsessed over and playtested to an inch of its life; every jump’s length is considered and every enemy, whether it be rocket launcher or mine, is optimised to be challenging but not unfair” 9/10 – The Digital Fix
About This Game N++ is a fast-paced, momentum-based platformer about darting around obstacles, narrowly evading enemies and collecting gold in a beautiful minimalist landscape. It’s the first N game on PC since 2004 and we’ve spent those 12 years perfecting the platformer.
N++ is all about using your momentum to complete levels and get high scores, but in this sci-fi world, there’s a slew of inadvertently homicidal enemy robots trying to prevent you from completing your goal.
Through the hand-crafted (NOT procedurally generated) levels, you’ll experience platforming at its most intense. Using only your fluid movement, you need to ‘solve’ each level and get to the exit.
In addition to the lengthy and challenging single player campaign, we’ve packed a ton of features into this one last entry in the N series including:
-4,340 hand-made levels
-Custom Levels, Level Editor & Global Level Sharing
-Leaderboards and replays for every level (even the ones you make)
-Local Co-op Mode (up to 4 players)
-Local Competitive Mode (up to 4 Players)
-Hardcore Mode, an intense single-player challenge which only the best ninjas will survive
-Intense, hidden Secret challenges to discover
-63 tracks by top electronic artists
-119 different color palettes let you customize the game’s look and keep it fresh every time you play
-and more!
Play a little, or a lot -- there's no skill ceiling, so you can always get better and better. N++ is a game that has enough bite-sized gameplay to last you a lifetime. |
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kenney trentadue was driving a 1986 Chevy pickup when he was pulled over at the Mexican border on his way home to San Diego on June 10, 1995. He was dark-haired, 5 feet 8 inches, and well muscled, a former athlete who had picked up construction work after he quit robbing banks. His left forearm bore a dragon tattoo. Highway patrol officers ran his license and found that it had been suspended, and that he was wanted for parole violations. After two months in jail in San Diego, Trentadue was shipped, on August 18, to a prison in Oklahoma City for a hearing on the parole violations. The move placed Kenney in close proximity to the most famous federal prisoner in America. In one way or another, it also sealed his fate.
Four months earlier, another car had been stopped by a state trooper, some 80 miles north of Oklahoma City. It was 10:20 a.m. on April 19, 1995, and much of the country was still waking up to the enormity of what had happened earlier that morning, when an explosives-laden Ryder truck gutted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. The driver of the 1977 Mercury Marquis was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and driving without tags. He gave his name as Timothy McVeigh. Two days later McVeigh was identified as the John Doe No. 1 wanted in the bombing, and fellow antigovernment extremist Terry Nichols turned himself in to police. They were indicted on August 10, and federal authorities said they had their men. But there were many who didn’t buy the tidy closure.
A sprawling Great Plains town known for its tornadoes, Oklahoma City was already the center of a swirl of theories about the crime, all of them insisting that the two men could not have acted alone. Some refused to give up on the idea of Middle Eastern terrorists, speculating about a plot headed by Saddam Hussein; others suspected an inside job by the feds. Some simply stuck to the far more plausible conviction that there were coconspirators not yet apprehended. After all, immediately following the bombing, law enforcement had been searching furiously for a man whom numerous sources said they saw with McVeigh, and who by some accounts was seen walking away from the Ryder truck—the character whose police composite sketch became known around the world as John Doe No. 2. According to the police description, this man was about 5 feet 9, muscular, and dark-haired. By some accounts, he drove an older model pickup truck and had a dragon tattooed on his left forearm.
Kenney’s brother, Jesse Trentadue, knew nothing about the resemblance between his brother and the nation’s most wanted man. But he now believes it sparked the events that would launch him on a 12-year investigation of a prison mystery and a massive government stonewalling effort. In the process, he would discover documents showing that even as the Justice Department was working to convict what it insisted were only two conspirators, its agents were actively investigating a wider plot—a plot whose possible ramifications they concealed from defense lawyers and from a public that, at a delicate moment in an election year, they were anxious to reassure. The government’s refusal to disclose what it knew—and what it did not know—may also have forestalled the nation’s best opportunity to address the problems in federal law enforcement and intelligence that would become tragically apparent on September 11, 2001.
Jesse Carl Trentadue is no liberal crusader, nor is he an antigovernment conspiracy theorist. He grew up poor in an Appalachian coal camp, called Number 7, halfway between Cucumber, West Virginia, and Horsepen, Virginia. Earlier generations of Trentadue men had all gone into the mines: One grandfather had first descended at age six, another at age 12, and both had died of black lung, as would Jesse’s father. But coal prices fell during the Korean War, and in 1961 the Trentadues followed a neighboring family to Orange County, California. They traveled, Jesse says, “like the Okies,” heading west on Route 66, sleeping beside the car at night.
Jesse’s ticket to a different life was a track and field scholarship to the University of Southern California where, like his teammate O.J. Simpson, he made all-American. After a stint in the Marines and law school at the University of Idaho, he landed in Salt Lake City, where he built a reputation as a tough, tenacious lawyer working everything from sports law to contract disputes. He met me on a warm Saturday, on a bench in front of the Judge Building, the handsome, century-old structure where he practices law. Stocky, with a graying mustache and a neat beard, a cigar between his lips, he looked like the 21st-century version of an Old West sheriff—weather-beaten, self-contained, and shrewd. His office upstairs was dominated by an enormous portrait of his brother. It depicted Kenney in a dark shirt, looking calm and earnest, bathed in a glow that evoked the portraits of saints.
As youngsters in West Virginia, Jesse says, the brothers “shared a bed and an outhouse.” Three years his junior, Kenney was a track star in high school, but dropped out after an injury and joined the Army, where he developed a heroin habit. Then he tried carpentry and factory work before discovering that he had a knack for robbing banks. “This isn’t just robbing a teller,” Jesse notes with a flush of pride. “It’s taking the whole bank down.” On Kenney’s jobs, he adds, “the weapons were empty or the firing pins had been removed. He said, ‘Robbery is one thing. Murdering is something else, and it’s not worth that.'” When Kenney got caught, “he didn’t contest it. He just went in, pled guilty, and served his time.”
Released on parole in 1988, Kenney cleaned up, started working in construction again, and got married. His first child, a boy named Vito, was born nine days after Kenney was arrested at the border.
On August 19, 1995, Kenney called Jesse’s house to report that he had just arrived at the Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center. Jesse’s wife, Rita, an attorney and law professor, was surprised he’d been shipped from San Diego all the way to Oklahoma for a probation hearing. Kenney told her—in a conversation that was, like all inmates’ calls,”It’s that jet age stuff.”
Kenney called again that night, sounding chipper, and the brothers strategized about the parole hearing; Kenney promised to call again the next day. But no call came until early the morning of August 21, when the phone rang at Kenney and Jesse’s mother’s house. It was the prison warden. Kenney, she said, had committed suicide that night. She offered to have the body cremated at government expense—a move without precedent in federal prison policies—but Wilma Trentadue turned her down.
Five days later, Kenney’s body arrived at a mortuary in California. There were bruises all over it, clumsily disguised with heavy makeup; slashes on his throat; ligature marks; and ruptures on his scalp. Photos of the injuries were included in a letter that Jesse drew up on August 30 and hand-delivered to the Bureau of Prisons ( bop ), which is part of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
“I have enclosed as Exhibit ‘A’ a photograph of Kenneth’s body at the funeral,” it read. “This is how you returned my brother to us…. My brother had been so badly beaten that I personally saw several mourners leave the viewing to vomit in the parking lot! Anyone seeing my brother’s battered body with his bruised and lacerated forehead, throat cut, and blue-black knuckles would not have concluded that his death was either easy or a ‘suicide’! ” After describing Kenney’s injuries in detail, and speculating how they might have come about (bruises to his arms from being gripped, others to his legs from being knocked to the ground with batons, slashes to his throat from someone “possibly left-handed,” which Kenney was not), Jesse concluded: “Had my brother been less of a man, you[r] guards would have been able to kill him without inflicting so much injury to his body. Had that occurred, Kenney’s family would forever have been guilt-ridden… with the pain of thinking that Kenneth took his own life and that we had somehow failed him. By making the fight he did for his life, Ken has saved us that pain and God bless him for having done so!”
Two days later, on September 1, the Bureau of Prisons issued a press release stating that Kenney’s death had been “ruled a suicide by asphyxiation” and that the injuries on the body “would indicate persistent attempts…to cause himself serious injury or death.” (Officials would later put forth an elaborate scenario in which Kenney tried to hang himself but fell, bruising his head and body, and then tried to slit his throat with a toothpaste tube before succeeding in his second hanging attempt.)
In fact, as the bop would have known, no official ruling as to the manner of death had been made; rather, every communication from the state medical examiner’s office indicated it was being treated as a suspicious death. On August 22, the day after the body was delivered to the ME’s office, Chief Investigator Kevin Rowland called the local fbi office to file a complaint. On a form documenting the call, the fbi agent wrote “murder” and noted that Rowland “believes that foul play is suspect[ed] in this matter.” The state’s chief medical examiner, Fred Jordan, refused to classify the case a suicide, listing the manner of death as “unknown” pending investigation.
As was customary with suspicious deaths, within days the Bureau of Prisons formed a board of inquiry. In an unusual move, the staff attorney heading the probe was told to treat his team’s findings as “attorney work product,” which would protect it from discovery in any future lawsuit as well as from Freedom of Information Act requests. In October the bop ‘s general counsel issued a memo noting that “there is a great likelihood of a lawsuit by the family of the inmate.” To this day, the bop , fbi , and Department of Justice refuse to discuss the case; spokespeople for each agency referred questions for this story to an fbi official in Oklahoma City, who declined to comment citing ongoing litigation.
Not long after Kenney died, Jesse got an anonymous phone call. “Look,” the caller said, “your brother was murdered by the fbi . There was an interrogation that went wrong…. He fit a profile.” The caller mentioned bank robbers but didn’t give many details. Jesse didn’t know what to make of the tip; he put the call out of his mind.
Exactly what happened the night Kenney died is impossible to reconstruct, in large part because a great deal of evidence went missing or was destroyed by prison officials. According to bop documents, a guard discovered Kenney hanging from a bedsheet noose in his cell at 3:02 on the morning of August 21, 1995. Stuart A. Lee, the official in charge at the prison that night, refused to unlock the cell while he waited for a video camera to film the body. According to a bop memo, he would later tell investigators that he knew Kenney was dead and he thus “was not concerned with taking any immediate emergency action.” The prison medic on several occasions said he performed cpr on Kenney, but later admitted he made no effort at resuscitation. The video of the body was never made, or it was erased, depending on whose account you believe.
Prison officials did take photos of Kenney’s body, though when the family asked for copies, they said they couldn’t find them; the photos reappeared in the fbi ‘s files years later. Kenney’s clothes vanished between the time he was found hanging in his cell and the time his body was turned over to the medical examiner. Other evidence, including his bedsheets, boxers, and fingernail clippings, disappeared for several weeks; investigator Rowland would later suggest they had been in the trunk of an agent’s car. Kenney’s cell was cleaned by 2 p.m. the day of his death, before legally required examinations of the site had been made. And even though the medical examiner’s office had given orders to preserve the cell, the walls—including a pencil scrawl that prison officials called Kenney’s “suicide note”—were painted over, leaving only photos whose “lack of detail,” according to the fbi crime lab, rendered it “doubtful if this hand printing will ever be identified with hand printing of a known individual.”
Other key evidence was simply omitted from or buried in the official reports: fbi and state Bureau of Investigations officials later testified, in a lawsuit brought by the Trentadue family, that a second person’s blood had been found in Kenney’s cell, and that there were no cut marks on the noose from which he was, according to prison officials, “cut down.” According to an internal fbi memo, a prison guard told his neighbor that Kenney had been killed, and then hung in his cell as a cover-up; an inmate who reported hearing similar statements from a second guard said he was warned to keep silent and then sent to isolation. Another inmate, Alden Gillis Baker, would later give Jesse’s lawyer a note describing an incident during which, he said, Kenney got into an altercation with a guard. Eventually, he wrote, additional officers entered the cell, there was “a lot of physical violence going on,” he heard “faint moaning,” and later the sound of bedsheets being torn. (He would repeat this account in a deposition in connection with a lawsuit brought by Jesse, but a judge ruled that Baker, a convicted robber and sex offender, was not a reliable witness. In 2000, Baker was found hanging in his cell in a California federal prison.)
Government accounts of the incident relied heavily on reports from a different set of inmates. One claimed that during his two days at the prison, Kenney had seemed angry and agitated. Another claimed he was acting “upset, paranoid, and weird in general,” and thought everyone was talking about him having aids . (The Bureau of Prisons transcript of Kenney’s conversation with Jesse’s wife reads, “It’s that aids stuff,” not, as Rita insists he said, “that jet age stuff.” According to medical records, Kenney was hiv negative.) And then there were the words scrawled in pencil on the wall—”My Minds No Longer It’s Friend” and “Love Ya Familia!” Oddly, the bop investigator who took the pictures shortly after Kenney’s death wrote in a caption that the scrawl read, “Love Paul.”
The fbi agent who investigated the case immediately following Kenney’s death did not even look at the cell. He did visit the prison, but spoke only with officials, interviewing no inmates and collecting no evidence except for the photos of the cell. The case languished for months, until complaints from the medical examiner’s office reached the Department of Justice in Washington. In early 1996, the department’s Civil Rights Division took over supervising the investigation and decided that the case should be presented to a federal grand jury, which would determine whether to issue an indictment.
On July 6, 1996, more than 10 months after Kenney’s death, the grand jury was convened. Justice officials from Washington went to the trouble of commuting to Oklahoma City to oversee the proceedings. It was an election year, and President Clinton’s attorney general, Janet Reno—still under a cloud for her handling of the Waco siege three years earlier—was preparing to try McVeigh and Nichols. The last thing the doj needed was a trial, in Oklahoma City, accusing its employees of murder and obstruction of justice.
But to put the case to rest, federal officials would have to find a way around Fred Jordan, the Oklahoma chief medical examiner who had refused to classify the death a suicide. Within a few months, the local fbi office was calling Jordan—a man with a long and distinguished career, who had achieved near-heroic status in Oklahoma City for his effective and sensitive handling of the bombing victims’ remains—a “loose cannon.”
In December 1995, Jordan told an fbi official that the bureau had urged him to hold off on releasing an autopsy report until the fbi could complete its investigation. He also told the U.S. attorney’s office in Oklahoma City, according to correspondence from that office, that Kenney had been “abused and tortured”; later he would tell them, according to a bop lawyer, that “the federal Grand Jury is part of a cover-up.” In a memo to his own files, Jordan wrote that it was “very likely this man was killed.”
In search of a second opinion, doj officials asked Bill Gormley, a forensic pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, to review the case. In May 1997, Gormley called Kevin Rowland, the chief investigator in the Oklahoma medical examiner’s office, who wrote a memo to his files noting that Gormley “was troubled that [the doj ] only seemed interested in him saying it might be possible these injuries were self inflicted.” In fact, Rowland wrote, Gormley had grown convinced that “this man was murdered.”
As late as July 1997, Fred Jordan told a local TV station, “I think it’s very likely [Kenney] was murdered. I’m not able to prove it….You see a body covered with blood, removed from the room as Mr. Trentadue was, soaked in blood, covered with bruises, and you try to gain access to the scene, and the government of the United States says no, you can’t…. At that point we have no crime scene, so there are still questions about the death of Kenneth Trentadue that will never be answered because of the actions of the U.S. government. Whether those actions were intentional—whether they were incompetence, I don’t know…. It was botched. Or, worse, it was planned.”
After more than a year of proceedings, in August 1997, the grand jury (which, like all such panels, had heard only evidence selected by the government) concluded its investigation without issuing any criminal indictments. The doj held back the news for two months while staff in Washington met to devise a roll-out plan that a doj aide compared to “coordinating the invasion of Normandy.” The plan targeted the media as well as Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who, thanks to Jesse Trentadue’s efforts, had taken an interest in the case. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing a few months earlier, Hatch had quizzed then-Attorney General Janet Reno about Kenney and told her that “it looks like someone in the Bureau of Prisons, or having relations with the Bureau of Prisons, murdered the man.”
But Hatch never followed through on his stated intent to hold hearings on the case. Neither did Oklahoma Republican Senator Don Nickles, then the majority whip. In December 1997, Nickles held a press conference lambasting the feds’ handling of the case; he said prison officials in Oklahoma had told him they’d been ordered not to talk about it. The next day Nickles got a visit from Thomas Kuker, head of the fbi ‘s Oklahoma City office. According to an internal fbi memo, Kuker assured the senator that he, too, had once been concerned about the case, but had become convinced that there was no foul play. After a second meeting with the fbi two months later, Nickles backed off.
The doj also continued to pressure Medical Examiner Fred Jordan, to the point where Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Patrick Crawley wrote to a Justice Department attorney that the bop and fbi had “prevented the medical examiner from conducting a thorough and complete investigation into the death, destroyed evidence, and otherwise harassed and harangued Dr. Jordan and his staff. The absurdity of this situation is that your clients outwardly represent law enforcement or at least some arm of licit government…. It appears that your clients, and perhaps others within the Department of Justice, have been abusing the powers of their respective offices. If this is true, all Americans should be very frightened of your clients and the doj .”
Four months later, in July 1998, Jordan suddenly changed his conclusion on Kenney’s manner of death from “unknown” to “suicide,” saying he had been convinced in large part by the identification of the supposed suicide note by a handwriting expert—even though the expert had not been able to see the actual note, and had received what the doj itself considered inadequate samples of Kenney’s handwriting. Although he never fully retreated from this determination, Jordan would later say, in a deposition, that he still believed Kenney was beaten, and that he himself had been “harassed by the Department of Justice from the very beginning” of the case.
The last government investigation into the death of Kenney Trentadue, conducted by the doj ‘s Office of the Inspector General ( oig ), was concluded in November 1999. The report was sealed, and only a brief summary made public. The full report, a copy of which was obtained by Mother Jones, ran to 372 pages and included names and many other crucial details. It also contained material taken from the secret grand jury proceeding, according to its cover page.
The oig report supported the government’s position that Kenney’s injuries had been self-inflicted. But it did find fault with the prison’s response and with the fbi ‘s investigations, concluding that bop and fbi employees had lied about their actions to supervisors, investigators, and the oig itself. (In 2003, Jesse filed a complaint about what he considered shoddy investigative work in the report with the President’s Council on Efficiency and Integrity, a White House agency; the council dismissed the complaint, and when Jesse asked why, it sent him 55 pages of evidence the oig had submitted. All but 350 words had been blacked out.)
In late 2000, the civil lawsuit brought by the Trentadue family commenced in federal district court in Oklahoma City. The jury found that Stuart A. Lee, the prison official in charge the night Kenney died, had violated Kenney’s civil rights by being “deliberately indifferent to his medical needs.” Four months later, the court awarded the family $1.1 million for emotional distress (based not on Kenney’s death itself, but on the bop ‘s conduct afterward). The court denounced prison employees for trying to cover up their own misconduct, declaring that, “From the time of Trentadue’s death up to and including the trial, these witnesses seemed unable to comprehend the importance of a truthful answer.” The government appealed, and the matter remains bogged down in the courts to this day.
For Jesse, the ruling was bittersweet. For more than four years, he had been investigating the case—interviewing witnesses, filing Freedom of Information Act requests, lobbying lawmakers. But he was no closer to understanding why Kenney might have been, as the medical examiner had put it, “tortured,” or why the prison and the doj would have gone to such lengths to cover up whatever occurred.
By the spring of 2003, Jesse Trentadue had all but given up on solving the mystery. Then he got a call from a small-town newspaper reporter in Oklahoma. His name was J.D. Cash, and he wanted to talk about Kenney, whose story and photo had been widely circulated on the Internet. What kind of vehicle had he been driving when he was stopped at the border? Did he have tattoos? Then Cash explained what had gotten him interested. Kenney’s particulars fit the police description of John Doe No. 2, and some photos of Kenney bore a clear resemblance to the police sketch of the alleged bomber. And both Kenney and John Doe No. 2 looked quite a bit like another man, a bank robber named Richard Lee Guthrie.
Guthrie’s name meant nothing to Jesse Trentadue, but in the far-right radical scene, he had some notoriety. In 1994 and 1995, Guthrie and his gang, the Aryan Republican Army, carried out an impressive series of 22 bank robberies across the Midwest, netting some $250,000 that they used to support the white-supremacist movement.
The ara had a flair for the dramatic. They rented getaway cars in the names of major fbi officials. At some robberies they wore Clinton and Nixon masks; at others, they tried to look like Arabs. At a December 1994 robbery they wore Santa and elf suits; the following April, they left behind an Easter basket holding a bronzed pipe bomb. In a home movie, Guthrie’s partner Peter Langan donned a black balaclava and talked about the coming white revolution. The ara ‘s philosophy was old-fashioned nativism, but their style was a takeoff on the ira , with Latin American revolution and rock and roll thrown in. (Members of the Philadelphia skinhead music scene were part of the group.) Langan liked to call himself “Commander Pedro”; outside the gang, he cross-dressed and later, when sentenced to prison for the robberies, requested that a judge authorize a sex-change operation.
Cash told Jesse that some people—including some in federal law enforcement—thought the ara might have been involved in the Oklahoma City bombing, and that Guthrie could have been John Doe No. 2. (Guthrie, along with other key ara members, was finally arrested in January 1996 and was reported to be cooperating with federal prosecutors tracking the far right. That July, shortly before he was due to testify in court against Langan, Guthrie was found hanging in his cell.)
J.D. Cash, who died in May, at age 55, was an unsettling figure—a genuine crusader for truth as well as an instinctive self-promoter. A lanky man with a warm face that could turn hard in a hurry, he’d been a lawyer, mortgage banker, and entrepreneur before taking a job as the hunting and fishing reporter for the McCurtain Daily Gazette in eastern Oklahoma. Having lost friends and family in the attack, he had grown consumed with the bombing and become a central figure in the Oklahoma City “truth movement,” a loose collection of individuals and groups dedicated to identifying holes in the official story, advancing alternate theories, and gathering evidence to support them.
Cash became an acknowledged clearinghouse for information on the bombing and its endless complications, uncovering a store of vital information while putting forth some highly questionable theories. He despised the fbi and loved writing stories about the bureau’s stupidity and perfidy. His belief in a cover-up—and even government foreknowledge of the bombing—had made him a favorite among some militia types. Yet he also insisted that the bombing was part of a conspiracy by the organized far right, and wanted to see all the perpetrators brought to justice. From Cash, Jesse Trentadue would get a crash course on the questions that still lingered, years later, around the bombing.
For the federal government, a great deal was riding on public perceptions of the attack. Bill Clinton’s speech at a memorial service for the victims, and his emotional meetings with their families, drove up his popularity ratings, which had bottomed out after the 1994 midterm elections; the spotlight on violent antigovernment extremists was also credited with eroding sympathy for the antigovernment rhetoric in Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America.
But the destruction of the Murrah Building—just like, years later, the fall of the Twin Towers—also pointed to a series of deep shortcomings in federal law enforcement and intelligence. Agencies such as the fbi had plenty of agents doing first-rate crime-solving work, but their record in “domestic intelligence” was another matter. Not unlike the patriot groups obsessed with black helicopters, the fbi was consumed by conspiracy theories that reflected the fears and fantasies of its leadership. The same agency that harassed pinko screenwriters in the 1950s, bugged civil rights leaders in the 1960s, and today monitors peace activists and librarians sought to infiltrate the far right through similar means—with dubious informants and questionable surveillance. And when it did move against far-right groups, it often ended up boosting the movement it sought to thwart; the 1992 raid at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the botched 1993 attack on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco fueled a growing fury on the far right. (The Oklahoma City bombing came on the second anniversary of the Waco disaster.)
Increasingly, that anger was targeted at the federal government and its symbols. The Murrah Building itself had been the target of a white-supremacist plot as far back as 1983. Among those involved in that failed endeavor was Richard Wayne Snell, who was later convicted of murdering a black Arkansas state trooper and a pawn-shop owner who he thought was Jewish. Snell was executed on April 19, 1995—the very day of the Murrah bombing. The final resting place of Snell’s body would be a remote religious compound called Elohim City. For those seeking evidence of a wider conspiracy in the bombing—and the federal government’s missed opportunities to crack it—all roads led to Elohim City.
the place was not much to look at—a clutch of small buildings in the Ozark Mountains in eastern Oklahoma. Elohim City’s inhabitants were followers of the late Robert Millar, who taught a doctrine known as Christian Identity, which holds that black and brown people and other “non-whites” (including Jews) are “mud people.” The community was patriarchal and polygamous, with all residents, including children, trained in the use of weapons by a visitor they called “Andy the German”—Andreas Strassmeir, a former German military officer.
For many years, Elohim City served as a sort of extremist sanctuary. Members of the Aryan Nations came through, skinhead bands made visits, young recruits showed up at the gates. Dennis Mahon, a former Klansman who had become a leader of the White Aryan Resistance, had a trailer there and participated in Andy the German’s guerrilla warfare training. In the early 1990s, the burgeoning militia movement, which helped inspire McVeigh and Nichols, became part of the mix.
Also drifting in and out of Elohim City were various informants. Internal fbi memos suggest that the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks the far right, had a source there whose tips were passed to law enforcement. (Mark Potok, the director of splc ‘s intelligence project, told me that his organization had not placed an informant inside the compound, but received only second- or thirdhand reports from the compound.) Millar himself shared some information with the fbi , according to his former attorney, Kirk Lyons, in hopes of avoiding a Waco-style raid. And the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms was getting information from inside Elohim City for nearly a year before the Murrah bombing, via an ex-debutante named Carol Howe. The daughter of a wealthy Oklahoma businessman, Howe with her fiancé had formed a two-person neo-Nazi group that urged “white warriors” to take up arms against the government. In 1994 she called a racist hot line and got involved with the White Aryan Resistance and Mahon. Soon thereafter the batf , possibly wielding the threat of a weapons charge, convinced Howe to inform on Mahon, and for most of the next two years it employed her as an informant. In that capacity she made numerous trips to Elohim City.
Howe’s reports provided the batf —which, records show, shared some of the information with the fbi —with details about the weapons being stockpiled at Elohim City, Strassmeir’s combat training, and Millar’s sermons against the mud people and the U.S. government. Howe reported that Strassmeir had talked about blowing up federal buildings, and that he and Mahon had made several trips to Oklahoma City. In February 1995, Howe joined a group of Elohim City residents on such a trip; she told her batf handler that she’d stayed at the home of a former military person who demonstrated an explosive device.
Two years after the bombing, in 1997, Howe and her fiancé were indicted on charges related to their two-person “National Socialist Alliance” that included making bomb threats and possession of an illegal explosive device. She would be acquitted on all charges. There was a pretrial hearing in the case, which involved testimony from Howe’s batf handler, on the same day that Timothy McVeigh’s trial opened in Denver. At one point, the judge had the following conversation with Howe’s attorney, Clark Brewster:
The Court: Well, let me ask you this, Mr. Brewster. A lot of this makes for good conversation, like the trip to Oklahoma City, you know, before the bombing and so forth and it makes for sensationalism, and I don’t know that it really has anything to do with the Oklahoma City bombing, but I saw where you were coming from. With that McVeigh trial going on, I don’t want anything getting out of here that would compromise that trial in any way.
Brewster: What do you mean by compromise? Do you mean shared with the McVeigh lawyers?
The Court: Yes, or something that would come up—you know, we have got evidence that the [ batf ] took a trip with somebody that said buildings were going to be blown up in Oklahoma City before it was blown up or something of that nature, and try to connect it to McVeigh in some way or something.
Brewster did not return calls for this story; McVeigh’s lawyer, Stephen Jones, says the prosecution never gave him any information about Howe or Elohim City, but that Brewster filled him in and he attempted to have Howe testify at trial. The judge rebuffed him on this and every other attempt to show that McVeigh and Nichols hadn’t acted alone.
one day in 2004 , Jesse had a kind of breakthrough—one that would put him at the center of the Oklahoma City truth movement, though it would ultimately get him no closer to proving who was to blame for Kenney’s death. A source at the fbi , who had at one point taken an interest in Kenney’s case, passed him two heavily redacted memos indicating that, more than a year after Oklahoma City, the bureau had been investigating a link between the bombers and bank robber Richard Guthrie’s ara —a connection that ran through Elohim City.
Jesse filed a Freedom of Information Act request, and then a lawsuit, for documents containing information on these connections, and the bureau—after first claiming it had none—finally produced 25 documents comprising 150 pages, many of them heavily redacted.
The documents connect two investigations under way at the bureau in 1995 and 1996, both of them linked to Elohim City via informants: OKBOMB, run out of Oklahoma City, and BOMBROB, an investigation of the bank-robbing Aryan Republican Army. One of the memos, dated August 23, 1996—some 16 months after the bombing—was sent from fbi headquarters in Washington to the BOMBROB investigation. It read, “Information has been developed that [names redacted] were at the home of [redacted] Elohim City, Oklahoma on 4/5/95 when OKBOMB subject, Timothy McVeigh, placed a telephone call to [redacted] residence. On 4/15/95, a telephone call was placed from [redacted] residence to [redacted] residence in Philadelphia division. BOMBROB subjects [redacted] left [redacted] residence on 4/16/95 en route to Pittsburgh [sic], Kansas where they joined [redacted] and Guthrie.” At that time, some ara suspects lived around Philadelphia, and Pittsburg, Kansas, was the site of an ara safe house. The document makes clear that the bureau was interested in communication between McVeigh and the ara immediately before the bombing, and that Guthrie himself was in Pittsburg—some 200 miles from Oklahoma City—three days before the attack.
In addition, the memos indicate that the fbi received reports of McVeigh calling and possibly visiting Elohim City before the bombing, at one point seeking “to recruit a second conspirator.” The documents also have one source reporting that McVeigh had a “lengthy relationship” with someone at Elohim City, and that he called that person just two days before the bombing. (These documents were never shown to McVeigh’s lawyer.) The Justice Department and the fbi would not comment on the documents; an fbi spokesman in Oklahoma City told me that the bureau is confident it has caught and convicted those responsible for the bombing.
Jesse believes that McVeigh’s contact was Strassmeir, a fixture in many Oklahoma City theories. There has been much speculation, aired most recently on the bbc show Conspiracy Files this year, that Strassmeir had ties to U.S. and German intelligence and might (along with his government contacts) have had advance knowledge of the plot. In February 2007, Jesse filed a declaration in court signed by Nichols stating, “McVeigh said that Strassmeir would provide a ‘safe house’ if necessary. McVeigh…said that Strassmeir was ‘head of security at some backwoods place in Oklahoma.'” Strassmeir left the country in early 1996; he was later questioned on the phone by the fbi .
Kirk Lyons, Strassmeir’s U.S. attorney, who has defended a number of far-right figures over the years, says the reality is far simpler; Strassmeir came to the United States to take part in Civil War reenactments, liked it here, and, hoping to find a bride, ended up at Elohim City. Lyons insists that Strassmeir was never a spy, except in the minds of conspiracy theorists. (“These silly right-wingers think I am Mossad,” he says. “I’ve given up arguing with these nutsy cuckoos.”)
Reached at his home in Berlin, Strassmeir told me that he met McVeigh once, at a gun show in 1993, but that they never spoke again. He said he had no intelligence affiliations and had no clues to the Oklahoma City attack before it happened; but there were definitely informants at Elohim City, he added, and sometimes surveillance planes flew overhead—probably, he thought, to check out the marijuana fields that “some of the rednecks” had planted. He confirmed that two ara members were part-time residents of Elohim City, but said that “nobody knew much about them.”
the oklahoma City bombing prefigured 9/11 in many ways. There were the missed clues; the federal informant who actually had contact with the conspirators; the turf-conscious agencies failing to share and act on vital information; and in general, a domestic-intelligence program incapable of translating surveillance into action. Just as they would misunderstand the nature of Al Qaeda, the fbi and other agencies never viewed the far right as a political movement with the strategic and tactical ability to deliver a major attack. Intelligence on these groups suffered from the broader inadequacies of domestic intelligence, especially in the use of untested freelance informants recruited under threat of prosecution. But with federal police forces and the Justice Department responsible for policing themselves, and the details of their work often shrouded in secrecy, the system remained unaccountable. The bombing “grew out of a definable social movement the authorities didn’t understand,” says Leonard Zeskind, a researcher who has tracked the far right for more than 30 years. “It went unsolved because of the character and gross mismanagement of the investigation. It was an outrageous crime, and the size of the crime magnifies the level of incompetence.”
In fact, after the bombing law enforcement’s failures were not corrected but rewarded. Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which severely restricted federal courts’ ability to grant habeas corpus relief, paving the way for speedier executions (like that of Timothy McVeigh), and ultimately for Guantanamo. It also restricted the rights of immigrants, extended surveillance capabilities, and provided $1 billion in authorization for antiterrorism work, half of it for the fbi . The act raised only muted protest, perhaps in part because it was signed into law by a Democratic president. Yet there can be no doubt that the roots of the Patriot Act were planted not in the chasm of Ground Zero but in the dusty soil of Oklahoma. |
Just one fizzy drink a day raises men's risk of aggressive prostate cancer by 40%
Those who drank one 330ml can a day were much more likely to require treatmen t for a serious form of cancer
Men who ate a diet heavy in pasta, rice, and sugary cereal had increased chance of milder form of disease
A study has found it could take just one soft drink a day to increase the risk of prostate cancer by 40 per cent
One sugary soft drink a day could raise a man’s odds of developing prostate cancer.
A 15-year study found those who drank 300ml of a fizzy drink a day – slightly less than a standard can – were 40 per cent more likely to develop the disease than those who never consumed the drinks.
Worryingly, the risk applied not to early-stage disease that was spotted via blood tests but to cancers that had progressed enough to cause symptoms.
This is significant as faster-growing forms of prostate cancer are more likely to be fatal.
It is thought that sugar triggers the release of the hormone insulin, which feeds tumours.
Prostate cancer is the most common type in British men, affecting almost 41,000 a year and killing more than 10,000.
The study, published in the respected American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is far from the first to link the sugary soft drinks enjoyed by millions of Britons every day to poor health. Previous research has flagged up heart attacks, diabetes, weight gain, brittle bones, pancreatic cancer, muscle weakness and paralysis as potential risks.
The Swedish scientists behind the latest work said that while more research is needed before the link with prostate cancer can be confirmed, there are already ‘plenty of reasons’ to cut back on soft drinks.
For the study, they tracked the health of more than 8,000 men aged 45 to 73 for an average of 15 years. The men, who were in good health at the start of the study, were also quizzed about what they liked to eat and drink.
At the end of the study, they compared the dietary habits of the men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer with those who remained healthy and found a clear link between sugary drinks and the disease.
Experts at Lund University also found those who ate a carbohydrate diet heavy in rice and pasta increased their risk of getting milder forms of prostate cancer
Lund University researcher Isabel Drake said: ‘Among the men who drank a lot of soft drinks we saw an increased risk of prostate cancer of around 40 per cent.’ The analysis also linked large amounts of rice and pasta, cakes and biscuits, and sugary breakfast cereals with a less serious form of the disease.
There was no link with fruit juice. Diet drinks, and tea and coffee with sugar, were not included in the study.
The researchers said that although genetics plays a bigger role in prostate cancer than in many other tumours, diet also appears to be important. However, Mrs Drake, a PhD student, added that more research is needed to prove the link. |
Before Statsbot, the founders were all too familiar with the various platforms needed to extrapolate data every day — and the hours it took to do so. Google Analytics, Salesforce, Mixpanel, Stripe — log in, run reports, and compile statistics in Excel. On top of all that, they then had to build graphs and charts to demonstrate anything from website performance to marketing ROI.
Believing that analytics should be accessible and simple, they created Statsbot.
Today we’re happy to release the integration with Stripe — the most popular platform for online payments. Now Statsbot can tell your revenue, number of active customers, new subscribers, and so on.
With Statsbot, you only need one platform to get the easy access to numerous data sources via simple text queries. One of our key goals is to increase a number of integrations to give our users access to more data sources.
More than 50,000 companies use Stripe including ‘unicorns’ like Blue Apron, Docker, DocuSign, GrabTaxi, Glassdoor, Instacart, Kik, Lyft, MongoDB, MuleSoft, Square, and Quora.
Stripe operates info about your money streams, so this data source is critical for every business.
There are several applications which allow to visualize data from Stripe. The great advantage of Statsbot solution is the easiest and fastest way of getting and sharing information with the whole team.
How to use Stripe integration
You can connect Statsbot to your Stripe account in under 2 minutes. With our new Stripe integration, Statsbot receives your raw data, and then analyzes and processes it, providing you with information via natural language.
Ask Statsbot in channels or direct messages: “@statsbot What is our MRR today?” or “@statsbot active users this week” — and you’ll get a beautiful, simple chart with data from your Stripe account.
You can request Stripe metrics, simply navigate through commands by buttons, change the time range and compare your data with the previous period.
You can also get the summary of these metrics and save it to Dashboard to keep an eye on revenue. Or you can set up a goal for Stripe metrics to stay on track with your cash flow.
What do Stripe metrics mean?
Since Stripe is a payment platform, all its metrics relate to money. Let’s have a look at the most important metrics which you can request Statsbot right now — just type “@statsbot name of the metric”.
MRR. Monthly recurring revenue is the ultimate force behind any SaaS business. It’s the summary of all your monthly active subscription customers, minus any discounts.
Your MRR grows with an increase in new customers, returning customers, or upgrading customers. MRR decreases when users cancel the subscription or downgrade.
Active Customers are the people which pay you money. So this metric exclude those who are on a free plan, test trial, have full price discounts or have paid you for a one off purchase but not a subscription.
Revenue is net revenue — all money received from selling minus all costs that you need to pay.
ARR. Annual run rate is the current value of your business as a predictor of future performance over the next year. It’s calculated as MRR x 12.
New Subscriptions is the metric of all subscriptions in a specific period, for example in last month. It’s not the same as active subscriptions which means all subscriptions at the end of a period.
KEY TAKEAWAYS: |
The number of homes sold under the hammer dropped down to 16% at Barfoot & Thompson's main Manukau auction last week, with more than half the properties offered failing to attract a single bid.
Interest.co.nz monitors and collates the results of four major auctions conducted by Barfoot & Thompson each week, one at Manukau, which covers the markets in south and east Auckland, one on the North Shore and two at Barfoot's head office in the CBD, which cover properties in Auckland's central and western suburbs (see table below).
A notable feature of last week's auctions was the high number of homes being offered, however the number of homes being sold under the hammer remains well below recent levels.
At the Manukau auction 49 homes were offered but only eight were sold under the hammer, leaving the remaining 41 to be sold by negotiation.
A bigger concern was that of the 41 properties that were passed in, 29 received no bids at all which was more than half of all the properties auctioned on the day.
The North Shore auction was also a biggy with 40 properties offered and just over a third selling under the hammer. But just under half of the properties offered attracted no bids.
The most successful auction of those monitored by interest.co.nz was held at Barfoot's Shortland St auction rooms in the CBD last Friday, where 21 homes were auctioned and 12 (57%) were sold under the hammer.
A noticeable trend at recent auctions has been the reduced numbers of Chinese migrant buyers in attendance and agents report that fewer have also been attending open homes and this appears to be having a significant impact on the market.
And in general terms central Auckland properties located within the boundaries of the former Auckland City Council, particularly those within the prized double grammar school zones, appear to be selling more readily than those on the North Shore and in south Auckland.
The full results of the four Barfoot & Thompson auctions monitored by interest.co.nz are available on our Auctions/Sales Results page.
Barfoot & Thompson Residential Property Auctions Venue Auctioned Sold Passed in No Bids Manukau Sports Bowl, 15 November 2016 49 8 41 29 Shortland St CBD, 16 November 2016 69 31 48 25 Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna. 17 November 2016 40 14 26 18 Shortland St CBD. 18 November 2016 21 12 9 6 |
Associated Press Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll addresses a United Nations Security Council meeting on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and the protection of journalists, Wednesday, July 17, 2013 at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Good morning ladies and gentlemen and thank you for the opportunity to talk about an important subject — the right of journalists around the world to work without threat or peril.Everyone who walks into the main newsroom at AP’s global headquarters in New York passes our Wall of Honor, a softly lit display of photographs and biographies of the 31 Associated Press journalists who have died on assignment since the organization was founded 167 years ago.I pass it every morning, frequently pausing to look at the faces of the five men killed on my watch as editor:Nazeh Darwazeh, killed on April 19, 2003, while filming a confrontation between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus.Saleh Ibrahim, shot to death on April 23, 2005, as he arrived to cover an explosion in the Iraqi city of Mosul.Aswam Ahmed Lutfallah, shot to death by insurgents as he filmed their gunfight with police in Mosul on December 12, 2006.Ahmed Hadi Naji, who left home astride his red-and-white motorbike on the way to the AP Baghdad office and disappeared. His body was found in a morgue six days later, January 5, 2007. He had been shot in the back of the head.Anthony Mitchell, headed home to Kenya from a West Africa reporting trip when the plane he was on crashed in Cameroon on May 5, 2007, killing all aboard.Like those five men, most of the 31 people on our wall died covering conflict, beginning with the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn in the United States.They fell during the Spanish-American war in Cuba, the Russo-Japanese War, the Korean conflict and World War II – which claimed five AP journalists. Another five died in Vietnam.Many were shot to death. In an ambush. Or a riot. Shot at a checkpoint. Captured, tortured and shot by the Nazis.Two were attacked by mobs during civil unrest. Others were mortally wounded by mortars or shells. One went down on a warship, another on a refugee ship.Others were lost in plane crashes or one of many helicopter crashes, including the 1993 crash in Afghanistan that took the life of the only woman on the Wall of Honor, my friend Sharon Herbaugh.We bring visitors to the Wall of Honor and it’s important to explain why this is such a special place to us.These people are part of our professional family. They are in my head and heart each time we send AP journalists off into the world’s many treacherous spots.But more often, journalists aren't heading off to an assignment in a treacherous spot. That dangerous assignment is the country they call home and the threat is not from war.Indeed, most journalists who die today are not caught in some wartime cross-fire, they are murdered just because of what they do. And those murders are rarely ever solved; the killers rarely ever punished.The Committee to Protect Journalists documents the attacks on journalists each year and their annual accounting is grim indeed. More than 30 journalists are murdered every year and many are abducted and tortured first.In the overwhelming number of cases — 90 percent — the killers go unpunished. Free to attack and kill again.CPJ has found that most murdered journalists — 5 in 6 — are killed in their own hometowns covering local stories ... usually crime and corruption.They are attacked by people who know their work, and often know them personally. The journalists are menaced, arrested, beaten again and again; their families or colleagues threatened.The attacks frequently escalate and some journalists flee their homeland for an exile’s life.Others are jailed, sometimes for years. Some disappear off the face of the earth.And many — too many — turn up dead. 12 in Somalia last year alone, 5 in Pakistan, 4 in Brazil, 3 in Syria, others in Russia, Nigeria, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Ecuador, India and the Philippines.So why should the world’s leaders care about threats against journalists?Many officials the world over complain that journalists are headstrong and nosy. They ask questions, they write stories and take pictures that don’t always sit well with the powerful people they cover. They aim their cameras at things some people don’t want the world to see.Yet journalists represent the ordinary citizen … they ask questions on behalf of those people. They go to places the people cannot and bear witness. An attack on a journalist is a proxy for an attack on the people, an attack on their right to information about their communities and their institutions.It’s true that today, a journalist’s tools are readily available to those average citizens. They have smart phones, cameras, satellite transmissions, and many make important contributions to news coverage.Indeed, authenticated images and reports from deep inside Syria — some by average citizens, some by partisans — have contributed to the world’s understanding of the fighting in that country in the past two years.Their work enriches what we learn about the world every day, yet the threat to them can be just as great as the threat to professional journalists.Who will protect them?And who will protect the reporters and photographers and editors and radio commentators and television hosts … the men and women who swallow fear every day, who constantly calculate the risks of simply doing their job, wondering if the next breath they draw will be their last.The safety of journalists is not a political topic or a professional rallying cry for me. It is deeply personal. The journalists we have lost all left families behind, often very young children growing up with only the faintest memories of the parent who never came home.As much as I want to, I know I cannot personally protect all the AP journalists at work in every corner of the globe. But every day, I try to do it anyway.Because there are 31 photos on the AP Wall of Honor.And 31 pictures is enough. |
In the wake of the security disaster that is the Heartbleed vulnerability, a number of people have asked me if Coverity’s static analyzer detects defects like this. It does not yet, but you’d better believe our security team is hard at work figuring out ways to detect and thereby prevent similar defects. (UPDATE: We have shipped a hotfix release that has a checker that will find defects like the HeartBleed defect. The security team works fast!)
I’ll post some links to some articles below, but they’re a big jargonful, so I thought that a brief explanation of this jargon might be appropriate. The basic idea is as follows:
Data which flows into a system being analyzed is said to come from a source .
. Certain data manipulations are identified as sinks . Think of them as special areas that data is potentially flowing towards.
. Think of them as special areas that data is potentially flowing towards. A source can taint data. Typically the taint means something like “this data came from an untrusted and potentially hostile agent”. Think of a taint as painting a piece of data red, so that every other piece of data it touches also becomes red. The taint thus spreads through the system.
data. Typically the taint means something like “this data came from an untrusted and potentially hostile agent”. Think of a taint as painting a piece of data red, so that every other piece of data it touches also becomes red. The taint thus spreads through the system. A sink can require that data flowing into it be free of taint.
If there is a reasonable code path on which tainted data flows into a sink, that’s a potential defect.
So for example, a source might be user input to a web form. A taint might be “this data came from a client that we have no reason to trust”. A sink might be code which builds a SQL string that will eventually be sent to a database. If there is a code path on which tainted data reaches the sink, then that’s a potential SQL injection defect. Or a source might be a number sent over the internet from a client, and a sink might be code that indexes into an array. If an number from an untrustworthy client can become an index into an array, then the array might be indexed out of bounds. And so on; we have great flexibility in determining what sources and sinks are.
Now that you understand what we mean by sources, sinks and taints, you can make sense of:
For the TLDR crowd, basically what Andy is saying here is: identifying sinks is not too hard; in the case of Heartbleed, any call to memcpy could be the sink. But it can be tricky to determine when a source ought to be tainted. To get reasonable performance and a low false positive rate we need a heuristic that is both fast and accurate. The proposed heuristic is: if it looks like you’re swapping bytes to change network endianness into local machine endianness then it is highly likely that the data comes from an untrusted network client. That of course is far from the whole story; once the taint is applied, we still need to have an analyzer that correctly deduces whether tainted data makes it to a sink that requires untainted data.
Taking a step farther back, I’ve got to say that this whole disaster should be a wakeup call: why is anyone still writing security-critical infrastructure in languages that lack memory safety at runtime? I’m fine with this infrastructure being written in C or C++, so long as at runtime the consequence of undefined behaviour is termination of the program rather than leaking passwords and private keys. A compiler and standard library are free to make undefined behaviour have whatever behaviour they like, so for security-critical infrastructure, let’s have a C/C++ compiler and library that makes undefined behaviour into predictably crashing the process. Somehow C# and Java manage to do just that without an outrageous runtime performance cost, so a C/C++ compiler could do the same. With such a runtime in place, the Heartbleed defect would have been a denial of service attack that calls attention to itself, rather than silently leaking the most valuable private data to whomever asks for it, without so much as even a log file to audit.
To argue that we cannot afford the cost of building such a compiler and using it consistently on security-critical infrastructure is to argue that it would be cheaper to just deal with arbitrarily many more Heartbleeds.
UPDATE: A number of people have pointed out to me that safe memory access comes at a real performance cost, and that the authors of OpenSSL had written a custom allocator. Both arguments miss my point. First, for security-critical infrastructure let’s default to safety over performance; if performance turns out to be unacceptable then let’s identify the most performance-crucial hot spots and concentrate lots of attention on how to improve performance without risking safety in those areas. Second, it has been alleged to me that the authors of that custom allocator wrote it for speed, not for safety. Again, this is completely the wrong attitude: write for safety first when you are building security infrastructure. And third, let’s look at the premise of the whole effort: users of SSL by definition are people who are willing to take a hit in the performance of their networking layer in exchange for improved safety; the idea that raw speed is the most important thing is simply false.
Stay safe out there everyone.
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Soft spot for soft robots? Register for the 2016 Soft Robotics Competition
By Adam Zewe | SEAS
If you have a soft spot for robotics, this competition is right up your alley. With separate tracks for academic researchers, college students, and high school students, the 2016 Soft Robotics Competition offers anyone with an interest in robotics the chance to design and build their own soft robot using the resources available in the open-source Soft Robotics Toolkit.
Now in its second year, the competition was developed by Conor Walsh, assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Dónal Holland, visiting lecturer in engineering sciences, as a way to encourage individuals to take advantage of the resources provided in the Soft Robotics Toolkit.
The toolkit, which incorporates contributions from researchers from Harvard and other institutions, provides a set of intellectual tools that one can use to design and construct a robot using soft, flexible materials. It includes resources such as step-by-step instructions on building actuators and sensors, lists of suggested materials, and how-to fabrication videos.
The ultimate goal of the competition is to encourage others to find innovative applications for soft robotics technology and continue expanding interest in this relatively new field.
“Last year, we were really impressed with the variety and quality of entries,” Holland said. “The participants came up with fantastic ideas that we never would have thought of, and we hope that this year we will receive even more submissions.”
The inaugural contest, which drew 87 initial entries from around the world, has been expanded to include separate categories for academic researchers, college students, and high school students.
Last year, some of the most unique entries were submitted by high school students, such as a wearable glove that detects and controls tremor, and a teddy bear that hugs back. Since many high school students don’t have access to 3D printers and other high-tech equipment commonly found on university campuses, organizers established a separate high school category this year, explained research fellow Max Herman.
“We hope this will enable even more people to participate this year,” he said. “Our goal is to lower the barrier of entry into the area of soft robotics.”
Entries in the high school and college competitions must be novel and should incorporate at least one component technology from the Soft Robotics Toolkit website. Students will document their projects using a “wiki” that includes at least four sections: background, design, fabrication, and testing.
Entrants in the academic research competition must submit work that has either been published or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or conference proceeding. In addition, entrants must provide details of the research on the Soft Robotics Toolkit website before June, with a focus on replicable processes. The quality of the documentation will be a factor in the judging process.
The competition opens in January and entries will be accepted through June. There is no cost to enter the competition and prizes will be awarded to the developers of the top projects in all three categories. Winning projects will also be featured on the Soft Robotics Toolkit website.
Click here for detailed information about competition rules, eligibility, and entry guidelines.
This video shows the Soft Wheel Robot, developed by a team at Cornell University, which won the design category of the 2015 Soft Robotics Competition. |
15 minutes.
I would have liked to have added peas
Creamy Parmesan & Bacon Pasta
The other night, I had a dire dinner dilemma.I had NO idea what to make! Between loads of laundry, a trip to the park/splash pad, diaper changes, dishes, and weeding the flower beds, dinner plans got pushed to the back of my mind. 5:30 hit, and I was having zero inspiration where the kitchen was concerned. (I'm sure that'shappened to anyone elsebefore.)I decided to get the opinion of the masses: I asked my kids what they wanted, and got the following responses:As luck would have it, I was fresh out of, "I don't know," and I wasn't quite to the point of desperation that leads to cookies for dinner.I contemplated the wonderful world of the internet. Then, I surveyed the contents of my fridge. Quick and simple was sounding awfully good by this point, so I settled on a recipe from Tasty Kitchen , which I altered to fit my needs.Typically, I'm not a bacon fan. (I know, I know. Calm down... take deep breaths! Sheesh...) I can trace it all back to my 5th grade teacher, Ms. Kohler, and a lesson that involved pigs and tapeworms... but, I want this dish to appeal to you, so I'm not going to expound any further on that.This pasta was completely delicious! It made me re-think bacon possibilities. (A pretty major feat for this anti-bacon weirdo, mind you.)Who doesn't love a delicious homemade dinner in 15 minutes?!?!The silky, creamy, sauce (somewhere between carbonara and alfredo) justcoats the pasta without overwhelming it, as many white sauces are prone to do. The crisp bacon and salty parmesan add beautifully simple, deep flavor with the freshly-ground black pepper. This pasta dish is best eaten IMMEDIATELY. The sauce, while totally easy to put together, is particular about being eaten right away.Really, that should be no problem.to the entire dish. But, alas, I am one voice in five, and peas typically fall somewhere between dirt and scum on the food chain where my kids are concerned.Luckily for me, I can add mypeas to mypasta, thank you very much.You can alter this to your personal taste: mix the bacon into the sauce instead of crumbling it on top or try adding sauteed onions and bell peppers, or even sauteed mushrooms... maybe some fresh basil or tomatoes or spinach...Wow...I might have to make this for lunch.*serves 4 adults1/3 - 1/2 lb. lean bacon, cooked and crumbled8 oz. ziti, penne, or similar pasta1/4 cup heavy cream (could sub milk)2 oz. reduced fat cream cheese*1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese1 egg, beaten1/8 tsp. black pepper*extra grated parmesan to topCook bacon as desired. (I like to microwave it on a plate with paper towels. The bacon becomes extra crispy, and the towels soak upthe grease. If you like a little bacon fat, this method is NOT for you.) Crumble, and set aside.While the bacon is cooking, boil the pasta in salted water until al dente.While the pasta is boiling, place heavy cream and cream cheese in a small saucepan over low heat until the cream cheese melts, whisking till smooth. Remove from heat and add the parmesan cheese, egg, and pepper. Whisk until well blended.Drain the hot pasta, (reserving a little of the liquid) and return the pasta to the pot. Immediately add the sauce, and toss to coat. The egg will be cooked by the hot pasta. Add some of the reserved pasta water if needed to loosen the sauce.Stir in the bacon, or sprinkle on top as desired. Serve hot IMMEDIATELY. (Sauce will lose its silkiness upon standing too long.) |
News of the new movie starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney has been going around Disney news sites for a while now. But today is a milestone in the story as we learn that part of the movie will be shot at Disneyland, CA.
Photo from The Orange County Register
Disney has announced that on Nov. 6-7 part of the Disneyland park will be blocked off for filming of the movie, which tells the story of the making of "Mary Poppins" and how Walt Disney pursued the rights to the film. Among the cast is Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers, and Colin Farrell as Travers father.
Disney officials have declined to confirm which stars will be present at Disneyland on the days of shooting, and that park Guests will not get the opportunity to meet them as the set will be blocked off to the general public. As the film is set in 1961, there can't be any bloopers with regular Guests walking around sporting the latest fashions. So therefore Disneyland Cast Members were given the opportunity to apply to be extras. |
Ryan Reynold’s desperation to create a successful superhero franchise resulted in him personally paying for the on-set presence of two of Deadpool’s screenwriters, Yahoo Movies reports.
After Deadpool’s disappointing debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Reynolds wanted to reintroduce the character the way he was meant to be portrayed - as a wisecracking, hyperactive lunatic, not a sulking mutant with his mouth sewn shut.
Technically, he knew he was a perfect fit for the character’s annoying, profanity-laden sense of humour, but it proved to be an uphill struggle to create the film that the fans wanted to see. Fox, understandably fearing failure, continually slashed the budget, and refused to pay for screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to be on-set during the production, at which point Reynolds stepped in - “We were on set every day. Interestingly, Ryan wanted us there. We were on the project for six years. It was really a core creative team of us, Ryan, and the director Tim Miller. Fox, interestingly, wouldn’t pay for us to be on set. Ryan Reynolds paid out of his own money, out of his own pocket.”
An extraordinary step that ultimately paid off, as Deadpool proved to be a mammoth hit, making a total of $782,612,155 off a budget of only $58,000,000. This really shouldn’t have happened, as Deadpool stars a lesser-known superhero who covers his face the majority of the film, and happens to be an R-rated comedy that pokes fun at the entire genre. Reynolds, obviously sick of studio interference, knew what the fans wanted and went the extra mile to ensure his core creative team remained on-set together. It was his dedication to the project and willingness to make sacrifices that ensured the film’s success, and proved that superhero films don’t have to shy away from sex and blood.
Personally, I hated Deadpool. The character’s irritating, “in your face attitude” seemed like it belonged on the cover of a cereal box, back in the 90’s with a backwards-facing baseball cap. But what Reynolds and his team achieved was undeniably a unique attempt at something new, and bold, in a genre saturated with dull, uninspired content. His willingness to pay for what the studio refused to, as well as take a major pay cut, speaks volumes towards his artistic integrity. After all, Reynolds starred in not just one, or two, but three terrible superhero films. Clearly, the man is passionate about comic books and was determined to leave his mark on the superhero genre.
And he did. Not only did Deadpool prove an R-rated comedy/superhero film could work, it also showed the value of actually listening to the fans. After languishing in “development hell,” the film was only given the greenlight due to test footage being released online, the ecstatic fan reaction indicating that there was money to be made.
Nevertheless, the multiple cuts Fox made to the budget forced the filmmakers to make some difficult creative decisions, such as Deadpool “forgetting” his guns in a cab to avoid an expensive, bullet-ridden finale, and melding the three original villains into a single antagonist, Angel Dust. This might have actually ended up improving the end result, as bloated action scenes and multiple villains tend to be the biggest problem with most uninspired superhero blockbusters. Plus, Deadpool’s snarky references to budget cuts only added to the sense of fun.
With Deadpool 2 given an enthusiastic greenlight, and rumors of more X-Men characters being added to the mix, hopefully the creative team continues to stick to their guns (or lack of), and keep the sequel free of the dreaded budget bloat. |
Greetings, all.
My apologies for this being a few days late. I have zero excuses. I went out with some friends after the gym Friday night, and I was only suppose to be out for an hour or so, because I had to write the new article to get it in on time. Well…one rum & coke turned into several, and the only writing I was doing was an email to let 411 know I’d be a day late. My bad, guys, sorry.
I’ve covered my 3 favorite films in the Nightmare franchise, and while I intended to finish out October by talking about my least favorite, I realized this year that October had 5 Monday’s packed into it. So, instead of just talking about my least favorite, I thought I’d talk about all the rest in this article, along with my favorite VHS covers. I don’t know what it is, but the 80’s horror VHS covers are some of the most awesome looking things I’ve ever seen. Also, I figured, why just have a look at Nightmare’s VHS covers? Because the offerings in Crystal Lake were pretty sweet at times too.
Tune in next week as we finish off October with my all time favorite horror film. And if you’re wondering what your boy thinks of the Friday The 13th franchise, look no further than my platinum selling ebook, My Summer Vacation At Camp Crystal Lake. A complete collection of my review of the Friday The 13th franchise, done Man Movie Encyclopedia style, along with a few countdown lists, and a center fold that features me in a hot-tub with a hockey mask on.
Alrighty, let’s get it.
FIVE – JASON GOES TO HELL
Despite what you want to say about this film, you can’t deny the cover is pretty sweet. Back in the day, the cover, in some cases, were 3D. The mask & the snake deal were raised up. Either way, the cover absolutely drew me in as a kid, because I’d been looking at all these others for a while, years, even and here was this brightly colored one, with a bright, shiny mask, and the snake demon. Really, I had zero idea what was going on. Was Jason going to fight a snake demon? Was a snake demon going to be a tag-team partner? On the back Jason looked awesome, and clearly he was going to be all over that film….right?
FOUR – FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING
I know, I know, people hate this one, with few cats like me who actually dig it. Regardless, the simple cover is great. Because for 2 films, we knew Jason as the hulking dude in the beat up, rough looking hockey mask. It’s a very iconic look, one that as a kid I knew like the back of my hand. So, I was always so fascinated with this cover. I mean, who’s mask is this?! It’s so clean, and looks nothing like Jason’s. Also, the back of it showed a guy with a meat-clever in his neck, and Jason with blue on his mask. There were so many questions asked with this thing, and regardless, I just love the red glow and clean, white mask.
THREE – FRIDAY THE 13TH
Although I honestly don’t like this film, the cover is absolutely iconic. It’s perfect. You’ve got the outline of the killer, unknown in the first, with the woods background and a group of worried looking people huddled together under the moon. Honestly, it’s something that would catch your attention if you hadn’t seen the films. The back always disappointed me though, ho-hum.
TWO – FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 4: THE FINAL CHAPTER
C’mon, this cover is the definition of iconic. Who couldn’t love this? You’ve got Jason’s mask, beaten up and damaged, sitting in a pool of blood, with a knife through the eye hole. I wanted to see this one so badly as a kid, because I couldn’t imagine Jason actually getting it, and I’d wondered so badly how it was going to be done. Unfortunately, it’s not featured here, but on the back you had a shot of Tommy Jarvis in the mask, and I couldn’t even wrap my mind around that! An alien?! Do aliens kill Jason?! So many questions. But regardless, a timeless cover and one of the all time greats.
ONE – FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN
Sure, Part 4 is probably more iconic, but Jason Takes Manhattan is one of my all time favorites. I mean, look at that motherfucker! You’ve got New York [actually, it’s Vancouver], with Jason looming over it, ready to take that bad bitch! I love how they work the knife in, with a choice of cool colors on the bottom, and on top they’ve got Jason in reds & oranges, creating a fantastic contrast. It’s just a fantastic piece of art. The back is nice and simple, where we actually see Jason, and he’s super pissed. Like, he looks so angry, he looks like if he knew your middle name, he’d totally middle name you, he’s that angry. Fantastic stuff.
FIVE – A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
Honestly, I never dug this cover at all. It doesn’t pull you in. Even the larger version doesn’t say much, and serves only like abstract art, really. I mean, it’s a close up of a girl’s face, and a few of Freddy’s claws. When I was a kid, I never looked at this one, at all. The back wasn’t much better, really, as it’s just a still of the scene where Freddy is attacking the mother. Yawn.
FOUR – A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 5: THE DREAM CHILD
As an adult, it’s a pretty sweet looking cover. You have Freddy, in all his glory, standing over a pram that looks like it’s been to hell and back. It’s all front to a bright blue background, which frames everything perfectly. The back cover has you wondering what the fuck is going on, as there’s a twisted looking child, a woman with huge cheeks that looks like she’s about to explode. If you hadn’t seen this film, you’d be wondering just what the hell was going on.
Now, truth time, I haven’t seen this film in 24 years. As a child I wasn’t allowed to watch NOES films, my mom thought they were too much. Well, one day when I was 9, I was over at a friend’s house and their parents rented Part 5. Everyone wanted to watch, and I didn’t want to be a wimp. I wish I had though. There was a scene where Freddy keeps feeding a woman her own intestines until she dies. I mean…I couldn’t even begin to tell you how much that traumatized me, haha. I just couldn’t get over it. And because of that, I haven’t seen it again. I mean, I know it’s not nearly as bad as I thought, but I feel like I’d be betraying my 9 year old self for going back for a second viewing. I do love the comic book scene though.
THREE – A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE
I’m sorry, but isn’t the first film Freddy’s revenge? Shouldn’t this one just be Freddy’s Sour Grapes? There’s a poster that’s some what similar to the first 4, but for some reason this was the cover I always saw as a kid, and I love it. It absolutely pops. The yellow & blue are an awesome contrast, and Freddy looks absolutely menacing. If you notice at the bottom, it’s rows of houses, so it’s like Freddy is tearing into the real world, which was the idea in this film. The back always interested me, because I wanted to know how the kid got Freddy’s glove, and what he was going to do with it.
As for the film, there’s a lot to hate, but there’s also a lot of fun to it. For one, I think Freddy has never looked better. He looked menacing, terrifying, even. I loved the red & yellow contacts, something I wish they’d have kept. While the deaths aren’t very cool, we get awesome moments like Freddy popping out of a body, which is one of the best moments of the whole franchise, and Freddy peeling off his skin to show his brain, great stuff. But, yeah, it’s a pretty flawed film, especially considering it was compared to the original.
TWO – A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER
Oh hell yeah. This was, and remains, fantastic. There was so much that would draw this to me at the video store. First off was Freddy tearing up his own face, which looked great with the popped out eye ball. Then you had a junkyard setting with the claws coming up from the ground, and these far nicer eyes in the middle of it all. It’s fucking art. Then on the back, the entire thing is engulfed in flames, with Freddy baring his chest of souls, something that really blew my mind as a kid. I had zero idea what the fuck was going on. They chose great stills too. I wondered what/ that robot arm was, and thought perhaps we’d see Freddy as a cyborg or something. Fantastic stuff.
ONE – A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS
My favorite of the series is also my favorite VHS cover. As a kid, despite my trauma, I wanted to see Dream Warriors so badly. I mean, how could I not? Look at that cover! It was bathed in a dreamy blue, with Freddy’s face covering the top portion. His claws are stretched out, with each Dream Warrior walking along, ready for the fray. I thought that was so cool, these cats who weren’t afraid of Freddy, and were armed with knives, a mace, and a bat. I wanted to see this brawl, dammit. The back didn’t tell you much, but I couldn’t believe there was a monster version of Freddy swallowing someone whole, and I wanted to know what the hell that was all about, dammit. Just a fantastic cover.
Any questions, comments, drunk-ramblings, feel free to send them my way, I always dig hearing from you, the beautiful people.
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I post almost daily with workout related stuff to help you cats out, along with what’s coming down the pike via the MME, and general pop culture from the 80s and 90s that I can’t seem to let go of.
Email:[email protected]
If you just can’t wait until next week, you can also find me at these fine places:
The Man Movie Encyclopedia: The Hall of Burly – Vol. 1 – A collection of the first 19 MME articles written for 411. You get all the classics like Commando, Robocop, and Die Hard, not to mention bad-assery such as Point Break and They Live. Beyond that, you also get two new articles. My Top 5 favorite action movies, and what I believe to be the Top 5 most over-the-top scenes in action movie history. I won’t lie, it’s the greatest self=help/martial arts instruction book of all time.
My Summer Vacation At Camp Crystal Lake – My brand new ebook that’s become so popular it’s charting on the album sales charts. I cover the Friday The 13th franchise in Man Movie Encyclopedia fashion, followed up by a few list-based articles, chronicling my favorite kills, moments from the franchise, and a few other subjects. $3 via amazon, or simply email me and get it for $2, either way, it’ll probably change your life.
Caliber Winfield On The Facebook –
Anything new that I do you guys can find here. Last I checked I was at 54 likes, which is pretty fucking solid in my book. However, I saw Joe Lee and A Bloody Good Time were over 110. C’mon now, we can’t let them beat us, can we?!
GeeksFitness.com –
Just a place where I talk about what’s going on the super-awesomely sweet part of my life that is bodybuilding/powerlifting/MMA.
Mercy Is For The Weak Podcast –
Along with my co-host, we cover everything from movies, music, TV, video games and pop-culture, to pro-wrestling, and all things burly. We’re on hiatus at the moment, but there’s a decent catalog to go through.
All Things Caliber –
I merged my wrestling website into my long standing website that’s been up for over 6 years. Anything under the sun, I’ve written about it. |
The Ottawa Senators preseason schedule this year is head and shoulders above the gongshow that it was last year, and it is a case of the Senators learning from their mistakes.
The double-headers are fun and interesting, and they are a good way to ensure the players keep on the same rhythm in terms of games and off day programs.
Early on, with so many players still in camp, getting as many players the opportunity to suit up for relatively competitive games is a plus, and keeping them all in sync helps camp move along more smoothly.
After tonight’s double-header split-squad games against Toronto, they have 5 days off before heading to Winnipeg and then a couple more days off before finishing their pre-season with back to back games against the Habs on Oct 3rd and 4th.
After tonight, the club can pretty much split into the two groups that will make up, for the most part, those contending for the Ottawa roster and then those likely ticketed for Binghamton or Evansville. Also, you can expect many players to be sent back to junior or released after tonight. Ben Harpur (Guelph Storm), Nick Paul (North Bay Batallion), and Matt Murphy (Halifax Mooseheads) were all returned to their junior clubs after returning home from St. John’s. There are now 54 players in camp, and after tonight you can expect that to be reduced to about 45 or so, and split into the two groups.
Having the double-headers early in the preseason is also a dramatic upgrade over last season, where they played the Islanders in a double header in Ottawa and Barrie, but they were the last preseason games the clubs played.
That meant that, due to NHL veteran requirements in preseason games, the Senators never played a single game as a roster before the season opener. They were all over the place and I am not saying that that lack of cohesion was the reason for the Senators’ slow start to the season, but it definitely didn’t help matters.
Hopefully the way the schedule sets up this season puts the Senators in a better place to get a couple of games in with a majority of the actual roster intact and they can build into the season without interruption and not suffer the same fate as last season.
Those who don’t learn from their mistakes are destined to repeat them, and I think the Senators learned from at least one of the ones they made last season. |
The role of the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys in North Queensland was taken to a whole new level today when club CEO Greg Tonner announced the establishment of the Cowboys Community Foundation.
A registered charity, the Foundation will draw together a number of education-based community programs that the club has previously run itself.
“While the Cowboys Community Foundation is a new venture for us, we’ve been working on it for over a year,” Mr Tonner said.
“Our community programs and initiatives have always been a huge part of the life of the club. We couldn’t exist without our members and community support and, from day one, the club has always sought to pay that support back – both on the field as the boys did so amazingly last year and off the field as well.”
The Foundation will have four areas of focus: encouraging school attendance, particularly in the primary years; inspiring positive life choices during the junior secondary years; supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to complete secondary school; and providing access to a secondary education for young people from remote Indigenous communities.
“Much of the work that the club has done in these areas in the past has been very reliant on government funding. Establishing the Foundation will enable us to broaden our funding base, making the programs more sustainable and enabling us to deepen their impact across North Queensland,” Mr Tonner said.
The Foundation is registered as a deductible gift recipient charity with the Australian Tax Office, and individual and corporate donations will be tax-deductible.
Speaking at the launch of the Foundation today, Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston said: “One of the things I love about the Cowboys is our work in the community and with students, young people and those who are doing it tough or don’t have the opportunities most of us take for granted.”
“Setting up the Cowboys Community Foundation as a charity now means that the whole community can become part of the team and help support the club’s work with the young people of the North.”
The charity’s first major fundraising initiative was also announced today.
“We are pleased to announce Weather Lottery as our inaugural fundraising partner,” Mr Tonner said.
“As the only not-for-profit online charity lottery that donates all profits directly to its charity partners, Weather Lottery is a natural fit for the Cowboys Community Foundation.”
Weather Lottery spokesperson Joanne Edgar said the partnership provided supporters with a fun and exciting way to donate to the Foundation.
Explaining how it would operate, Ms Edgar said: “Monday night will be the Cowboys Community Foundation’s Weather Lottery night. Members and supporters can simply go to the Weather Lottery website at weatherlottery.com.au and guess the weather in each Australian capital city for that day. If a player correctly picks all seven numbers in sequence, as published by the Bureau of Meteorology, they win $1 million and one in every three players wins a prize.”
“Australia has a long tradition of lotteries supporting charities; some of the country’s longest standing and best known lotteries started out as charity lotteries,” Ms Edgar said.
“Following the privatisation of these lotteries by state governments, the direct links to charity have diminished. Weather Lottery restores this historical relationship and allows charities to raise substantial funds in a timely and cost-effective way.”
Cowboys’ legend Matthew Bowen was also excited about the Foundation and its partnership with the Weather Lottery: “This is the perfect game for North Queenslanders. We all think we are experts on the weather so I’m sure many North Queenslanders will want to get on board and show their skills.”
Hinting that there was more to come from the Cowboys Community Foundation, Greg Tonner also said: “We’re expecting to make another big announcement later in the week about the Foundation’s first major initiative in the community.”
Main image: Joanne Edgar (Weather Lottery), Matthew Bowen, Johnathan Thurston, Greg Tonner |
The official Instagram app for Windows 10 Mobile has received yet another update. The new app version of the popular image and video social network has some improvements that include working Continuum support.
As usual, the update does not come with a current change log, but a report from Aggiornamentilumia.it reported that video playback now works in the app and that it also has some improvements in keyboard suggestions. We've been able to verify that video playback does function correctly now in the app, and comes with the ability to mute videos with a tap. Instagram also definitely seems faster on a Lumia 950 XL, reducing the delay when you initially open the app.
We also tested out the app on Continuum on a large screen and confirmed that it does work, albeit without any semblance of landscape viewing optimization. Still, seeing Instagram working on Continuum is an encouraging development. Does this mean Instagram could be making its way across to Windows 10 PCs eventually? We'll have to wait and see. |
This week Kodansha Comics has launched English, digital releases of three new shoujo and josei manga, including Taamo's 2010 13-volume House of the Sun (aka Taiyou no Ie), Mari Yoshino's 2007 13-volume Peach Heaven! (aka Momoiro Heaven!) Tsunami Umino's 2012 8-volume ongoing The Full-Time Wife Escapist (aka Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu). The first two are from from Dessert magazine and the third is from Kiss.
House of the Sun Vol. 1
by Taamo
https://www.comixology.com/House-of-the-Sun-Vol-1/digital-comic/489498?ref=YnJvd3NlL25ldy1jb21pY3MvZGVza3RvcC9ncmlkTGlzdC9SZWNlbnRMaXN0MA
As a child, Mao spent all her time at Hiro’s house across the street. Going to his house always made her feel cheerful. A few years later… Mao’s father gets remarried and Mao finds herself with nowhere to call home. Hiro ends up letting her stay with him in the house he is protecting all by himself since the death of his parents. However…! A love story unfolds between the two childhood friends of different ages!
Peach Heaven! Vol. 1
by Mari Yoshino
https://www.comixology.com/Peach-Heaven-Vol-1/digital-comic/489513?ref=c2VyaWVzL3ZpZXcvZGVza3RvcC9ncmlkTGlzdC9SZWNlbnRBZGRpdGlvbnM
At first glance, Momoko Shina may appear to be nothing more than your average high school girl, but she has a secret identity as the famous erotica author George Aihara. After she witnesses an intimate moment between one of her teachers and the supermodel Ranmaru, she borrows a little too much from reality in an effort to beat the deadline on her latest story. When Ranmaru gets wind of this, he makes Momoko an offer she can't refuse... Watch the sparks fly as these two try to figure each other out in this high-tension romantic comedy!
The Full-Time Wife Escapist
by Tsunami Umino
https://www.comixology.com/The-Full-Time-Wife-Escapist-Vol-1/digital-comic/495570?ref=c2VyaWVzL3ZpZXcvZGVza3RvcC9ncmlkTGlzdC9SZWNlbnRBZGRpdGlvbnM
What’s a girl to do when there are no jobs? Once Mikuri Moriyama got out of grad school, all she could find was a temp job, and they just laid her off! Worried about his daughter, her dad helps her get a job doing housekeeping for this guy he used to work with named Tsuzaki. Just when things are starting to go well, though, Mikuri’s parents decide it’s time to move out to the countryside. She’ll likely be unemployed for the rest of her life if she goes with them, but she doesn’t make enough money to rent her own place. That’s when Mikuri, always the daydreamer, comes up with a solution out of left field…
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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime |
Andrew Mitchell, an ally of Brexit minister David Davis, reportedly told dinner party that prime minister could not carry on
Theresa May will this week attempt to quash speculation about a potential bid to topple her by relaunching her leadership of the Conservative party and pledging to fight on as prime minister.
May will try to reassert her grip over her party before Thursday’s publication of the EU repeal bill, which is likely to face difficulty passing through parliament in the autumn.
However, her attempts to survive as Tory leader are looking increasingly precarious, amid talk among allies of David Davis, the Brexit secretary, of the possibility of replacing her before the party’s autumn conference.
Andrew Mitchell, a former chief whip and a friend of Davis, is reported to have told a dinner of Conservative MPs that the prime minister needed to be replaced.
One MP who was at the dinner said: “Mr Mitchell effectively said [May] was dead in the water. He said she was weak, had lost her authority, couldn’t go on and we needed a new leader. Some of us were very surprised and disagreed with him.”
Let Theresa May stay at No 10 for the summer, top Tories tell MPs Read more
After the account emerged in the Mail on Sunday, Mitchell, a former development secretary, downplayed the remarks but did not explicitly deny having said them. “This is an overheated report of a private dinner conversation,” he said.
Mitchell, who ran Davis’s unsuccessful bid for the party leadership in 2005, is alleged to have made the comments at a dinner on 26 June, after May struck a deal with the DUP to prop up her minority administration.
There were separate reports that allies of Davis were contemplating circulating a letter calling on May to name a date for her departure, but that Mitchell told them to “go and lie down in a darkened room and then take a holiday”.
In a second warning about May’s waning authority, Grant Shapps, a former Conservative chairman, said the prime minister would need to change her leadership style if she wanted to survive another year at the top.
Writing in the Sun on Sunday, Shapps criticised the dysfunctional, arrogant and corrosive attitude of May’s team in No 10 before the election. “During year two, Theresa May will need to operate a completely different model to remain in power,” he said.
“She must throw open Downing Street to welcome innovative ideas, listen to business and make better use of the party’s broad talent in parliament and further afield. “Trusting others and sharing power beyond a tiny Praetorian guard may not be her instinctive approach, but doing so now could still help her go beyond just about managing the year ahead.”
Some junior ministers are believed to be considering a bid to get rid of the prime minister before the party’s autumn conference. However, the majority of Tory MPs are reluctant to back a change in leadership for fear of another general election, and the prospect of a victory for Labour.
David Lidington, the justice secretary, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that such speculation was typical of Westminster summer parties, as “almost every July too much sun and too much warm prosecco leads to gossipy stories in the media”.
He insisted that “the public has had an election and I think they want politicians to go away and deal with the real problems”.
Rumblings of discontent about May’s leadership come in a crucial week for her premiership as the government publishes its EU repeal bill on Thursday. The bill aims to transpose all EU law into British law to replace the European Communities Act, ready for the moment of the UK’s exit.
Both the Conservative and Labour frontbenches support the principle of leaving the EU but May will still face a battle to pass the bill unamended in the autumn.
MPs from all parties fighting against a hard Brexit are planning a series of attempts to change the legislation, with Labour certain to push for more safeguards for the environment and employment rights.
Some senior Conservatives also sense an opportunity to change the prime minister’s course on cutting ties with the European court of justice (ECJ). Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary, has said this position is too absolutist. Ed Vaizey, a former culture minister, argued this weekend that the UK must stay in the Euratom, the body governing cross-EU nuclear cooperation, which is underpinned by the ECJ.
The mood has alarmed some of the most dedicated Brexiters, who are concerned there is a concerted effort underway to “stymie” the Brexit process.
David Jones, a former deputy minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, wrote in the Mail on Sunday that “fanatically pro-EU MPs, both Labour and misguided Tory ones, too, have hatched a cunning plot” to water-down Brexit by keeping the UK in the single market and customs union.
He said: “Parliament exists to reflect and enact the will of the people – not to subvert it. But amid the heat of high summer, it looks very much as if a plot is under way at Westminster.
“A plot to stymie the clear, unequivocal wish of the British people to leave the EU, as expressed in last year’s referendum. And it is, I very much regret to say, a plot that may yet succeed if MPs who truly respect that referendum result allow this conspiracy to proceed.” |
I've never broken a phone by dropping it. Dings and dents, sure--but I've never experienced that sickening crunch. I've never screamed in frustration at the earth's gravitational pull, and my clumsy hands, for turning a gorgeous touchscreen display into a shattered mess on the pavement. The Droid Turbo 2 is the phone to buy if you're tired of broken glass. It's got a screen that doesn't crack when you drop it.
I don't think I can overemphasize this point: the screen doesn't shatter. It doesn't matter whether you drop it on an edge, a corner, or face-first into the pavement. You can step on it. Run over it with a vehicle. (Yes, we actually did that! You can watch us do that and more in this torture test video.)
It's so durable that Motorola guarantees the screen won't break for four whole years -- a longer warranty than the entire rest of the phone. Note, however, that neither the phone nor the screen are indestructible: you can definitely puncture the screen on purpose, particularly if you use tools. And if you "accidentally" throw the phone off a six-story building, you'll probably end up with an unbroken screen surrounded by a wreck of a phone.
Josh Miller/CNET
But that unbreakable screen isn't just a gimmick -- the rest of the Droid Turbo 2 is excellent through and through.
As you'd expect from a flagship Motorola Droid -- the name of a sub-brand sold exclusively with Verizon Wireless in the US -- it's absolutely packed with specs, including a brilliant 5.4-inch quad-HD AMOLED display, a top-shelf Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, and 3GB of RAM. It's also got a big 3,760mAh battery with fast charging and two different forms of wireless charging, making it extremely convenient to refill in the middle of your day. It's even got a microSD slot built into the SIM card tray, so you can expand its built-in 32GB or 64GB of storage in a snap.
And for once, you don't need to look like you're carrying a tiny Terminator in your pocket if you want a Droid handset. Unlike past Droids , you're not stuck with a single militaristic, black-and-red phone; you can customize the Droid Turbo 2 at Motorola's own Moto Maker website with a whole variety of finishes, from gunmetal gray with a ballistic nylon rear cover to a white handset with a leather back.
Of course, the Droid Turbo 2 isn't perfect. It's big, and pricey ($624, or $26 a month), and limited to Verizon Wireless in the United States -- with all the carrier hassles and bloatware that can entail. It's a shame, because a lot of people would benefit from a crackproof screen. It also doesn't come with the latest version of Android (6.0 Marshmallow), and while it's on the way, we're not sure when it might arrive.
And honestly, most of this Droid's best qualities aren't unusual for a phone this size and price. If you aren't worried about dropping phones, you should really consider the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 , which boasts similar performance, better battery life, a fingerprint reader and a larger, more vibrant screen. Or the Google Nexus 6P , if you simply want a powerful phone that saves you some money.
But if you want a phone with a practically indestructible screen, keep on reading.
Availability
The Motorola Droid Turbo 2 is a Verizon Wireless exclusive in the United States--though a practically identical phone, the Moto X Force , will ship globally later this year.
In the US, you can buy the phone either direct from Verizon or through Motorola's Moto Maker website. Either way, you're looking at an upfront payment of $624 (or $26 a month for 24 months) for the basic version with 32GB of storage, or $720 (or $30 a month for 24 months) if you want 64GB of storage instead.
If you design your phone at Moto Maker, you optionally add a pebbled leather back for an extra $24. The 64GB version also comes with a "design refresh," which lets you trade in your phone for a new design of your choice within two years of purchase.
In the UK, the Moto X Force will ship this November for £499. We don't have pricing or availability for Australia yet.
Enlarge Image Josh Miller/CNET
Shatterproof screen
5.4-inch, 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution plastic AMOLED display (540ppi)
Integrated screen protector to absorb scratches
Four-year warranty against cracking and shattering
A screen that doesn't crack when you drop it. It seems too good to be true. But the Droid Turbo 2's shatterproof screen really is shatterproof. It's not just some marketing baloney: we put it to the test. I've dropped this phone dozens of times onto hard surfaces. I've stepped on it. We threw it off a tall ladder.
Each time, the screen survived without so much as a tiny fracture.
So we decided to do some nastier things -- like dropping giant metal toolboxes on the phone. Running it over with a vehicle. Even when we put a nasty bend in the handset (we thought for sure it would break) the screen barely seemed to notice. We had to drop a sharp, heavy metal construction tool onto the screen before it saw its very first crack -- and the phone still worked after.
That doesn't mean the Droid Turbo 2 is completely indestructible, though. Even though the screen stood up to a nasty beating, the rest of the phone can still take damage. Repeated drops onto rough stones left all sorts of dents and dings. We cracked the metal rim right near the Micro-USB charging port, too. And when we tried to puncture the screen, we actually wound up piercing the battery and setting the phone on fire. ( Don't try this at home.)
In short, you might still want a case if you drop your phone on the regular.
And you also shouldn't expect to get the Droid Turbo 2's durability without a few trade-offs. While that screen takes drops like a champ, the protection comes with a cost: instead of your typical big, bright, beautiful glass screen that resists scratches and scuffs, the Droid Turbo 2 actually has a smaller plastic screen with a built-in, factory-equipped screen protector that I found would attract lint and dust.
Enlarge Image Josh Miller/CNET
Honestly, it's still a pretty great screen, and I doubt you'll even notice the difference in optical quality between the glass screens you're probably used to, and this plastic one. The 5.4-inch quad-HD AMOLED screen is crisp and colorful, and even if it's not the equal of the gorgeous panels you'd find on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, it does the job beautifully. Both in terms of size and optical quality, it's more than enough screen for me.
But I have to admit, it's weird to need a screen protector again. I'd really gotten used to modern smartphones with Gorilla Glass screens, which are extremely scratch resistant and super-easy to clean. Now, I'm back to a phone where my fingerprint smudges show up much more readily. I've already put a few noticeable scratches in the screen protector without even trying, and I can see it's a component I'll eventually need to replace. (Motorola will sell replacement protectors for $30.) Oh, and I wouldn't recommend that you remove the screen protector -- it's dreadfully easy to scratch the plastic display underneath.
For many, the screen protector won't be a huge deal, particularly if they need the durability the Droid Turbo 2's screen offers. I just want you to know that the screen comes with some trade-offs.
Enlarge Image Josh Miller/CNET
Design and build
5.90 by 3.07 by 0.36 inches (150 by 78 by 9.2 mm)
6.0 ounces (169 grams)
Customizable design
I wasn't a big fan of the Moto X Pure Edition , released earlier this year. Why do I bring that up? The Droid Turbo 2 is an alternate reality version of the same phone. It's a streamlined, turbocharged, ruggedized Moto X designed around the new shatterproof screen. Only it feels way better too, if you ask me.
At first, the Turbo 2 and Pure look much the same -- the same as any of Motorola's recent handsets, to be honest. Both have a solid metal ring around the edge of the phone, a Micro-USB port at the bottom, a headphone jack up top, and a nice ridged metal power button and volume rocker on the right edge of the handset.
But where the Pure's tall, smooth, rounded frame could feel a little unwieldy, the Turbo 2's distinctive beveled edges and flatter back fit far easier into my hands. They look sleeker, too, if you ask me, and I like the way the phone's camera module and fingerprint divot are flush with the phone's back. Those components tended to jut up awkwardly in previous Motorola handsets.
Enlarge Image Josh Miller/CNET
And though I'd never call the Turbo 2 a beautiful phone, the array of different materials you can choose from at the Moto Maker website can make it a pretty handsome one. We tried a few, and I'm particularly partial to the optional black pebbled leather back with the silver rim. It's a nice contrast.
I can't say I'm a big fan of Turbo 2 designs with the white front, though. Not only can you see all the ugly little sensors jutting through the front of the casing -- on the black version, they're hidden opaquely underneath -- but the white design really serves to highlight how small the screen is compared to the phone's casing. The new shatterproof screen is notably smaller than the one in the Moto X Pure, and it makes the Turbo's bezels look pretty big. I also don't like the way dirt can easily get trapped in the cracks of the rubber rear panels.
Speaking of trade-offs Motorola made to fit that shatterproof display, here's one more: unlike other top-tier Motorola phones, the Droid Turbo 2 has a single front-facing speaker instead of twin stereo speakers. At least it's nice and loud! I definitely didn't mind watching TV shows with the single speaker, even if I prefer stereo.
You also won't find a fingerprint reader to help you securely log into the phone.
Software and apps
Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
Hands-free voice control
Moto Actions gesture controls
Moto Display
Unlike the new Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X , the Motorola Droid Turbo 2 doesn't come with the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system, and we don't know when that will change. While Motorola tells us it's working as fast as possible, history has shown that Verizon phones can take a long time to get updates.
Yet I don't think I'd let that stop me if I needed a new phone today. For one thing, Android Marshmallow simply doesn't add a whole lot of extremely desirable features. But for another, the software load that ships on the Droid Turbo 2 is one of the most unobjectionable sets of phone makers' custom software that I've seen in a while. |
A public backlash followed. Critics said the “stealth grey” was too militaristic and sent the wrong message to the public. Design and safety experts questioned why police would choose a color lacking visibility.
About a year ago, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders, decided without much “deep thought” that the city’s white, red and blue patrol cars should be replaced with all-grey cruisers.
On Monday, Saunders rolled up to a press conference behind the wheel of a Ford Interceptor with a grey base and white doors, and its lights flashing. “Toronto Police Service unveils new police vehicle, listening to the community, listening to our members,” announced the TPS in a news release.
He is set to report to the board Thursday on a design and colour that’s already been decided.
After being scolded by city council and the civilian oversight board, which, unlike previous boards, wasn’t consulted on the design change — Saunders agreed to put the conversion on hold, clarify the reason for change, consult with the public and report back to the board.
An order has already been placed for 70 new grey and whites, in addition to the 74 all-grey cars ordered in 2016.
The public wanted visibility, the police wanted “stealth,” and that’s what they got — without any input from the board, she said.
But Councillor Shelley Carroll, a member of the Toronto Police Services Board who first flagged public concern about all-grey cars, says Saunders and the service jumped the gun, and in so doing failed the public.
“This is a simple matter. Release the design and bring it to the board for approval,” Carroll said this week at city hall. “We didn’t get a picture of the new design. We got a new car with the design already on it.”
Nor did the board receive the answers to the questions it asked.
The board also fell down on its oversight duties, she added.
Board chair Andy Pringle, Mayor John Tory and other members should have “done better” and given clearer direction to the chief that the board first needed to sign off on a new design and color, she said.
“If we’re not crystal clear, we’re leaving things open to interpretation, and we have a service that really just wants to do its own thing,” she said. “That’s disappointing. Nowhere else in municipal operations is there more trust in jeopardy than in the police service.”
While the design of the police car is “not a life and death controversy… this is the place where we really could have demonstrated the fact that we’ve gone the extra mile. So I’m frustrated,” Carroll said.
TPS spokeswoman Meaghan Gray responded Wednesday that the chief’s report to the board “clearly responds to the direction that was given to us, as noted in previous board minutes. We consulted with the community and chose a design that achieves a balance between the wishes of the public and our members.”
Pringle did not respond to a request for comment.
Mayor Tory is pleased Saunders sought feedback from the public and police service and worked with students “for this new visible and professional design,” his spokeswoman, Keerthana Kamalavasan, wrote in email.
In the report, the police say the new design is based on the results of a 14-question survey which received 17,121 responses from the external community and 1,438 internal police staff — more than any other survey conducted by the service.
Although the public agreed on 80 per cent of the design elements, the survey also showed “notable differences” on two key questions: the choice of base color and image, the report notes.
Forty two per cent of the general public thought visibility was of paramount importance, while 15 per cent picked “authority.” Those respondents also favored a base color of white by a wide margin, 47 per cent compared with 16 for grey.
In contrast, 37 per cent of police service employees thought authority more important than visibility, picked by 22 per cent, and 34 per cent preferred grey to white as the base color, chosen by 16 per cent.
The online survey, which only offered five base color options: white, silver, dark blue, grey and black, essentially allowed the force to engineer the outcome, Carroll said.
She’s also critical of the service for not providing any “real analysis” of the survey results, nor did the board get a chance to discuss why the service didn’t consider painting its fleet the bright colors seen on European emergency vehicles.
“This was an opportunity to look at these things… especially in this age of terrorism. Don’t you want police cars that everyone can recognize and run to in that type of incident?”
While Carroll said the moment for such a debate has likely passed — some social media commentators are still questioning the process and why grey remains the dominant color.
“Seems a little low on the visibility scale. Why not yellow like Europe?” said one tweet.
This week, Saunders said visibility was considered in the redesign and pointed to the involvement of the Ryerson School of Media, which he said took that into consideration.
John Girardo, the Ryerson instructor who lead the redesign project, told the Star students prepared about two dozen photo-shopped mockups based on the results of the survey.
No research was undertaken into emergency vehicle safety and which colors would improve visibility and reduce accidents.
“We were only asked to execute based on the research that was done,” Girardo said. “If somebody wants a lime green vehicle, we would show them what that would look like.”
Girardo said he likes the new design, which he thinks has a “strong” look and “retro” feel, while the stark contrast of grey and white makes the cars more visible on city streets.
“Anytime you start dealing with a design or a look, it’s a subjective call, there are going to be people who have different opinions.” |
The video embedded in the middle of the story provides a useful summary.
By Jessica Wilde
Capital News Service
A 14-mile reservoir behind the Conowingo hydroelectric generating dam in northern Maryland stops two million pounds of sediment every year from flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. But another one million pounds get through, burying underwater grasses that support sea life and adding to the bay’s myriad pollution problems.
The reservoir that stores the sediment, essentially dirt and other material carried by the water, is expected to reach capacity within 20 years, after which all of the sediment will get through the dam, putting the bay’s health further at risk.
Exelon Power, which owns the Conowingo Dam, is negotiating a new license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that would last for 46 years. State officials and others say the time is now to resolve the sediment buildup.
“This is the moment in time when these issues will be addressed,” said Ann Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a tri-state legislative assembly representing Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
State and federal agencies are studying possible solutions, with the three-year Lower Susquehanna River Watershed Assessment to be completed by September 2014.
Who will pay for the solutions?
But the solutions will not be simple, and the question remains: Who will pay for them?
“There’s no silver bullet in this,” said Bruce Michael, resource assessment service director for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, who is working on the study. “We’re not going to come up with one magical thing that’s going to be cheap that we’ll be able to implement quickly.”
Exelon Power is waiting to see what the study finds before making any conclusions on who will fund it.
“Exelon believes it should be a shared approach,” said Robert Judge, Mid-Atlantic regional manager of Exelon Power’s communications. “Exelon thinks this needs to be a regional discussion, to look at the models and see what the next steps would be.”
Swanson said the cost would be prohibitive and far exceed what Exelon makes from power generation. “It’s widely recognized that no one entity could pay for this,” she said.
Sediment comes from Pennsylvania and New York
And after all, it is not Exelon’s sediment. If the Conowingo Dam was not there, all of the sediment flowing through New York and Pennsylvania down the Susquehanna River would pass freely into the bay.
Sediment comes from the land, said Harry Campbell, Pennsylvania executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
It is dirt. It is clay. It is little pieces of earth, matter that settles at the bottom of a liquid. It comes from construction sites, agricultural fields, poorly maintained logging operations, roadside ditches — any place that doesn’t have adequate vegetation to hold soil in place.
Environmentalists call these vegetation buffer zones, areas of grass and trees that hold dirt in place during rainstorms.
Buffer zones can help
Parking lots, roads and large areas of flat cement do not have buffer zones, and the oils, pollutants and sediment from the roads find their way into waterways when it rains, a process called stormwater runoff.
When it reaches the bay, it settles on top of underwater plants, burying them and preventing future root growth. The plants might have been food or home to other marine life, and shelter for fish and crabs.
While nutrients like sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous are necessary in very small amounts, in large quantities, they disturb the balance of the ecosystem.
“Nature is seeking equilibrium,” Campbell said.
The small soil particles block out sunlight, which interferes with photosynthesis in underwater plants and grasses, decreasing oxygen that is important for sustaining aquatic life.
“As that cumulatively takes effect in large areas of the bay, it has a deleterious impact on the healthy condition of the bay,” Campbell said.
Limiting stormwater runoff
Environmentalists have been working to limit stormwater runoff as a solution to the sediment buildup behind the dam, but that effort relies on a cooperative effort among New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The Susquehanna River begins in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the sediment load increases substantially south of Harrisburg, Penn. The river ultimately contributes 25 percent of the Chesapeake Bay’s total sediment load.
The Conowingo Dam is about five miles from the Pennsylvania border and 10 miles from the bay, and there are three dams north of it in Pennsylvania. But the reservoirs behind the other dams are full, and only the Conowingo has storage left to hold sediment.
Exelon Power is studying possible solutions as part of its negotiation process that began with a pre-application in 2009. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asked that Exelon file a sediment management plan with its final application next year.
Alternatives being studied
Among the possibilities are dredging the Conowingo Pond, the 14-mile reservoir that still has storage capacity north of the dam, and using the sediment for a number of different projects — from parklands to quarries, maybe even brick-making, Swanson said.
Another option would be to allow sediment to pass through the dam at certain times of the year that might be less damaging for the bay, but that would interfere with the dam’s operation and would need Exelon’s support, Michael said.
“It’s going to be difficult environmentally and infrastructure-wise,” Campbell said, explaining that the sediment is like wet concrete and could be toxic and very difficult to move.
The Lower Susquehanna River Watershed Assessment will be releasing a list of possible solutions over the next six months. Michael hopes the public will get involved.
But even if the sediment storage issues at the dam are resolved, Campbell said they are a temporary fix to an ongoing problem.
Old sediment can be removed but what about the new?
There’s a myriad of technical and economic considerations to deal with what’s behind those dams, Campbell said. And they don’t solve the long-term problem of sediment entering the river to begin with.
“It’s sort of like putting a Band-aid on a gunshot wound,” he said. “If we don’t turn off the sources — the sources coming in from the land — if we don’t get a handle on that, they may buy us time but not a solution. You have to start at the source.”
Even if we remove that sediment, it will accumulate again behind the dam, he said. It buys time, but also does not deal with the quantity of nitrogen or phosphorous entering the bay, which could be controlled by decreasing stormwater runoff.
Campbell said some argue Exelon Power should be responsible for dealing with the sediment since they own the dam. But others say it is not their sediment.
“That’s going to be a point of conversation,” he said. “If there is anything that can and should be done technologically and economically, who undertakes the lion’s share?” |
Qantas - No Longer a Hunter Friendly Airline
By Michael Gibson | 24 July 2016
Qantas knee jerked back in 2015 after the public outcry over Cecil the Lion. Qantas created a ban on the transportation of all trophy animals even when taxidermied.
Up until recently, it has been a hit and miss affair when travelling with personal trophies. It appeared as though a watered down version was being applied with the focus centered towards African trophies. This is no longer the case.
Recently I made an attempt to ship Rusa antlers from North Queensland to Sydney. Qantas refused to move the antlers as part of their new restriction.
The same process completed successfully many times in the past. Even post the Lion controversy.
Qantas are flat refusing to move anything involving antlers, skins, jaws (bone) and horns. Even when already taxidermied. Anything tied to a hunting activity is now denied.
Another example of Qantas stubbornness and refusal to accept a legally hunted and taxidermied animal involves a desert sheep from the United States. The sheep was accompanied with all the required international and local paperwork. Carriage was still refused.
Qantas claimed to me that if the CITES freight was fully documented they would carry it. When the day arrived they refused to accept it any way. Lost me forever.
I made a few enquiries before completing this piece. It was extremely difficult to get a firm answer from Qantas.
I could not find anything firm on their website. A 30-minute phone call to their customer services hotline did not shed any light on the situation either.
The customer service officer straight off the bat stated “we no longer take any animals after the Cecil the Lion incident” I went on to ask for further information and the document that referenced this as my trophies were not listed and there were no customs restrictions on the items.
The agent said it was “vague and they don’t email out these documents.”
I was then forwarded, buck passed, to Qantas freight. The customer service officers here were very little help initially saying “it wasn’t them that had the restriction it was customs”. Clearly not the case.
I asked for clarification and got the following dialogue:
Qantas Freight Customer Services: “We no longer cart these items”
Customer: “Can I see the reference document for this restriction”
Qantas Freight Customer Services: “No we will not put that information online”
Customer: “Ok can I please have your name”
Qantas Freight: …. Dead line then hang up
This affects all Australian hunters. From pig to big game international hunting. Qantas does not discriminate. Qantas no longer want’s anything to do with your legally obtained trophies. Even down to a cast antler that you have found on a hunt.
It is time hunters and shooters are made aware that Qantas has confirmed that it is no longer a hunter friendly airline (domestically or internationally).
If you have had a similar issue please let us know or leave a comment below of your experience. |
International Iron Man #1 is published today. A few days ago Bleeding Cool pointed out how Tony Stark now seemed to be going to Cambridge University – in a town that, for some unexplained reason had a load of East London West Ham United fans chanting in a pub.
Well, with the publication of the actual issue today things get more confusing.
Previously, in the established Marvel Universe, Tony Stark went to MIT as a student – which is in Cambridge, Massachussets rather than Cambridge, England. Could this have been where the confusion began? There are possibilities of international transfers between colleges, and this could still fit… but it does seem more of a permanent thing by the language.
But it gets worse. Because it seems that in International Iron Man – Cambridge University… is in London. They walk out of a pub supposedly in Cambridge (with West Ham supporters) onto the South Bank of London.
I know.
Here’s a map to help point out the obvious flaw in this scene.
That’s how the Tour De France did it in 2014, and I know I may be increasing needless confusion into this by telling some readers that, yes, the Tour De France does indeed sometimes take place in England.
I mean, it might make more sense that there are West Ham supporters there – but makes a lot less sense that they are at Cambridge University as we were previously told.
UPDATE: Brian Bendis has tweeted a response to this issue.
He’s at his dormitory. Says so very clearly in dialogue. https://t.co/6tIsTb6Fwx — BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) March 16, 2016
It does indeed, Brian. Cambridge University dormitories are in… Cambridge.
But it’s not just geography that’s an issue. We are told that this story takes place twenty years in the past. And yet….
Google wasn’t invented until 1998. And wasn’t used as a generic verb for searching for information. On July 8th 1998, by Google co-founder Larry Page wrote on a mailing list: “Have fun and keep googling!” but it wouldn’t be until October 15th 2002 that it was used on American television, on Buffy The Vampire Slayer when Willow asked Buffy, “Have you googled her yet?”, with the American Dialect Society that year choosing it as the “most useful word of 2002”.
Also, using phones constantly at the dinner table wasn’t happening in 1996. Phones looked like this back then.
WAP wasn’t even happening. And text messaging in the UK only allowed customers to send messages to other users on the same network…
Of course there’s a way around this. Just say that Molecule Man and Franklin Richards rewrote the world this way at the end of Secret Wars. Cambridge University is in London, next door to West Ham United’s grounds, Google was invented in the eighties and mobile phones got a tech bump too.
And nothing more is necessary.
Other than someone is telling a story about Iron Man running into a woman in battle and we get a flash back story to them having a relationship together back in University and no one is calling it an Elektra Complex. Because that means something else. How about… it’s Miller Time?
Either that or Common People.
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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Texas man charged two years after affluent Iranian student activist, 30, was gunned down in possible honor killing
A grand jury indicted Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan in the 30-year-old's murder
Bagherzadeh's death shocked Houston's close-knit Iranian community
It fueled widespread speculation about whether foreign governments were to blame or if it was an honor killing
The molecular genetics student had spoken out publicly against the Iranian government and converted to Christianity
The bizarre case captured national attention and carried the highest Crime Stoppers reward in history - $200,000
A Houston-area man, originally from Jordan, has been charged in the 2012 shooting death of an Iranian student and women's rights activist.
Spokesman Jeff McShan says a grand jury in Houston indicted 56-year-old Ali Irsan on Thursday in the January 2012, killing of 30-year-old Gelareh Bagherzadeh.
Bagherzadeh was shot to death as she talked with her boyfriend on her cellphone.
Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, of Conroe, is charged with felony murder in the shooting death of Bagherzadeh. Irsan, 56, was arrested Thursday morning and is being held without bond Charged: Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, 56, is in federal custody, though it's not clear on what charges
Murdered: A 56-year-old Texas man has been indicted in the mysterious shooting death of Gelareh Bagherzadeh, an outspoken Iranian activist who was killed two years ago outside her parents' affluent Houston townhouse
Federal agents in body armor descended upon several locations in Montgomery County on Thursday, and three people were taken into custody According to the U.S. Attorney¿s Office, FBI agents and authorities with the Social Security ¿ Office of Inspector General were assisted by local law enforcement officers in the raids
Her body was discovered slumped behind the wheel of her car after crashing into the upscale Houston townhome complex where she lived with her parents.
Bagherzadeh was a molecular genetic technology student at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. She was also an outspoken Iranian activist.
Friends have said she told them she was once arrested for not wearing the correct dress, and had been strictly disciplined for dating a man who was considered inappropriate.
She told them she was so sick of Islam that she converted to Christianity and was baptized at Second Baptist Church.
Shot to death: Gelareh Bagherzadeh was shot to death outside her Galleria area town home on January 15, 2012. Her car was found at the back of a town home complex
Sealed off: Crime scene tape marks a rural Montgomery County property where Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, 56, was arrested in a raid by FBI agents on Thursday The U.S. Attorneys Office says three people are in custody on federal fraud charges. One of those arrested sat smiling in the rear of a police car. The police presence was significant as heavily armed officers -- some in paramilitary gear -- searched at least four properties around Montgomery County
In the wake of Iran's 2009 presidential elections, widely regarded as fraudulent, Bagherzadeh joined dozens of Houston Iranians in protest, even appearing on TV.
In January 2012 she was driving from the Beavers' home in Spring when she was shot while turning into her parents' town home
She was chatting on the phone with a friend who told police he heard her scream before her car crashed into a garage.
Police say the assailant fired several times at close range through the glass of her passenger window.
The mystery deepened 11 months later, in November 2012, when the twin brother of Bagherzadeh's boyfriend was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds inside his apartment.
Life lost: The reward for information leading to her arrest was up to $200,000, the highest amount in Crime Stoppers history. Bagherzadeh was murdered on January 15th 2012
Cracking down: USAO spokesperson tells us they were conducting a lawful action related to an ongoing federal fraud investigation
Records also show Irsan shot and killed a man in 1999 but it was declared self defense by a Harris County grand jury
At the time, deputies would not confirm at the time whether there was a connection between the killings of Bagherzadeh and 28-year-old Coty Beavers.
Record show Beavers and Nesreen Ali Irsan applied for a marriage license in 2011.
Online jail records do not list an attorney for Irsan, of Conroe. A grand jury indicted Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan two weeks ago.
Investigators spent hours raiding several of Irsan's rural homes and properties yesterday, where they arrested him and two others.
'I'm sure her family wanted to find the person,' said Fatan Kasbidi, one of Bagherzadeh's friends. 'I want to find peace.'
Gelareh Bagherzadeh: Friends have said she told them she was once arrested for not wearing the correct dress, and had been strictly disciplined for dating a man who was considered inappropriate
The U.S. Attorneys Office says three people are in custody on federal fraud charges.
One of those arrested sat smiling in the rear of a police car.
The police presence was significant as heavily armed officers - some in paramilitary gear - searched at least four properties around Montgomery County.
Irsan, who's from Jordan, is charged now with her murder.
Detectives are not saying yet what links him to the killing or identifying the other two who are in custody on the federal fraud charges.
Bagherzadeh's death shocked Houston's close-knit Iranian community and fueled widespread speculation about whether foreign governments were to blame or if it was an honor killing.
The molecular genetics student had moved from Tehran just four years earlier and spoken out publicly against the Iranian government. Christian converts like her are often executed in Iran. |
The 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild awards took place Sunday in Los Angeles and turned into a protest forum against President Donald Trump's immigration ban.
Host Ashton Kutcher set the tone early, and fellow actors and actresses followed suit throughout the show.
"Good evening, fellow SAG-AFTRA members and everyone at home -- and everyone in airports that belong in my America!" Kutcher said in his opening monologue.
Sen. Durbin: Trump's 'Impulsive' Immigration Order Sends Wrong Message
Kaine: 'No Coincidence' WH Issued Immigration Ban, Holocaust Stmt Same Day
Rob O'Neill: We Must Be Smart About Who We Let Immigrate to US
Actor David Harbour delivered a memorable speech as he and the 16-member cast of the Netflix series "Stranger Things" accepted the award for best Ensemble in a Drama Series.
"We are united in that we are all human beings and we are all together on this wonderful, painful, horrible, painful, joyous, exciting and mysterious ride that is being alive," he said.
As he spoke, his co-star Winona Ryder was seen looking confused, seemingly unaware Harbour would deliver those remarks.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who won best Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role in HBO's "Veep," also had a statement against the immigration order.
"This immigrant ban is a blemish, and it's un-American," said Louis-Dreyfus, who added her father was an immigrant to America from Nazi-dominated France.
Star of "The Big Bang Theory" Simon Helberg and his wife, Jocelyn Towne, were clear in their message against the ban.
The Big Bang Theory star Simon Helberg and his wife Jocelyn Towne made a statement at the #SAGAwards: https://t.co/686gfUEuyr pic.twitter.com/nXlSQHzIeK — E! News (@enews) January 30, 2017
A number of other stars voiced their opinions as well, including Mahershala Ali, William H. Macy, Sarah Paulson, Taylor Schilling and Kerry Washington.
Tell us your thoughts on these Hollywood stars using their platform to share their political beliefs.
Gutfeld: 'Trump Is Treating the Presidency Like an Actual Job'
Pirro on Illegal Immigration: 'Law & Order is Back in the West'
VA Gov. McAuliffe Fires Back at Trump Order: 'This Is Not the USA We Know' |
Thrusk upended the horse leather pouch and several small humanoid figurines tumbled out onto the rough dirt floor of his tent. The orc studied them where they lay, noting the ones laying on their backs, on their sides, and the few who landed standing up.
Watching closely were Hruk the warchief and his five advisors. They were silent, letting the shaman study the idols with anticipation. Thrusk closed his eyes for two breaths, then scooped the figures up and put them back into the pouch.
“Well?” asked Hruk, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the arms of his wooden chair.
“The omens… are not in our favor,” said the shaman. The advisors looked to each other worriedly, murmuring. Thrusk continued. “However, with a proper sacrifice, the spirits may aid us.”
The following is very much a work in progress. While some eye has been kept on balance, it is entirely non playtested. This is my attempt at bringing in a Shamanic archetype into 5e using the Warlock. I wanted it to feel very different from a Druid or otherwise Nature based class with divine magic. Instead I wanted to give it a primal feel, giving hints to a primeval spirit otherworld.
I would really appreciate your feedback. Currently I am hoping to replace some the additional spells (drawn from the Cleric and Druid spell list) with new Warlock spells meant specifically for the Spirit patron. Please tell me what you think!
Warlock Patron: Spirits
A Warlock is a character that has gained their magical power through a pact with a powerful entity. The Player’s Handbook describes rules for choosing such patrons as the Archfey, the Fiend, or the Great Old One. The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide provides a further option in the Undying, an undead entity. This small module will allow the warlock to choose as her patron the Spirits of the natural or animistic world. These may be ancestor spirits or protective minor entities of a tribe that either she belongs to, or one that has long since disappeared, leaving only these whispering remnants behind.
The Spirits patron isn’t generally considered to be one powerful entity, but rather a culmination of the character’s communion with the ancient spirit world of a primeval people. Sometimes called shamans, those who commune with these spirits often gain otherworldly insight as well as the ability to entreat the spirits to aid her tribe or allies, or to hex her enemies.
The rules for The Spirits as a Warlock patron are provided below.
The Spirits
Through the ancient rites of a tribal society you have been able to commune with the spirits of the otherworld. These spirits might be ancestors of the tribe, they may be otherworldly entities only seen as strange symbols carved on totems or fetishes, or they might be the tortured souls of the dead who seek redemption and escape. Their goals aren’t often hostile or evil; their motivation is often the protection of their chosen people, or to bestow wisdom on those who commune with them. Their relationship with the Warlock then is not as manipulative as perhaps other pacts are.
Expanded Spell List
The Spirits allow you to choose from an expanded spell list of spells when you learn a new Warlock spell. The following spells are added to the Warlock spell list for you.
Spirits Patron Expanded Spells
Spell Level Spells
1 Sanctuary, Shield
2 Gust of Wind, Silence
3 Clairvoyance, Speak with Dead
4 Divination, Conjure Minor Elementals
5 Planar Binding, Conjure Elemental
Communion
Starting at 1st level, the Spirits grant you the ability to commune with them in order to see what you otherwise might not. You can enter an induced state by standing completely still (or sitting), and can see into the ethereal plane in the area around you that would normally be able to see. Moving or otherwise acting breaks the effect. In addition if making a Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) check, if you enter this state for 1 minute, you gain advantage on the check.
Entreat
Starting at 6th level, you can entreat spirits to protect an ally from harm. If you or an ally you can see becomes the target of an attack, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that attack. Until the beginning of your next turn, any other attacks against you or that ally are also given disadvantage.
Once this feature is used, it cannot be used again until you have completed a long or short rest.
Spirit Ward
Starting at 10th level, you have become so communed with the spirits of the otherworld that they actively seek to protect you from harm. You gain resistance against necrotic damage, and incorporeal and undead creatures have disadvantage on all attacks against you. You also gain advantage on Charisma checks involving the communication with ghosts or similarly spirit type creatures.
Soulwind
Starting at 14th level, as an action, you are able to thin the layer between this world and the next, causing a wind of otherworldly energy to emit from you and sweep across the battlefield.
Every hostile creature within 60′ of you must make a Constitution Saving Throw against a DC equal to your spell save DC. Any who fail take 1d10 psychic damage and are frightened (save ends, DC 10). Additionally, any ally or friendly creature within 60′ of you may use a hit dice to recover Hit Points.
Once this feature is used, it cannot be used again until you have completed a long or short rest.
New Pact: Pact of the Totem
At 3rd level, when choosing a pact, a Warlock may choose the Pact of the Totem, gaining the following features:
During a long rest, a Warlock may make a number of totems, idols, or fetishes equal to their base Proficiency bonus (2 at level 1). These are small figurines, statuettes, carved idols, pieces of jewelry, tied twigs, or other such crafted object that depict aspects of their patron. An Archfey fetish may be a carved wooden leaf or a gilded flower; a Fiend totem might be a onyx idol depicting a blasphemous demon; a Great Old One fetish could be a small bas relief of an abominable creature or a small piece of meteoric metal that is impossible to place; a Spirit totem could be a small stone carved depiction of the animistic spirits of an ancient people.
These totems are imbued with the power of your patron, and can be carried on your person or given to other creatures to hold. You, allies, or creatures that are otherwise friendly can use a totem they carry with a bonus action. Once doing so, until the beginning of their next turn, when they make an Attack Roll, Saving Throw, or Ability Score Check they may roll 1d4 and add the result to the roll. Using the totem destroys it.
When you next take a long rest, any totems you have left lose their power.
Additional Eldritch Invocations
The following Eldritch Invocations are added to the list for Warlocks to choose from:
Idolatry (Pact of the Totem)
When you take a long rest and prepare your totems, you may prepare an additional number of totems equal to your Charisma modifier.
Sacred Fetish (Pact of the Totem, 5th Level)
When the totems you make are used, the user of the totem may spend one of their Hit Dice to recover Hit Points instead of the normal effect.
Totemic Ecstasy (Pact of the Totem, 12th Level)
When the totems you make are used, the dice used to add to dice rolls is a d6 instead of a d4. |
EDF to buy majority of Areva NP 31 July 2015 31 July 2015
French nuclear operator Electricite de France (EDF) has agreed to buy a majority stake in nuclear group Areva's reactor business subsidiary, Areva NP. EDF said it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Areva specifying that it will take "majority control" of Areva NP of "at least 51%" with a maximum stake of 25% held by Areva and the potential participation of minority partners.
EDF has valued Areva NP at €2.7 bn ($2.9 bn), which means EDF could pay between €1.38 bn and €2 bn for a 51-75% stake in the company. Areva said in a press release it planned to sell "at least 75%" of Areva NP to EDF for the indicative amount of €2bn. EDF said a "binding offer" for the deal is expected in the last quarter of 2015 for completion in the second half of 2016.
Last month the French government had ordered the Areva to work towards a new "global strategic partnership" with EDF after Areva suffered record losses in 2014. France owns 87% of Areva and 84% of EDF. Areva posted a record €4.8bn loss last year as it took new charges for cost overruns at nuclear power projects in France and Finland, and separate renewable energy projects. It also had to write down assets in face of falling demand for nuclear fuel and services in countries including Japan and Germany in the wake of the 2011Fukushima accident. Standard and Poor's cut Areva's credit rating to non-investment grade in 2014.
Areva's figures for the first half of this year showed operating income of €7m, a €219m increase year on year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were €306m, an increase of €63m. Areva group CEO Philippe Knoche said the target for 2017 was "to transform Areva into a competitive company re-focused on its core business, the nuclear fuel cycle, where it has unique human and industrial capital in the world."
Areva also announced that Bernard Fontana will join the company on 1 September as president and CEO of Areva NP. Fontana was CEO of Swiss-tabased Holcim Ltd until the firm's recent merger with Lafarge. He previously held various positions in the defence and steel industries.
According to the MOU, EDF, Areva NP and their subsidiaries will be completely immunised against any risks related to the Olkiluoto-3 EPR project in Finland and there will be "no transfer of liability" related to the project. In March Areva cited asset write-downs and provisions against losses at the Olkiluoto-3 project, which is behind schedule and over budget, as a reason for the 2014 record net loss. Risks cited in the MOU include Areva's pending arbitration claim against Finland's Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) for the Olkiluoto-3 project of €3.5 bn, while TVO has a pending counter-claim against Areva for €2.3 bn.
EDF and Areva intend to set up a new company to optimise the design and management of new reactor projects worldwide. The new company will be 80% owned by EDF and 20% by Areva.
As part of its plan to cut spending and improve its liquidity and capital, Areva will sell a further €400m of assets, and will begin the process for selling its US-based specialist nuclear measurement systems and instrumentation subsidiary, Canberra. Discussions will begin on cutting 5000 to 6000 jobs across the Areva group, including 3000 to 4000 jobs in France by the end of 2017.
French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said earlier this month that the government will consider recapitalization of Areva from September provided the company has a viable business plan. However, Bloomberg notes that any rescue will probably will be scrutinized by Europe's competition body.
The sale of the nuclear reactor unit to EDF signals the end of Areva's full-service model, which offered clients all aspects of development from conception and construction to fuel procurement and waste treatment. Areva will continue to enrich uranium and offer logistics and dismantling services to nuclear facilities, and will have about €4bn in revenue following the deal with EDF, about half the size of the current group. EDF president Jean-Bernard Levy said other potential industrial partners had been contacted about buying minority stakes in Areva.
As for EDF, the company reported stable first-half profit following the deal announcement. Net income remained at around €2.5bn. The first-half 2015 net was cut by €348m due to a July European Commission tax decision. EDF was ordered to repay €1.37bn to French authorities on a ruling from the European Union's competition regulator relating to corporate tax loopholes.
EDF maintained its 2015 financial and nuclear production targets. EDF earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 3.6% to €9.15bn, reflecting an increase in French power tariffs. Investment in the first half rose 14% to €6.4bn, with most of the growth in the UK and Italy and most of the spending on the French reactor fleet. |
At first glance, Bella Devyatkina, from Moscow, Russia, is your typical carefree, playful four-year-old, but ask her a question in Russian, English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese or Arabic, and you will be shocked by her articulate response.
Bella made headlines in Russia a few days ago, when she appeared on a TV talent show, where she spoke seven different languages without a prominent accent, stunning both the judges and millions of viewers. Since then, a YouTube video of her performance went viral online, transforming the four-year-old polyglot into on overnight internet celebrity. She has since been invited to appear on a variety of television programs where moderators and other guests conversed with her in several of the seven languages she is fluent in, and she always understood their questions and answered accordingly.
So how does a four-year-old girl learn so many languages in such a short period of time, when most people spend years struggling to become fluent in just one foreign language. Bella’s mother, Yulia, said that she and her father started teaching her English when she was just two years old, and after noticing her interest in the language and the ease with which she picked up everything, they decided to gradually adding more languages to her schedule. They hired native tutors for each new language, and by the time she was three and a half years old, she was already speaking two languages. She mastered two more, in the next six months.
Bella Devyatkina’s language skills were put to the test on the Russian television talent show ‘Incredible People’, where she had to answer questions in English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Arabic. She passed the test with flying colors, proving that she either can really understand all these foreign languages, or she has the best memory of any four-year-old, allowing her to memorize all the answers.
Yulia Devyatkina claims that Bella now spends about six hours every day studying foreign languages, from 10 in the morning to 1 p.m. and again from 5 p.m. to 8 in the evening. Upon hearing this, many people have accused her parents of stripping her of her childhood, but they insist that the classes are all structured as fun games that she genuinely enjoys. As far as Bella is concerned, she is playing, not studying.
But while most of the world has been shocked by the young girls ability to speak six foreign languages, Russian neuropsychologist Anna Semenovich reminds us that in 19th century Russia, speaking several foreign languages was common for children of royal families.
“In pre-revolutionary Russia, if a child from a noble family couldn’t speak three-four languages by the age of five or six, it was a shame to take him out. Then in school Latin and ancient Greek were added to those. So five-six languages were a standard package for an educated youth back in 19th-century Russia,” Semenovich told Komsomolskaya Pravda. |
Decades of research have supported the idea that specific, high goals boost productivity (pdf) by getting people to work harder, be more persistent, and and perform better.
But financial quarters inevitably end and projects finish, which means that there’s always another difficult target or near-impossible deadline to achieve. Stacking high goals on top of one another can lead to depletion, reduced self-regulation, and unethical behavior, according to a new study (paywall) published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
The research is the first to tie consecutive goal setting, psychological depletion, and ethics together, which matters since unethical behavior can cost businesses billions every year.
The authors tested high, low, increasing, decreasing, and “do your best” goals on a group of 159 undergraduates performing a series of tasks for a monetary reward. High performance goals produced more cheaters, an effect which increased with the number of consecutive goals. Starting with a stretch goal, even if it decreased in later periods, boosted depletion and unethical behavior at a higher rate as well.
Past research on goal-setting informs the way that many firms manage and measure employees. Companies like Google and LinkedIn follow the objectives and key results method, a management system pioneered by Intel where specific, measurable goals are deliberately set at a difficult level.
The other side of improved productivity and performance that results from high goals is an inability to make good decisions, the authors write. When you combine depletion with pressure, and do it over and over again, unethical behavior increases. In other studies, high goals alone have been shown to increase unethical behavior.
Exactly how managers should respond to this research is uncertain. For starters, managers should think about scaling goals up from a relatively low starting point, and avoid clustering stretch goals too close together without a break. But low and poorly-defined goals reduce performance, so more work needs to be done in finding a middle ground. |
Calling someone a "rat" is no compliment, but a new study shows that rats actually are empathetic and will altruistically lend a helping paw to a cage mate who is stuck in a trap.
Not only will rats frantically work to free their trapped cage mate; they will do so even when there's a tempting little pile of chocolate chips nearby, the study reveals. Instead of leaving their pal in the trap and selfishly gobbling the candy all by themselves, rats will free their cage mate and share the chocolate.
"To me that's absolutely stunning," says neurobiologist Peggy Mason of the University of Chicago. "The fact that the rat does that is really amazing."
Mason and her colleagues designed a series of experiments, described in the journal Science, to explore the evolutionary roots of empathy.
They wanted to look at rats because they already knew, from previous work, that rodents can be emotionally affected by the emotions of their cage mates. For example, during lab procedures, mice seem to experience more pain when they see another mouse in pain.
This is called "emotional contagion," and humans have it too — just think of how one crying baby can make other babies cry. "But in the end, emotional contagion doesn't take you very far," says Mason. "It's an internal experience. It doesn't actually do anything for another individual."
Helping A Fellow Rat
So Mason and her colleagues devised a test to see if rats would take the next step and actually try to help out a fellow rat in distress. They took two cage mates, who knew each other, and trapped one of them in a narrow Plexiglas tube. That's a mild stressor and one the trapped rat doesn't like — it would sometimes make an alarm call.
The free rat outside of this tube seemed to immediately "get" the problem and would work to liberate its pal, says Mason.
The free rat would focus its activity on this plastic tube, crawling all over it and biting it, and interact with the trapped rat through little holes in the tube. "And if the trapped rat has a tail poking out, the free rat will actually grab that tail and kind of pull on it," says Mason.
Eventually, all this activity would lead to the free rat accidentally triggering a door that opened, releasing the trapped animal. The rats quickly learned to purposefully open the door, and during repeated experiments they would do so faster and faster — but only for a trapped rat. They didn't act this way when the plastic trap was empty or contained a toy rat.
Rats would free their pals even if the experiment was set up so that the other rat was released into a different cage, so that the two rats did not get to interact after the door was opened. This suggests that the door-opener was really trying to aid its fellow rat, and not just working to get a playmate.
A Helping Behavior
The researchers had a question for the rats: What is it worth to you, to free your fellow rat? "Obviously we can't ask that question verbally, so we wanted to ask it in terms that a rat can communicate to us," says Mason.
So the scientists used chocolate. They put rats into a cage that held two different clear plastic traps. One contained chocolate chips. The other contained the trapped cage mate.
Behaviors have to come from somewhere. And so it would be almost absurd to expect not to see some sort of simpler form of human sociabilities in other animals. Jeffrey Mogil, psychologist, McGill University
What they found is that the free rats quickly opened both cages, in no particular order. And they did not eat all the chocolate — instead, they shared it with their fellow rat.
While the rats clearly engage in pro-social helping behavior, Mason says it's impossible to know the rats' internal experience of all this. "I think it's extremely unlikely that the rat has the same conscious experience that we do," says Mason.
Still, this study shows that the roots of empathy extend all the way back to rodents and aren't something that's unique to primates, she says.
A minority of rats never opened the trap's door, says Mason. They tended to freeze, suggesting that they felt their partner's distress but could not shake it off and calm down enough to take action.
A 'Pro-Social' Behavior
Jeffrey Mogil of McGill University in Montreal, who has studied empathetic behavior in mice, says this is a surprising study.
"You know, it's one thing to free the trapped rat that might be making alarm calls. It's quite another thing to share the chocolate chips," Mogil says.
Previous work in Mogil's lab has shown that when mice are given a temporary stomach pain, their female cage mates will go spend more time near them. And the more time their cage mates spend with them, the less pain behavior the mice will show — suggesting that the extra companionship is in response to the pain and that it actually helps in alleviating it.
Mogil says the new experiment on cage-opening rats is "a lot more robust, a lot less subtle" than that earlier mouse study.
"What's impressive about the current study is that it's an active response," says Mogil. "We can argue about why they're doing it, but there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that they're doing something that can really only be called pro-social behavior."
What's more, he says, the experimental setup in this study is so simple that he expects lots of labs, including his own, to repeat the rat study and start expanding on it.
He says it could be used to explore the neurobiology of helping behavior and allow scientists to find genes that are involved in empathy. He also wonders if rats would be as quick to help strange rats that weren't known to them, as opposed to their familiar cage mates.
Even though, in the past, many scientists have assumed that altruistic behavior is something uniquely human, Mogil says we really should not be so surprised to see it in the lowly rat.
"Behaviors have to come from somewhere," he notes. "And so it would be almost absurd to expect not to see some sort of simpler form of human sociabilities in other animals."
Copyright NPR 2019. |
The City of Lake Elsinore, California, has declined to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that a public monument depicting crosses violates the Establishment Clause of the U. S. Constitution and the Establishment Clause and No Preference Clause of the California constitution.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center in May 2013 on behalf of local residents who objected to the government-endorsed religious message of the planned monument. Meant to honor war veterans, the memorial’s design prominently features the image of a soldier kneeling before a Christian cross. A U.S. District Court ruled in February 2014 that the city’s use of that design favors religion over non-religion, violating the separation of church and state. Today, the city has agreed to not appeal the case.
“We are pleased with the city’s decision not to appeal,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “Continuing to fight this lawsuit would waste taxpayer dollars to support a monument that clearly violates the separation of church and state.”
The American Humanist Association originally sent a letter to the City of Lake Elsinore when some city officials and supporters of the proposed monument publicly declared the Christian symbolism was at least part of the reason why they supported its construction. In July 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson issued a preliminary injunction against the city, which halted the building of the monument until the final ruling. Now that the city has agreed not to appeal that ruling, it can choose to spend those public funds on a design that honors all veterans.
“The Lake Elsinore monument violated the Constitution and was unnecessarily divisive,” said Monica Miller, an attorney with the Appignani Humanist Legal Center. “We should erect memorials that respect everyone who fought for our freedoms—religious and non-religious alike.”
The final ruling on the case can be viewed here. |
Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith got his turn, and it seems like you people are fans of A.J. Smith again. Well, maybe not fans, but at least like the job he's doing. Next up to face the music: the much-maligned head coach of the San Diego Chargers, Norv Turner.
Yes, three games into the preseason can be a little early in the year to evaluate a head coach's job performance. But, Norv has been plenty busy this offseason even though we have yet to play one regular season game.
After missing the playoffs for a second consecutive year, it was nearly certain that Norv Turner would be fired at the end of the 2011 NFL Season. Some were so confident that would happen, they made a bet with themselves that must now be paid off on Thursday. However, Norv survived being fired by the Chargers and is still the team's head coach.
The Head Coach of a team doesn't get much splash during the offseason. It's not really that exciting hearing about getting players in shape and running practices. With a 3-0 record so far in the preseason, it seems Norv Turner and his staff are doing well in getting the team ready for the regular season (injury issues aside).
With his Offensive Line decimated all banged up and pieced together with scrubs, Norv made the wise decision to sit Philip Rivers in the 3rd preseason game against the Vikings, and instead let Charlie Whitehurst absorb all the sacks. Maybe Norv is starting to listen to the people? Maybe not.
Should Norv lead the Chargers to a victory in San Francisco, that actually bodes well for the Chargers. 66% of teams that go undefeated in the preseason end up making the playoffs. That other 34%, well, they end up like the 2008 Detroit Lions who went 0-16, or the 2000 San Diego Chargers who ended up 1-15.
At any rate, we want to hear from you. How do you think Norv Turner is doing as the San Diego Chargers Head Coach? You can look at his overall job history with the Chargers, you can look at just this preseason; it's all up to you. |
Donald Trump denied CNN's reports that the Secret Service had a conversation with him regarding his Tuesday remarks. | Getty Trump denies talking with Secret Service over Clinton remark
Republican nominee Donald Trump is pushing back against a report that his campaign had a conversation with the Secret Service following his comments on Second Amendment supporters, which many interpreted as him inciting violence against Hillary Clinton.
“No such meeting or conversation ever happened - a made up story by "low ratings" @CNN,” Trump tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
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CNN reported that the Secret Service had a conversation with Trump's campaign after his remark Tuesday that Second Amendment supporters could stop Hillary Clinton from appointing liberal justices to the Supreme Court. The Secret Service tweeted Tuesday that it was aware of the remark. Trump, however, said he was just trying to urge Second Amendment supporters to flex political muscle against Clinton.
“What we're talking about is political power, there's tremendous political power to save the Second Amendment, tremendous,” he said on Fox News in an interview clip posted Wednesday afternoon. “You look at the power they have in terms of votes and that's what I was referring to, obviously that's what I was referring to and everybody knows it.”
The Secret Service did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Reuters, however, cited a federal official saying that no formal interview with Trump or his campaign took place, a story that the Republican nominee picked up on and tweeted about Wednesday night.
"Reuters just announced that Secret Service never spoke to me or my campaign. Made up story by @CNN is a hoax. Totally dishonest," he tweeted. |
The mother of a Jewish Chicago Public Schools (CPS) student tried for weeks to get the CPS to address the anti-Semitic bullying being perpetrated against her eighth grader, but little was done until the parent contacted local media. The bullying got so bad that kids had joined an online game with a team called the “Jew Incinerators.”
On May 23, Chicago’s CBS affiliate reported on the story of a student at the Ogden International School who suffered constant anti-Semitic taunts for weeks. The hate grew so bad that the bullies created a team for the online game Clash of Clans that they named the “Jew Incinerator Clan.”
To describe the team, the kids wrote, “Heil! Throw Jews into ovens for a cause. We are a friendly group of racists with one goal – put all Jews into an army camp until disposed of. Sieg! Heil!”
“It’s disturbing,” the parent, Lisa Wolf Clemente, said last week. “They’re using a game as a catalyst to truly spread hate.”
“I’m 42 years old. I’m not new to this world,” Clemente said in a separate interview. “I didn’t become Jewish yesterday. I felt naive and shocked. We are in the year 2014. Really? At a school that my son has gone to? And I shake because I watched this group grow literally from four. Kids were just joining and joining.”
Mrs. Clemente tried several times to get authorities at the school to respond to her requests for action, but it wasn’t until the media began to talk about the incident that action was taken.
It wasn’t long before the Anti-Defamation League called on the CPS to take action. The ADL’s Lonnie Nasatir said, “I was shocked to see such outright hate that existed. And we were taken aback by the type of language used and the fact that they were rewarding people for agreeing with such an awful, awful position.”
The ADL urged the Chicago Schools to treat this as a “teachable moment” by bringing Holocaust survivors and counselors into the school to discuss how wrong these attitudes are.
In response to the incident, the CPS gave three students a one-day out-of-school suspension and a one-day in-school suspension. Several others were given only a one-day in-school suspension. All students involved are back in class.
Ultimately, on June 2 a public meeting was held at the school which dozens of parents attended to express their ire over the whole incident.
CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett issued a statement for the meeting saying, “Chicago Public Schools will never tolerate bullying or harassment by any student in any school. As a district we are committed to ensuring sage school environments in which every child feels secure, comfortable, and respected. The principal at Ogden International High School has worked in cooperation with the network and central office to foster a larger community dialog around cultural sensitivity and has taken the appropriate actions to ensure this is a teachable moment for our children.”
A statement from Rachel Kruer, spokeswoman for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, was also read at the public meeting.
“There is no room in our schools for bullying, discrimination, hateful speech or bigotry of any kind, whether it’s based on an individual’s religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation,” the statement said. “We all have a responsibility to ensure Chicago is a welcoming and tolerant city for our students and residents of all backgrounds.”
However, some parents at the public forum felt that the CPS did not do enough to punish the students involved.
Parent Adam Schwartz said, “They have an opportunity right now to punish the kids that did this. To send a message to the other kids that, ‘Hey, this is not OK, this will not be tolerated, and if you do things like this there’s going to be consequences.'”
He decried the actions of the school system, calling its response mere “rhetoric” and little action.
Many parents felt that treating this incident as mere bullying belied the seriousness of the racism involved.
Some parents also noted that the CPS conduct code says that the punishment for “bullying” is a three to five day suspension. Yet these kids got only one or two days. Many said that with the racist intent of this bullying, the punishments were nowhere near sufficient.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at [email protected]. |
Laura Poitras‘ documentary about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has joined this year’s Cannes Film Festival line-up.
Set to screen in the festival’s Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, Risk (pictured) is the feature-length follow-up to Citizenfour, her 2014 Oscar-winning doc about National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Poitras previewed the film – previously billed as a doc series – at the New York Film Festival last fall under the title Asylum, alongside a collection of shorts commissioned for her Field of Vision film unit.
Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail has also signed on to exec produce Risk, which was produced by Praxis Films in association with First Look Media and Field of Vision. David Menschel, AJ Schnack, Charlotte Cook, and the film’s global sales agent Josh Braun are also exec producing.
Poitras shot the film over five years while embedded with Assange and his Wikileaks team of technologists, reporters and volunteers. In a statement, Esmail called the doc “a fresh take on the renegades, the cypherpunks, the risk takers.”
Risk is one of two docs playing in the Directors’ Fortnight program. The other is French director Sébastien Lifshitz’s Les Vies de Thérèse, about the late French women’s rights activist Thérèse Clerc.
She previously featured in his doc about elderly LGBT people, Les Invisibles, which won the César Award for Best Documentary Film in 2013.
Other docs set to screen at Cannes this year include Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch’s doc portrait of rocker Iggy Pop, as well as Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Hissein Habré: A Chadian Tragedy. Cambodian director Rithy Panh, noted for such docs as The Missing Picture and S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine, is at the festival with his feature film Exil.
The Cannes Film Festival takes place from May 11 to 22. |
During his farewell speech last week in Chicago, President Obama said that “race relations are better than they were 10, or 20, or 30 years ago, no matter what some folks say. You can see it not just in statistics, you see it in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum.”
While Obama’s electoral victories themselves were an important chapter in the advancement of race relations in America, especially poignant during the week that we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., it’s worth noting that the president’s assessment doesn’t match polling evidence from Gallup that shows a steep erosion of race relations in America, worse than at any point under George W. Bush, beginning with the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement. This erosion was felt by both black and white Americans.
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Many Donald Trump voters appear to be reacting to the perceived spread of political correctness and the posturing of Black Lives Matter protesters, whose "Hands Up Don't Shoot" meme was deeply misleading — according to President Obama's Justice Department and even liberal columnist Jonathan Capehart. To quote Lena Epstein, a 35-year-old, Harvard-educated Jewish businesswoman who was co-chair of Trump's Michigan campaign, Trump voters were "sick and tired of being sick and tired." Whether Epstein knew it or not, she was using a line previously made famous by African-American civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer.
Trump’s extreme rhetoric throughout his campaign — condoning violence at his rallies, calling for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., questioning the capabilities of a Latino judge and so on — can be viewed, from his supporters' perspective, as a mirror image of the racially tinged extremism of some Black Lives Matter activists. It was the yin to the yang of President Obama’s superficial assessment of the tragic death of Trayvon Martin that “if I had a son he would have looked like me.”
This line, and other Obama administration actions, did not tangibly advance the lives of African-Americans. In my view, it advanced divisive identity politics instead. Sadly, President Obama chose to support policies like the Dodd-Frank Act, which accelerated the demise of black-owned banks. He pushed for an increase in the minimum wage, despite the racist origins of the minimum wage, which was originally intended to disproportionately harm minority workers and disproportionately benefit wealthier, whiter workers. President Obama's Justice Department sued to block vouchers for families desperate to escape failing public schools in Louisiana and resulted in the dashing the educational dreams of minority children.
Both “sides” in the conflict surrounding Black Lives Matter are calling for quick and easy answers — either extreme policing or not enough policing. Both fixes are what my Harvard Kennedy School leadership professor Ronald Heifetz has called “technical fixes for adaptive challenges.” Rather than addressing deeper issues related to the depressingly high premature mortality rate of African-Americans, both sides are fixating on the police. Conservatives would argue that cops are merely treating the symptoms of cultural and policy erosions created by white liberals, such as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s inaccurately named “Great Society” programs.
As African-American writer Jason Riley has pointed out in his book "Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed," increased policing and more severe sentencing came at the desperate plea of black leaders, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, fed up by the neglect of their communities. Despite the overwhelmingly white mainstream media’s anti-police hysteria, black and brown communities tend to favor broken-windows policing. White liberals' attacking of the police is like blaming blood-thinning medication for the side effects of treating high cholesterol created by enforced lifestyle choices. These lifestyle choices usually occur for a host of reasons, largely self-selected, rational responses to economic incentives created by white liberals like LBJ.
For example, Black Lives Matters protesters routinely cite economic factors for the high rates of criminal conviction and incarceration among young black men; yet Riley also reported that the violent crime rate was much lower among these men during the days of the Great Depression, when per capita income across all races was vastly lower. Riley and other conservative critics often point out that the collapse of the black family is a far greater variable that negatively affect blsack lives.
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Research by Harvard’s Raj Chetty reported the breakdown of the nuclear family as the strongest impediment to social mobility. His recent findings echo those of social scientist and former Democratic senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan more than 50 years ago. (Moynihan himself was a child of poverty, raised in the rough-and-tumble Irish-American ghetto of New York's Hell's Kitchen.)
While white liberals did not heed the calls of Moynihan or black conservatives, white conservatives have largely ignored black voters, ever since after GOP presidential nominee Barry Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Black Lives Matter began after a series of shocking shooting deaths of unarmed black men by police captured the imagination of the mainstream press. These journalists, overwhelmingly white liberals, fanned the flames of conflict by focusing attention on these tragic cases that, in truth, represent an aberration, not only from the way most police behave but also from the most important causes of black deaths. The media chose to create a narrative that didn't comport with the reality that black suspects are no more likely than those of other races to be killed by cops. Black Lives Matter protests, which sometimes tipped over into rioting, ignored the vastly more significant factors endangering black lives in America.
Yes, racism is a real and present factor in American life. Too often white Republicans don’t recognize this or fail to develop what writer Ta Nehisi-Coates calls “a muscular empathy” for our fellow citizens suffering in black communities. Yet there are far too many counter examples to believe that black Americans cannot live the American Dream in full. There are far too many support systems — civic, cultural, educational and faith-based — that exist to help motivated people of all races rise above their circumstances. Scientific evidence suggests that people can create their own luck; the reverse is true, too. If you see oppression and racism everywhere, this will affect your cognitive processes and ultimately your life’s trajectory.
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“Understanding that our goal is to thrive despite racism is, in fact, the central ideological plank of people deemed black conservatives,” wrote the editors of the Black Conservative. Under Trump's presidency, the downtrodden black conservative movement may finally have its chance to bring our country toward a place of healing and to address the deeper causes of the social ills highlighted by Black Lives Matter. The question is whether Republican leadership will give black conservatives the prominence they need to become the cultural antibodies, as poverty warrior Bob Woodson, an adviser to House Speaker Paul Ryan, outlined in our work with OpportunityLives.com, to turn the tide of dystopia.
America might perhaps have chosen a more traditional Republican if Obama had been a more traditional Democrat. President Obama clearly was stunned by Trump’s victory. But as president, Obama never lived up to the soaring, inspiring rhetoric of his 2004 convention speech about overcoming the divide between blue and red. As I see it, Obama did not govern America through a purple lens. He was a blue stater to the core and aggressively sought to move the country to the left instead of center left, in the Bill Clinton vein.
A purple President would not have ignored his co-equal branch of government in Congress, and would not have so often sought to expand his own power through unconstitutional means (as evidenced by the widespread judicial rebuke of Obama). A purple President would not have responded to the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro with laudatory and morally ambiguous words. A purple President would have taken a balanced approach to the forces underpinning Black Lives Matter.
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“All the great teachings reveal the way of the center, the way of balance,” writes Michael Singer, guru of media mogul Oprah Winfrey (a Black Lives Matter skeptic), in his best-seller "The Untethered Soul." “Constantly look to see if that’s where you are living or if you are lost in the extremes. The extremes create their opposites; the wise avoid them. Find the balance in the center and you will live in harmony.”
Despite his sometimes irrational rhetoric, Trump has spent his business career donating to Democratic candidates and is the most socially liberal Republican president in recent history. His life prepared him to govern more from the center than President Obama’s pre-White House choices. The question now is whether Trump can see beyond the limits of his own ego and find his balance point. |
USB drives may come in all shapes and sizes these days, but they all basically give you one of two choices: you can buy one big drive to store as much of your data as possible, or juggle a bunch of drives if you want to keep things separate. Designer Hyunsoo Song has proposed an alternative with this so-called Amoeba modular USB flash drive, however, which let you sort your data on individual drives that can be used both on their own or together as one large drive. The idea there being that you can keep the drives together most of the time, and just detach the appropriate section if you want to share only your photos or videos with someone. Of course, the keyword here is "concept," but it's not exactly as far beyond the realm of possibility as some others we've seen. |
Another Quebecer has contracted measles, according to the department of public health in the Lanaudière region, just northeast of Montreal.
The person visited a Rogers store at the Galeries Joliette shopping mall during the incubation phase, meaning he or she was highly contagious at the time.
The person was unvaccinated, but the public health department says it’s possible it’s not linked to the previous cases in the Lanaudière region.
Public health authorities are asking people who went to the Rogers store at Galeries Joliette between Feb. 12 and 19 to call 450-755-2111 ext. 2404 or report to the CLSC on Sunday or Monday .
Earlier in February, 10 unvaccinated people living in the Lanaudière region were diagnosed with measles after a trip to Disneyland.
There are now 19 declared cases of measles in the region.
Public health department spokeswoman Pascale Lamy said there were eight cases of measles in the Lanaudière by Feb. 3. That number jumped to 10 on Feb. 11, and then again to 18 within the last couple of days.
She said some of the 19 have since been cured. |
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GRAYLING, Mich. (WZZM) -- There was once a time when there were no security or identity checks on domestic flights in the United States. There were no security checks on luggage, and there were no frisks or cavity searches before boarding.
You could literally buy a ticket and board a plane with no questions asked.
That practice is no longer possible because airport security has changed drastically in the last 45 years, and especially since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Today, if you choose to travel via the air, you're asked to arrive at the airport several hours before your flight due to long lines for aggressive security checks by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
The TSA was created as a part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which was passed by the 107th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 19, 2001 – a little more than two months after the September 11 attacks.
The security hurdles air travelers face today present quite a juxtaposition from what they were 44 years ago, which is why nobody thought anything was out of the ordinary on November 24, 1971, when a man in Portland, Oregon, bought a seat on Northwest Flight 305 bound for Seattle, Washington.
What happened aboard that Boeing 727 jetliner that day was far from ordinary.
The legend of D.B. Cooper was born.
CLOSE "Dan Cooper, otherwise known as D.B. Cooper, is an unidentified man."
"Dan Cooper, otherwise known as D.B. Cooper, is an unidentified man," said Ross Richardson, who resides in Lake Ann, Michigan, and has authored several books about unsolved mysteries. "Cooper's disappearance is one of the most intriguing mysteries of the 20th centuries."
In Richardson's most recent book, entitled "Still Missing," he spends a good chunk of the read rethinking the D.B. Cooper case, while offering up a new theory on the disappearance that Richardson believes nobody, not even the FBI, has considered or investigated.
Interested in this topic? You may also want to view these photo galleries: Replay Autoplay Show Thumbnails Show Captions Last SlideNext Slide
On November 24, 1971 (Thanksgiving eve), witnesses say a nondescript man, using the name Dan Cooper, approached the Northwest Airlines counter in Portland, Oregon, and used cash to buy a one-way ticket on Flight 305, which was bound for Seattle, Washington.
"The man was wearing a black business suit with a thin, black tie and black loafers," said Richardson. "He bought the ticket and boarded the plane."
Soon after he settled on the plane, the Cooper subject ordered a drink – a bourbon and soda.
Once the jet took off, which was a short time after 3 p.m. PT, Cooper handed one of the flight attendants a note indicating that he had a bomb in his briefcase.
"Cooper asked the stewardess to sit next to him," said Richardson. "Cooper opened his briefcase and showed her what appeared to be a bunch of wires and red sticks.
"Cooper demanded the stewardess write down what he'd told her and take it to the captain."
His demand was that he wanted four parachutes and $200,000.
"Flight 305 would fly around Seattle, waiting for the money and parachutes to arrive at the airport, and once they did, the plane landed without incident and Cooper managed to work out an exchange," said Richardson. "He basically traded the 36 passengers on board the flight for the parachutes and the money."
The passengers were never aware of the threat on board. A bank in Seattle was contacted and a bag of money, all $20 bills with prerecorded serial numbers, totaling $200,000, was delivered to the plane, which was re-fueled and cleared for takeoff.
"The bag of loot weighed 23 pounds," said Richardson. "Once the chutes and money were delivered, Cooper ordered the flight crew to take off for Mexico."
CLOSE CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite comes on the air November 25, 1971, to discuss the DB Cooper skyjacking. This is the actual news footage from the day after the skyjacking happened. WZZM
The 727 then lifted off from Seattle and began heading south, Richardson said, and sometime within the early part of the flight, the rear, or aft, stairs opened on the plane.
"He demanded that the pilot fly the jet at 10,000 feet so it wouldn't require oxygen so the cabin wouldn't decompress," Richardson said. "Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, Nevada, Cooper tied the bag of ransom money to himself, strapped on one of the parachutes, and jumped out of the back of the plane to an unknown fate."
He was never seen or heard from again. Cooper literally jumped out of the back end of the plane and into American folklore.
The pilots of the 727 would eventually land the plane safely, and soon realized that Cooper had disappeared.
What has happened after that has been a debate for 44 years; the unknown mystery man has fascinated people and frustrated law enforcement and the FBI ever since.
"When investigators began searching the plane, they found that Cooper had left behind some items," added Richardson. "One of the parachutes was left on the plane, as well as a skinny black tie and a tie clasp."
The Seattle FBI still has these items in evidence to this day.
"The stewardess who sat next to Cooper on the flight was Tina Mucklow, who was the primary witness in the skyjacking," said Richardson. "She got a good look at him and described him as charming and intelligent."
The FBI was able to gain enough of a description of Cooper from the three flight attendants who spent close to 5 hours with this man. Mucklow, along with Florence Schaffner and Alice Hancock, were able to help the FBI produce a composite sketch which, still to this day, remains the only physical description of the Cooper suspect.
FBI Composite sketch of the D.B. Cooper suspect.
(Photo: Wayne Walker)
According to the stewardesses, Cooper was a white man in his forties, between 5 feet, 10 inches and 6 feet tall and weighing 170 to 180 pounds, with brown eyes.
"The FBI learned of the crime in flight and immediately opened an extensive investigation that lasted many years," said Wayne Walker, who is a well-known Cooper researcher. "The FBI called the case NORJAK for "Northwest Hijacking".
The FBI interviewed hundreds of people and tracked leads across the nation, Walker said, and by the fifth anniversary of the hijacking, they had considered more than 1,000 suspects, eliminating all but two dozen from consideration.
"There was a miscommunication between the FBI and the media," said Richardson, describing how Dan Cooper got the name D.B. Cooper. "The media started calling him D.B. Cooper and the FBI decided not to correct it so that any leads with the name Dan Cooper would be taken seriously, and any leads with the name D.B. Cooper would be dismissed."
After the skyjacking, one of the largest manhunts in U.S. history was launched. The military was called in and approximately 1,000 troops searched the suspected jump zone on foot and in helicopters.
Did Cooper die, or did he successfully complete his jump that night, and get away with the crime?
To this day, nobody knows.
No human remains have ever been recovered.
The case has stumped investigators for decades,
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To this day, the FBI considers the D.B. Cooper case an open case, which is why they won't publicly discuss theories or individuals who are being considered, investigated or have been eliminated.
Amidst the decades of discussion that has been generated by the Cooper mystery, many "citizen sleuths" have come to the conclusion that Cooper could have never survived the jump.
"The parachute he used couldn't be steered, and his clothing and footwear [loafers] were unsuitable for a rough landing," said Walker. "He jumped over a wooded area, which was a dangerous proposition even for a seasoned pro."
The theory of Cooper not surviving the jump gained serious momentum in 1980 when an 8-year-old boy by the name of Brian Ingram, who was camping with his family along the banks of the Columbia River in Washington state, found three rotting bundles of $20 bills (which totaled $5,800) that matched the serial numbers from the ransom money that Cooper demanded 9 years prior.
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In the 35 years since Ingram found the wads of cash, many more theories have come to light, which is why the Cooper case has never completely faded from discussion.
While most of the 1,000-plus suspects, including assorted publicity seekers and deathbed confessors, investigated by the FBI have been ruled out, there are some notable examples worth mentioning.
First, a man by the name of John List, a World War II and Korean War veteran who, in 1971, murdered his wife, three teenage children, and 85-year-old mother (15 days before the Cooper hijacking), was a suspect in the Cooper case. After the murders, List happened to withdraw $200,000 from his mother's bank account and disappeared.
He was captured in 1989 after living under a false identity for 17 years. List would admit to killing his family, but told authorities he had no involvement in the Cooper hijacking.
Ralph Himmelsbach, the retired FBI agent who initially investigated the Cooper hijacking, believes Cooper died, but added that John List warranted investigating because both were about the same height and weight and wore glasses.
John List died in prison in 2008. Since no direct evidence implicates him, the FBI is no longer considering John List as a Cooper suspect.
Second, William Pratt Gossett was a Marine Corps, Army and Army Air Force veteran who saw action in Korea and Vietnam. His military experience included advanced jump training and wilderness survival.
According to Galen Cook, a lawyer who's been researching the Cooper case for more than two decades, Gossett once showed his sons a key to a Vancouver, British Columbia safety deposit box which, he claimed, contained the missing ransom money.
Late in his life, Gossett reportedly told his three sons that he committed the hijacking, but in spite of all the circumstantial evidence, the FBI was never able to implicate Gossett, and could never place him in the Pacific Northwest at the time of the Cooper hijacking.
"There is not one link to the D.B. Cooper case other than the statements [Gossett] made to someone," FBI Special Agent Larry Carr told ABC News.
William Gossett died in 2003.
Last, and the most recent Cooper theory to make news, was in 2011 when a woman named Marla Wynn Cooper publicly suggested her late uncle, Lynn Doyle Cooper, was D.B. Cooper. Marla had some interesting evidence to back up her claim.
Lynn Doyle Cooper, who died in 1999, grew up in Oregon and was familiar with the area where the hijacker jumped, Marla Cooper said.
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According to an ABC News report, the FBI investigated Marla Cooper's credible claims because much of what she said about her late uncle fits their profile of the hijacker. The report went on to say that the FBI believes the Cooper suspect had a military background; Lynn Doyle Cooper was a Korean War Veteran.
Marla Cooper told ABC News that the FBI believes the hijacker assumed the alias "Dan Cooper" from the 1960's French comic book, which bore the same name. Marla Cooper told ABC News that her late uncle had a bunch of the Dan Cooper comic books thumbtacked to the wall.
After investigating, the FBI ultimately concluded that Lynn Doyle Cooper's DNA did not match the partial DNA profile obtained from the hijacker's tie that's been in evidence since 1971.
The FBI has made no further public comment regarding Lynn Doyle Cooper.
One year after Marla Cooper's claim made news, Ross Richardson began thinking about topics for the next book he wanted to write. While the Cooper case continues to be one of our nation's greatest mysteries, and Richardson thrives on writing about mysteries, he says the D.B. Cooper wasn't on his radar.
Sign on the road as you enter Grayling, Michigan.
(Photo: WZZM)
Being a Michigan resident, Richardson focuses his writings primarily on mysteries and disappearances in Michigan.
"I originally wanted to write a book that had stories about 10 missing ships, 10 missing airplanes, 10 missing persons and a few unrecovered drowning victims," said Richardson. "The idea was that all the subjects in the book could be found using some of the techniques we use in shipwreck hunting, thus involving the readers in the actual solving of these mysteries, or perhaps coming up with their own theories for each mystery."
But as time went on, Richardson says he decided to narrow the scope down to the mysterious disappearance surrounding one man from Grayling, Michigan.
"Something about the disappearance of Dick Lepsy intrigued me," said Richardson. "It spoke to me."
Robert Richard Lepsy was a grocery store manager, husband and father of four. On October 29, 1969, Lepsy mysteriously disappeared from Grayling and, to this day, hasn't been seen or heard from since.
"On the day he disappeared, he called his wife, Jackie, around lunch time and told her he was going to go for a ride," Richardson said, detailing the last known facts about Lepsy. "A few days later, Dick Lepsy's car was found in the parking lot at Traverse City's Cherry Capital Airport with the doors unlocked; a half-pack of cigarettes were sitting on the dash, and the keys were still in the ignition.
"Both the Grayling Police Department and the Michigan State Police worked together on the Lepsy case, but they ultimately concluded that Mr. Lepsy voluntarily left on his own accord, and that this was not a missing persons case, so not a large effort was made to find Lepsy," added Richardson.
Lisa Lepsy standing over her mother's grave in a Grayling, Michigan cemetery.
(Photo: WZZM)
Richardson said the more he read about and researched the Lepsy disappearance, the more fascinated and obsessed he became, which ultimately led him to locating one of Lepsy's surviving family members.
"I contacted Lisa Lepsy, Dick Lepsy's daughter," Richardson said. "After speaking at great length with her about her father, his disappearance, and the emotional impact it's left on the family, I decided the Lepsy case would be the backbone of my book."
Lisa Lepsy was 13 years old when her father disappeared.
"As the only girl, I had a very special relationship with my father," Lisa Lepsy said during an interview with WZZM. "There wasn't anything during my childhood in Grayling that ever made me think something like this would ever happen."
Lisa described her father as very intelligent and often a deep thinker.
"The last time I saw him was the night before he disappeared," said Lisa. "It wasn't until two or three days after he vanished that my mother gathered [my three brothers and I] all together and told us she didn't think dad was coming home.
"I remember crying and wondering why he didn't say goodbye to me."
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Lisa Lepsy said while the days and months passed, the family continued to wait for the phone to ring, or look for Dick Lepsy to walk through the front door, but he never did.
"I've never stopped looking for him because I know how much my dad loved us," Lisa said. "The most difficult thing is not knowing what happened, and not having any answers."
Richardson's drive to look deeper into the Lepsy case continued to grow stronger.
"I went to a library in Traverse City, Michigan, and began pulling microfilm newspaper articles from the week before and the weeks after Lepsy's disappearance," Richardson said. "I could find no published news articles about Lepsy at all in any of those newspapers, but on the front page of every edition I read, there were stories about hijackings, including the most famous hijacking of them all – D.B. Cooper."
Richardson said his mission was never to compare or contrast Dick Lepsy and D.B. Cooper, but for some reason, he decided to pull some of the photos he had of Lepsy and put them against the FBI's composite sketch of Cooper.
FBI composite of the D.B. Cooper suspect flanked by two pictures of Dick Lepsy.
(Photo: Ross Richardson)
"I was stunned to see the physical similarities between the two men," Richardson added. "Both Lepsy and the Cooper suspect were described to be 6-feet-tall, both weighed about 180-pounds and both had black hair and brown eyes."
It was at this point that Richardson decided just investigating Lepsy was no longer enough; he also needed to look deeper into the D.B. Cooper case.
"As I dove into the Cooper case, even more similarities between the two men came to light," said Richardson.
"The FBI says the skyjacker spoke with no discernible accent, and they believe he was from the Midwest; Dick Lepsy grew up in Chicago before he moved to Grayling.
"The FBI says the skyjacker left behind a black tie and a tie clasp on the plane; it's the exact same tie that was mandatory neck wear for all Glenn's Market employees.
"The FBI says the skyjacker's shoes were loafers; those were Dick Lepsy's favorite shoes."
The Cooper skyjacking happened two years after Dick Lepsy's disappearance, and the night the Cooper news broke, Lisa Lepsy remembers she and her siblings watching and how they all reacted.
"We were all sitting on the couch watching Walter Cronkite," said Lisa. "When the composite sketch of D.B. Cooper came on the TV screen, everyone looked at each other and said, 'That's dad!'
"We were stunned because the resemblance was unbelievable, and my brothers and I were all sure that was our dad."
In 1977, eight years after her father's disappearance, Lisa Lepsy moved from her home in Lansing, Michigan to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where she would live for the next 22 years. Even though her life had taken her out of state, she and her mother would spend decades spearheading an effort to bring national attention to Dick Lepsy's disappearance. The pair was even invited to appear on a national talk show in 1986.
"In 1982, I wrote and sent a letter to the Mexican Consulate, alerting their government about my father, just in case that's where he chose to run off" said Lisa. "My mother and I also placed several newspaper ads over the years."
Despite their continued campaign to find answers, no new information ever came to light about Dick Lepsy.
In May of 1993, Lisa Lepsy says she experienced a very random and odd occurrence that she strongly believes was connected to her father's disappearance.
"I was home and I saw two gentlemen walking up to my door," Lisa said. "They were both dressed in black suits and wore sunglasses.
"They kind of muscled their way through my doorway and flashed their identifications at me really fast, and the first words out of their mouths were, 'Have you found your father yet?'"
Lisa said her initial thought was that the men came to tell her they had found her father, and her decades of wondering and sadness were finally over.
"The men then asked me, 'Are you sure you didn't find your father; we just want to make sure you haven't found your father,'" Lisa said. "I then asked the men who they were, and they told me they were from the John Hancock Insurance company.
"They claimed they traveled from Chicago and were literally in and out of my house in five minutes."
This is an image of the actual business card the two "insurance agents" left with Lisa Lepsy when they ambushed her at her Tennessee home in May, 1993.
(Photo: Lisa Lepsy)
The men left a business card behind. On it was the name "Charles J. Mitchell, FLMI".
"I immediately took the business card, called the phone number that was on it," Lisa said. "A person answered and I told them two gentlemen representing John Hancock Insurance Company just came to my house asking if I had found my father yet.
"I told the person the name and title that were on the business card; I even went as far as faxing the business card to John Hancock's headquarters in Chicago, because they said they wanted to see the card to verify it was an actual employee of theirs.
"Once they received the card and looked at it, they told me they did not have that [Special Activities/Central] unit, and that nobody named Charles J. Mitchell was employed at their company."
Lisa says the men never returned, but the whole experience was very frightening.
"I never found out who the men were or why they sought me out about my father so many years later," Lisa added. "To this day, I'm still shaken over the strange encounter with these men."
After endless research, and interviews with Lisa as well as several former co-workers of Dick Lepsy, Ross Richardson says he's convinced that Robert Richard Lepsy is a missing person whom the FBI should strongly consider investigating as a possible D.B Cooper suspect.
Both Richardson and Lisa Lepsy are hoping that by going public with this theory, two mysteries can be solved.
"By putting this story out there, we may be able to get the clues we need to solve not one but two mysteries," said Richardson. "I hope the FBI looks into this, starting by running tests on the DNA samples that have been submitted by Lisa.
"One of the only ways were are going to get resolution for either of these mysteries is to publicize Lepsy's image and hope that one of the stewardesses who saw the Cooper suspect can recognize or dismiss Lepsy as a possible suspect, or someone comes forward with new information about the disappearance of Robert Richard Lepsy.
"Can I say that Dick Lepsy is D.B. Cooper? No, I cannot; I need proof, but I strongly believe the proof is out there."
Lisa Lepsy says she submitted a DNA sample in 2011, when she was invited to the inaugural "Missing in Michigan" day in Detroit, so if the FBI in Seattle wants to pull the sample, it can, assuming it hasn't already.
Complete FBI Seattle Division email to WZZM regarding the Dick Lepsy theory.
(Photo: WZZM)
When Lepsy disappeared in 1969, the police never considered him a missing person, so he was never officially declared a missing person.
Lisa Lepsy finally added her father to the NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) in 2011, meaning Dick Lepsy's disappearance was literally forgotten about for 42 years.
"I truly hope the FBI takes a serious look at this," said Lisa. "It's definitely a possibility."
WZZM contacted the FBI Seattle Division, alerting them we were doing this story. This is a portion of the response we received from Ayn Dietrich-Williams, who is the Media Coordinator for the division:
Melvin Luther Wilson disappeared in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 15, 1971 - 69 days before the DB Cooper skyjacking.
(Photo: Vicki Wilson)
"It might be worth noting to your audience the NORJAK "D.B. Cooper" investigation is still open but it is not an active one in that we are not still actively looking for information. We long ago did all the necessary searches, collected all the evidence that needed to be collected, and interviewed all the witnesses. That said, when tips come in to us, we assess each one and, if credible, pursue the lead accordingly."
The D.B. Cooper case remains the only hijacking in the United States that has gone unsolved.
During the production of this story, a woman by the name of Vicki Wilson, who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, reached out to WZZM to inform us that her father, Melvin Luther Wilson, also should be investigated as a possible D.B. Cooper suspect.
Mr. Wilson disappeared Sept. 15, 1971 on his way to being sentenced on a counterfeiting charge. The disappearance happened 69 days before the D.B. Cooper skyjacking. Vicki Wilson tells WZZM that she submitted DNA to the FBI in 2011, but has no idea if her father was ever investigated and/or eliminated as a Cooper suspect. |
Rules are meant to be broken, or so they say. Even so, writers have a few sacred rules that common sense tells us must be respected for the sake of a sound story. Here are five books that broke those rules, and despite their audacity, won our hearts.
Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer
Broken Rule: plot based on a tired old fairytale that has been done to death.
I was skeptical. After all, Cinderella, seriously? Been there done that. What could Ms. Meyer possibly do that would be new?
But the cover was so darned intriguing, that after trying not to look inside seven or eight times, I acquiesced and opened to the first chapter. Color me a goner. Cinder is a Asian Cyborg–can you believe it? Not only that, but the talented Ms. Meyer’s paints such vivid characters that I felt as if I’d been sucked into a live action anime.
Brilliant.
She does one more thing that totally amazes me. Each of the next three books in the series bring in a new protagonist, and each is a adaptation of another fairytale. Yet Meyer weaves all these stories together beautifully and keeps the reader connected to the previous characters. When she got to book three, Cress, a Rapunzel-esque heroine, I thought for sure the author would lose her grip on the other story lines. For pity’s sake, Cress is trapped in a satellite. In space. Alone.
But no, Meyer pulled it off with as much magical finesse as David Copperfield sawing himself in half. I can’t wait for Winter to come out. The Lunar Chronicles are one of this decade’s masterpieces.
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
Broken Rule(s): non-protagonist points of view and numerous redundancies.
Most writers compulsively check and double check for echoes and redundancies and remove them. Contrast that with Daphne du Maurier’s, Jamaica Inn. The opening paragraph contains no less than five redundancies and repeated images.
Du Maurier also head-hops, shifting from various points of view, before narrowing to the protagonist. Normally, this is a no-no. But du Maurier eases us deeper and deeper into the story as deftly as a skilled hypnotist puts an audience into a trance. By the end of the first page readers are wiping imaginary rain from their brows and snuggling deeper into their sweaters to stave off the cold. Thus opens the mesmerizing tale of murderous pirates and grey moors. Read it and the images will remain etched in your mind forever.
Du Maurier’s classic mystery Rebecca is equally unforgettable. Here again, you’ll see multiple repetitions in the first paragraph. I suspect Daphne du Maurier figured out how to put her readers under a spell using a form of linguistic hypnosis.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Broken Rule: meandering plot and uncertain settings.
In Howl’s Moving Castle, half the time the reader isn’t sure where they are, or what they’re doing there. The plot meanders as much as the castle does over the countryside. And yet it is still a compelling story and remains one of my all-time favorites. Diana Wynne Jones, author of more than thirty critically acclaimed books, does not pre-plot. She says, “No, that kills it dead.”
I agree. But here’s what she does do in all her stories, and did masterfully in Howl’s Moving Castle; she fascinates us with unexpected twists and turns and delightful character discoveries. Somehow Jones manages to weave wildly unpredictable plot lines together and produce a tale with a theme revealed at the end.
Reading Jones is like riding a rollercoaster in the pitch dark. Hang on–it will end up in a bright good place.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Broken Rule: multiple regional dialects that are challenging to understand.
No discussion of writerly rule-breaking would be complete without mentioning Mark Twain and his landmark novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Writers today take our use of regional dialogue for granted, but Twain, and a handful of other authors, blazed the trail for us. Twain broke from the prim and proper literary forms of his day and ripped it up with shockingly realistic dialogue. He didn’t exploit just one regional dialect; he had Aunt Polly’s homespun southern flavor, Huck Finn’s uneducated twang, Pap’s use of onomatopoeia and poetic phrasing, and Jim’s slave lingo.
Twain got some serious grief for his bravado. Newspaper critics weren’t impressed. The public turned up its collective nose. Fortunately, Twain’s novels outlived the criticism. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were among the first books my mother read to me as a child and they remain favorites still today.
Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger
Broken Rule: the main character’s traits are not universally relatable.
In Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series the main character Miss Alexia Tarabotti was born without a soul. She is completely unflappable. Nothing alarms her. She is not fearful or passionate. Point in case, the story opens with a vampire trying to bite her, but when Alexia subdues the offender and he collapses at her feet she is perturbed, not by his attack, but because he has fallen on a plate of treacle tarts she’d intended to eat.
Penning an emotionless heroine was a gigantic risk. Readers read for vicarious emotional experience. So why did a rule-breaking book like Soulless rocket up the charts?
Chalk it up to Carriger’s top shelf sense of humor. Few writers have her wit and tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. Although her heroine doesn’t feel much, Carriger makes readers feel intelligent as they experience all the spoofy goings-on. It is as if we are in on the grand joke rather than simply observing.
Genius!
Kathleen Baldwin has written several award-winning traditional Regency romances for adults, including Lady Fiasco, winner of Cataromance’s Best Traditional Regency, and Mistaken Kiss, a Holt Medallion Finalist. A School for Unusual Girls is her first book for teens. She lives in Texas with her family. |
Our resident food expert spills the history of his favorite creamy holiday libation.
• Eggnog is technically stirred custard—a mixture of dairy and eggs. It’s almost identical to ice cream, except that in most cases it contains too much alcohol to freeze.
• Although it can be cooked to kill off any possible salmonella and to thicken the mix, such thermal activity also deactivates the egg enzymes that give “real” eggnog its je ne sais quoi.
• As far back as the late 17th century, the term “nog” referred to a style of strong beer brewed in East Anglia, while a “noggin” was a small cup or mug that could be used for imbibing nog.
• Most culinary anthropologists believe modern eggnog descended from a thick, boozy, late-medieval concoction called posset that was composed of hot milk and hooch enhanced with whatever spice the lord of the castle had on hand.
• Egg-based drinks found new popularity in the American colonies, where nearly everyone had access to cows, chickens, and rum.
Nutritious and relatively stable, eggnog was our first health drink. If you ask me, sipping it is our patriotic duty.
• Although bourbon is the modern nog spirit, rum was the liquor of choice in colonial days.
• Today’s serious nogsters are into aging. After nog spends six months to a year in the fridge, a curious chemical collusion takes place as egg proteins, alcohol, and milk sugars slowly join forces. The resulting elixir tastes not of eggs, milk, sugar, or booze but simply of eggnog.
• Don’t worry too much about safety. As long as your brew contains at least 20 percent alcohol and is stored below 40°F for at least a month, any microbial nasties that might haunt your innards should be nice and dead.
Alton Brown’s Nog of Ages
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2012
12 large chicken eggs (see note)
1 pound sugar
1 pint half n half (see the other note)
1 pint whole milk
1 pint heavy cream
1 cup jamaican rum
1 cup cognac
1 cup bourbon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (plus more for serving)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
• Separate the eggs and store the whites for another purpose
• Beat the yolks with the sugar and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl until the mixture lightens in color and falls off the whisk in a solid “ribbon.”
• Combine dairy, booze, and salt in a second bowl or pitcher and then slowly beat into the egg mixture.
• Move to a large glass jar (or a couple of smaller ones) and store in the fridge for a minimum of 2 weeks. A month would be better, and two better still. In fact, there’s nothing that says you couldn’t age it a year but I’ve just never been able to wait that long.
• Serve in mugs or cups topped with a little extra nutmeg grated right on top.
Note on eggs: Although my research tells me it’s very likely the alcohol will kill off any microbial baddies present from the eggs, if you have any doubts at all or if you’re going to be serving the elderly or someone with an immune disorder, buy yourself some peace of mind and simply use pasteurized shell eggs. They’re available these days at most mega-marts.
Note on dairy: I’m super picky about the texture of my eggnog and find that the combination listed gets me what I’m looking for. That said, if you don’t want to bother (or if you’re not as picky) just go with a quart of half and half and call it a day.
And one more note: Yeah, it’s a lot of booze but the longer the nog ages, the more mellow it will get.
This story originally appeared in mental_floss magazine. Now go download our new iPad app! Or get a free issue of mental_floss magazine via mail. Want more Alton? Check out his recipes at mentalfloss.com/alton. |
Among many Silicon Valley luminaries, the distaste for Donald Trump is palpable, particularly for his ideas on trade and immigration and his views of the innovation economy.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — In a place normally preoccupied with drafting code and dazzling investors, suddenly everyone in Silicon Valley has an opinion about the presidential election. And it tends to be the same opinion.
The innovation economy has a serious distaste for Donald Trump. The masters of this world complain that his ignorance about their work and its relationship to the global economy is horrifying. Rank-and-file programmers are quick to call him a clown, or worse.
The unity is notable in an environment where groupthink is frowned upon and nobody ever seems to color inside ideological lines.
Trump has practically written a playbook on how not to court this well-heeled group that other politicians seem desperate to shower with affection.
Ambitious startup chief executives who swore off talking politics for fear of offending investors are enlisting in campaigns to discredit Trump. Longtime valley Republican stalwarts who have voted for every GOP nominee for decades say they can’t do it this year. The libertarian-minded innovators who just want to get government out of their way have less faith in Trump than they do in even Hillary Clinton, the Democrat with big plans to grow the bureaucracy.
“At least Clinton is not going to go in and burn the place down,” said Reed Galen, a GOP consultant who advises tech companies. “But Trump comes in, and God knows what happens.”
The grievances that innovation leaders have with Trump are almost too many to list. They are baffled by an immigration policy that they warn would be disastrous for their workforce. Trump’s trade agenda, they say, threatens to tear apart global business relationships crucial to tech-industry success. The candidate’s threat to boycott Apple as it tussled with law enforcement over encryption technology will not soon be forgotten.
Just last week, Trump drew yet more chortles with his suggestion that the tech sector was a financial house of cards poised for collapse.
“He has pushed me over the edge,” said Vivek Wadhwa, a highly respected technology entrepreneur and academic who has always avoided engaging in politics, save for the time he spent $500 to dine with another prominent Indian American, former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. (Wadhwa said the event was a waste of time.) “It was unimaginable for me to say this even two weeks ago, but I am going to become very vocal and campaign against him. I feel too strongly not to get involved.”
Support and backlash
When it was revealed this month that one of the valley’s most successful entrepreneurs, Peter Thiel, had signed on as a California delegate for Trump before the state’s June 7 primary, the backlash against him was brutal. The buzz in the valley was that Thiel had gone off the rails.
“I’m utterly ashamed we have him as an investor,” wrote Paul Carr, the editorial director of the tech news site Pando. The headline called Thiel a jerk, only in coarser language.
The usual valley liberals are, of course, piling on against Trump. But the uneasiness of many conservative free-marketeers in the tech world has touched off speculation about which of them are primed to start writing checks for Clinton.
Among those being courted by Democrats is venture-capitalist Marc Andreessen, who spent $100,000 trying to help elect Mitt Romney in 2012. He made clear where he is headed with his tweet this month of “#ImWithHer,” a Clinton slogan. He mocks Trump persistently on social media.
Other past rainmakers for the Republican Party find themselves paralyzed.
From the corner conference room in his 23rd-floor office, with its sweeping views of San Francisco Bay, high-stakes tech investor and longtime GOP activist Alex Slusky talked about how Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sat in that very room for a tutorial on the innovation economy. He talks about how former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was also enamored with the sector’s inner workings, as was Ohio Gov. John Kasich and, of course, Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who made tech a central focus of his campaign.
Trump?
“He hasn’t done anything to reach out,” said Slusky, who has voted for every Republican presidential nominee since he organized his high school’s Ronald Reagan re-election effort.
Slusky foresees leaving the top of his ballot blank this year. “None of us have even met him,” he said. “The majority of active Silicon Valley Republicans I know are not supporting Trump today.”
Trump’s tough talk and big promises are not comforting to Slusky. “His wall to Mexico? We have to get products over that wall,” Slusky said. “Maybe he just acted crazy to clear the primary field. But to be convinced of that, I need to see the craziness stop.”
Slusky himself immigrated to America from Ukraine. He figures about half the chief executives of the tech companies he invests in are also immigrants — not because he seeks them out, but because that’s just how tech is. It’s not a hospitable world for anti-immigrant nationalism.
“I am not sure we have ever had a moment here where as many people have wanted to be a part of the political process,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a bipartisan organization founded by Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders that pushes to liberalize immigration laws and is leading valley opposition to Trump.
Global orientation
Among those who have been drawn into the fight is Branko Cerny, a founder of a startup that helps busy people organize their lives.
The Prague native’s success at raising money for his business earned him a speaking spot onstage at the Startup Conference, a tech networking event last week in Redwood City. Typical of Silicon Valley, most of the people there were either born abroad or lived abroad at some point in their lives.
Cerny said he had been invited to “a number of focus groups hosted by high-net-worth individuals in Silicon Valley” who are strategizing against Trump, though he acknowledged that the voters drawn to Trump are not especially open to hearing counterarguments from ultrawealthy Silicon Valley elites.
“There is a lot of talk about how can we do more harm than good if we get involved,” he said. “A lot of really smart people are out of ideas for how to prevent that.” |
Joshua Severance, 26, was visiting his dad in Rutland City, Vermont on Monday when he was detained and handcuffed by police for openly carrying a gun.
Severance was walking down a street to his father's apartment, when police took notice of him and a 9 millimeter semi-automatic handgun clipped to his belt.
"There was a cruiser sitting there parked, and it saw me. I had my firearm on my side, had my shirt off because I was hot, minding my own business just walking along, cops saw me," Severance told WCAX-TV (video below).
"The officer asked me why I was carrying [the gun] and I said it was because I could. It was my right to," recalled Severance. "And he said, 'Do you know there was a shooting here the other night?' To which I said, 'No, I didn't, but what's that have to do with me?'"
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Severance, who was in the National Guard, says police handcuffed and detained him, while they conducted a background check.
"I can see pulling somebody over and asking them to look at the firearm or check the serial number to see if it comes back stolen, but putting somebody in handcuffs and throwing them in a cruiser and treating them like a criminal from square one, I don't agree with," added Severance.
Apparently, there were some recent shootings on the street where Severance was walking, so police were making sure he wasn't part of the gunfire.
"In this particular neighborhood it is not commonplace to have people walking down the street with firearms, either rifles, shotguns or handguns. It was suspicious, it was out of the ordinary," said Rutland City Police Sgt. John Sly.
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Source: WCAX-TV
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Today, we will be checking the Poject Redox mod by August, that has been on our Forum for quite some time, and now that the project is done we must say that it looks quite impressive.In case you missed it earlier, the project is based on the car-term Rat-Rod, and this means that we are looking at a steam punk rat-rod design which certainly takes a lot of effort. The In Win case has been modded and rusted up so this is definitely an extensive mod.The mod is based on Gigabyte's GA-X99-UD3 motherboard with Intel Core i7-5820K CPU, two Geforce GTX 970 graphics cards, couple of modded memory sticks from Crucial, pair of Intel 730 SSDs, and plenty of EKWB liquid cooling components, all powered by be quiet! Pure Power 9 700W PSU.August has added 32GB of DDR4-2133 paired up with OCZ Reaper heatsinks which were rusted up as well as two Intel SSDs with a custom mod.The project is now completed and August has posted plenty of pictures which you can find at our forum via link below. Hopefully it won't be long before we see another modding project from August as this one looks like something that came straight out of Fallout games.Source: Project Redox |
Denial
Karpeles responded to Dratel’s allegation within a few hours, first on Twitter and then in a longer message to reporters.
"This is probably going to be disappointing for you, but I am not and have never been Dread Pirate Roberts," he wrote. "I have nothing to do with Silk Road and do not condone what has been happening there."
In a private message to a colleague of mine, Karpeles added, "It's so ridiculous. I mean, I never did drugs even once in my whole life and I don't really care about all that libertarian thing."
He'd never heard of Ulbricht until his arrest was in the news, he said. As for the silkroadmarket.org site, Karpeles' hosting company may have been chosen simply because it was willing to accept Bitcoin as payment. Anyone could have created the site.
Dratel would continue to insist on what he called Karpeles' "intimate involvement" with Silk Road, but in fact there was nothing substantive tying him to the Silk Road, other than the fact that he had briefly been suspected by law enforcement. (Agents had at one point obtained warrants to search two of Karpeles' e-mail accounts but found nothing to change their conclusion that Ulbricht was the culprit.)
What initially looked like a bold defense would morph into frustrated courtroom theatrics over the next two weeks.
The rabbit was never pulled out of the hat, though; Dratel's increasingly frantic arguments over evidentiary matters were masking a defense that wasn't simply insufficient, it was effectively nonexistent. Dratel would rage when his two expert witnesses, disclosed at the last possible minute, were excluded from trial. But the protests concealed a basic fact—Dratel had no positive factual witnesses to call, no one who could back up Ulbricht's claim to have walked away from the site.
And the government was not exaggerating when it described Ulbricht's laptop as a "mountain of evidence." Over the next two weeks, prosecutors would show hundreds of lines of chats between Ulbricht—or whoever was "me" in his computer's chat logs—and top Silk Road lieutenants. Ulbricht even kept diaries and daily logs on computers, in which he mixed intimate facts from his personal life with notes about Silk Road business. Dratel couldn't explain it, and he didn’t call any witness who could explain it.
Yet Ulbricht's family and a core of true believers continued to cling to the idea that Ulbricht was innocent.
"I could buy anything"
On the first day of the trial, 26-year old Max Dickstein had come dressed in a black ninja costume while holding a poster reading "The Chosen One," featuring a picture of Ross Ulbricht and the Bitcoin logo. Midway through the trial, I bumped into Dickstein again as he smoked a cigarette on the court’s eighth floor balcony with two friends.
Beneath a mop of black hair, Dickstein smiles often, in a way that suggests he has secrets to share.
"Rolex!" said Dickstein, thrusting his wrist toward me. "Let's just say I got it on a certain Tor-only marketplace."
"Got it," I said, looking at the gold watch. "Is it real?"
"No!" he said. The trio erupted with laughter.
I had dinner with Dickstein in Chinatown, where he lives. He's an "out-there" libertarian, he explained. His father is a currency trader, and Dickstein, who describes himself as an "unrepentant one-percenter," dropped out of college to trade currency as well. He got his father interested in Bitcoin, which he saw "as an alternative to gold," he told me.
Dickstein wouldn't say on the record whether he'd made buys on Silk Road or other "darknet" markets, but his knowledge of them was extensive. Silk Road had far more traffic than its competitors and had features other markets didn't have, including the ability to "hedge" Bitcoin, which essentially froze the value of the trade at the moment the buyer and seller agreed on it. That protected either side from losing money due to Bitcoin volatility.
Other markets included Black Market Reloaded, which had everything, including guns, which Silk Road didn't traffic in, but it became clear talking to Dickstein that one of the reasons for Silk Road's success was because people trusted it. Much of the credit for that went to DPR himself, who was communicative and helpful. With millions of dollars' worth of bitcoin in the site’s "escrow" system at any given time, nothing could stop a market owner from running with all the escrowed cash. But DPR wasn't like that—he had truly wanted to build the site, and his users believed in him.
I asked him what Dickstein thought about the Ulbricht case; his answer had a kind of duality to it that I would hear from other supporters. If Ross was innocent, then he was a victim and a hero, Dickstein believed. If Ross was guilty—then he was an even bigger hero.
"He created a marketplace where I could buy anything," said Dickstein.
He was even more enthusiastic about the idea of Karpeles getting in trouble. Dickstein was certain that the collapse of Mt. Gox had been straight-up theft by Karpeles, to the tune of $400 million worth of bitcoins—including $16,000 of Dickstein's own.
I asked him how he knew the two other men who'd been smoking on the balcony with him. They met at a 9/11 Truth rally, he explained.
"Building Seven, at least, was brought down by explosives," he said. He had been living near the site at the time with his parents, when just barely a teenager.
I said nothing, but Dickstein could read my skepticism. "Like I said, I'm out there," he told me, smiling broadly.
"We were shocked like everyone else"
Ulbricht's parents have been steadfast in support of their son since his arrest. Lyn Ulbricht, Ross’ mother, is the outspoken one, and she has talked many times to activists who support Ross.
Her refrain has always been that Ulbricht's case would have dramatic ramifications for Internet freedom. If convicted, her son would be the first "alleged website host" punished criminally for the actions of his users, she said.
"It's going to be a historical case," she said in an interview with one libertarian activist, Julia Tourianski, who also showed up to the trial. "How much will the government regulate and intrude into the Internet, with precedent set here?"
The Ulbrichts apparently found out that Ross had created Silk Road at the same time everyone else did—when Dratel disclosed it in opening statements.
"There were amazing developments in Ross’ trial this past week!" the family wrote in an e-mail to supporters as trial resumed for the second week. "Ross’ attorney, Joshua Dratel, stunned the courtroom by saying that yes, Ross did create the Silk Road. We were shocked like everybody else."
"Things really changed once Joshua Dratel got up there," Lyn Ulbricht said in a fairly upbeat talk with the editor of Liberty Beat, a libertarian blog that was covering the trial. "The whole room, it just got real. He's expensive, and we need help paying him, because he's brilliant, and he's great, and I believe he can win this—not only for Ross, but for all of us, who believe in Internet freedom."
When I approached her in court, Lyn Ulbricht was upset that a colleague of mine had published her e-mail to supporters, one she initially described as "private." In any case, the "shocked" quote was taken out of context, she said.
"It makes it sound like we're saying Ross lied to us."
The need to raise funds was an imperative for the Ulbrichts, who are not wealthy. They sustain themselves by renting out four vacation cottages on a property purchased in Costa Rica in 1990; during discussions over their son’s bail, which was ultimately denied, they Ulbrichts said that the cottages provide two-thirds of the family income.
Supporters had also raised a great deal of money, including a donation of $160,000 by Roger Ver, a Bitcoin entrepreneur living in Russia. "If guilty, he's a hero," said Ver on Twitter in announcing his participation. "If innocent, he needs help."
"A year of prosperity and power"
On the fifth day of trial, FBI Agent Tom Kiernan unwrapped, with some difficulty, a Samsung 700z laptop that was swathed in thick plastic. It was the very computer he and two other federal agents had taken from Ross Ulbricht back in October 2013.
After establishing how Kiernan kept the computer awake, Howard walked the jury through the data pulled from Ulbricht's computer. The stash unveiled during Kiernan's testimony was stunning. In addition to the chat logs with staff, only snippets of which were shown to the jury, the FBI had found code for specific Silk Road pages, including the login page and the "mastermind" page Ulbricht had open in the library. They also found a copy of the site's logo, a nomad riding on a green camel.
Ulbricht was an intensive record-keeper. A spreadsheet labeled "net worth calculator" chronicled what Ulbricht believed he was worth. It ran from August 2006, when he started graduate school at Penn State University ($821) to the moment he launched the Silk Road in 2011 ($29,948),to April 2012 when he had arrived in San Francisco ($384,050). In June 2012 Ulbricht added Silk Road to the spreadsheet as a "hard asset," assigning it the wildly optimistic value of $104 million.
Most revealing, though, were the four entries by Ulbricht in what appeared to be his personal journal. The first, labeled “2010,” described Ulbricht’s unhappiness over the direction his life had taken in Texas.
Ulbricht was unhappy about the problems with "Good Wagon Books," an online used-book recycling business he was involved in. "It was clear that we hadn’t grown the business to the point that it made sense for me to stay on," wrote Ulbricht. "There I was, with nothing. My investment company came to nothing, my game company came to nothing, Good Wagon came to nothing, and then this."
He got a job editing "scientific papers written by foreigners," which he found on Craigslist. But he hated “working for someone else and trading my time for money with no investment in myself." It was then he got serious about Silk Road:
I began working on a project that had been in my mind for over a year. I was calling it Underground Brokers but eventually settled on Silk Road. The idea was to create a website where people could buy anything anonymously, with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them. I had been studying the technology for a while, but needed a business model and strategy.
Ulbricht decided to produce hallucinogenic mushrooms himself so that he could "list them on the site for cheap to get people interested." The journal describes his trip to Bastrop, near Austin, where he rented a cabin "off the grid" and produced several kilos of mushrooms.
Creating the website for Silk Road was difficult for Ulbricht, who was not an experienced programmer at the time. He was also trying to keep up his relationship with his girlfriend Julia, which wasn't easy. The journal describes his feelings at the time:
I had mostly shut myself off from people because I felt ashamed of where my life was. I had left my promising career as a scientist to be an investment adviser and entrepreneur and came up empty handed. More and more my emotions and thoughts were ruling my life and my word was losing power. At some point I finally broke down and realized my love for people again, and started reaching out. Throughout the year I slowly re-cultivated my relationship with my word and started honoring it again.
The tone of the paragraph, and its talk about "relationship to my word," appears linked to the Landmark Forum, a popular self-help seminar that Ulbricht was a proponent of. Earlier this year, Eileen Ormsby, who wrote a book about Silk Road before Ulbricht's arrest, noted that the Silk Road Charter appeared to be largely plagiarized from Landmark's own corporate charter.
Ulbricht’s journal entry ended:
In 2011, I am creating a year of prosperity and power beyond what I have ever experienced before. Silk Road is going to become a phenomenon and at least one person will tell me about it, unknowing that I was its creator. Good Wagon Books will find its place and get to the point that it basically runs itself. Julia and I will be happy and living together. I have many friends I can count on who are powerful and connected.
The next journal entry was a file called "2011." Ulbricht described himself as working on both Good Wagon Books and Silk Road "at the same time," and learning how to program.
Got the basics of my site written…. Launched it on freedomhosting. Announced it on the bitcointalk forums. Only a few days after launch, I got my first signups, and then my first message. I was so excited I didn't know what to do with myself. Little by little, people signed up, and vendors signed up, and then it happened. My first order. I'll never forget it. The next couple of months, I sold about 10 lbs of shrooms through my site. Some orders were as small as a gram, and others were in the qp range. Before long, I completely sold out. Looking back on it, I maybe should have raised my prices more and stretched it out, but at least now I was all digital, no physical risk anymore. Before long, traffic started to build. People were taking notice, smart, interested people. Hackers. For the first several months, I handled all of the transactions by hand.... Between answering messages, processing transactions, and updating the codebase to fix the constant security holes, I had very little time left in the day, and I had a girlfriend at this time!
The site got "its first press,” a widely-read Gawker article. that led to a spike in signups. But the publicity also led two US senators two attack the site publicly.
“I started to get into a bad state of mind,” Ulbricht wrote. “I was mentally taxed, and now I felt extremely vulnerable and scared. The US govt, my main enemy was aware of me and some of its members were calling for my destruction.”
Ulbricht had made $100,000 from Silk Road and was earning "up to a good $20-25k monthly" at this point. He hired several staffers, especially to help with moderating the forums, a time-consuming job. He met no one in person, only collecting their drivers' licenses and storing them, encrypted, on his laptop.
But it remained Ulbricht alone, in his role as Dread Pirate Roberts, who made all final decisions about what could be bought and sold on the site. A chat with a Silk Road staffer "inigo" shows the two debating the sale of cyanide.
inigo: so uhhh we have a vendor selling cyanide
myself: link please
inigo: getting it now
inigo: not sure where we stand on this
...
inigo: fentanyl has been used to assassinate people too
myself: cyanide has a bad reputation
myself: there are plenty of legitimate uses
inigo: so we're going to allow it?
myself: its bad for image/PR
myself: i think we're going to allow it
myself: its a substance and we want to err on the side of not restricting things
inigo: this is the black market after all :)
myself: it is, and we are bringing order and civility to it
In a journal entry dated January 1, 2012, Ulbricht reflected on just how revolutionary his work with Silk Road had become, writing, "I imagine that some day I may have a story written about my life, and it would be good to have a detailed account of it." |
Though f(x)‘s comeback seems to have been pushed back, the four-member girl group’s comeback date has been confirmed for October!
A music industry official on September 9th revealed that f(x) will be releasing their fourth studio album in October, making this their first promotions as a group since July 2014 with Red Light, 15 months ago.
SM Entertainment’s three girl group representative will be promoting one after another with Red Velvet following Girl’s Generation with their newly released title track “Dumb Dumb” from their first studio album THE RED. Following Red Velvet’s promotions is f(x)!
f(x) is a girl group that has continued to release energetic electric pop genre tracks since their debut in 2009 and recently celebrated their 6th debut anniversary.
This will be the first time f(x) will have released an album as a four-member group as Sulli recently left to focus on her acting career. Nevertheless, fans are super excited for their upcoming promotions as the last album failed to be promoted properly.
Source: X Sports News |
Smoking harmful substances around pets is an abhorrent hobby. From cigarette smoke to marijuana, what may not necessarily be bad for humans can be extremely harmful to pets.
Blowing smoke in a pet’s face to see their reaction may seem cute, but exposing an animal to a known toxin just for fun is simply irresponsible. Many people will take videos and pictures of themselves smoking with or even “hotboxing” their pets and share these photos on social media for a laugh.
A quick YouTube search reveals videos showing pets being exposed to pot, falling over and seeming intoxicated. These behaviors show symptoms of major health problems. The comments reveal many people poking fun and claiming to participate in the illustrated behavior, but there is nothing funny about purposefully endangering an animal’s well-being.
It’s trendy to take marijuana and mix it into baked goods. However, this method is the most common way dogs ingest marijuana. People can be very irresponsible, especially when high, leaving food laced with pot out on counters or tables for animals to easily access.
A common misconception asserts that marijuana is fine to share with animals because it does not necessarily harm humans. This logic is flawed.
Grapes are not harmful to humans, but cause massive liver failure in dogs. Avocados are very healthy for human consumption, yet lethally poisonous to birds. Just because a human enjoys a certain thing does not mean it is beneficial to share with a pet.
Following the recent legalization of marijuana in some states, the Pet Poison Helpline has received a 200-percent increase in cases involving marijuana intoxication in pets. The Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care reported a four-fold increase in the number of dogs treated for marijuana intoxication.
In dogs and cats, marijuana causes severe anxiety, vomiting, diarrhea, extreme lethargy and even seizures. Birds are vulnerable to secondhand marijuana smoke, which causes severe depression, regurgitation or even long-lasting respiratory issues.
Similarly, cigarette smoke has terrible effects on both human and animal bodies. Secondhand smoke can cause depression and even cancer for pets. Pet birds are especially at risk when around smoke because of their delicate respiratory systems. Smoke could mean lung damage and bacterial infections for these animals.
When confronted about endangering their animals, these irresponsible owners use baseless excuses like, “My pet likes it and asks for it,” as if that makes their deplorable actions justifiable. My dog would happily eat an entire bar of chocolate and ask for more—that does not mean I should feed him chocolate. Just because a pet becomes addicted to a harmful substance does not mean it should be freely given.
The fact that some pet owners value their own selfish hobbies over the well-being of their animal companions is appalling. Owners are responsible for their pets’ lives. If an owner willingly harms their pet, they do not deserve the endless love and affection animals give. |
California melo-death/folk metal crew Nekrogoblikon have announced a lengthy North American tour for the spring, with support from Arizona jokesters Psychostick and Texas electro-metallers Urizen. The 36-date journey kicks off in March and runs through May, hitting New York along the way: Brooklyn at Saint Vitus on 4/20 [tix], and Rochester at Water Street Music Hall on 4/22 [tix]. A full tour routing has been posted below.
Nekrogoblikon released their third full-length, Heavy Meta, last summer, meanwhile Psychostick‘s latest album, IV: Revenge of the Vengeance, came out in 2014, and Urizen‘s last LP, 8-Bit Universe, dropped in 2008. Stream music from all three acts after the dates.
4/01 – Fresno, CA @ Fulton*
4/02 – Hollywood, CA @ Whiskey*
4/03 – San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick*
4/05 – Las Vegas, NV @ Dive Bar* **
4/06 – Phoenix, AZ @ Joes Grotto*
4/08 – Dallas, TX @ The Door
4/09 – Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room (Texas Independence Fest)
4/10 – Houston, TX @ Scout Bar
4/12 – New Orleans, LA @ Southport Hall
4/13 – Tampa, FL @ Orpheum
4/14 – Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
4/15 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
4/16 – Clarksville, TN @ The Warehouse
4/17 – Knoxville, TN @ The Concourse
4/18 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
4/19 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
4/20 – New York City, NY @ St. Vitus
4/21 – Clifton, NJ @ Dingbatz
4/22 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
4/23 – Montreal, QC @ Katacombs
4/24 – Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dees
4/26 – Kent, OH @ The Outpost
4/27 – Flint, MI @ Machine Shop
4/28 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar**
4/29 – Dayton, OH @ Rockstar Pro Arena
4/30 – Crest Hill, IL @ Bada Brew
5/01 – Chippewa Falls, WI @ Every Buddy’s Bar
5/02 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cabooze
5/03 – Des Moines, IA @ Lefty’s
5/04 – Denver, CO @ Marquis
5/06 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder
5/07 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
5/08 – Portland, OR @ Panic Room
5/09 – Chico, CA @ Lost on Main
5/10 – Orangevale, CA @ The Boardwalk
5/11 – San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge
* No Urizen
** No Psychostick |
Bug 836493 landed on inbound today. An additional constraint is now enforced on mozIStorageService : the initial reference to it must be obtained on the main thread. However, all references after the first can be obtained on any thread.
Seems awfully complicated; what do we gain from that change? Two things. The first is that there was a race in the initialization of the storage service. Some bits of storage service initialization, like accessing preferences, could only be done on the main thread. If the storage service was initialized on a non-main thread, it dispatched an event to the main thread to perform those initialization tasks. Therefore, you might end up with a sequence of events like:
Non-main thread requests the storage service. Storage service starts initialization, dispatches event to the main thread. This event can’t run until after step 4, for various reasons (thread scheduling, backed-up event queue on the main thread, etc. etc.). Storage service initialization returns, handing an (incompletely initialized) object back to the caller. Caller uses the not-yet initialized storage service, leading to possible problems.
Additionally, the storage service builds an SQLite VFS for handling things like quota management. This building happens on the calling thread and accesses prefs to make profiles that live on networked storage robust. That’s a non-main thread preferences use which could lead to crashes. That needs to go away so we can enforce main thread-only preferences usage.
Even though this change might make programming slightly more inconvenient, the end result is safer code for our users and (eventually) better enforcement of good coding practices. |
Ever since the day I proposed to my lovely future wife, I have had the overwhelming, looming dread that I knew would accompany shopping for my wedding outfit. Being in a same-sex relationship (or "a relationship" as most of us know it…) I have been subject to a barrage of questions regarding what I would be wearing for the wedding. I might be described as an athletic, makeup-free, combo platter of femininity and masculine traits, therefore people were overly concerned about my attire.
My future wife already had an image in her head of what she would wear before I even proposed, so she had no problems finding her wedding dress within two weeks of the proposal. It was very apparent that my journey would be much longer, and would involve far more bourbon.
I hated thinking about all this because on one hand, I really don't care what I wear. Ultimately, regardless of what I wear, I am going to marry the most amazing human being I have ever come into contact with… so it's an irrelevant issue. On the other hand, I want that jaw-dropping moment where we both look as gorgeous as possible, and the image that is engrained into our brains forever is as stunning visually as it will feel. What to wear… what to wear…
As I began preparing, I initially thought that I would wear a wedding dress. Something lacy and elegant, yet modest and covering. I began searching online for inspiration, and found some absolutely stunning gowns. I went as far as to try on some dresses, which was an awful experience. I walked into the bridal store begrudgingly, and was asked if I wanted a strapless. A strapless what? I am a woman who happens to date women… so my mind went somewhere that I could only assume that this innocent woman had not been planning on. OH. A strapless bra. Did I need a strapless bra? Shit… did I have to buy one now?
I tried on a couple of the dresses and felt more uncomfortable than I have felt since the fifth grade, when I allowed a girl to put makeup on my face for the first time. I saw the beauty in it — it just didn't feel right.
This led me to a serious contemplation situation. Why did I want to wear a dress? All I could think about was my desire not to fulfill a stereotype that I actually fit into — the dress/pants lesbian wedding. Was that worth the discomfort that I knew I would encounter on what is supposed to be the best day of my life? NO.
I fulfill a stereotype: I wear pants, and my future wife wears dresses. I have been so caught up in not fulfilling a stereotype that I have driven myself crazy. I was done. There were two months to go to the wedding. I had to buckle down.
Then we had our engagement photos taken… I decided to take a more comfortable approach and wore jeans, a blue shirt, a grey men's suit vest, and a fun pink and turquoise bow tie with some color-coordinated Chucks. I loved how the photos came out. So I decided that if I was confident enough to rock that outfit in the photos, then why the hell was I so stressed about what I would wear for the wedding.
I did as I always do, and began researching online about butch women shopping for men's suits. I came across some articles about women going into various department stores and being treated in a variety of ways when looking for a suit. It seemed like a crap shoot. I have been out for years, being okay with being gay, and not a stereotypical feminine woman living in Iowa, is second nature at this point. I went to the several stores with failing results. After these failures, I decided to suck it up — it was time to go to the mega center of all men's suiting: Men's Wearhouse.
Oh, Men's Wearhouse. I was really uncomfortable going into this store. I took a friend along, who is far more outspoken than I am, to attempt to translate my grunts and rather unexcitable personality. There were two sales people when we walked in: a man and a woman. I figured that, because she was a woman, she would be more sympathetic and understanding to my needs. As we struggled to get past the fact that I was shopping for a suit for me, not my husband, and that no, my husband and I were not wearing matching suits… she finally suggested that I wait for the man who was helping another customer at the time.
Once the gentleman was done assisting another customer, he came right up to my friend and myself to introduce himself. A strong handshake with a good look in the eye — so far so good. I gave the rundown of what I thought I was looking for: pants and a vest. No suit coat. I suggested grey as a color. He retrieved a "sharkskin" suit and proceeded to educate me on what this animal print meant. But I determined that it looked like a giant tuna can. I didn't know how to articulate this to the gentleman. I babbled for a bit, then I finally stated very plainly, "you can't make me look like a boxy bull-dyke." (Please note: I have a lot of love for all people, boxy, dykey, everyone.)
The gentleman looked at me, in fact the whole store looked at me, then he doubled over laughing. "I got you now. Now I know where we're going," he replied. It may have been some harsh language, but it certainly got the point across. Now we could get somewhere. As the gentleman began assembling other options, he stated, "you thinking you want a tie?" I replied to him by asking if the Pope was Catholic… and then he stated, "you're a bow tie type of woman, right?" "Absolutely I am," I stated, followed by, "And don't even try to put me in one of those pre-tied bullshits. I am a grown-ass woman and can tie my own, damn it". He again doubled over in a fit of laughter.
I was getting somewhere with this guy. This was going surprisingly well. Sadly, after all the work we put in, they didn't have an outfit that I liked. Eventually I found it…
Moral of the story: Be honest, be bold, and don't go into situations assuming that they are going to be bad. The boldness and honesty sets the sales people at ease, and allows for a much more simple transaction.
I have found that most people I have interacted with were completely shocked that I was marrying a woman, and often times didn't know how to respond. The more normal you respond to them, the more normal they will act. As more and more folks are getting married, I like to think that those of us who get the shocked response are helping to pave the way for the folks who will be married years from now. Therefore, absorbing the shock and awe is just our contribution to younger folks — not to mention our response to their reaction will set the stage for how they believe all "non-traditional" couples will interact with them.
Ultimately though, it's not worth the hours and hours of research and stress that I have put into it. I get to marry the most amazing woman I've ever met, who loves me unconditionally, including when I look absolutely horrible. That is what matters. |
The national phenomenon of women alleging sexual harassment by men in power erupted in the Minnesota Capitol, following allegations that broke overnight against one lawmaker and expanded Thursday to include a second.
Two women publicly accused Sen. Dan Schoen, a St. Paul Park Democrat and Cottage Grove police officer, of sexual harassment, igniting a bipartisan chorus of calls for Schoen’s resignation — which he did not heed — and touching off speculation about who might come forward next with allegations against whom. Schoen denies any inappropriate conduct.
One of the accusers, Rep. Erin Maye Quade, a fellow DFLer from Apple Valley, expanded the scope of the spotlight Thursday, saying she had been sexually harassed by “multiple members” of the House majority Republican Party during the spring legislative session.
Then Rep. Tony Cornish, a powerful eight-term Republican from Vernon Center, saw his chairmanship of the House Public Safety Committee suspended late Thursday after allegations surfaced against him.
In an interview with KMSP-TV, Maye Quade said Cornish sent her inappropriate text messages, while the Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio published more serious allegations against Cornish by a longtime lobbyist the news outlets did not name.
Cornish said the texts were intended as a joke, and he denied much of lobbyist’s allegations, but House Speaker Kurt Daudt, a Republican, on Thursday evening called the allegations “extremely troubling” and suspended Cornish’s chairmanship and opened a human resources complaint.
Finger-pointing, some with a partisan flavor, broke out privately and publicly, with some leading Democrats accusing Republican leaders of not being candid about who-knew-what-when, and Republicans accusing Democrats of not telling them the whats and the whos so they could act.
As in other statehouses around the country, the Legislature in St. Paul bears the heritage of a men’s club, and rumors that have long-circulated about the behaviors of some were the topic of many in quiet conversations of the largely empty halls Thursday while the Legislature is in recess.
SCHOEN LAWYERS UP
Although he never spoke publicly, Schoen remained defiant Thursday in the face of a cascade of calls for his resignation from offices as high as Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, as well as top officials in both the Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor parties.
He let stand his statement from Wednesday evening, when online news publication MinnPost first broke the allegations, that the accusations were “either completely false or have been taken far out of context.”
Frustrated Senate leaders learned Thursday evening that Schoen had retained an attorney to fight any actions his colleagues might take against him.
And they might. Senate leaders suggested they’re considering opening an ethics investigation — a process that could ultimately result in Schoen’s expulsion from the chamber.
CORNISH ACCUSED
Maye Quade’s text exchange with Cornish happened while the two were on the floor of the House. “I just got an anonymous text saying I got busted for staring at you on the house floor. … Haha,” read a text from Cornish that Maye Quade said offended her. It was followed by: “I told him it was your fault, of course. Look too damned good. Ha.”
Cornish provided an entire string of texts between Maye Quade and him that shows what otherwise appear to be friendly banter of two politicians on opposite sides of the aisle. He said her allegation that he was being inappropriate surprised him.
“It came to my attention today that I offended Rep. Maye Quade in one of the text messages,” he said in a statement. “This was a poor attempt at humor with a colleague and I sincerely apologize.”
The anonymous lobbyist who spoke with the Star Tribune told of years of unwanted sexual advances by Cornish, who is not married. They ranged from suggestive text messages to unwanted physical contact and lewd behavior, she said. She said she did not report the alleged behavior to House leaders because of fears she would be unable to do her job.
In an interview Thursday evening, Cornish vehemently denied having any inappropriate contact or behaving lewdly. “I own the texts,” he said. “It was the possibility of a relationship,” he said, adding that no relationship ever resulted.
Maye Quade, a freshman lawmaker who is married to another woman, said she has also overheard sexually charged comments from male lawmakers related to her appearance, and the fact that she’s openly gay.
OTHER ALLEGATIONS?
Several lawmakers suggested publicly that other shoes could drop at the Capitol — as they have at other statehouses around the nation following sexual harassment allegations against shamed Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, a Democrat from Roseville, said, “Sen. Schoen is not the only person in the Minnesota Legislature to act inappropriately towards women. My hope is that as the truth comes to light, others will feel empowered to step forward so we can meaningfully work towards true change at our State Capitol.”
Maye Quade said other women have stories to tell. “Numerous people have contacted me with their own stories and I want anyone else to know they are not alone.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
If Schoen continues to hold out, “leadership” will get to determine his fate, according to the Senate sexual harassment policy. Disciplinary actions could range from requiring an apology to expulsion from the Senate.
The same could apply to Cornish.
“Resolution of (sexual harassment) complaints can include, but not necessarily be limited to, an apology, direction to stop the offensive behavior, counseling or training, oral warning, written warning, transfer to another department, suspension with or without pay, or termination,” the policy states. “Disciplinary action involving members of the Senate or the House will be handled by Leadership. … ”
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka suggested discipline for Schoen could be in the offing via the Ethics Committee, a panel of two Republicans and two Democrats: “We have an ethics process in place that might need to be utilized if Sen. Schoen doesn’t resign,” Gazelka said.
The Ethics Committee could, by a majority, recommend expulsion to the full Senate. The state Constitution allows the Senate to expel a member with a two-thirds majority, but first the complaints against the lawmaker must go through a process. And the Legislature isn’t in session until February.
The Senate policies define sexual harassment as unwelcome behavior, which can be verbal, non-verbal, or physical. Those who have been subject to offensive sexual behavior can submit a complaint in confidentiality, which will ultimately be resolved by “Leadership,” according to the policies. |
In his 1989 NEW REALITIES, among a number of insightful predictions, Peter F. Drucker warns of the implication of a global economy on 4 tiers of nonlinear equations as likely indicating deterministic chaos. The reasons that such was not noticed were that we were still in the relatively early throws of globalization. For one thing, the Internet was still in its infancy. Nonlinear effects moved slowly enough that decently insightful economists like Milton Friedman could still takes measures, recognize drift, and course correct. Also, America still being the dominant economic superpower, those corrections had strong enough teeth. Coordinating with America, the world economy could keep stable. But now globalization has come to full strength and still grows stronger. Evermore links crossing between economic layers -- and evermore coupling strengths to those links, evermore diffusion of economic control, evermore unstable swelling and random gambling by distributed powerful individuals, evermore distrust. And the Internet baby has grown up at warp speed -- giving it all a fully-functional nervous system. In short, we are entering a full-fledged chaos, which like the Internet itself, can no longer be mapped, measured, and predicted -- not in time, or with any power, to implement anything more than almost random noise -- delaying a dam burst at the cost of greater total cost at best, and just making the decay accelerate from the get go at worst (i.e., it might be better to just fold your hands and do nothing). As all systems in nature, there is no longer a simple black box to homeostasis, but rather the full complexity of the system must be taken into account -- and only the system itself can do that. We must assist in the evolution of this via the one thing that we can. This is using educational and media psychology means to create an environment conducive to a sense of mutual responsibility -- the type of "altruism" seem in the members of successful natural systems. We must switch from the top-down view of economics, to this bottom-up behavioral model, if we are to permit the entire system of global Humanity -- and in particular its economics -- to evolve into a healthy, literally biological system. The alternative is to enter a full-scale nonlinearity in which natural entropy can only magnify to chaos ("Murphy's law") and lead to the death of the system before it is born. Please give pause and serious consideration to this -- because this is not some abortion statistic -- we are, altogether 7 billion of us -- the fetus in question. |
Scott Sinclair has scored 10 goals for Celtic this season
England manager Gareth Southgate has cooled talk of Celtic's Scott Sinclair earning an international call-up.
The 28-year-old winger has scored 35 goals in 65 matches since joining Celtic from Aston Villa in August 2016.
"I had a conversation with Brendan (Rodgers, Celtic boss) about him at the end of last season," Southgate said.
"He's a good player but we have good quality in that area of the pitch and at the moment I think he is just below the level of what we have already got."
And he added: "I would be happy to have that conversation (what he needs to do to break through) with him but I don't think it's appropriate to talk about performance aspects in public."
Sinclair scored the third goal as Celtic beat Belgian champions Anderlecht
Sinclair has already hit 10 goals this season, including the third in Celtic's impressive 3-0 Champions League triumph away to Anderlecht last week.
But with the likes of in-form Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford fighting for the England starting slots in forward roles, Southgate has plenty of strong options.
England lead World Cup 2018 qualifying Group F by five points going into their last two games against Slovenia and Lithuania.
Scotland are in the same pool and know they can guarantee second spot, and a probable play-off place, by defeating Slovakia at Hampden on Thursday and Slovenia away on Sunday.
Southgate reckons the Scots can make it to Russia next year, and singled out two of Sinclair's Celtic team-mates for praise.
"I think some good young players have come through, the likes of (Stuart) Armstrong and (Kieran) Tierney," he said.
"They've got themselves on a roll. And yeah, they have two very difficult games but games where it's in their hands. There's no reason they can't qualify." |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- He’s the NFL’s sixth-leading rusher with averages that project to a 1,416-yard season and 16 rushing touchdowns. That would be the sixth-best season in 51 years of franchise history.
But it wouldn’t be good enough for Chris Johnson, or the Tennessee Titans.
A year after he ran for 2,006 yards and set an all-purpose yards record with 2,509 yards, expectations are gigantic. He pumped them even more with his prediction of a 2,500-yard season.
So far, however, his 3.8-yard average, league-high 94 carries and the Titans' 2-2 record are setting off alarms.
And no, he and the Titans' running game just don’t look quite the same.
“We’re an average run game right now,” running backs coach Craig Johnson said.
“We’re not as good as we want to be running the ball right now,” Chris Johnson said.
Here’s insight I gathered talking to key people and some of my own thinking on a bunch of issues concerning what’s “wrong” and what the Titans might be looking to do to maximize CJ’s chances as they prepare for a trip to Dallas.
Throw it more and better: The passing offense is limited and it isn’t scaring anyone into backing off the line of scrimmage and creating space for Johnson.
The Titans keep saying they are seeing defenses stack eight, nine, even 10 in the box -- I guess we’re talking goal line or major short-yardage situations there. The natural way to combat that is to complete passes behind all those defenders.
Craig Johnson said those defenses have been exceptionally disciplined in their run support.
“They are going to do everything they can to stop him,” receiver Nate Washington said. “So we have to do everything we can to open things up for him.”
The trouble is, teams aren’t real scared of getting beat over the top.
“As usual, the passing game is the problem here,” said Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc.
Backing people off might not spring CJ for big yards anyway, Titans left tackle Michael Roos said.
“If you’ve got eight, nine guys in the box and you give him just enough of a crease, there’s nobody left to tackle him,” Roos said. “… If we’re physical enough, push people by enough, he can just run right past that ninth guy in the box and there is no safety left to make that tackle.
“You can beat it that way or, yeah, you can pass the ball and get them backed up. But I am pretty sure most teams, no matter how good we pass it for a week, two weeks, whatever, are going to keep saying, ‘Let’s try to make them beat us with the pass and load up to stop CJ.’”
Johnson joked Wednesday that he wished the Titans had gotten Randy Moss because he knows Moss would take defenders deep. That’s an unintentional commentary on the Titans’ threats.
Try three-wide: I’d like to see the Titans go with more three- and even four-wide sets to spread things, then run against personnel that’s made for defending the pass. The Steelers didn’t always go into nickel against three-wide, but that doesn’t mean Dallas and upcoming opponents won’t be more conventional. And it can be more about the spacing than the personnel.
Justin Gage is dealing with a hamstring injury. The Titans should let him rest and get Lavelle Hawkins, who’s not yet been active, on the field as the slot receiver. He’s different from the other receivers and if he can live up to the offseason hype the team generated about him, perhaps he can help alter things.
Keith Hawkins of ESPN Stats & Information ran some Chris Johnson numbers for me. Johnson’s been the ball carrier or target on only 14 three-wide plays this season.
On eight carries, he has averaged 11.1 yards and on 13 touches he has averaged 6.8 yards.
In all other packages, he has averaged 3.1 yards a carry and 3.3 yards a touch.
It’s certainly a small sample size on the three-wide numbers. So let’s see a bigger one.
Chris Johnson had eight TD runs of 50 yards or more during his first two seasons. Charles Small/US Presswire
Expectations: Even before he talked of wanting 2,500 rushing yards this season, most outlooks were unrealistic. The guys before him who topped 2,000 yards didn’t play in the fantasy era, in which a 1,400-yard, 14-touchdown follow-up season could ridiculously rank as a monstrous disappointment to a large share of the fan base.
Johnson’s home run rate has been spectacular, and you’d expect some regression to the mean.
In his first 32 games, Johnson had eight touchdown runs of 50 yards or more. That’s already third-most in NFL history. The only backs ahead of him are Barry Sanders (15 in 153 games) and Jim Brown (12 in 118).
Has that created ridiculous expectations?
“It’s not realistic,” right guard Jake Scott said. “What he’s done is ridiculous. You can’t look at it and say, ‘Oh, it’s been three weeks since he had an 80-yard run, he’s a failure.’ That’s not reasonable to say that. You can’t get caught up in that.”
Measure his carries: There has been some ridiculous talk of getting Javon Ringer on the field more because he’s looked good in spot relief work.
I’m fine with carries for the backup as spot relief work. None of them should be as an alternative to Johnson at anytime that could be considered a crucial moment of the game.
I’m not a big critic of the heavy workload, but I understand that stance and the numbers that support it.
In his first season and a half in the NFL, he averaged 17.2 carries and 5.54 yards.
In the four games after that (games eight-12 last season), he averaged 25 carries a game and 5.50 yards a carry.
In the four games after that (games 13-16 last season), he averaged 28.5 carries a game and 4.36 yards a carry.
And in games one through four this season, he averaged 23.5 carries a game and 3.77 yards a carry.
He’s probably better with a lighter load. But that doesn’t scream "run someone else" to me as much as it begs for a more balanced offense.
That doesn’t mean we’ll get it. I believe the Titans have trust issues with Vince Young as a passer and while the Titans would like to be balanced, Jeff Fisher’s teams almost always have run-first offenses.
“If they continue to gang up on CJ, we have other avenues we can attack,” Craig Johnson said. “But we also are never going to let any team dictate to us how much we are going to run the ball. Because we are always going to be a good running football team.”
In the summer while in Jacksonville, I asked Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio about the concept of reducing carries for a premier back like Johnson.
“I think they should limit his touches,” Del Rio said laughing. “Especially against the Jaguars.”
If Vince Young were running more -- or burning defenses through the air when they stack the box -- it could open things up for Johnson. Jim Brown/US Presswire
Run VY: The idea of having a second threat in the backfield to concern the defense is a good one. A handful of option plays are fine. I also wish Young would run more. He’s coached to take off when he doesn’t see an open target, but seems reluctant to do so. He averages just over three rushing attempts a game.
More runs by him could help Johnson’s cause.
“It’s another way of making the defense honor something else,” Roos said. “Whether it’s passing, him running or him running and then throwing on the move, it forces them to honor him, spread out and make sure they cover him. At least there is something else to think about every play and they can’t key on CJ too much.”
Block better: Roos said it’s tough to compare how the line is blocking now and how it was blocking last season when Johnson was running wild.
“Overall, I don’t think we’re any better, I don’t think we’re any worse,” he said. “Little things kind of happen here and there during the course of a game and this year they might be happening at more crucial times or farther away from the goal line so we’re not able to convert third downs and stay out in the field.”
I don’t believe much of the problem is related to the changes -- Kevin Mawae gone, Eugene Amano shifted to center, Leroy Harris installed as left guard. All involved say that although Mawae was an excellent communicator and crafty player, Amano is making the same calls.
Said Williamson: “Amano has been rather terrible and the offensive line overall is a smidge overrated.”
Be decisive: There are a lot of questions about Johnson’s decisiveness.
“I don't think Johnson is running with the same conviction,” Williamson said. “He’s dancing a little more than usual. He’s not ‘hitting it up in there’ as much. Still, if he gets free in just one of these ‘down’ games ... then no one is talking about him slumping. So, the nature of his game is a little hit and miss.”
To all that, Chris Johnson said: “I’m running the same.”
He also said he knows it’s dangerous to start swinging for the fences instead of letting things open up, a line of thinking he has clearly discussed in the meeting room with his position coach.
“What you don’t want to do in situations like this is panic and start looking for the big runs all the time, that’s what gets you in a lot of trouble,” Craig Johnson said. “That’s something as a coach I’ve got to make sure about, make sure he doesn’t get frustrated and start looking for the big run.
“His big runs have not come because he’s looking for them; they just happen. He hits the hole with a sense of urgency, he’s been able to keep his balance, we’ve done well on the front side and just as importantly the backside pursuit is cut down. The hope for any runner there is to get a one-on-one situation and the rest is history.”
3-4s: Dallas plays a 3-4, meaning three of the Titans' first five opponents use base 3-4 fronts. Different defenses require different means of attack, and the Titans haven’t done so well with that, particularly against Pittsburgh and Denver. Johnson totaled 87 rushing yards against the Steelers and Broncos.
After the Cowboys, there are four 3-4 teams left on the schedule: San Diego, Miami, Washington and Kansas City.
Figuring how to move and run the ball better against those teams is a must.
Continue to develop a key relationship: Craig Johnson has been around and knows the Titans’ offensive scheme very well. But he was shifted to the running back job a week before camp started after Jeff Fisher’s hand-picked guy, Kennedy Pola, bolted for USC before ever working a game with Tennessee.
Johnson’s previous position coach, Earnest Byner, played running back in the league and had experience coaching the spot in the league. Craig Johnson is a different sort of resource.
Chris Johnson has said it’s not a big difference to him, but that he gets a full picture of the offense more often in the classroom, rather than just the running back's perspective.
“That could be part of it, I don’t know,” Craig Johnson said of the different sort of relationship. “We’re still trying to find that out.
“But I have been around for a little bit, so I do understand the X's and O's and concepts of the game. The bottom line is as a backfield, it starts with us. Make sure we stay on our blocks, get our assignments … Then everything gets it going.” |
An outpost of Russia’s State Hermitage Museum, designed by the architect Íñigo Amézola, will open in Barcelona in 2019 on the developing waterfront, where high-end hotels and a new marina are also being built, states Jose Angel Montanes of El País. Nearly $43 million in private donations will need to be raised for the building.
The new museum, which will be more than 37,000 square feet, will have seven main exhibition spaces and five floors. It’s estimated that it will receive about 500,000 visitors annually. The director of the outpost, Jorge Wagensburg, says the new space will not play a part of the Hermitage “franchise,” despite an agreement with the St. Petersburg museum that will cover fifty years of art loans from the Hermitage to its satellite. The museum’s mission will create, according to Wagensburg, “continuous dialogue between science and art, highlighting both what unites and what distinguishes them, using modern scientific museology, a unique combination of parts, and [phenomenological] and museological metaphors.”
ALL IMAGES |
Over the past few months we’ve documented HBO’s ongoing struggle to battle Game of Thrones piracy, an arguably winless battle that has seen the cable television network go after not only bars, but individual pirates as well.
In a sign that Netflix is now officially in the big leagues itself, the online streaming site is facing a piracy battle all its own. CNN reports that Netflix is trying to clamp down on the ever-increasing number of sites which are streaming illegal copies of the recently released third season of Orange is the New Black.
DON’T MISS: The best TV car show ever is coming exclusively to Netflix
According to the report, it’s incredibly easy to find sites with illegal OITNB streams with a simple Google search. Adding to the challenge and frustration is that sites with illegal streams sometimes even appear ahead of official links to Netflix itself on web searches.
“This is a major problem for Netflix, though,” CNN writes. “In its corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company lists pirated content providers as a top competitor — right up there with DVD rental companies.”
While we’ve previously highlighted how Netflix tends to adjust its pricing strategy in each country based on how rampant piracy is therein, there eventually reaches a point where piracy becomes less of a flattering nuisance and more of a full-blown problem. As the popularity of Netflix’s stable of exclusive shows continues to skyrocket, one can only imagine that Netflix will become all the more vigilant in combating piracy going forward. But as HBO’s experience combating Game of Thrones piracy indicates, doing so is a lot easier said than done. |
Dramatists to appear jointly on title pages of Henry VI, Parts One, Two and Three in the New Oxford Shakespeare after analysis by team of 23 academics
The long-held suggestion that Christopher Marlowe was William Shakespeare is now widely dismissed, along with other authorship theories. But Marlowe is enjoying the next best thing – taking centre stage alongside his great Elizabethan rival with a credit as co-writer of the three Henry VI plays.
The two dramatists will appear jointly on each of the three title pages of the plays within the New Oxford Shakespeare, a landmark project to be published by Oxford University Press this month.
Using old-fashioned scholarship and 21st-century computerised tools to analyse texts, the edition’s international scholars have contended that Shakespeare’s collaboration with other playwrights was far more extensive than has been realised until now.
No shame in Shakespeare sharing the wryhting credits | Letters Read more
Henry VI, Parts One, Two and Three are among as many as 17 plays that they now believe contain writing by other people, sometimes several hands. It more than doubles the figure in the previous Oxford Shakespeare, published 30 years ago.
Marlowe’s hand in parts of the Henry VI plays has been suspected since the 18th century but this marks the first prominent billing in an edition of Shakespeare’s collected works.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Hollow Crown on BBC, part of which is adapted from the Henry VI plays. Photograph: Robert Viglasky/BBC/Carnival Film & Television Ltd/Robert Viglasky
A team of 23 academics from five countries completed the research, headed by four professors as general editors: Gary Taylor (Florida State University, US) John Jowett (Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham), Terri Bourus (Indiana University, Indianapolis, US) and Gabriel Egan (De Montfort University, Leicester).
Taylor told the Guardian: “The orthodox view was that Shakespeare didn’t collaborate at all. When the Oxford Shakespeare in 1986 proposed that eight plays of Shakespeare contained writing by other writers, some people were outraged. What has happened since 1986 is that the accumulation of new scholarship, techniques and resources has made it clear that, in 1986, we underestimated the amount of Shakespeare’s work that’s collaborative.”
He said: “In 1986, eight of 39 plays were identified on their title pages as collaborative, a little more than 20%. In 2016, 17 of 44 plays are identified, a little more than 38%, close to two-fifths.”
Some are said to be collaborations, with Shakespeare apparently working side-by-side with other writers, as with Marlowe on Henry VI. Others are adaptations, where additions were made to works before their printed publication, as with Thomas Middleton, who is now credited for the first time on the title page of All’s Well That Ends Well.
Taylor said these editions of the Henry VI plays are the first to identify Marlowe as the co-author. “We have been able to verify Marlowe’s presence in those three plays strongly and clearly enough,” he added.
The idea that there might be two layers of writing in All’s Well That Ends Well goes back to the 19th century, he added: “But we are the first edition to have provided detailed empirical evidence … and to have concluded that the original layer is entirely by Shakespeare, probably in 1605, and the second layer is by Middleton, in the early 1620s,” said Taylor.
The findings shed new light on the supposed rivalry between Marlowe and Shakespeare. Taylor added: “We can now be confident that they didn’t just influence each other, but they worked with each other. Rivals sometimes collaborate.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Judi Dench as Countess Rossillion and Claudie Blakley as Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well. The play is now co-credited to Thomas Middleton. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
Publication of the New Oxford Shakespeare’s four volumes, as well as a digital edition, is staggered between 27 October and December. It includes the complete works in both original and modern spelling and punctuation, explanatory notes and essays and an authorship companion, with research in attribution studies.
Among texts that have never before been in a complete works of the Bard is Arden of Faversham, which was anonymously published in 1592. Now it is jointly credited to anonymous and Shakespeare.
Taylor said: “People for centuries have argued about whether Shakespeare is in some way connected to that play. We’re identifying it as an early collaborative play of Shakespeare’s. We’re identifying him in several of the middle scenes. There is very strong, compelling evidence. We have provided a lot of new evidence.”
They are yet to identify the other author, but have ruled out previously suggested candidates such as Marlowe and Thomas Kyd.
The difficulty is that the majority of plays written in the 1570s and 1580s have not survived and are known only from their titles. Much of what does survive is anonymous.
Expanding the Shakespeare canon, the new study marks the first time that a complete works has included additions to Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, identifying Shakespeare as the author of the painter’s scene.
Decisions have been swayed by a complex jigsaw of different kinds of evidence. The researchers believe that computerised textual analysis is now so sophisticated that they can even distinguish between Shakespeare writing under Marlowe’s influence and Marlowe writing alone.
One piece of evidence identified five “Shakespeare-plus words”: gentle, answer, beseech, spoke, tonight. Taylor explained: “What we mean by Shakespeare-plus is that we’ve looked at the frequency of certain words which might seem commonplace like ‘tonight’ in all the plays of that early period, say up to 1600. Anybody could use any of these words. They’re not words that Shakespeare invented. But we can say Shakespeare used ‘tonight’ much more often than other playwrights in those 20 years.
“Shakespeare-minus words … are much less likely to appear in a Shakespeare play. So, this is a statistical argument … not simply statistics about individual words, but combinations of individual words. With Marlowe, for example, combinations of words such as ‘glory droopeth’ appear to be unique to him in that period.
“Recent studies by specialists already agree that Shakespeare did not write the passage where Joan of Arc pleads for help from demonic spirits and then is captured by the English [Part One, 5.3, 5.4]. We have added new evidence from ‘unique n-grams’: that is, phrases that occur in the passage being tested. Marlowe’s works contain many more such parallels than any other playwright,” Taylor added.
Other words and phrases identified as commonly occurring in Marlowe works include “familiar spirit, cull out, regions under earth, oh hold me, to your wonted, see, forsake me, droopeth to, curse, miscreant, ugly, change, shape thou, change my shape, suddenly surprise, your dainty, fell and enchantress”.
Taylor acknowledges that doubts may be cast on their conclusions: “You can’t say anything about Shakespeare without somebody disagreeing with you … But our knowledge of the past increases by debate of this kind.”
Marlowe’s life of myth and mystery
The life of Christopher Marlowe has long been pored over for evidence that he wrote a handful of William Shakepeare’s works. The scholar JB Steane said in 1969 there were so many rumours it would be absurd to dismiss them all as part of the “Marlowe Myth”.
Few undisputed facts exist about the playwright’s life, but he was baptised in Canterbury on 26 February 1564. The son of a shoemaker, Marlowe attended the King’s school in Canterbury before being awarded a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he received his BA degree in 1584.
Marlowe took lengthy absences and the university was about to refuse him a master’s degree when, in 1587, the Privy Council wrote to compliment his “good service” to the Queen on “matters touching the benefit of his country”. The letter prompted the theory that he had been a secret agent for Elizabeth I’s “spymaster”, Sir Francis Walsingham.
His plays were wildly popular for the brief period that he was on the Elizabethan literary scene. Dido, Queen of Carthage is thought to have been his first. Tamburlaine the Great, among the first English plays in blank verse, was written around 1587; the Jew of Malta, is thought to have been written around 1589, and Doctor Faustus was first performed between 1588 and 1593.
His death in Deptford in May 1593, aged 29, has provoked years of speculation, from the Queen ordering his assassination because of his atheism, to his being killed by a love rival.
In 1925, the scholar Leslie Hotson published the coroner’s report in his book The Death of Christopher Marlowe. Witnesses testified that he was stabbed in the eye during a fight over payment of a bill and died instantly. The document did not end speculation, with some supporting the theory that Marlowe faked his death and continued to write as Shakespeare.
Frances Perraudin
• This article was amended on 24 October 2016 to correct a reference to the 1986 Oxford Shakespeare. An earlier edition referred to it as the New Oxford Shakespeare. |
Having a team's fans launch an open rebellion against ownership is bad enough, especially for a team like Chivas USA who can use all the support they can get. This kind of stuff has and does happen all around the world, in fact. It's rarely effective, but it's almost never a net positive for the organization.
What's going on at Chivas USA, though, is considerably worse than your normal group of unruly fans, dissatisfied with the organization's direction. No, this is much bigger and it stretches beyond just Chivas USA.
For more about Black Army 1850's protest: visit The Goat Parade
By now, you've heard all about the fan protest at Sunday's game against the LA Galaxy. Black Army 1850, one of Chivas USA's two main supporters' groups, after having their protest signs removed from the stadium decided to take their displeasure to the skies. Prompted by a group of funders from Reddit, Black Army 1850 backed efforts to take their protests to the sky.
The picture at the top of the story is a fair illustration of that protest. I'm told that if you knew it was happening and you looked, you could read the sign. But as far as I know, these kinds of grainy photos are the best images currently available. They also had some in-stadium chants:
As an isolated incident, the protest may not have been particularly effective. But whatever it lacked in the moment it has made up for with staying power. This protest has been discussed by virtually every major soccer blog, been featured on numerous podcasts and even got a mention on the live telecast. MLS fans are definitely aware of the growing unrest.
While that might be embarrassing enough for Chivas USA, and to a lesser degree MLS, how the protest was funded and where it might lead should be of greater concern. One aspect of the protest that hasn't received the attention that it probably deserves it how it was funded and initiated.
It wasn't just a project funded by Chivas USA fans, you see, this was something that fans from all around MLS helped make happen. This post on Reddit helped raise $715. Once the money was raised, Black Army 1850 was apparently asked for their permission to actually carry out the protest. Now, Black Army is asking supporters' groups all around MLS to display protest signs whenever Chivas USA comes to town.
So to away supporters, if we were to create a banner #VERGARAOUT so when our Goats play at you stadium. Would you display it? — Black Army 1850 (@BlackArmy1850) June 24, 2013
Judging from the response on Twitter, it appears many supporters' groups are only more than happy to help the cause.
Why would anyone else care? Well, one of the side effects of MLS's single-entity model is that the league really only is as strong as the weakest link. In this case, it's hard to argue against Chivas USA being that weak link. As I've talked about before, the organization is a bit of a dumpster fire. They don't have an English-language TV contract, they are regularly drawing only a few thousand actual people to their games, they don't seem to have any coherent talent acquisition plan, they are being sued by some former academy coaches and they have never accomplished their seemingly singular goal of attracting more Hispanics to MLS.
It's entirely possible that the so-called "haters" have less ... reasonable ... reasons for disliking Chivas USA ownership. But the reality is that there are a lot of people, like myself, who have been willing to give Chivas USA the benefit of the doubt but are simply fed up now.
I, like many others, would love to find out that there really is a "plan" behind all these head-scratching decisions. But no one at Chivas USA is providing one and MLS has so far only gone on record to say they support the current ownership. When no information is available, though, people to jump to their own conclusions. Right now, all those conclusions are very bad.
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• On the economics of transfers
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Yelp gets an earful from L.A. business owners
At a town hall meeting organized by Yelp, small-business owners slam the review website, complaining about aggressive ad sales tactics and bogus reviews that hurt sales.
In an effort to reach out to business owners and clear up misconceptions, Yelp has launched a series of town hall events in 22 major U.S. cities this year. The meeting Tuesday at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood was L.A.'s first, and dozens of business owners — including active advertisers on Yelp and those who knew little about the site — were invited to attend.
"I have one-star reviews for my diner from people that have never walked into the place. They've never stepped foot, they've never tried the food, but they give me one-star reviews. That's insane. Why would you let someone like that stay on the site?" demanded Craig Martin, owner of Cafe 50's in West Los Angeles. "I spoke to your office, I called your guys, I emailed, I talked to your salespeople."
Instead, many small-business owners at the company's town hall meeting in Hollywood on Tuesday slammed the site, venting their frustration at Yelp for aggressive advertising tactics and bogus reviews that they said hurt their businesses.
Yelp Inc. was hoping to debunk misconceptions and ease business owners' concerns about the popular review website.
Yelp spent most of the time touting its service and the benefits of advertising, and asked a panel of five people — two business owners and three frequent Yelp reviewers — to share their experiences with the audience.
"You can't run a small business without Yelp," said panelist Matt Berman, founder of the Bolt Barbers chain of barbershops in L.A.
But the glowing comments from the panel didn't sit well with the audience, and when the town hall opened up for a question-and-answer session, business owners were quick to air their grievances.
Many slammed the company for allowing reviewers to post inflammatory comments — one restaurant manager said she cried for three days after a Yelper wrote that her restaurant was filled with Nazis. Others said they had been subjected to aggressive advertising calls from Yelp.
Vintage clothing shop owner Reiko Roberts said the advertising pressure amounted to extortion. She said that when she declined to buy ads, "the lower reviews go to the top and the higher reviews go to the bottom."
"You've had this go on for an hour and a half.... What we're going to have is a great promotion for you guys, but we don't have time to go over subjects that I think concern a lot of people," she said, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
One of the biggest complaints centered on Yelp's review filter, which removes suspicious or unhelpful posts and puts them on a separate filter page. Business owners said many of their five-star reviews from legitimate customers had been filtered, leading to suspicions that they were being withheld because the owners didn't advertise with Yelp.
Yelp sought to dispel that notion, saying its filter was automatic and based on "several objective data points" that aren't tied to advertising, said Morgan Remmers, Yelp's manager of local business outreach.
"The first layer of this filter is trying to suppress any spammy, shill, malicious reviews that it can identify. The second layer that it's evaluating is the user's engagement with our site. So we're showcasing the most helpful, reliable reviews," Remmers told the audience.
Still, she conceded, "sometimes legitimate reviews from legitimate customers will get filtered."
Since launching nearly a decade ago, Yelp has been criticized by business owners who accuse the website of manipulating reviews based on whether the companies fork over advertising dollars. |
April 9, 2014
This post has moved to my new blog! Find it at http://seandoig.com/heartbleed-should-bleed-x509-to-death
I’m not a cryptographer; nor am I a hard core C guru; nor have I invented some brilliant library that gives me street cred to talk about this stuff. I’m a nobody.
But I’m a nobody who cannot help but see the blinding reality of the vastness of the hole we have dug and continue to dig for ourselves.
For the unfamiliar, X.509 is the mechanism by which your web browser decides whether or not to make your padlock turn green on secure sites. Heartbleed is a recently exposed bug that has, and as of writing continues to, leak secrets from web servers all over the world - most of them, in fact. Secrets leaked include the very secrets attackers would use to trick that padlock into turning green when it should turn very red.
X.509 is bloody stupid
Let’s just recap how this whole thing works (in a conceptually, if not technically, accurate way).
Public key cryptography
Public key cryptography, in a nutshell, allows you to ask a web site (for example) this question:
“Tell me something only the real you could know.”
That’s it. It’s very clever. You ask, they tell, you check and if all is good you get a green padlock.
Public key crypto can be implemented a few different ways. The prevailing way for websites is X.509, the mechanics of which go a little something like this.
There are certificate authorities (CA’s) which are Queen certificates - their job is to sit safely in the hive and have babies. The babies they have are typically intermediate certificates - Princess certificates - and their job is to serve the Queen’s court and have more babies; sometimes they have more Princesses, and sometimes the King comes to them with an order from someone like you demanding a baby for mysecuresite.com. They duly cooperate, have the baby, email it to you, and you shove it inside your server.
When you visit your site, your server-baby dishes up a copy of it’s DNA profile, and a copy of it’s mother’s DNA profile. Your computer checks to see if indeed your server-baby actually is the child of the mother it claims. But how to trust the mother? Well your operating system/program you’re using comes with a list of trusted Queen DNA profiles, and it then goes off to check that the Princess is the child of a trusted Queen.
Faking a DNA profile is so hard it may as well be impossible, and so we’ve answered the question: only a legitimate child of the Queen/Princess lineage could have come up with a DNA profile that fits.
This is retarded
Why? Because the whole security of the system is based on external trust.
All of this boils down to that list of Queen DNA profiles that just so happens to have been put on your computer by somebody you will almost certainly never know a thing about. You have to do it this way, because if you try to be your own CA and dish out copies of your own Queen DNA profile, every web browser on the planet will show a big old warning page saying “Something’s not right here”. Some won’t even allow you to override it. You’ve just reduced your sites user base to power users who know how to properly install CA’s on their machine. Fab. He who controls a Queen can make functionally equivalent copies of every Princess and Princess-baby in the Queen’s lineage. They have the skeleton keys to your ‘secure’ kingdom and could at any time decide to become a fraud factory and dish out copies of your keys to whomever they fancy.
To be secure you have to trust that whomever put that list in (1) on your machine didn’t put any rogue entries in. You can inspect this if you look hard enough, but when was the last time you did? Even so, would you even know what to look for? Oh, and these things tend to be auto-updated by the OS/program maintainers - so your verification routine has now become a never-ending process.
And fundamentally you have to trust that they who hold the Queens aren’t dishing out copies of your certificates. You needn’t know this had happened, especially if they’d given it to someone who would use it only selectively with very little chance of anyone ever noticing like oh, say, the NSA or GCHQ.
Who exactly are these gatekeepers, anyway? Those brave warriors we have all paid good money to, so that they can keep our secrets safe?
Gatekeeper % internet secured Symantec (including VeriSign, Thawte, Geotrust) 38.1% Comodo 29.1% GoDaddy 13.4% GlobalSign 10% Others 9.4% Total 100%
Source: W3Techs via Wikipedia
4 companies controlling 90.6% of the internet’s secrets. This is fucking insane. Do you have any reason to trust this lot with anything, no less the security of 90.6% of all your ‘secure’ internet traffic? Do you honestly believe that the NSA/GCHQ didn’t see this and say “Well that could be a lot worse”?
What we have done here is fitted our doors with some mega heavy duty locks, and given the master keys to a loyal little dog. Sure, he barks at you with a smile, but can you ever be sure he won’t be distracted by an appealing steak from your worst enemy? Of course not, he’s a fucking dog. We’ve seen two-faced dogs before - one was called RSA. They just loved that NSA steak.
But this has nothing to do with Heartbleed
Oh yes it bloody well does.
Heartbleed means that all of our server-babies are effectively broken. There is no way for us to know if they’ve been copied, so to assume they have not is not an option. Fabled cryptographer Bruce Schneier thinks it’s safe to assume “that every target has had its private keys extracted by multiple intelligence agencies”. You’re the target by the way.
This means to go ‘back’ to a ‘secure’ state we have to replace every single server-baby out there, which can only come from the gatekeepers.
Herein lies the rub: to get your Queen DNA profile onto those trusted lists and become a gatekeeper you have to spend a staggering amount of money, put in an ungodly number of hours, and comply with a vast sea of regulation. It is expensive and hard, and it is privatised.
Expensive, difficult entry conditions + private enterprise = ?
Anyone? Economists? Correct. Monopoly. Or rather, oligopoly.
Oligopolies are well studied and well known. Here’s a few feature bugs:
They maximise profits above all else, because they can, and they will because their investors demand a return
They set market prices, instead of being demand-led, because they can, and they will because their investors demand a return
Participants tend to collude because the mathematical truths of game theory almost always mean that they can all make more money working together to rip you off than if they fought each other, and they tend to do this because they can and their investors demand a return
So to get back to the woefully broken state of ‘security’ provided by X.509, you can and should expect to dish out some moolah for the privilege. They’ll position themselves to look like they’re your guardian angel, rushing to your aid, but owing to “the current high demand” they will have “no choice” but to levy a “small processing fee” to offset the “increased capacity” or some other such bullshit.
There are servers under my control now shitting out memory in 64KB chunks to whomever asks, most likely including my army of server-baby DNA profiles, and the very thought of having to solve this through an SSL provider is so deeply off-putting that I haven’t done it yet. Good thing there’s nothing worth stealing on any of them.
I will, of course, get round to it. But there are many who won’t for a long time. As of today, that green padlock no longer means what it once did. And the reason for that is because of the business conditions of gatekeepers. Not that the green padlock really ever meant what you wanted it to mean anyway.
Let me reiterate - everybody who was ever taught anything about that green padlock - grandmothers, bosses, school kids, web devs, everyone - now thinks that it means something it doesn’t, and won’t mean what they think again until all those server-babies are replaced.
Some of you may be thinking that the this is the reason there are mechanisms for certificate revocation: there are methods available for the gatekeepers to mark certificates as invalid. And break all their customers’ sites in the process. And face a million law suits for lost revenues. Yeah, call me when that happens
A new way
I have been deeply mistrusting of this model since I first properly grokked the mechanisms that drive it, but it looked to be so entrenched in the fabric of the internet that any battle to change things appeared a foregone conclusion. This, because of the woeful state of the symbology of the green padlock, is no longer the case.
If we tasked ourselves to build web security from scratch today, hell would freeze over and the NSA would willingly disband and incarcerate themselves before we came up with X.509 and said “That’s it! Centralised authority nobody can practically trust and business conditions that will cause everyone to spend a tonne more money than they have to. Fuck me we’ve cracked it! Good job boys, let’s go to the pub.”
Here’s an opportunity: we’ve spent decades educating the world on that green padlock. We’ve taught them to think it means something it never did, and certainly doesn’t anymore, but could we make it so that it did actually mean what we’ve been teaching? I think we can.
The Dawn of PGP
Here is where my arrogant ‘this is fact’ commentary stops and my speculative commentary begins. Maybe PGP isn’t the solution, maybe there are better ones out there or yet to be discovered, but this is what I know and it looks good from here.
PGP is to trust what Bitorrent is to file sharing, Bitcoin is to currency, and Tor is to anonymity, that is to say it is a web.
Applying PGP to websites
Here’s an example: I believe that my best mate Bob is who his certificate says he is because he had it tatooed on his chest and I painstakingly transcribed it into my computer (ok, maybe not, but this level of verification is entirely possible with, say, a phone call). I also trust Bob with my life. Bob trusts his certificate for our shared bank, HSBC, completely, because he verified it from a bronze plaque hung in every HSBC branch worldwide. So all I have to do is tell my computer that I trust Bob with my life and lo and behold my computer automatically trusts HSBC, provided HSBC identifies itself with the same certificate Bob checked from the plaque.
Look at that. It is a beautiful solution. There is no money involved and I control who I trust - which is the very essence of security, online or off.
This system already works wonders for the few that use it to secure emails, chat messages, and drug transaction details on the darknet. It was invented a very long time ago and is thoroughly battle tested. It is a golden egg waiting to be picked up and we have so far largely ignored it.
But we’ve ignored it for a reason.
The pitfalls of PGP
The problems with PGP, as far as I can tell, boil down to 2 core issues:
User interface Identity verification (or key exchange)
User interface
PGP is conceptually challenging to understand in its entirety, and current implementations make little effort to cover up the nitty gritty details of using it. Give it a shot and you’ll be answering questions like “do you want 2048- or 4096-bit key, and do you want RSA, DSA, or Elgamal encryption with that? What’s your email address? Any comments to add? Oh and by the way, warning, good signature from [email protected], but no trusted keys were found, we have no way of knowing anything aaarrghhh”
There is no need for all of this though. PGP is a library with a decent command line, all we have to do is knock our heads together with some designers and come up with a sane way of dishing this up to laymen. We can tackle this.
Key exchange
The problem most people in the know jump to when discussing the idea of using PGP is key exchange. Back in the day they had this idea about ‘key exchange parties’ where a bunch of people got together in a room and exchanged cryptographic hashes - fingerprints (in name and meaning) - of their public keys. That way you could go home, download your new friend’s key from a keyserver, verify that you got the right one by comparing its fingerprint with the one you got in person, sign it to say you vouch for the authenticity of this key, reupload it to the keyserver, assign a trust level to your new friend, and be happy.
What a palava.
90% of that guff can be automated and hidden underneath a good UI, but can we dispense with the need for key exchange parties? Absolutely we can.
This way of going about things was necessary back in the day when we didn’t have a Heartbleed-shaped rocket up our arses spurring many people into adoption, but if everybody (or a lot of people) were to do this all at once then the number of connections you have make as an individual to build the global web of trust reduces dramatically. Geeks like me would take to verifying banks and ecommerce institutions etc., and I already know a vast swathe of people who would then trust my judgement, and I know a vast swathe of geeks I would trust, so all those laymen on the periphery who may trust me and me alone already have the necessary connections at their disposal to securely access an enormous chunk of the web.
And it’s not just the geeks who would make good introduction points. I’d sooner trust, say, the University of St Andrews’ Computer Science department than Symantec - and I have genuine real-world trust that those boys that I could walk up to and visit right now would only make trusting relationships with genuinely trustworthy entities.
Other PGP benefits
If everyone is using PGP then modifying email clients to have it as a standard, default feature is trivial. Almost every email client out there has a PGP plugin, and once everyone’s using it things like phishing and even spam could become things of the past very swiftly.
There are more - a bit of light Googling will show you the way.
Conclusion
We have a problem. We’ve always had this problem, and finally we have a good reason to go through the short-term pains of solving it. The tech community has to have a discussion about this. The technical challenges are moderate but look how far we’ve come - we can manage this. Baking PGP into the web is not a challenge nearly as hard as some of the feats we see on the front page of Hacker News every single day; GnuTLS already supports PGP certificates, but unfortunately no web browser would know what to do with them. Yet.
We need to make this a ‘thing’ so that the ball gets rolling and the discussion can grow to the point where standards bodies, browser vendors, and OS vendors take it seriously as an idea. The only way we can get to that stage inherently involves the full exposure of the architectural problems of X.509 and once we’ve done that - and had the resulting collective moment of clarity - I’d bet my ass that even if PGP isn’t rolled out as our saviour, something that isn’t X.509 will be. It’s just too broken to brush over and bury.
I guarantee you that in 50 years, X.509 will not be the prevailing paradigm for web security. It’s fucked and deep down we’ve known that all along. A day will come when we get round to dealing with it - why can’t it be today?
Part 2: Should we make a working group to kill X.509?
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Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is back with an all new season starting on Sunday, March 19th, 2017. Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles takes us on a journey through several stories from the Turtles' past and future. From their first days in New York to their wild and crazy escapades on different planets, fans of the first four seasons can expect to see new friends and foes as well as familiar ones as each story is unveiled.The best part about the new season? Mark Hamill (Star Wars) will be guest staring as Kavaxas, a mean dragon with some crazy powers, in the season premiere entitled “Scroll of the Demodragon.” In the episode, Kavaxas teams up with other villains from the franchise to bring New York to its knees. It is also noteworthy to mention Hamill will be lending his voice for Kavaxas over the next three episodes after the premiere as well.
Along with the special guest stars, the original voice cast is back in action as well with Seth Green (Robot Chicken) as Leonardo, Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings) as Raphael, Rob Paulsen (Planet Sheen) as Donatello, Greg Cipes (Teen Titans) as Michelangelo, Mae Whitman (Parenthood) as April O’Neil, Hoon Lee (Royal Pains) as Master Splinter and Kevin Michael Richardson (Penguins of Madagascar) as Shredder.
Special Guest Stars Include:
Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride) as Count Vlad Dracula, the lord of the vampires.
Graham McTavish (The Hobbit trilogy) as Savanti Romero, an evil time master from the future.
Dana DeLorenzo (Ash vs. Evil Dead) as Esmeralda, a kind and weary Romanian traveler with an expert knowledge of monsters.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Revenge) as Sumo Kuma, a fierce and cunning Samurai commander.
Nyambi Nyambi (Mike & Molly) as Verminator Rex, the vicious leader of a gang.
About Tales of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
Since its launch in 2012, Nickelodeon’s CG-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has re-energized these iconic characters of this wildly popular franchise. Currently in its third season, the series is seen in over 170 countries and territories, and translated in over 50 languages. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles follows four mutant turtles—Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo—trained in the art of ninjutsu by their mutant rat sensei, Master Splinter, who teaches the turtles to battle evil from the New York City sewers. |
Police say a double murder in their town and a suicide in a Dallas may be the result of a broken relationship and possible love triangle.
Murphy police were called to the 100 block of Sherwood for a welfare check after a call from a concerned family member.
Police went to the house and saw things they thought were concerning. Thus, they entered the single-family home.
That’s when police discovered the bodies of Jonathan Masin, 40, and Amy Picchiotti, 38, partially clothed, barefoot and in two separate areas of the home.
Neighbors reported to police they heard gunshots around 6:30 a.m.
Shortly after the bodies were discovered, police named a person of interest: Masin’s ex-girlfriend and Dallas resident, Michele Boyer, 45.
By 9 a.m. her neighbors in Lake Highlands, reported Dallas police officers were knocking on their doors asking if they had recently seen Boyer.
Around 12:30 p.m. Dallas police spotted Boyer’s vehicle sitting in front of her ex-husband’s home on Leda Drive, also in Lake Highlands.
She was dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.
Murphy police say a gun similar to the weapon used in the murders was found at the scene of the suicide.
Another piece of evidence linked her to the crime, according to police.
“There was a suicide note that gave some information,” says James Fisher, Murphy City Manager. “It appears it does relate back to this case here.”
Murphy police say Masin and Boyer had recently broken up and that is what led Boyer to commit the crimes.
There weren’t signs of forced entry at Masin’s home in Murphy.
Police are still investigating.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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35 Quick Edits to Improve Your Script’s Writing Style In 24 Hours Or Less
When a reader at a contest, agency, or management company opens up a spec script, it’s clear from the very first page whether the writer knows how to write. It’s clear from the dialogue, formatting and writing style: the way the writer chooses how to put the images they want the reader to see down on the page.
However, there are quite a few mistakes and odd stylistic choices that we see writers make again and again when it comes to these elements. Mistakes that pros don’t generally make.
Go through your screenplay, cutting all of the following writing style mistakes and make it feel more professional in one day or less.
Writing Style Edit #1: Strange/Awkward Acting Demands
Often it’s clear what the writer intends with phrases like these, but another way needs to be found to get the action or emotion across. Always aim to direct actors as little as possible and let the circumstances of the scene suggest how they should play it.
Very often this means simply leaving out any specific instructions on what they should do with their face or body.
Writing Style Edit #2: Car Porn
Unless you’re writing a Fast And Furious-style movie in which high-end car makes could be important, leave these kind of descriptions out.
There’s a difference, however, between car porn and naming a car as an additional way of showing a character’s personality. This description from Sideways is a good example of the latter:
Writing Style Edit #3: Missing Hyphens
If you’re prone to leaving out hyphens, brush up on how they should be applied and make sure you get them in your scene description and dialogue. The above examples should read like this:
Writing Style Edit #4: Tired Clichés
A good way of catching many cliches is to simply ask yourself if you’ve seen or heard that particular phrase before? If the answer’s yes, take another look to check if it’s a cliché.
Do a Cmd+F search on your script for these most common offenders in spec scripts, all of which involve eyes for some reason: “his eyes widen” “her eyes narrow” “he rolls his eyes”.
Also do a search for the phrase “like a…” as anything that follows could well be a cliché.
Writing Style Edit #5: Summarizing Action
A writing style like this indicates the writer has forgotten that film is a visual medium. Everything you put down in the description will be visualized by the reader, and so missing out action and summarizing instead always leaves the reader confused.
Either use a MONTAGE or add in the missing action or dialogue.
Writing Style Edit #6: Unnecessary Repetition
Repeating either a word or phrase, or a character’s action means you’re taking up valuable real estate on the page, while also giving the reader the impression you’re not aware of it and so aren’t fully in control of your writing style.
Writing Style Edit #7: Half-Finished Words
It’s best not to cut off words like this as it looks odd on the page and often leads to confusion. Write out the whole word and leave it to the actor to decide how to trail it off mid-sentence.
Writing Style Edit #8: Naked Sluglines
A slugline should usually be followed by description of some kind, otherwise it’s “naked” and the scene hasn’t been properly established.
Writing Style Edit #9: Stating the Obvious
Again, this feels like redundant writing because it’s clear in the reader’s mind what’s happening, but the writer is feeling the need to spell everything out anyway—in effect, twice.
We know, for example, that if someone’s staring at someone it’s in their eyes, or if they’re pacing it’s on the floor, and so this writing style can definitely be tightened up.
Writing Style Edit #10: Ellipses Overload
Ellipses can be effective, but use too many of them and they can slow down the read and start to feel like overkill.
Writing Style Edit #11: Parenthetical Extravaganza
An overuse of parentheticals means you’re again over-directing the actors, which they’re not too fond of. Instead, give them room to insert pauses or beats where they see fit.
Writing Style Edit #12: Purple Prose
An overly descriptive, flowery writing style like this belongs in a novel not a screenplay. Keep things simple by cutting all instances of purple prose like this.
Writing Style Edit #13: Restrictive Character Descriptions
The problem with detailing physical features in descriptions is that you’re ruling out many actors who could play the role. It’s always better to stick to a character’s actions, overall style, attitude, clothes, make-up, etc. in order to clue us in on their character.
Writing Style Edit #14: Mixed Emotions
Lines like these are simply confusing, both for the reader and the actor. Pick just one emotion that you want to get across in any given moment.
Writing Style Edit #15: Impossible/Unrealistic Acting Demands
As with mixed emotions, these actions are pretty much impossible for any actor to pull off.
Make sure you always put yourself in the actor’s shoes when telling them what to do and think “How would I play this?”
This should help prevent coming up with impossible feats for them to perform.
Writing Style Edit #16: Missing Full Stops
Some writers forget to include full stops in their sentences and break up long paragraphs into smaller chunks. Don’t be one of them. Give the reader a chance to breathe.
Writing Style Edit #17: Unnecessary Sounds
Sounds only really need to be included if they’re necessary to our understanding of what’s going on in the scene. All of the above examples offer no new information or anything to the scene, so can be cut.
Writing Style Edit #18: Back to Front Sentences
A better way to phrase these would be:
Note how the second examples not only feel more active rather than passive, but also enable you to more easily visualize what’s happening.
Writing Style Edit #19: Micro Managing Actors’ Actions
Both of these examples could be cut back to:
Not every action an actor makes needs to be spelled out. You’d be surprised at how much the reader fills in for him or herself.
Writing Style Edit #20: Overusing Character Names
This feels unnatural because in real likfe no-one uses the name of the person they’re speaking to that often.
It’s a good idea to get the characters’ names out there at the beginning of the script, but if we’re halfway through, there’s no need for everyone to still be bringing up each other’s names in every line.
Writing Style Edit #21: Overly Formal Language
This is a big one. So many spec screenplays contain a lack of contractions in the dialogue—we’re, didn’t, they’ll, I’m, don’t etc.—that the conversations just end up feeling unnatural and stilted.
The only time you really want to have your characters talk like this is if it’s on purpose because your script is set in the 1800s. Or you want a particular character to speak in a super formal manner, say, because of their occupation.
Writing Style Edit #22: Basic Grammatical Errors
Here’s a quick list of the most common mistakes we see in spec scripts, so make sure you really nail their uses:
♦ its/it’s
♦ off/of
♦ lie/lay
♦ waits/awaits
♦ blond/blonde
♦ your/you’re
♦ whose/who’s
♦ to/two/too
♦ their/there/they’re
Writing Style Edit #23: Basic Spelling Errors
Spelling errors of basic words like lose, breathe, peek, etc. don’t give a good impression either.
No matter how good the script, a reader will automatically begin to question your overall writing ability if it’s peppered with mistakes like these.
Writing Style Edit #24: Similar Character Names
When the protagonist’s called Tim, and then we meet his best friend, Tom, and then they both fall for a girl called Tina, you’re unnecessarily confusing the reader.
Likewise, if you have three women in a script named Lucy, Tracy and Wendy. If more than one character name either starts or ends with the same letter, take another look and see if it needs changing.
Similar sounding names often result in the reader constantly having to flip back through the script to check who’s who.
Writing Style Edit #25: Unnecessary Exclamation Marks
Exclamation marks look particularly incongruous in dramas, thrillers and horrors and are best avoided in these genres. You can maybe get away with a few in comedy, family or action/adventure scripts, but use with caution!!! (See how over the top that looks?)
Writing Style Edit #26: Omitting Character Names
Often characters remain as MOM, APPRENTICE, DETECTIVE, etc. throughout the whole script when really they should be given names. A good rule of thumb to go by is: if a character has more than a couple of lines of dialogue they should be named.
Again, think about your script from the actor’s point of view. They will want to bring as much as possible to their role, but if they’re just the RECEPTIONIST, you’re not giving them much to work with.
Give every single role in the script a sense of meaning and a reason for being there and the actors will thank you for it.
Writing Style Edit #27: Missing Out “a” and “the”
This style can work to a certain extent, usually in action movies like Tony Gilroy’s script for The Bourne Identity, but it can also be overdone.
You may have been told that things look more “screenplay-like” if these words are omitted, but it’s not true. There’s nothing wrong with writing “A car pulls into the parking lot.”
Writing Style Edit #28: Excessive Use of the MONTAGE and FLASHBACK
While both devices can be extremely useful tools in a screenwriter’s arsenal, many specs overuse them. Be sure that every MONTAGE or FLASHBACK progresses the story in some way, rather than being used to merely pass time in the protagonist’s life, or having them reminisce aimlessly.
Also, be sure the formatting is clear. There is no “right” way, but it’s important that they’re well-presented on the page. Check out this page on screenplay format for more info.
Writing Style Edit #29: Excess Description
All of this could be written in a much more sparse way that doesn’t spell out every single beat and the actor’s movements. Something like:
This is saying the same thing but in three lines instead of seven. We know Kate is scared in this situation, for example, so we don’t need to be told that she holds a hand to her mouth, or tries to collect herself.
Our Line Edit service is a great option if you’d like a pro screenwriter to go through your script and tighten it up in this way.
Writing Style Edit #30: Incorrectly Formatted Numbers
These should be:
All numbers under ten in dialogue should be spelt out as well as numbers at the beginning of a sentence, whether in dialogue or description. Dates and times, on the other hand, should generally be written numerically.
Writing Style Edit #31: Unnecessarily Sexualized Description for Female Characters
Unless a woman’s sexuality is essential to her character, it’s best to edit these kind of descriptions out as they just look gratuitous and slightly creepy.
Writing Style Edit #32: Confusing (O.S.) with (V.O.) and Vice Versa
When a character is speaking (O.S.) they’re off-screen, i.e. in the same scene but maybe another room. If they’re talking (V.O.) they’re not in the scene but in a different location altogether and talking in voice over, i.e. talking on the other end of phone lines, on TVs, or narrating.
So in the above examples, Ted’s dialogue should be (V.O.) and Sandra’s (O.S.).
Writing Style Edit #33: Copyright Paranoia
Yes, it’s a good idea to copyright your script at the WGA West or US Copyright Office, but it’s not such a good move to give the impression you’re paranoid about someone stealing your script.
This is achieved by including WGA registration numbers, copyright symbols, all rights reserved notices, and especially watermarked pages.
Anything more than adding the title of your script and (minimal) contact information can look a little amateurish.
Writing Style Edit #34: Alternating Between Single and Double Spacing
There’s no correct way to use spacings after periods in a screenplay. Some writers prefer single, others prefer double. What doesn’t look so great is continually switching between the two.
Run a Cmd+F search on “. ” (full stop, single space). Then hit Replace with “. ” (full stop, double space), or vice versa. That will make sure they’re all identical throughout the script.
Writing Style Edit #35: Vowel Overkill
You can get away with a few (such as Aaarrgghh!) on occasion because they don’t distort the actual original words, as in the above examples.
To be on the safe side, a better way to get emotions across in dialogue is to simply write the word normally and leave it up to the actor how they want to deliver it. For example: What?! Stop! Fire!
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We hope you found our top 35 dialogue, formatting and writing style mistakes useful. There are many more to look out for, of course, but our general advice is to keep your writing style as tight and clean and as simple as possible, to put the most evocative images in the reader’s mind.
The very best way to learn how to do this is to read professional screenplays.
Download the 50 best screenplays to read, set aside some time every week and see how your style improves over the months as you absorb all influences from the best screenwriters out there.
If you’d like your screenplay reviewed, check out our script coverage services below.
More posts on writing style…
Master Screenplay Formatting: How to Format a Script for the Spec Market
Why You Should Stop Thinking of Movie Script Format In Terms of Rules
How to Write a Phone Conversation In a Screenplay: The Definitive Guide |
Linda and Vince McMahon disclose billion in assets
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon during an event celebrating Women's History Month, in the East Room at the White House March 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump greets Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon during an event celebrating Women's History Month, in the East Room at the White House March 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close Linda and Vince McMahon disclose billion in assets 1 / 27 Back to Gallery
In the case of Linda McMahon and Donald Trump, it takes a billionaire to know a billionaire.
In a joint financial disclosure filing, the Small Business Administration head and her wrestling mogul husband, Vincent McMahon, reported between $938 million and $1.1 billion in real estate, WWE stock and other assets that include hedge fund investments.
The 32-page filing provides a unique glimpse at the couple’s vast empire, from their $8 million Greenwich estate with nearby polo field access to a $3 million penthouse in the aptly-named Trump Parc luxury condominium high-rise in Stamford.
It also illustrates the lengths that Linda McMahon has gone to unwind herself from the WWE and other financial interests that could expose her to potential conflicts, a frequent criticism of Trump. The lion’s share of assets is listed under her husband’s name in the disclosure form, which are required for Cabinet appointees and give a range for asset values. McMahon filed the disclosure form December and it was certified by the Office of Government Ethics in January.
Some wondered whether McMahon could completely wall herself off from her family’s business ventures, however.
“Just transferring your title to your spouse by itself is not going to be a protection against the appearance of a conflict,” said Scott McLean, a political science professor at Quinnipiac University in Hamden
More Information Municipal bond holdings of Vince McMahon: Danbury: $1M to $5M New Milford: $500,000 to $1M Wilton: $400,000 to $1M Norwalk: $1.5M to $6M Newtown: $500,000 to $1M Southington: $250,000 to $500,000 Glastonbury: $500,000 to $1M Source: U.S. Office of Government Ethics
A request for comment was left Tuesday at the Small Business Administration for McMahon, who was confirmed by the Senate to lead the agency in February.
The couple doesn’t seem to be any worse for the wear from her self-funded back-to-back bids for the U.S. Senate in 2010 and 2012, which cost a staggering $100 million.
The couple has as much as $12 million stashed between 10 different U.S. bank accounts under Vince McMahon’s name. That doesn’t count the $25 million to $50 million he has socked away in a Morgan Stanley money market account.
The McMahons’ fortune is tied up mainly in WWE stock, with Vince McMahon owning 35,533,375 shares worth about $782 million. Linda McMahon claimed no stock ownership in WWE on her financial disclosure form. But in a March proxy filing by the Stamford-based company, McMahon was still listed as owning 1.5 percent of the WWE shares. A request for comment explaining the discrepancy was left Tuesday with the company.
In addition to their Connecticut real estate, the couple owns residential properties in New York City, Las Vegas and Boca Raton, Fla. The first address, which public records show as a TriBeCa loft, is worth between $5 million and $25 million.
The snapshot of the couple’s portfolio revealed another key trend — that they are major players in the public bond market. They reported owning between $4.7 million and $15.5 million in general obligation bonds for seven cities and towns in Connecticut. Those were led by Norwalk ($1.5 million to $6 million) and Danbury ($1 million to $5 million).
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who is exploring a run for governor and was on the same GOP ticket as McMahon in 2010, said bond auctions are a blind process.
“It’s probably the best investment they’ll ever make,” Boughton said. “Their fund adviser is probably invested in banks that are invested in us. It’s a good sign that they believe in Connecticut and are willing to invest their money.”
McMahon was not required to include her children as asset holders on her financial disclosure form, but it does show that Vince McMahon made a $5 million to $25 million personal loan to an unspecified family member that the couple counted as an asset.
[email protected]; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy |
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Often, when wrestling reporters cover mixed martial arts or vice versa, their readers revolt, wondering what the hell the sport and the pseudo-sport actually have to do with each other beyond the occasional crossover athlete like Brock Lesnar, Ken Shamrock, or CM Punk. The reality is that the history of MMA is inextricable from the history of wrestling. The earliest proto-MMA promotions of note, Shooto and Pancrase, were in fact formed by disgruntled pro wrestlers who wanted to test themselves and the catch wrestling that they had learned over the years, and there have been long periods when the lines between real pro wrestling and fake MMA were blurred to the point where it wasn’t always clear which was, in reality, more authentic. The deep entwining of the two forms, though, found its ultimate expression in the early history of Pride Fighting Championships, which ran its debut card 20 years ago this week. To understand it in its full context, you need to understand the history of Japanese pro wrestling.
Pride FC, which would eventually become the most important MMA promotion in the world, home to legends like Fedor Emelianenko and Wanderlei Silva and the highest-level hand-to-hand fighting the world had yet seen, was launched with a card that featured a not just legitimate MMA fights, but also worked bouts—pro wrestling matches, essentially, if performed in a more realistic style than you would see on Monday Night Raw. This only made sense, because the Japanese fighter headlining the card was Nobuhiko Takada, who had become one of the country’s biggest sports stars as the ace of UWFI, one of several pro wrestling promotions that did shoot-style matches: More or less realistic pro wrestling billed as a legitimate alternative to what the “fakers” in New Japan Pro Wrestling and elsewhere were putting on.
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Takada, though, didn’t come out of nowhere. He started in NJPW in the first place, as did some of his shoot-style peers like Kazuo Yamazaki. Debuting in 1981, he started the same way that all of the company’s trainees did, performing basic matches in plain black trunks and black boots, with the idea being that everyone would master the business’s fundamentals before heading abroad for seasoning. (The closest American comparison I can muster off the top of my head, since there isn’t really a good one, might be Shawn Michaels, someone who was marked for brilliance in the ring from the start and ripe for stardom outside of it thanks to his striking good looks.) After accompanying boss and top NJPW star Antonio Inoki—who had his own ties to proto-MMA, most famously involving a legitimate match against Muhammad Ali—on a 1983 trip to Calgary, he started to get more exposure, culminating in a consensus match of the year candidate against Yoshiaki Yatsu in April 1984.
Takada appeared to be poised to be one of the company’s next big stars, but instead bolted to a new promotion, the UWF, in the aftermath of Inoki being accused of embezzlement. Initially just a new promotion featuring NJPW-style wrestling, it had shifted towards a more realistic style at the behest of top stars like Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Satoru Sayama, both legitimately gifted catch wrestlers. The new style was a huge hit in Tokyo, but nowhere else, and so the promotion closed. Sayama left wrestling to develop a new sport, which eventually led to the formation of Shooto, his proto-MMA promotion, while the other key native Japanese stars went to NJPW for a years-long feud .
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There, Takada picked up where he left off, getting pushed as a top junior heavyweight and tag team wrestler. He put on numerous great matches, to the point that calling him the best performer in the whole business wouldn’t be a huge exaggeration. But when his closest ally, Akira Maeda, decided to cheap-shot top star Riki Choshu by breaking his orbital bone, the cycle repeated itself, with a new UWF forming and all of Maeda’s allies—Takada included—leaving with him. This UWF did better than the original, but mismanagement and limited growth led to the company being shuttered at the end of 1990.
At that point, instead of anyone going back to NJPW, the company split three ways: Takada and his faction formed UWF International; Maeda launched RINGS; and Fujiwara (who got an assist from a billionaire eyeglass magnate) started Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, which loosely translates as Fujiwara Family. While UWFI and PWFG continued doing the same basic UWF style—more recognizable as a style of traditional pro wrestling performance, heavy on kicks, suplexes, and low-defense grappling—RINGS claimed to be another sport entirely. (It would eventually evolve into a legitimate MMA promotion, featuring the likes of Emelianenko, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Randy Couture.) This alphabet soup of “shoot” and shoot-style pro wrestling got even more complicated when PWFG saw mass exoduses in 1993 and 1996, the former of which led to the creation of Pancrase, which was, at least nominally, actually real, and which produced Ken Shamrock, soon to be one of MMA’s first breakout stars in the UFC.
UWFI and RINGS both thrived almost immediately, even with their dramatically opposite approaches. While Maeda’s RINGS sought out Russian and Dutch sambo players and kickboxers without existing pro wrestling connections to fill out the roster, Takada’s UWFI was a mix of established UWF stars, new trainees, and known American pro wrestlers who had some kind of amateur pro wrestling or judo background. This meant that, at least early on, the UWFI booked everyone from The Iron Sheik to Allen “Bad News Brown” Coage to guitar-playing journeyman J.T. Southern, leading to a surreal mix of flamboyant pro wrestling pantomime and reasonably authentic fighting technique. At the main event level, Takada, with his movie star looks and quick, powerful kicks, was given the most credible athletes of the lot, like Bob Backlund, the former WWF champion with a background as a serious amateur. Gary Albright, a Nebraskan collegiate standout who had turned pro without much success in the late ’80s, became his big rival.
Dispatching the likes of Backlund and Albright in impressive if relatively conventional pro wrestling matches wasn’t enough for Takada. Some of his most notable and impressive wins, like a “mixed rules” bout with boxer Trevor Berbick, who walked out on the match claiming that the rules had been changed on him, came under just plain weird circumstances. Others, like the match where he legitimately knocked out sumo grand champion turned pro wrestler Koji Kitao with a high kick, were reported in the wrestling media as double crosses. (One Backlund match ended with an accidental knockout win for Takada, but if it hadn’t come out of nowhere a few minutes into the match, resulting in pissed-off fans, it would probably get lumped in with the Kitao match.) This is perhaps not surprising; after all, Takada was a long-time running buddy of Maeda, who had developed a reputation for this kind of thing. In any event, these were instances of the fundamental blurring of the lines between reality and fiction in wrestling and MMA. Which was more real: A Pancrase fight that, boxing-style, featured legitimate competition with one fighter taking a dive, or a UWFI wrestling match in which one fighter took advantage of and legitimately injured the other?
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Between the tension and drama this kind of question raised and Takada’s charisma and abilities as a performer, UWFI did tremendous business, including packing baseball stadiums. Unfortunately for Takada, though, in the mid-’90s, some fans started to look at the promotion in a different way due to the rise of Pancrase and the UFC. Sayama had also started running full-on MMA (then called “no holds barred”) cards in the form of Japan Vale Tudo, a Shooto affiliate. Next to real fights, semi-real fights based on pro wrestling rules, and even the more grounded pro wrestling in in RINGS, the UWFI looked very much like regular pro wrestling.
This was nowhere more evident than on April 2, 1995, where the magazine Weekly Pro Wrestling ran a show at the Tokyo Dome featuring one bout each from 13 major promotions. The shoot and shoot-style groups’ matches were all slotted back to back, and with PWFG seemingly giving up on shoot-style by booking a match with comedy wrestler Don Arakawa, the UWFI offering was the shadiest looking of that portion of the card. It probably didn’t help that it was a six man tag team match, but compared to the (probably?) real Pancrase match and RINGS’ brand of stoicism, the UWFI just looked, well, fake.
The in-ring style wasn’t the only issue, though. Rickson Gracie, purportedly the best fighter of Brazillian jiu jitsu master Helio Gracie’s many sons, had won the 1994 version of Sayama’s Japan Vale Tudo Open. All things considered, even if Gracie was clearly the class of the tournament—as he was when he won again in 1995—he arguably had a tougher field than most early UFC tournament winners did. (After all, the Shooto connection meant that there were more fighters in the field with submission grappling knowledge.) Still, the UWFI decided to take Gracie head on, issuing grandstand challenges for him to fight Takada in the UWFI. Gracie, not wanting to muddy the waters, issued a statement saying that he wouldn’t go to the UWFI because they didn’t have real fights, but would gladly take on Takada on a Japan Vale Tudo card. The UWFI contingent continued the public shit-talking, with Takada disciple Yoji Anjoh, considered the best fighter on the roster, offering to fly to California to challenge Rickson at his gym, something that local martial artists were often invited to try. His famous last words were that he was “200% sure” that he would win.
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If you know anything about MMA and/or jiu-jitsu, this sounds completely ridiculous, but there is a lot of context that needs to be considered. Most importantly, the NJPW and then UWF/UWFI wrestlers had been trained in catch wrestling—a completely legitimate form of grappling successfully used in high-level competition by the likes of Ken Shamrock and Josh Barnett—for years, and it was considered something like a secret art tightly held within pro wrestling. That training in a form of wrestling and submission work no one outside the business understood surely meant something, right?
Further, while pro wrestling performances aren’t necessarily a good gauge, if you watch UWFI footage, Anjoh does incorporate more diverse techniques than most of his peers, including Muay Thai-style clinching. It’s not a stretch to think that he was one of the the more learned martial artists of the bunch, and even if there were future legitimate MMA standouts Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura in the gym, Anjoh had size and stature, which likely played a role in him getting the nod over his smaller peers. Finally, in hindsight, the idea of someone from this stable thinking that he could beat Rickson Gracie seems less preposterous when you consider how Sakuraba, then a less experienced UWFI trainee, would systematically defeat Gracie’s brothers and cousins using what he learned there.
When Anjoh got to Rickson’s gym, he wasn’t there, so he drove over after getting the call, taping his fists on the way. After asking the assembled Japanese media to leave, Gracie took Anjoh down, mounted him, and beat the everloving crap out of him. Anjoh had no chance, and his battered, swollen face was all over the sports pages and wrestling magazines over the course of the next week. (He later showed a good sense humor about it—donning a mask as “200% Machine” to poke fun at his promise to win the gym fight—en route to eventually becoming an effective preliminary-level heel in more conventional pro wrestling promotions.)
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Given prevailing norms in Japanese combat sports, Nobuhiko Takada was immediately expected to avenge his protege’s defeat by returning the favor and smashing Rickson Gracie. There was one small problem with that: Takada couldn’t fight a lick.
Just how Takada could be so bad at fighting, especially compared to his peers and his proteges, is a question that has never really been properly answered, at least in English-language media. But he knew that he was a fraud, and that he had nothing for Rickson Gracie. He left the issue alone. UWFI business suffered, and with financial problems mounting, the promotion cut a deal to feud with NJPW, aided by previous grandstand challenges to their world champion. The first NJPW vs. UWFI show, in October of 1995, saw NJPW given full booking control, and it was a massacre, with the host promotion winning almost every match over the alleged shooters. The exclamation point saw Takada lose the main event via a highly symbolic submission to Keiji Mutoh: The latter won with his signature figure four leglock, a worked hold in that it’s basically impossible to apply without cooperation, exposing Takada as just another “faker.” The feud continued to do big business, inspiring WCW’s even more successful NWO angle, and Takada even won Mutoh’s IWGP heavyweight championship in January; still, the expiration date on the whole program was clearly set at the first show. Takada dropped the belt three months after he won it to Shinya Hashimoto, who had the strongest “tough guy” aura of NJPW’s top stars, and the UWFI was over.
A few outside dates at a five-figure price tag aside, Takada was done with pro wrestling proper, even as the wrestlers from his dojo started a new promotion, Kingdom. The saving grace, though, soon became clear: Even though he hadn’t avenged Anjoh, nobody really knew that he couldn’t fight, so if he took on Rickson in an honest-to-God fight, it would draw a ton of money. He found some backers—presumably the same way anyone in Japan finds backers for a fighting promotion—and they announced Pride for October 11, 1997 at the Tokyo Dome. With the real story being about just about everything else leading up to it, there honestly isn’t much to say about the fight itself. Takada looked sad and terrified during his entrance, and he was right to be. Gracie ran through him en route to securing a submission by armbar.
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The event was enough of a success that with the next card, which lacked Takada, drawing badly by comparison, building him back up for a rematch was of the utmost importance. His bout with random American kickboxer Kyle Sturgeon was, thus, like all of Takada’s wins, a total work, something he later admitted in his memoir. The “fight” was typical of what became a pattern with Takada’s wins: They looked like abbreviated UWFI matches, with pro wrestling-style selling and other theatrics. His most infamous “win,” over legitimate heavyweight MMA legend Mark Coleman, even saw the former Olympian, even featured Coleman, caught in a heel hook, dramatically selling and teasing that he didn’t want to give up before tapping out. Setting aside what a pro wrestling trope that is, it’s also the hold you would least want to hold out in.
As much as Takada knew he was fucked going into the frst Rickson fight, he did try to get better training to put up more of a fight the second time. Sure, he might lose, but he wouldn’t embarrass himself. He went to California to train at Beverly Hills Jiu Jitsu Club, which housed one of the sport’s best MMA teams at the time. Going into his training camp, one could consider the possibility that Rickson, being legitimately one of the greatest Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners of all time, just beat Takada because he would be a tough out for a lot of fighters in the early days of MMA. When Takada got there, it turned out that was not the case. The man once believed to be the greatest fighter in Japan, who had been training submission wrestling in some form for almost two decades, was getting caught in a submission and tapped out every time he rolled. But that wasn’t when he was training with pro fighters. That was what was happening when he was rolling with the white belts, the beginners who had nowhere close to the amount of training he had.
With a potential disaster of a squash match seemingly on deck for the rematch, Rickson took his time instead of going for the quick finish. At least Japan’s greatest fighter could say he held on longer this time. And his destruction at the hands of Gracie would set the stage for MMA to reach unprecedented heights, as the undersized UWFI wrestler Kazushi Sakuraba avenged the honor of pro wrestling by running through the Gracie family in spectacularly compelling and entirely legitimate bouts that built Pride into a monolith whose direct influence is felt in every aspect of MMA today. But that is an even stranger story, for another time. |
The Defense Department’s watchdog on Thursday released a 450-page compilation of more than 1,298 open recommendations Pentagon has yet to implement, including 58 with the potential save the department $33.6 billion.
Addressing subjects ranging from planning for the use of nuclear weapons, to the disinterment of deceased service members from past conflicts, to problems with logistics software, Inspector General Glenn Fine highlighted 30 high-priority open recommendations that, if implemented, could reap substantial savings and improve program efficiency and effectiveness, the IG said.
Each recommendation is linked to the Pentagon’s top 10 management and performance challenges and the precise project that produced the recommendation. Of the open recommendations, Defense management has agreed to take action on 1,251 of them.
In the examples cited above, the IG found:
The Pentagon's ability to provide guidance for, plan, and employ theater nuclear weapons, had been languishing in coordination for more than 21 months. It recommended updated guidance to geographic combat commands that includes type and level of planning information needed for contingency plans.
Army financial and system managers did not reengineer their Logistics Modernization Program system to correct known material weaknesses. As of August 31, 2011, LMP activities reported more than $10.6 billion in abnormal balances within the accounts payable and budgetary general ledger accounts.
No single entity is responsible for developing and maintaining a disinterment policy, causing confusion among the military services and inaction within the Defense Prisoner of War/MIA Accounting Agency on identifying the remains of missing service personnel currently buried as unknowns.
The IG also analyzed 27 recommendations that were more than five years old to identify trends: Nine were directed to the Army; 10 were in the area of acquisition; 12 pertained to updating and revising guidance, policies, and regulations; and five were associated with potential monetary benefits. |
Goldman Sachs (Shenzhen) Financial Leasing comes to light after pirate branch of China Construction Bank offered customers deposits but no withdrawals
Fake Goldman Sachs is latest Chinese counterfeit bank to hang out its shingle
Police shut down massive iPhone counterfeiting operation Read more
A Chinese finance company has set itself up in business with the name Goldman Sachs but said any similarity to the US investment giant was unintentional.
Goldman Sachs (Shenzhen) Financial Leasing Co has no connection with the New York-based financial institution. Its existence has come to light a few weeks after a Chinese man was arrested for setting up an entire fake bank branch.
“We don’t have any connection with the US Goldman Sachs,” a woman who answered the company’s listed phone number told Agence France-Presse.
“We just picked the name out and it’s not intentionally the same,” she added before hanging up.
The company uses the same Chinese characters as the real Goldman Sachs does where it operates in the world’s second-largest economy.
Shenzhen’s Goldman Sachs was exposed by a letter sent by a US casino workers union to Chinese anti-corruption officials asking them to investigate the firm, Bloomberg News reported.
The Chinese firm’s English font was evocative of the US bank’s, Bloomberg reported, labelling the company a “pirate” version of Goldman Sachs.
The news came after a 39-year-old man in eastern China was arrested for setting up a fake branch of China Construction Bank including card readers, teller counters and signs, according to state-run media.
Duped “customers” handed over money to make supposed deposits into their accounts but were refused withdrawals, reports said.
Enforcement of intellectual property laws in China is lax and counterfeiting of brands and products is rife. Several foreign firms have been embroiled in court cases over imitators.
Basketball star Michael Jordan in July lost a case against a Chinese sportswear company that used the Chinese version of his name.
Apple paid $60m to settle a trademark dispute with a Chinese company that had applied to block the sale of iPad computer tablets in 2012.
A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for the US investment bank Goldman Sachs confirmed to Bloomberg there were no ties with the Shenzhen company and said it was “looking into the matter”.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report |
As revealed by Motorsport.com last month, the three new venues will join Hong Kong, Mexico City, Paris, New York and Montreal on the schedule with two other yet-to-be decided venues.
The 11-date, 14-round calendar, approved in the June 19 meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, also features a return to Marrakesh in Morocco, which will be the first race of 2018 after Hong Kong again hosts a season-opening double-header on 2/3 December.
The later start of the season has been implemented both to avoid the long gaps between races seen in season three, and also to avoid the volatile cyclone season in and around Hong Kong.
Playing host to the second race of 2018 will be Santiago in Chile, as the South American country prepares to host its first ever FIA-sanctioned street race on February 3.
Santiago is the first of a brace of South American races, split by a third Mexico City ePrix which will take place in early March. The first-ever Formula E race in Brazil is scheduled for later in the month in Sao Paulo, but its March 17 date is subject to confirmation.
The European leg of the calendar will kick off with the inaugural Rome ePrix on April 14 before moving onto Paris two weeks later. Another race is scheduled in Germany, and is provisionally slated for May 19. It is believed that the venue will be either Berlin or Munich.
A round for June 9 also appears on the calendar. A long-mooted Zurich ePrix is believed to be the favourite for this date, with plans to return to Moscow now appearing less likely.
The fourth Formula E season will again conclude with two double-headers in New York and Montreal in July. The former round is subject to a final date confirmation.
2017/18 Formula E calendar: |
Bitcoin is at all-time high, with its value hitting $1,197.96 per coin on Friday and with over $18 billion of the digital currency in circulation.
That's well above its previous peak, in November 2013. At that time, the currency was trading at $1,163 per coin, with $13 billion in circulation.
After that previous high four years ago, bitcoin saw massive losses, dropping down to a value of around $200 per coin in 2015. The market and the total value of the currency in circulation have since rallied.
Bitcoins have been prone to volatile price fluctuations and events as varied as the devaluation of China's yuan and currency policies in India and Venezuela.
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Goldman Sachs has invested in the currency and the New York Stock Exchange has begun listing bitcoin data, but despite those advances, it is still considered a fringe currency by most.
Bitcoin is regularly used for anonymous digital payments, including on websites like Silk Road, where it can be used to purchase contraband items including drugs.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission decided in 2015 to classify bitcoin as a commodity. But the growth of the currency has prompted talk of further regulation.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and then-Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), now the director of the Office of Management and Budget, launched the Congressional blockchain caucus in February. The caucus aims to educate members on bitcoin and blockchain technologies, which allow for transactions using digital currencies. |
Universal's film will be tied to the Caribbean area where several ships and planes have disappeared under mysterious circumstances over the years.
Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail will write, and is attached to direct, a new take on Universal's Bermuda Triangle project.
Earlier drafts of the untitled film were written by Miles Millar & Alfred Gough and Juliet Snowden & Stiles White. Details of the plot are being kept under wraps. The mysterious Caribbean area known as the Bermuda Triangle stretches between the Florida Straits, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. Over the years, several ships and planes have disappeared in the area under mysterious circumstances. Theories about paranormal or alien causes have long swirled around these strange disappearances.
Dylan Clark (the Planet of the Apes series) is producing for his Universal-based Dylan Clark Productions, along with Esmail and Chad Hamilton for their Esmail Corp. Millar and Gough will executive produce.
Executive vp production Jon Mone and vp Jay Polidoro will oversee the project on behalf of Universal. Beau Bauman will oversee on behalf of Dylan Clark Productions.
Esmail is known for creating created USA's thriller series Mr. Robot, which depicts an underground society of hackers with access to private, government and corporate secrets. The show was nominated for six Emmys, with star Rami Malek winning for lead actor in a drama series. Its third season is slated to premiere in October. Recently, Amazon ordered two seasons of Esmail's series Homecoming starring Julia Roberts. He is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and McKuin Frankel Whitehead LLP. |
A Virginia professor's "Introduction to Islam" course crosses the line from objective religious teaching to proselytization, says the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
The national organization of atheists and agnostics, based in Madison, Wis., has more than 21,500 members, including 525 in Virginia. FFRF sent a letter last month asking Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in Annandale, Va., to investigate Professor Daoud Nassimi's class, which is described as an objective investigation of Islam "in its historical, religious, and political dimensions."
Instead, "this class has been used to proselytize students and advance belief in the existence of a god in an attempt to prove religious belief correct," wrote Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott and Legal Fellow Katherine Paige. An audio recording and PowerPoint slides from a lecture on the existence of god obtained by FFRF show that Nassimi's class is "a one-sided monologue by a government-paid employee whose agenda is to show the truth of religion – namely, the existence of a god."
Nassimi spent one class teaching students that the "use of logical inference confirms the existence of God," presenting arguments characteristic of creationism/intelligent design. He promoted an Islamic view of God, saying, "[i]f infinite, then [God] cannot be partitioned into different roles," and "finite beings cannot claim incarnation of infinity," effectively rejecting the Christian trinity.
"There must be a power of intellect, of thinking, knowledge, wisdom, all of that behind this universe. Common sense takes us to that point," said Nassimi. He also claimed common sense "cannot accept that the heart works for itself."
Nassimi also has belittled atheists and other non-believers. When one student expressed concern about the lecture on the class webpage, Nassimi responded, "The reality is that science does not offer any support for the claims of those who deny God, but they are using science as a cover to hide their agenda. Please note that this course is 'Introduction to Islam.' So, I will be offering Islam's position and views all along the semester, whether anyone likes it or not."
In one lecture, he called people who deny God's existence "worse than animals," because they have human intelligence and still "[go] so low and wild to deny the source of their own existence."
"The primary legal issue with this class is Prof. Nassimi's active promotion of his personal religious views. This is not a question of Prof. Nassimi's free speech – Prof. Nassimi is abusing his government position," wrote Elliott and Paige.
The letter concluded by asking NOVA to thoroughly investigate the class and, if the allegations are confirmed, to remove Nassimi from teaching the class. "Given his inability to separate his teaching duties from his religious sensibilities, we fail to see how he can conduct a collegiate course on Islam or religion," FFRF said.
An attorney for the Virginia Community College System responded Oct. 17, informing FFRF that it was in the process of conducting a review.
Listen to selected audio clips from Nassimi’s class. |
Ireland’s reactionary abortion laws largely upheld
By Steve James
9 July 2013
The Irish parliament voted July 2 to alter the country’s fiercely anti-abortion legislation to allow for termination in circumstances where the woman is considered to be a suicide risk.
The vote followed months of controversy following the death of Savita Halappanavar, and has been presented as a significant liberalisation of Irish law. It is not.
In the days before she died Savita, 17 weeks pregnant and suffering severe back pain, repeatedly requested an abortion. The 31-year-old Indian born dentist was advised by staff at University Hospital Galway, Ireland, that a termination was not possible, despite the unviability of the fetus, on the grounds that “this is a Catholic country.” Savita died five days later from septicaemia.
The avoidable death triggered immense anger in Ireland and internationally following its exposure in the Irish Times. Demonstrations and vigils were held in Dublin, Galway, Limerick and many small towns across Ireland, as well as outside the Irish embassies in Delhi, London, Berlin and Brussels. “Profound concern” was expressed by the Indian ambassador in Dublin.
The protests drew attention once again to Ireland’s reactionary abortion laws, the most restrictive in Europe, and the continuing influence of the Catholic Church in every area of social and private life. Currently, around 4,000 women visit Britain from Ireland every year for abortions.
The protests alarmed the government, raising fears of yet more damning revelations against the Catholic Church, which has been implicated in a succession of scandals over brutal children’s homes, orphanages and sexual abuse by clergy.
All the main political parties responded to the tragedy by sidestepping criticism of the church. The government insisted on awaiting the outcome of a number of inquiries into the death, including one by the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE).
Calls for a full public inquiry made by Praveen Halappanavar, Savita’s husband, were ignored. An inquiry would call into question the abortion ban in Ireland’s 1937 Constitution, drawn up in consultation with the church, and the anti-abortion 1983 Eighth Amendment. The grieving husband was pressured by Irish premier Enda Kenny to support the HSE inquiry.
When the HSE inquiry was finally published in May this year, it went into great detail on the medical circumstances of Savita’s death and made a number of serious criticisms of the procedures employed at the Galway hospital. The report complained of “inadequate monitoring,” a “failure of offer all management options” and “non adherence to clinical guidelines related to... sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock.”
The report also commented on a “lack of recognition of the gravity of the situation” facing Savita.
However, with regard to the legal and constitutional framework, the report restricted itself to recommending constitutional change solely “in relation to the management of inevitable miscarriage.”
The words “Catholic” or “church” did not appear in the report at all. But the chair of the inquiry, Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran from St Georges University London, admitted the basic point that had the patient been in the UK, he would have performed a termination earlier.
The government also sought to divert international criticism by suggesting it was time for a minimal legislative easing on an unrelated aspect of the abortion ban.
Currently abortion is covered by the Offences against the Person Act of 1861, passed when Ireland was a British colony. Termination is only legal where the mother’s life, and not her health or well-being, is in danger. The 1983 Eighth Amendment upholds the “right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother”.
On this basis abortion carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, even in cases of rape.
The government proposed to legislate on “Case X”, a 1992 case of a fourteen-year-old girl who had been raped. The Irish Supreme Court at the time ruled that abortion could be authorised because the young woman was suicidal. Despite the verdict, successive governments avoided legislation legalizing abortion in such cases. Even this marginal change was immediately made the target of a campaign by the church and right wing anti-abortion groups.
Just weeks after Savita’s death, and despite opinion polls showing that 85 percent of respondents supported new legislation, a joint statement of Irish bishops complained of “the careful balance between the equal right to life of a mother and her unborn child” being fundamentally changed.
The bishops mobilised 25,000 people for a Vigil for Life demonstration in Dublin this January and subsequently held smaller rallies in Knock, County Mayo. In May, the Irish Bishops’ Conference stated that Catholic members of the Dáil who voted for the change could be excommunicated.
The Fine Gael/Labour government’s “Protection of Life During Pregnancy” legislation essentially upholds the status quo with regard to abortion. The bill allowed for abortion under circumstances when suicide was considered a risk, but this could only be authorised following unanimous agreement between three doctors, two psychiatrists and one obstetrician.
The proposed legislation made clear that, outside of a medical risk to life or a danger of suicide, abortion would remain illegal and both doctor and patient would be subject to a sentence tariff of up to fourteen years imprisonment. At no point in legislative deliberations was the suggestion raised, by any of the parties, that a woman’s welfare, opinions or life plan should have any weight in the decision.
Parliamentary members of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein indicated they would vote against the proposed change. Comments from independent TD Mattie McGrath were typical. He fulminated during a parliamentary debate that the state had a “litany of historical failures regarding unborn children.”
Kenny reported that he was being “branded a murderer” and had been sent “medals, scapulars, plastic foetuses, letters written in blood.”
In the face of this Kenny was, he insisted, “a public representative who happens to be a Catholic”. He was, he insisted “a Taoiseach for all the people and that’s my job.”
When the first parliamentary vote was held on July 2, the government won by 138 votes to 24. Of the 24, four were from Fine Gael, one from Sinn Fein and nineteen from Fianna Fail. The legislation will now move through committee stages where it will surely continue to be the focus of repeated assaults.
Kenny’s claim to be a defender of “all the people” is fraudulent. Rather, as in 2011 when he denounced Vatican obfuscation in the face of child abuse allegations contained in the Cloyne report of that year, he is seeking to obscure the worst excesses of the church while maintaining the increasingly shaky constitutional grip of the church over social affairs and political life. |
Do you know how to turn a simple sunflower seed into a piece of delicious meat? If not, ask the Russians – some of them know nice ways of how to survive the crisis…
First of all, buy a packet of sunflower seeds.
Go to the nearest place with the high concentration of pigeons. Throw the seeds on the ground.
Wait till the greedy creatures approach your feet.
Make an abrupt movement and grab the youngest and the gentlest one.
Or the fattest one. A pigeon is an exceptionally dull bird, so in this way you can catch up to 3 pigeons in one place.
Pluck them.
Cut the head and the legs off.
Marinate the bodies either in vinegar, mayonnaise and spices, or, if the crisis is not so bad, in wine for at least one day, otherwise the meat will be tough! |
The new leader of the region’s leading watchdog group for water quality is putting elected officials on notice that pollution from businesses could land local governments in court.
“We get screwed because the cities are not doing enough to control the industrial pollution,” said Matt O’Malley, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper, referring to the intractable problem of stormwater runoff contaminating the region’s streams, beaches and other waterways.
That’s a relatively different — potentially more confrontational — tone for the nonprofit environmental group, which has notched significant legal victories in the past but struggled in recent years with leadership stability and how to balance fundraising and advocacy.
Municipal officials, business executives, developers and others have said the region has progressed significantly in curbing water pollution over the decades. They maintain that establishing comprehensive clean-water systems, upgrading them to meet the state’s increasingly stringent regulations and monitoring residents and businesses for compliance is a complex and time-consuming process that costs billions of dollars.
The Coastkeeper board’s decision to promote O’Malley follows the abrupt departure of Tracie Barham, who was hired in April to improve the organization’s finances. After the Great Recession, the group saw its annual budget of about $1.4 million get slashed nearly in half because of plummeting donations.
Bruce Reznik — who oversaw Coastkeeper for a decade before leaving in 2010 — applauded the O’Malley pick, saying his leadership could be a fresh start for the organization.
“Matt was pretty straightforward with the board (of directors) about getting back to San Diego Coastkeeper being that advocacy voice,” said Reznik, who now works as executive director of Los Angeles Waterkeeper.
“My big hope is the community recognizes the value in what Matt can do and comes in to support him financially,” Reznik added.
O’Malley has been Coastkeeper’s legal and policy director since 2014. His new role combines this work along with becoming the group’s top advocate for fundraising and public leadership. The structure is common among other waterkeeper groups in the state.
“For the organization’s credibility and long-term maintenance, I think it makes sense,” said O’Malley, a 43-year-old environmental lawyer.
Jack Monger, chief executive of the San Diego-based Industrial Environmental Association, a business advocacy group, praised the new leader of Coastkeeper for having a practical approach.
“He’s really focused on the egregious offenders,” Monger said. “I support him in what he’s doing to make them aware and looks for solutions that don’t necessarily bankrupt them.”
Matt Adams, vice president of the Building Industry Association of San Diego, was more circumspect.
“We hope Coastkeeper under Matt’s guidance will be a collaborative partner in finding ways to address stormwater (issues) in a fair and meaningful way,” he said.
Coastkeeper’s stated priorities for the coming year include trying to ensure continued advancement of the city of San Diego’s fledgling water-recycling program, known as Pure Water, boosting its educational workshops in public schools and maintaining a voluntary water-quality monitoring program.
The group also is gearing up to help like-minded organizations fight, if need be, Donald Trump’s incoming presidential administration on water-quality issues, said O’Malley, who serves on the board of the California Coastkeeper Alliance, an umbrella organization that coordinates efforts by the state’s 13 waterkeeper programs.
And there’s the strategy by San Diego Coastkeeper of throwing its full weight behind the longstanding dispute over whether enough is being done to reduce business-related stormwater pollution.
This year, the group sent out half a dozen legal notices calling on several recycling companies, the National City Marine Terminal and the Del Mar Fairgrounds racetrack to improve practices designed to limit runoff from washing chemicals into creeks, storm drains and eventually beaches.
Local governments are responsible for monitoring and cracking down on such industrial water pollution. O’Malley said determining whether municipal officials are properly overseeing local businesses will be a priority and that his group won’t be afraid to use the courts to get results.
“We are certainly digging into the actions that are taken or not taken to assess if they are doing their due diligence,” he said.
Jack Minan, a former chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board and currently a law professor at the University of San Diego, said Coastkeeper may be able to gain some traction in the courts — but the legal battle will be tricky.
“I think it’s going to be difficult to ratchet up the (cities’) monitoring requirements,” Minan said. “But if (Coastkeeper is) finding violations and a city isn’t doing anything with respect to it, then they’re in violation.”
Twitter: @jemersmith
Phone: (619) 293-2234
Email: [email protected] |
With Cosmos, Carl Sagan and his wife and co-writer, Ann Druyan, brilliantly illustrated the underlying science of his same-titled book, placing the human species within a space-and-time context that brought the infinite into stunningly clear view. The series, which originally aired in 1980 on PBS, has been seen by more than 700 million people worldwide and remains a high-water mark in miniseries history.
Sagan lucidly explains such topics as Einstein’s theory of relativity, Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the greenhouse effect, bringing the mysteries of the universe down to a layman’s level of understanding. The footage in these remastered, seven-DVD or seven-VHS sets is as fresh and riveting as it was two decades ago and is certain to fire the imaginations of a whole new generation of viewers. This is THE GREATEST television series ever. |
Security forces in Balochistan have killed 92 militants, including a key commander, and have conducted 417 targeted operations in the province during the last four months, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said on Friday.
“Security forces in the province have also seized more than 10,000 kilogrammes of explosives and other arms and ammunition,” said Bugti while addressing a press conference.
The home minister said that terrorism will not be tolerated in the province, and stated that during the last four months of operations, 22 Frontier Corps (FC) personnel have been killed and 65 injured.
Referring to the recent arrest of Kulbushan Jadhav from the province, an Indian intelligence officer working with RAW, the home minister reiterated that RAW was active in subversive and terror activities in the province.
The government later aired a confessional video of the Indian spy.
“The RAW agent is being interrogated in connection with terrorist activities in Balochistan,” added Bugti.
Anwar ul Haq Kakar, spokesman for the provincial government, said the Indian intelligence agency was “hatching conspiracies against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).”
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province, has remained under the grip of violence for over a decade which has claimed thousands of lives. |
By all intents and purposes, sloths might just take the honors for being every female species’ worst nightmare.
They're not only the world’s laziest animal.
Apparently the only thing they do quickly is sex.
And by quickly, I mean quickly.
The whole mating ritual is done, including foreplay, in about 5 seconds.
Then they proceed to get back to what they normally do – spending much of their lives upside down, hanging from the branches of a tree. And you thought excessive TV-watching was bad.
According to a new documentary "Meet the Sloths" airing Mar. 4 on Animal Planet, sloths are – surprisingly enough – an extremely sexually active animal.
The documentary takes viewers to a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica, run by a “sloth whisperer” Judy Arroyo.
The sanctuary is home to some 160 sloths, many of them orphaned or injured.
Arroyo has only one rule: no sloth sex. She doesn’t need more sloth babies.
But here is the problem.
When the sanctuary females are in heat, they scream.
The screaming attracts wild male sloths from a great distance away to try their luck with the females.
According to the documentary, sloths are not only persistent. They can also be shockingly quick.
Who knew female screaming could have such powerful impact on male laziness? |
An Egyptian court has denied bail to three Al Jazeera journalists, and extended the imprisonment of a fourth for 45 days in hearings that coincided with World Press Freedom Day.
The judge on Saturday adjourned the case of Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed until May 15, after hearing Fahmy repeat his request for bail. The first bail request was rejected on March 31.
The judge also listened to Fahmy explaining that his job as a journalist involved keeping contact with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood as well as with the country's intelligence, police forces and government.
Al Jazeera has been denied access to attend the session, but updates of the proceedings were being posted on the messaging service, Twitter, by a group of international journalists.
The three journalists, who work for Al Jazeera English, shouted "Happy Press Freedom Day" as they were taken out of the court room, international journalists reported.
They face charges of spreading false news and aligning with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that has been designated a "terrorist group" by the current government.
Hunger strike
In a second case, Abdullah Elshamy, a journalist for Al Jazeera Arabic, was told he would spend another 45 days in prison. He has been in prison for more than 262 days, has never been charged with a crime, and has been on hunger strike for more than a 100 days in protest.
Talking to reporters at his hearing who were later kicked out, Elshamy said he lived in a 12 metre sq cell with ith 15 other. Water is cut for up to 12 hours a day. He also said that he lost 35kg since his hunger strike started in January, has had no medical care, and has not met a lawyer since his imprisonment in August.
Concerns over press freedom and judicial procedures in Egypt have mounted as observers of the trial say the court has been unable to prove any wrongdoing.
In an interview before the latest hearing, Egypt's foreign minister, Nabil Fahmy, defended the case against Greste, Mohamed and Fahmy and cited two letters sent by the interim president, Adly Mansour, to the families of two of the journalists.
"You haven't done this, even in your system, he told the US television host, Charlie Rose. "Our president sent letters to the families of two of the accused ... because he wanted to assure them that there would be due process," Fahmy said in the interview.
Al Jazeera rejects all charges and accusations against its staff. The network urges Egypt's government to take the opportunity of World Press Freedom Day to immediately release its journalists. |
Restaurant closes early after kitchen mishap.
Urban pL8 , the paleo friendly restaurant with a cult-like following on the Westside, reportedly had a serious kitchen catastrophe Sunday afternoon. The restaurant, located on Huff Road not far from Marietta Boulevard, was not accepting new customers as of approximately 1:35 PM Sunday afternoon. A ToNeTo Atlanta reader and patron of Urban Pl8 was one of many diners turned away from the restaurant. According to this reader, something went "haywire in the kitchen" and "the entire kitchen staff was fired on the spot."
Urban pL8 opened as normal at 10 AM for Sunday brunch service, but did not serve after approximately 1:30 PM (normal close is 4 PM for brunch service) and according to a restaurant employee, did not reopen for their Sunday Paleo Buffet, which normally runs 5 PM to 9:30 PM. Urban pl8 is not normally open Mondays or Tuesdays, but according to the employee, it "will hopefully be open" presumably with normal hours, on Wednesday. If in fact the entire kitchen staff was fired, this would seem to be a difficult schedule to maintain.
Additionally, Sunday nights are normally dedicated to preparing "to-go" meals that are then delivered to CrossFit gyms around town. It's unclear if this task was completed under the circumstances.
Urban pL8 was opened during the summer of 2009 by Betsy Pitts. Urban pL8 is Betsy’s first restaurant endeavor since her days as sous chef at Bacchanalia and Floataway Café. The restaurant was previously on my DeathWatch list, but has seemingly carved out a niche among Atlanta diners, especially Crossfit participants, willing to travel for her healthy fare.
Strangely, no message was left on either the restaurant's facebook page or on their voicemail to alert patrons to the issue and potentially delayed opening this week.
What is the strangest thing you've had happen to you at a restaurant? Do you think Urban pL8 can bounce back? What is your favorite Westside eatery? |
A Japanese atlas made in 1876 illustrates Japanese territory in yellow and purple, with Korean territory including Dokdo and Ulleungdo uncolored. / Courtesy of Shim Jeong-bo
By Chung Hyun-chae
Japanese geography textbooks used in the late 19th century described Dokdo, Korea's easternmost islets, over which Japan claims sovereignty, as belonging to Korea, a study showed Thursday.
According to research conducted by Shim Jeong-bo, a professor of geography education at Seowon University in North Chungcheong Province, Japan, recognized Dokdo as Korean territory in its geography textbooks for elementary and middle school students during the Meiji Restoration era (1868-1912).
Shim cited Japanese geography books including an elementary school textbook titled "Koukokuchirisyo," which he believes is Japan's oldest geography book that mentioned Dokdo, and a middle school textbook titled "Kaisei nihonchishi youryaku."
The former was published in 1874 and the latter in 1886.
"The Koukokuchirisyo stated that Japanese residents had to get permission from the Japanese government to fish near Dokdo and Ulleungdo, also one of Korea's territories in the East Sea, meaning that Japan recognized the two islands as foreign territories," Shim told The Korea Times.
A Japanese geography textbook titled "Koukokuchirisyo" published in 1874 provides evidence that Japan recognized Dokdo as belonging to Korea. / Courtesy of Shim Jeong-bo
"The latter also stated that Japan's highest administrative body in 1886 announced that Dokdo and Ulleungdo were parts of Joseon," he added.
The professor also cited atlases including a complete map of Japan called "Dainihonzenzu" which was published in 1892 and a local map titled "Sanindounozu" made in 1876.
On those maps, Japanese territories were colored, with Korean territories including Dokdo and Ulleungdo left uncolored.
Shim said he found those books in libraries in Japan.
"Given that textbooks reflect the situation of that time, in all times and places, the textbooks and maps I found are important resources that are reliable to refute the Japanese territorial claim over the sovereignty of Dokdo," Shim said.
Located about 160 kilometers northwest of Japan's Oki Island, Dokdo is a set of volcanic outcrops abundant in fishing resources and minerals, of which ownership has been disputed between Seoul and Tokyo over the past several decades.
Japan incorporated Dokdo in its Shimane Prefecture, opposing its previous proclamation in 1877 of the Japanese Council of the State that Japan has nothing to do with the islets and that they belong to Korea.
Yeungnam University's Dokdo Institute will hold a symposium today to refute the Japanese claim on Dokdo with study results including Shim's.
The institute has held the symposium since 2006 to criticize "Takeshima Day," proclaimed by Shimane Prefecture in 2005 to highlight its territorial claim to the island.
"I hope the symposium could serve as a venue that exposes the fallacies in Japanese territorial claims," said Choi Jae-mok, director of the Dokdo Institute. |
For other ships with the same name, see MS Fernglen
Fernglen shortly after launch in 1929 History Name: Fernglen (1929–1934)
(1929–1934) Sandhamn (1934–1939)
(1934–1939) Sinfra (1939–1943) Namesake: Sandhamn, Sweden
Sinfra, Ivory Coast Owner: A/S Glittre (1929–1934)
Rederi A/B Jamaica (1934–1939)
Cie Generale de Nav a Vapeur Cyprien
Fabre (1939–42)
German government (1942–1943) Operator: Mittelmeer Reederei GmbH (1942–1943) Port of registry:
Germany (1942–1943) Route: Fern Line (1929–1934) Builder: Akers Mekaniske Verksted, Oslo, Norway Yard number: 434 Launched: 15 May 1929 Completed: July 1929 Out of service: 19 October 1943 Identification: Code letters:
LHKB (1930–34)
SEVA (1934–39)
Status: Sunk by air attack General characteristics Tonnage: As built:
4,444 GRT
2,669 NRT
8,190 DWT
3,992 tons under deck
After 1934:
4,470 GRT
2,577 NRT
3,979 tons under deck Length: 117.4 m (385 ft) Beam: 16.7 m (55 ft) Depth: 7 metres (23 ft) Decks: 2 Installed power: 624 nominal horsepower Propulsion: 2 6-cylinder 4S.C.SA diesel engines, twin screw propellers Speed: 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h)
Sinfra was a cargo ship built in 1929 as Fernglen by Akers Mekaniske Verksted in Oslo, Norway, for a Norwegian shipping company. The ship was sold to Swedish owners in 1934 and to a French company in 1939, on the last occasion having her name changed to Sinfra.
Sinfra was confiscated by German authorities in 1942, and used by them in the Mediterranean. On 19 October 1943, Sinfra was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft north of Souda Bay, Crete. Around 2,000 people were killed in the sinking, the majority being Italian POWs.
Description [ edit ]
The vessel was a 4,444 GRT (2,669 NRT, 8,190 DWT, tonnage under deck: 3,992) steel-hulled cargo ship, built in 1929 by the shipyard Akers Mekaniske Verksted in Oslo, Norway, as Fernglen. She had yard number 434.[1][2][3]
The ship was 117.4 metres (385 ft) long, with a beam of 16.7 metres (55 ft) and a depth of 7 metres (23 ft). She had electric lighting, wireless telegraph and two decks. The ship was propelled by two 6-cylinder 4S.C.SA diesel engines with a combined total of 624 nominal horsepower, which gave her a top speed of 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h).[1][2][4] Each of the engines, also built by Akers Mekaniske Verksted, powered a screw propeller.[2][Note 1]
History [ edit ]
Fernglen being being launched at Akers Mekaniske Verksted in 1929
Fernglen was launched on 15 May 1929, and completed in July of the same year.[1] She was built for A/S Glittre of Oslo, Norway (a subsidiary of the shipping company Fearnley & Eger).[2][6] The ship was assigned the code letters LHKB.[2] While Fernglen was under construction, Norwegian painter Thorolf Holmboe visited the shipyard and painted the scene. The maritime painting To skip i flytedokk ved Akers Mek. Verksted portrays Fernglen under construction, as well as the Fred. Olsen & Co. cargo ship Borgå undergoing maintenance in the neighbouring floating dry dock at Akers Mekaniske Verksted.[7][Note 2]
Fernglen was one of nine ships belonging to Fearnley & Eger that formed the "Fern Line".[Note 3] The Fern Line ships were employed primarily in liner trade, carrying phosphate and cotton to Japan, then sailing from the Philippines to the United States with cargoes of copra.[9]
On 13 August 1933, she ran aground 30 nautical miles (56 km) south of Cape Guardafui, Italian Somaliland whilst on a voyage from Macassar, Netherlands East Indies to Aarhus, Denmark with a load of 7,422 tons of copra. The British tug Preserver and the Dutch passenger ship Christiaan Huygens went to her aid.[11][12] The British tug Protector was sent from Suez, Egypt on 22 August to assist Preserver.[13] Fernglen was refloated on 8 November and taken in to Ras Alula, Italian Somaliland for examination. The necessity of discharging her cargo by hand was the main factor in the delay in refloating her.[14] The damage caused by the grounding was such that the ship was considered beyond economic repair.[5][Note 4] The refloated wreck was towed to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.[15]
In 1934 the wreck of Fernglen was nevertheless sold to the Stockholm-based company Rederi A/B Jamaica, repaired and renamed Sandhamn.[1][5] The repairs and rebuild work on the ship was carried out at Öresundsvarvet at Landskrona and entailed the replacement of 600 tons of steel and the complete disassembly and refurbishing of the ship's machinery. Öresund Shipyard's work on rebuilding the ship was one of the largest hull repair jobs ever carried out in Sweden at the time. The rebuilding was completed on 5 December 1934.[15] The ship's tonnage had been changed to 4,470 GRT (2,577 NRT, tonnage under deck: 3,979). The vessel was assigned the code letters SEVA.[16] Rederi Jamaica employed Sandhamn on trade lines abroad.[15] In 1939 she was sold on to Cie Generale de Nav a Vapeur Cyprien Fabre of Marseille, France. The new French owners renamed her Sinfra.[1][4]
In December 1942, the German occupiers of France confiscated the ship. They retained the French name of the vessel.[1][3] Management of the ship was transferred to the German semi-public Mittelmeer-Reederei [de],[17] which managed all civilian ships confiscated by the Germans in the Mediterranean.
Transporting prisoners of war [ edit ]
The Greek island of Crete had been captured by the Germans and Italians in the Battle of Crete in May 1941 and was occupied by a mixed German-Italian force. The Italian garrison unit was the 51st Siena Infantry Division, consisting of 21,700 men, which occupied the easternmost prefecture of Lasithi.[17]
On 8 September 1943 the Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces was signed, and the Italians in Crete and elsewhere were disarmed by the Germans without major problems. As elsewhere, they were given the choice to continue the war alongside Germany or to be sent to the Reich to perform forced labour.[17] The Germans employed ships to transport Italian prisoners in the Mediterranean. Of these a dozen were lost, causing the deaths of at least 13,000 prisoners in total.[18]
A minority of the Italian soldiers on Crete chose to continue the fight on the German side and formed the Legione Italiana Volontaria Creta.[17]
Sinking [ edit ]
On 18 October 1943, 2,389 Italian prisoners were loaded into the cargo hold of Sinfra to be transported to Piraeus on the Greek mainland.[19][Note 5] There were 204 Germans on board the ship, as well as a cargo of bombs.[20][21] Less than an hour after departing Souda Bay, accompanied by the escort vessels GK 05 and GK 06,[21] the ship came under Allied air attack. A total of ten USAAF North American B-25 Mitchell and RAF Bristol Beaufighter aircraft engaged the ship, some 19 nautical miles (35 km) north of Souda Bay. At 22:05, after nightfall, Sinfra was struck by a torpedo near the front hatch, and at 23:00 the ship was hit by a bomb which penetrated the engine room.[20][22][23] The hits knocked out the ship's steering and set Sinfra on fire. At 02:31 on 19 October, the ship blew up and sank.[21] Most of those who died in the sinking were Italian POWs. The number of dead is disputed, with estimates ranging from 1,857 or 2,098 killed, up to 5,000 dead.[1][18][24] Amongst the survivors were 597 Italians, 197 Germans and 13 Greeks. Some 3% of the Germans on board died in the sinking, while according to conservative estimates close to 77% of the Italians perished.[21]
The ship had insufficient safety equipment in relation to the number of people on board.[21][21] In addition to the two escort vessels, eleven other German vessels responded to the SOS signals sent out by Sinfra. The rescue vessels were under orders to prioritize the rescue of Germans.[21] While rescue efforts were going on, a No. 603 Squadron RAF Bristol Beaufighter strafed a German Dornier Do 24 flying boat which was participating in the rescue. The Do 24 later sank.[22] As Sinfra burned, the German guards on board locked the prisoners in the holds and threw hand grenades at them.[25] When the panicking surviving prisoners broke out of the holds and charged the guards, attempting to board life boats, the guards opened fire with small arms and machine guns, killing many.[25][26] According to Italian naval archives, some 500 Italians were rescued from the sinking ship, but after the survivors had been brought to Chania, Crete, about half of them were executed "for undisciplined behaviour ... and the killing of guards" during the sinking.[25]
References [ edit ]
Notes
^ Fernglen ' s construction.[5] Having a separate engine for each screw was a common security measure at the time of thes construction. ^ To skip i flytedokk ved Akers Mek. Verksted was owned by the [8] As of 1999,was owned by the Norwegian Shipowners' Association ^ Fernglen were Ferncliff, Ferndale, Fernhill, Fernlane, Fernmoor, [9][10] The other ships employed on the Fern Line concurrently withwere Fernbank Fernwood and Fernbrook ^ Fernglen, Fearnley & Eger ordered a new ship, also named [5] In order to replace, Fearnley & Eger ordered a new ship, also named Fernglen , from a Swedish shipyard. ^ [20] Of the Italian prisoners embarked on the ship, 155 were officers.
Citations |
Win McNamee / Getty Images Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) arrives at the U.S. Capitol October 16, 2013 in Washington, DC.
The bill that ended the government shutdown and forestalled a debt crisis Wednesday night had at its core what the country expected: it funded the government and averted default. But that was not all.
Among its less well-known provisions were a number of long-standing funding requests, including $450 million in Colorado flood relief and $600 million to fight forest fires. There was also some back pay for state workers funded through federal grants, and money for the widow of the late New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
But one of the most notable additions to the 35-page bill was a $2.1 billion increase in funding for a dam under construction on the Kentucky-Illinois border, which just happens to be the home turf of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). It has raised the alarm bells of conservatives, who have long complained about Republicans who spend heavily on their home states. One group, the Senate Conservatives Fund, immediately christened the dam project the “Kentucky Kickback.”
“The McConnell-Reid bill not only funds Obamacare and suspends the debt limit, it ALSO includes a provision…that increases the authorization for the Olmsted Lock in Kentucky from $775 million to nearly $3 billion,” writes SCF in a statement. “In exchange for funding Obamacare and raising the debt limit, Mitch McConnell has secured a $2 billion earmark.”
When asked about the project, McConnell’s office referred TIME to Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), two members on the Senate committee that is responsible for appropriations. Their office said McConnell was not directly responsible for inserting the language. “According to the Army Corps of Engineers, 160 million taxpayer dollars will be wasted because of canceled contracts if this language is not included,” wrote Sen. Alexander in a statement to TIME. “Senator Feinstein and I, as chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, requested this provision. It has already been approved this year by the House and Senate.” A spokesman for Sen. Feinstein agreed that the increased funding was nothing new.
But that is unlikely to be the final word spoken on the subject. Founded by Heritage Foundation Chairman Jim DeMint, the Senate Conservatives Fund has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars against McConnell in his 2014 Kentucky senate race. “Mitch McConnell is negotiating the Republican surrender,” said Matt Hoskins, executive director of the group, according to the Hill Monday. No matter how the project originated, the group is sure to use the “Kentucky Kickback” as a catchy new shorthand to portray McConnell as a Washington insider, in the hopes of making the dam a factor in next year’s election. |
Corker, along with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., have proposed a gas tax increase of 6 cents a gallon each year for two years, ultimately raising it by 12 cents. It is currently 18.4 cents per gallon, and the diesel tax is 24.4 cents per gallon.
The existing highway legislation expires in May, and Corker said there is a $100 billion shortfall in the fund over the next 10 years. He said his proposal would solve the problem for the "long, long term."
Read MoreRaise gas tax? How about eliminating it: Pethokoukis
However, Corker isn't just proposing a gas tax hike. He'd like to cut the federal income tax to balance it out.
"You could lower the marginal rate — the 10 percent marginal rate — from 10 to 8.6 percent on all Americans paying income taxes and it would be revenue neutral and it would be also be very pro-growth," he explained.
That said, the senator is open to offsetting the increased gas tax in other ways, but noted there has to be some type of an offset for it to have any hopes of passing the Republican-controlled Congress.
Read More Fuel is cheaper — so let's hike gas tax: Former governor
As prices at the pump have been falling, the call for a gas tax hike has been gaining momentum. On Monday, the national average for a gallon of gas fell to $2.20, the lowest average since May 2009, according to AAA.
Over the weekend, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told "Fox News Sunday" that raising the federal gas tax is among the options under consideration to replenish the Highway Trust Fund. Thune is the incoming chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
"Hopefully this is something again over the next several months, especially with energy prices being where they are, that can gain some momentum and show that Congress can go from A to B and can solve a problem with a user fee, which by the way is the most conservative way in the world to generate revenues," Corker said.
—The Associated Press contributed to this story. |
A sheriff’s bomb squad was sent to a military recruiter’s office in Lemon Grove Wednesday morning to check a suspicious package that turned out to be a box of sausages, authorities said.
Deputies were called to the office in a strip mall along Federal Boulevard at College Avenue at 8:40 a.m. to check a box left outside the door of the U.S. Navy recruiter’s office, sheriff’s officials said.
The building was evacuated, and the bomb-arson unit was sent in at 9:20 a.m.
California Highway Patrol officers closed the off-ramp from eastbound state Route 94 at College Avenue until shortly before 11 a.m. Pedestrians still were not allowed into the mall area, a sheriff’s dispatcher said.
A bomb technician in protective gear checked the box shortly before noon and determined it contained sausages, a sheriff’s official said. |
The melting pot, in my humble opinion is some excuse for we are going to take what is valuable and dismiss the rest. From indoor toilet, door knobs, fountain pen to cellphone, yes, even the cellphone, and an entire list of other items which frankly few know created by black people, the melting pot does not even amount to being given credit. At times, I wonder whether those who so passionately HATE black people could live without all the things we have created and never given credit or the money or recognition for them. Stop at any stoplight. It was not only George Washington Carver, Madam C.J. Walker who were inventors, provided things which are still being utilized without ever having been given credit or proper credit. There are more inventions and creators by black folks than the 300 uses Carver is attributed to in finding uses for the peanut. Oprah maybe wealthy now, but Madam C.J. Walker was known to be the first black female millionaire back in the day. Let alone, her adopted daughter was one of the pivotal figures of the Harlem Renaissance era providing those of the time with her Soirees in the Dark Tower. See, when you know your history, you don't fear the other ingredients of the melting pot. The problem is we continue to believe the hype of the melting pot instead of the ingredients and individualities and contributions of those who make up the meal! IMO |
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Sewer Repair of Oakland – This Squidoo page has a wealth of information about Oakland sewer repair and the PSL ordinance. There are also informative videos and articles.
Oakland Sewer Repair News – This Oakland sewer repair press release showcases a local sewer contractor who helped a cancer patient deal with the insurance company to get the sewer repair handled. |
Hailed as the undisputed queens of ’60s-inspired garage rock, The Bangles are back.
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of their eponymous first EP this month, the Los Angeles-based trio will be performing at the U.S.A. Festival in Allen, Texas on June 30.
With their catchy, bright melodies, Beatles-esque hooks and jangling guitar riffs, The Bangles topped ’80s charts with hits like Manic Monday, Walk Like an Egyptian and Eternal Flame, selling millions of albums worldwide.
“Within two hours, Debbi, Susanna and I started a band, the three of us – and we still are a band,” says Bangles’ guitarist and vocalist Vicki Peterson.
On their latest CD, Sweetheart of the Sun, The Bangles pay homage to their shared love of ’60s-era bands like Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, and The Mamas and the Papas.
“We definitely felt like we were dipping back into the stream again,” Vicki Peterson told Rock Cellar Magazine when we recently chatted with her at length about Sweetheart of the Sun, the anniversary of their first EP, and the band’s affinity for the golden age of rock.
Rock Cellar Magazine: Take us back to the day you and your sister Debbi Peterson first met Susanna Hoffs.
Vicki Peterson: Debbi and I, we’d been playing together in a band since high school and we had just lost our bass player to a decision to become a history major. We fired our lead guitar player at that time too who serendipitously was the one who put the ad in the newspaper that Susanna called, and I picked up the phone. So, it all turned out to be a good thing in the wonderful way the universe works where it was all meant to be.
RCM: So based on that phone conversation, you and Debbi decided to give Susanna Hoffs a try?
VP: We made the decision to get together based on a couple of phone calls, but what was apparent to me was this young woman, Susanna Hoffs, was very much like Debbi and me in that she revered ’60s music. And at that time, it was sort of anachronistic. I mean, people our age liked Pat Benatar and Tom Petty, who I also liked, but if they were into the ’60s they maybe liked the Stones and The Beatles primarily. So, for someone like Susanna to come along who knew who the Grass Roots were, to know who Arthur Lee and Love was, was a really big deal to me.
RCM: Where did that first meeting take place?
VP: We got together in Susanna’s parents garage which was converted into a rather stylish little apartment that Susanna was living in. When I first walked in, I thought it was very hip with all the things she had up on the walls like postcards of Audrey Hepburn and other iconic people. I thought it was very, very cool.
Debbie and I played Susanna tapes of songs that we had written and recorded. Susanna had never really been in a band prior, but she had been singing with her then ex-boyfriend David Roback who went on to lead The Rain Parade, and then Mazzy Star. He was a very artistic and creative human, but that was the only work Susanna had done before, so she was really new at all this.
RCM: What did you think the first time you and Debbi started singing vocal harmonies with Susanna?
VP: I knew the very first time that she and Debbie and I sang together that our harmony had a unique sound. Plus, we had so much fun that first day that we decided to be a band right then and there – it was kind of like getting engaged on a blind date! We knew it was a commitment, as I was asking and interrogating Susanna with questions like “What are you looking for?” and “What do you want out of this?”
RCM: What was her answer?
VP: “World domination,” which was the right answer (laughs). We really wanted to take it all the way and were determined to do so, and I could tell Susanna was just as driven and devoted as we were.
RCM: Do you remember which songs you played during that first jam together?
VP: Weirdly enough we played White Rabbit, which is funny because to this day I’m not even sure if I know the chords! It was a really crazy and magical thing – Debbi and I finding someone our own age who was also inspired by ’60s music.
RCM: At first you called your band The Bangs, right?
VP: Yes, as The Bangs we released a 45 (RPM single) with Getting Out of Hand and Call on Me that I wrote with Susanna. We pooled our money from our meager day jobs and went into a studio in Venice and did it in a few fours and mixed it. Literally, we Xeroxed the album covers ourselves and I think it was actually David Roback who took the pictures of us. I think we took them to a place called Copy Spot in Santa Monica, where we’d usually go to make flyers for concerts because back then we did all our own promotion and bookings. Everything was done by one of the three of us.
RCM: 30 years ago this June, The Bangles released their self-titled EP with songs like I’m in Line, Mary Street and Want You, along with The Real World – your first music video. Talk about that EP a bit.
VP: The Real World was one of our early songs we did and the guitar riff is very Beatle-esque and we thought it sounded like something off Revolver. I’m in Line was about a guy Debbi liked who was seeing somebody else. Often our songs were about somebody we knew.
[Editor’s note: Speaking of Revolver, don’t miss this interview with the author the new book: Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock ‘N’ Roll. LINK HERE.]
Want You was definitely an unrequited love song that I think I wrote in seven minutes – and it sounds like it (laughs). That song we haven’t performed in a long time but it’s really fun to play.
RCM: Are there songs from your first EP that fans still request to hear played live?
VP: Someone always yells out for Mary Street at our shows. You have to really be a fan to know Mary Street and they get really excited when we pull that one out. I think we have played it in the current century. A while back we had the idea to start putting some of the older songs like Mary Street and The Real World back into our set.
With Mary Street, I remember thinking how The Rolling Stones used to be really good at painting a portrait of “a complicated girl,” and they went through this phase where they were really good at commenting on the culture and art around them. I’m talking about songs like Stupid Girl and 19th Nervous Breakdown. And Mary Street, I think, was kind of like that – where we conjured a character and wrote a song around it.
RCM: The last track on The Bangles EP is the cover song How is the Air Up There? by the ’60s New Zealand rock band The La De Das, and written by the promoter of Woodstock, Artie Kornfeld. What inspired you to record that one?
VP: We discovered that song on a mix tape, even though I think we didn’t use the term “mixed tape” back in those days. A gentleman we knew would find these really obscure wonderful songs that were often from the ’60s that were virtually unknown in America. And every time I saw him he’d give me one of these tapes, and that song was on one of those.
What I loved about that song is it was co-written by Artie Kornfeld who wrote The Rain, the Park and Other Things, and I was a huge Kornfeld fan. I love the connection we made with that song and it’s really fun to play. I remember we toured with the English Beat and we were doing all those songs on the EP and I’m telling you – if you think the songs are fast on the EP – we played them really fast in concert, as we were trying to avoid getting spat upon! We just wanted to get off the stage as quickly as possible.
RCM: The English Beat’s audience didn’t warm up to The Bangles?
VP: No. We played this one show with them and The Blasters, with this pseudo punk rock crowd throwing stuff at us. I remember blood running down Susanna’s forehead from getting hit by a crumpled up milk carton. But it was still fun to play those early songs live, and I still really love the fact that we covered How is the Air Up There? I actually had a chance in recent years to talk to Artie about it and he loves that we recorded that song and brought it out of obscurity.
RCM: Years later, The Bangles covered Simon & Garfunkel’s song A Hazy Shade of Winter. Did you ever speak with them about it?
VP: Not before we recorded it, but we did have a chance after – thank God it became a hit! – when we ran into Paul Simon in the Netherlands in Rotterdam. We had just played and after our show zoomed over to see him in concert and caught him at the very end of the show.
We had a chance to sit back afterwards and talk to him and I asked him how he felt about the fact that we actually edited his song. At the time, I realized how weird and arrogant it was in a way, as we took out the line about the vodka and lime. But he was like, “Meh, sounds great.” He really couldn’t have cared less (laughs). He was totally fine with it and was really, really sweet to us. He was one of my heroes, big time. What an artist!
RCM: What was it like being a Los Angeles-based band in the Paisley Underground scene in the early ’80s?
VP: There was this moment in time in L.A. – what Peter Holsapple of The dBs calls “the class of ’82” — where all these bands were playing at the same time who were in love with each other. Many of us were sort of mining either folk or psychedelic rock from the ’60s, and everyone was a little bit different. I’m talking about The Bangs, Dream Syndicate, Green on Red, The Rain Parade, Salvation Army, Three O’clock, The Unclaimed — all these bands. Redd Kross even kind of crossed over into our world even though they were a punk rock band.
We would play on bills with punk bands, and we would play with rockabilly bands, and it really suddenly became this scene that was ours and I’ve never experienced anything like that before because I’d always felt out of step with my age group. You know, you go to your high school dance and you really can’t stand the music they’re playing for the most part? And it was this really alienating feeling.
I know kids have that today where they don’t connect with hip hop or what passes for pop, but rather prefer other kinds of rock – actually, our son deals with that. But with us, we were all of a sudden in this group of people who were all our peers and everyone was doing something different, and we all loved what each other was doing. It was really a moment in time, but it was a potent moment.
RCM: In our interview with Daniel Lanois, he described music scenes to be “like waves coming from the ocean with a lot of power but then they always go away.”
VP: It’s so true, they’re an ebb and flow to scenes where there’s this kind of synchronicity involved and it probably has to with demographics, where you are and how old you are, and therefore what you were interested in at that time in your life. Sometimes magic happens in places like New York or Portland or Los Angeles, occasionally. For the people who really experienced it, like we did with the Paisley Underground scene, it can be very powerful.
RCM: Of all the bands to come out of the Paisley Underground scene, The Bangles were the most successful, wouldn’t you say?
VP: Well, that’s often the reason why you get this hometown curse because if you actually are successful, it’s like you get backlash from your hometown because you were there and now you’re not.
RCM: Was there a particular moment when you realized The Bangles were famous?
VP: For me, it was a gradual thing because when you’re in the middle of a hurricane or when you’re flying in an airplane, you don’t realize how fast you’re traveling.
Come to think of it though, there was this one moment when Debbie, Susanna and I were on tour — I guess it was ’86 — and we were in Washington, DC. We were going out for our daily walk, one thing that we did to try and stay normal, and we’re standing on a corner at a red light and this convertible pulls up and the radio was blasting. There was this 4.3 second delay where I’m thinking “Wait, I know this song? Is it The Beatles? No…Oh my god, it’s Manic Monday!”
I couldn’t believe it that we were on the radio and somebody else is listening to it. I’ll tell you, that’s so different than playing your tape in your car. To have a total stranger listening to your song in his car and associating his life with it, in whatever way, was just incredible. That was an amazing time as I think we were out on tour with Cyndi Lauper.
RCM: That must have been some tour: opening for Cyndi Lauper? That’s when she was huge – riding the wave of hits from her first two albums. (She’s So Unusual, True Colors.)
VP: It really was, as we discovered – along with the rest of the world – what a brilliant artist Cyndi Lauper is. At that time, I think some of her brilliance was masked by the cartoon element. I think that in a way, she was hiding behind that image. She’s an absolutely incredible singer.
RCM: Do you have a good Cyndi Lauper story to share?
VP: I do! We were on the road with her and it was Halloween and we were in some little nowhere town in England at a Ramada Inn-like hotel. We went down to the hotel bar and found out they were having a costume contest. Cyndi was there, and she was usually very protective of her privacy. It was easy for her to disguise herself by simply dressing normal and putting her big orange hair up in a cap. But on this night, she went to the bar as “Cyndi Lauper,” and she won the costume contest! (laughs)
But the best part of the night was that there was actually a really good band playing — this kind of soul band — and Cyndi got up on stage and belted soul songs ’til four in the morning. My jaw was on the floor, it was so beautiful. It was really, really great. This woman, I tell ya, sings beyond what we’re hearing from her. And obviously since then she’s gone on to do really great things.
RCM: The Bangles went on to do great things too. Your second full-length album, Different Light, topped the charts with hits like If She Knew What She Wants and Walk Like an Egyptian. You also opened for Queen in Ireland, right?
VP: Yes, at Slane Castle and it was truly incredible. It was raining when we played and I think I was barefoot which wasn’t smart. The guys from Def Leppard were hanging out, and I remember we were standing on the side of the stage watching Freddie Mercury and thinking “I can’t believe this!” The guys sounded incredible and I got to talk to Brian May backstage. Unforgettable.
RCM: In the years to come, you would form the rock band Continental Drifters, record several albums, and even stood in for a pregnant Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go’s on their ’94 reunion tour. Were The Bangles friends with The Go-Go’s?
VP: They are dear friends. Charlotte is one of my favorite humans and I was thrilled to take her place while she was pregnant with my ex-boyfriend’s baby (laughs). I like saying it like that! It’s her husband, but that’s how incestuous our world is!
RCM: What was it like being on stage playing Go-Go’s hits like We Got the Beat, Our Lips are Sealed and Vacation?
VP: It was really, really fun. Such fun music to play. It was also my first experience as a hired hand too, and to get into someone else’s head is really interesting. I remember learning the songs and thinking, “Oh my god — three hours of bar chords, seriously?!” No wonder she had carpal tunnel. But it was really fun to get inside and see how somebody else is approaching a song, then learning their parts. As well, being a hired hand, it’s not your responsibility whether tickets sell or not or how the show goes. You just show up, do your part and leave. And that was a whole new thing for me.
RCM: Acting was a whole new thing for Susanna Hoffs when she starred in the 1987 comedy film The Allnighter, alongside Joan Cusack and Pam Grier. Were you supportive of Susanna’s decision to pursue a movie acting role at the height of The Bangles success?
VP: Like many things, we didn’t know she was doing it until it was all happening because that’s kind of how those things were rolling at the time. Anything that any of us did outside the band reflected on The Bangles, so I was nervous, to be honest. That being said, Susanna took that role and was supporting her mom (Tamar Simon Hoffs) who directed the film. I think at that time, Susanna was interested in maybe going somewhere other than just pop music. I think she was interested in acting or expanding her exposure and development. So yeah, I supported her and continue to do so.
There’s this funny thing with a band, especially a young band where you can get this sense that it’s a marriage. It always felt that way to me, and I am one monogamy champion. But nowadays, anything any of us wants to do — it’s an open marriage and it’s great. Anything any of us wants to do is supported by the others.
RCM: Are any of you working on solo projects or other non-Bangles things?
VP: Susanna’s got a record coming out, and I’m working on a record with Susan Cowsill (Continental Drifters) who is my actual sister-in-law now. We’re finally doing a Psycho Sisters record that has been 20 years in the non-making (laughs) because we never even started working on it until this year. We sang together 20 years ago as the Psycho Sisters and we are only now finally making a record.
RCM: The Bangles latest record pays homage to all that great ’60s era music you grew up listening to and the retro album cover art certainly exemplifies that.
VP: Some of it was inspired by a couple of books Susanna and I were reading. One of them was the Sheila Weller book Girls Like Us. The title song was inspired by a photograph in that book, which was of Toni Stern who was Carol King’s lyricist and a poet in her own right. There’s this picture of her looking stunningly beautiful and she just looked like the perfect hippie chick. She looked like the perfect southern California woman of the ’60s and early ’70s and it sparked conversations between us about what young people are looking up to today, because there’s so many celebrities that are known for nothing more than their handbags and bad behavior.
And that’s where young girls are looking for inspiration today — that’s what they’re talking about and caring about. And that worried us so we just started talking about the more enlightened hippie chicks who are essentially “the ideal woman,” I think.
RCM: Yeah, it’s sad to see celebrities like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan achieve fame and fortune for trashy behaviour.
VP: There’s definitely that baseline that I call the lowest common denominator when it comes to sexuality. Unfortunately there are young women who define their sexuality in such a shallow and stereotypical way, like putting on a corset and saying, “Oh…that’s so sexy.” And I say, well, so is looking like Melissa Leo or somebody who is just really confident and beautiful. It’s really scary for parents of young girls especially.
Our daughter, thank God, is a freak and is so amazing. She has never cared about labels. She has never cared about stuff. I don’t know what happened, but it’s great. She’s a dancer and an artist and has tapped into that world and thank God for that!
RCM: There’s a unifying theme of superficiality and paradise lost on your latest album, with lyrics like the line in What a Life: “Another crummy perfect day, waking up in L.A., never thought that I would stay so long.”
VP: I think a lot of the perception of southern California is this sort of sheen of perfection — Hollywood, the image, the glamour. This kind of thing which does exist, and some of it exists because people come here from other places looking for exactly that. And they create it in themselves and in their work.
The Bangles, we’re natives and we grew up here, so we see other sides of L.A. that’s reflected in some of the songs like What a Life. It’s about the fires and how it doesn’t rain, which some people celebrate. But all it means is there’s dusty cobwebs everywhere. And then there’s just the humanity of life and what happens to everyone despite the sunny appearance. You can be living under a cloud that doesn’t exist.
You live in this paradise, it’s beautiful, but of course the perception is juxtaposed with the reality of L.A. The sun shines 360 days a year and the flowers are always in bloom, but its juxtaposed with complications and pain on many levels, and so as songwriters we look to the sum of that. And I’ve always been interested in writing more about personal politics rather than bureaucratic politics. So human relationships are always an interesting source of inspiration.
RCM: Here’s hoping you have a sunny day for your upcoming outdoor concert at the U.S.A. Festival in Allen, Texas. It appears to be one of only a handful of shows The Bangles have scheduled this year?
VP: We were hoping to have more on the books but we’ve had a couple of blips going on. So we’re hoping that we can make up for lost time possibly in the fall and into next year. We have no plans to wind this thing down.
RCM: For people seeing The Bangles live in concert for the first time, what do you think they come away with?
VP: I think people are often surprised by how rock and roll and sweaty we are if they haven’t seen us live in concert before — maybe if all they’ve seen is the video for Eternal Flame (laughs). We have some real rockers that we play in our set that are a lot of fun both for us and the audience.
RCM: So what’s the secret to the band’s longevity?
VP: The three of us who started it, Debbi, Susanna and I — it just works. We’re like a girl gang, and we’ve got each other figured out. We love each other in kind of a family way where we accept the peccadilloes and accept how each other are.
We’ll sometimes say, “Oh god, here she goes again…and we know she’s going to do that!” (laughs) But that’s fine because we know how to talk to each other about things and we kind of have a system now. We’ve always said that for as long as it’s fun, we’ll keep doing it. |
Obesity and related diseases are a major cause of human morbidity and mortality and constitute a substantial economic burden for society. Effective treatment regimens are scarce, and new therapeutic targets are needed. Brown adipose tissue, an energy‐expending tissue that produces heat, represents a potential therapeutic target. Its presence is associated with low body mass index, low total adipose tissue content and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Knowledge about the development and function of thermogenic adipocytes in brown adipose tissue has increased substantially in the last decade. Important transcriptional regulators have been identified, and hormones able to modulate the thermogenic capacity of the tissue have been recognized. Intriguingly, it is now clear that humans, like rodents, possess two types of thermogenic adipocytes: the classical brown adipocytes found in the interscapular brown adipose organ and the so‐called beige adipocytes primarily found in subcutaneous white adipose tissue after adrenergic stimulation. The presence of two distinct types of energy‐expending adipocytes in humans is conceptually important because these cells might be stimulated and recruited by different signals, raising the possibility that they might be separate potential targets for therapeutic intervention. In this review, we will discuss important features of the energy‐expending brown adipose tissue and highlight those that may serve as potential targets for pharmacological intervention aimed at expanding the tissue and/or enhancing its function to counteract obesity.
Introduction In 1551, Swiss naturalist Konrad Gessner first described brown adipose tissue (BAT) in the interscapular region of marmots [Muris (Marmota) alpinus]. However, it was not until the early 20th century that the existence of BAT in humans was recognized 1, 2. At the time, the tissue was referred to as the interscapular gland in humans or the hibernating gland in smaller mammals. These early studies described the anatomical location, gross morphology and histomorphology of the highly vascularized and innervated tissue, which is largely composed of rounded or polygonal multilocular fat‐filled cells that have granular cytoplasm and centrally located nuclei. BAT was initially believed to function during hibernation, but its presence in nonhibernating animals and humans suggested other uses. Although Polimanti speculated about a thermoregulatory function in 1912, it was not until 1958 that Johansson concluded from a literature review that ‘brown fat, at least in some animals, appears to be important in the regulation of body temperature’ 3, 4. During the 1960s, several studies evaluated the tissue as a thermogenic organ 5. Silverman et al. 6 showed that during cold exposure of human newborns, the skin temperature of human newborns fell the least over the nape of the neck, the location coinciding with BAT. Dawkins and Scopes found that the increased oxygen consumption that occurred in infants subjected to cold was associated with elevated plasma glycerol levels but no accompanying rise in plasma free fatty acids (FFAs) 7. As BAT does not express glycerol kinase, these results indicated that lipolysis occurred locally in BAT, which used the released FFAs for heat production. Additionally, histological analysis of BAT from deceased neonates revealed that the tissue was filled with fat if the infants had been nursed at thermoneutrality, but that it was depleted from fat if they had been conventionally swaddled and nursed at room temperature (reviewed in 5). In the 1960s and early 1970s, several studies were conducted to determine the distribution of BAT in humans. The studies focused primarily on the presence of BAT in infants in whom the tissue was abundant and widely distributed 8-10. Heaton also presented data, suggesting that BAT gradually disappeared with increasing age, which supported the prevailing opinion that thermogenically active BAT was common in human infants but regressed with age, leaving little or no active BAT in adults 9. However, the view that adult humans virtually lack active BAT was challenged by unexpected findings in nuclear medicine about 20 years later. Specifically, during positron emission tomography (PET) with the tracer [18F]‐fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) for cancer staging or surveillance, a confounding symmetrical tracer uptake was often found in the neck and shoulder area of patients 11. These areas were unrelated to the tumours, and computed tomography (CT) showed that they had features of adipose tissue. Uptake in these regions was less prevalent when patients were acclimatized to warm indoor temperatures prior to the scan, which led to the hypothesis that adult humans retain significant amounts of metabolically active BAT. Several studies were subsequently initiated to test the hypothesis, and in April 2009, three independent studies, all confirming the presence of metabolically active BAT in adult humans, were published 12-14. Since then, many studies related to BAT in humans have been published, and it is now well accepted that most adults have metabolically active BAT 15-17. Rodent studies suggest that activation and/or expansion of energy‐expending BAT is associated with a healthy metabolic phenotype 18-21, and increasing evidence suggests a similar connection in humans. For example, several studies have shown an inverse association between the presence of BAT and obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus 13, 15, 22, 23. Hence, from having been an obscure gland connected with hibernation at the beginning of last century, BAT is now considered a potential target for therapy to treat obesity and obesity‐related diseases.
Brown adipose tissue – a thermogenic organ When rodents or humans experience cold, thermogenesis is initially mediated by shivering. During prolonged cold exposure, shivering gradually subsides, whilst nonshivering thermogenesis increases 24, 25. Animal studies have shown that this type of thermogenesis depends on BAT 26. Upon cold exposure, efferent signals from the hypothalamus that activate BAT thermogenesis are relayed to the tissue by sympathetic innervation (Fig. 1). Norepinephrine acts as the primary transmitter and activates β‐adrenergic signalling pathways within the brown adipocytes 27. The subsequent induction of lipolysis generates FFAs, the main substrate for heat production in BAT. The FFAs in turn activate uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), the core protein of the ‘thermogenic engine’ 27, 28, which is only found in the inner mitochondrial membrane of brown adipocytes. Activated UCP1 uncouples oxidative phosphorylation from ATP regeneration by facilitating the reflux of protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane down the proton gradient, thus bypassing ATP synthase 29. It is this ‘short circuit’ of the proton gradient that generates heat. BAT can therefore be seen as capable of transforming energy stored as triglycerides into heat. The rich vascularization of the tissue is essential for supplying the tissue with oxygen and transporting the generated heat to the rest of the body. The importance of a rich blood supply for cold‐induced thermogenesis is illustrated by BAT perfusion more than doubling when human subjects are subjected to acute cold 30. Figure 1 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Overview of cold‐induced activation of thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). In response to cold exposure, afferent signals from cold receptors are integrated in the hypothalamus, which in turn activates BAT via the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Norepinephrine (NE) stimulates β3‐adrenergic receptors (β3) on the surface of thermogenic adipocytes. The activation of the adrenergic signalling pathway induces lipolysis and expression of thermogenic genes in the adipocytes. Free fatty acids released during lipolysis activate UCP1 and serve as the main fuel for thermogenesis. By short‐circuiting the proton gradient built up over the inner mitochondrial membrane by the electron transport chain, the activated UCP1 uncouples the electromotive force from ATP synthesis by ATP synthase and heat is generated. Apart from the acute effect of increased adrenergic activity, prolonged activity due to persistent cold exposure has additional consequences for BAT, including increased amounts of UCP1, increased mitochondrial biogenesis and both hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the tissue 31, 32. Two important players in these events are peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ (PPARγ) coactivator 1α (PGC‐1α) and type 2 iodothyronine deiodinase (DIO2), which are both up‐regulated and activated by adrenergic signalling 33, 34. PGC‐1α, a transcriptional coactivator of the nuclear receptor PPARγ, is an integral regulator of genes that are involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolism 35. In addition, PGC‐1α activates transcription of the Ucp1 gene by coactivating nuclear receptors, such as PPARγ and the thyroid hormone receptor (THR), that are assembled on Ucp1‐regulating DNA elements 31. The enzyme DIO2 activates THR by generating its most active ligand triiodothyronine (T3) from thyroxine (T4) locally in the brown adipocytes 34. Hence, the thyroid and sympathetic systems act synergistically to increase the thermogenic potential of BAT by increasing its UCP1 content. The essential role of functional BAT for thermoregulation in small mammals such as rodents is undisputed and illustrated by several mouse models. Mice with reduced BAT mass due to transgenic expression of the cell toxic diphtheria toxin A‐chain in brown adipocytes are cold sensitive, as are Ucp1‐ablated mice 36, 37. Although multiple lines of evidence suggest that BAT is important for thermoregulation in human infants, less is known about its role in adults. However, it is clear that a large proportion of adults retain BAT that can be activated by cold 12, 17, 30. This fact together with BAT apparently being more active during the cold months of the year strongly suggests that the tissue is also involved in thermoregulation in adults 13, 22, 38, 39.
Two types of brown adipocytes Animal studies have shown that apart from the brown adipocytes found in classical BAT depots, brown‐like adipocytes occur within white adipose tissue (WAT) depots in response to chronic cold exposure or administration of β3‐adrenergic agonists or thiazolidinediones (TZDs), a group of PPARγ agonists 40-43. These cells, referred to as inducible brown adipocytes, brite (brown in white) or beige adipocytes, present with a phenotype similar to that of brown adipocytes in classical BAT depots, including multilocular lipid droplets, a high mitochondrial content and expression of Ucp1 and Pgc1α genes. It has also been confirmed that these cells can induce energy‐expending thermogenesis 44, 45. Importantly, despite their similarities, classical brown and beige adipocytes differ in their basal expression of Ucp1. Whilst classical brown adipocytes express Ucp1 at high levels in the basal state, beige adipocytes exhibit much lower basal expression. However, stimulation with β‐adrenergic agonists or activators of PPARγ can induce Ucp1 expression in beige adipocytes to levels comparable to those in classical brown adipocytes 45. Due to white and brown adipocytes sharing many features, the two cell types were until recently thought to stem from a common progenitor cell. However, using a lineage tracing approach, Seale et al. 46 showed that brown adipocytes and skeletal muscle cells, but not white adipocytes, descend from progenitor cells expressing Myf5, the gene encoding myogenic regulatory factor MYF‐5. This close developmental connection had previously been suggested by Atit et al. 47 who demonstrated that dorsal dermis, epaxial skeletal muscle and interscapular BAT (iBAT) derive from En1‐expressing cells of the central dermomyotome. Most importantly, it became apparent that brown and beige adipocytes were developmentally different cell types because, like white adipocytes, the beige adipocytes within the WAT of mice treated with a selective β3‐adrenergic agonist did not derive from Myf5‐expressing progenitors 46. Discrete and unique gene signatures of brown and beige adipocytes provide further evidence that the two entities are distinct cell types 45, 48. Recent studies have contributed important information about the development of beige adipocytes. Utilizing genetic lineage tracing techniques, Lee et al. 49 identified bipotent precursor cells expressing platelet‐derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR)α, Sca‐1 and CD34 in close proximity to blood vessels in WAT. When stimulated by a β3‐adrenergic agonist, these cells developed into beige adipocytes. If the animals were fed a high‐fat diet, however, the cells developed into white adipocytes. The supraclavicular BAT depot of adult humans was recently found to express a gene signature resembling that of beige adipocytes, raising the question of whether humans possess classical brown adipocytes at all 45, 48, 50. The old indication that human infants might have an iBAT depot, a depot known to contain classical brown adipocytes in rodents, led us to test the hypothesis that at least human infants, like other small mammals, have an anatomically distinguishable iBAT depot consisting of classical brown adipocytes8, 51. Postmortem magnetic resonance imaging of human infants indeed revealed tissue in the interscapular region with an intermediate‐fat fraction, as expected for BAT. The histomorphology of the sampled tissue closely resembled that of iBAT depots of rodents, presenting with densely packed multilocular and UCP1‐positive cells delineated from subcutaneous WAT by a layer of connective tissue. Gene expression analysis using previously described marker genes for classical brown and beige adipocytes revealed a gene signature more similar to that expected for classical brown adipocytes. Hence, it appears that at least human infants, like rodents, possess bona fide iBAT consisting of classical brown adipocytes, which suggests that humans actually have both types of thermogenic adipocytes. Additionally, two independent studies characterizing BAT from the neck region of adults support our findings and indicate that classical brown adipocytes are not restricted to infants but also exist in adults 52, 53. The presence of two distinct types of thermogenically competent and energy‐expending adipocytes in humans is conceptually important because they might be stimulated and recruited by different signals; they therefore represent separate potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Additionally, the finding in mice that genetic variability affects the development of beige adipocytes, but not classical brown adipocytes support differential regulation of the two cell types 54.
Important players in the development and function of BAT PR domain zinc finger protein 16 Prdm16, the gene encoding PR domain zinc finger protein 16 (PRDM16), is one of a few murine transcriptional components preferentially expressed in brown versus white adipocytes 55. Overexpression of PRDM16 in fibroblasts or white adipocyte precursors induces a full brown adipocyte gene programme and stimulates both mitochondrial biogenesis and uncoupled cellular respiration. In contrast, a reduction of cellular PRDM16 levels in brown preadipocytes causes a corresponding decrease in the expression of brown adipocyte‐associated genes. In line with this, transgenic overexpression of Prdm16 in WAT of mice increases the expression of brown adipocyte‐associated genes and boosts the number of brown‐like adipocytes (presumably beige adipocytes) in epididymal WAT (a classical WAT depot) after β3‐adrenergic stimulation. In both in vitro and in vivo experiments, the induction of the brown adipocyte phenotype is accompanied by reduced expression of white adipocyte‐associated markers. This dual function of PRDM16 as an inducer of brown adipocyte‐associated genes and a repressor of white adipocyte‐associated genes is mediated through interaction with PGC1α on promoters of brown adipocyte‐associated genes and with corepressing C‐terminal‐binding proteins 1 and 2 (CtBP‐1 and CtBP‐2) on promoters of white adipocyte‐associated genes, respectively 56. Although preferentially expressed in BAT as compared with WAT, Prdm16 was recently shown to also be selectively expressed in subcutaneous WAT depots in contrast to intra‐abdominal WAT depots 57. In addition, inguinal subcutaneous WAT of mice overexpressing Prdm16 in adipose tissue presented with a BAT‐like phenotype even without β3‐adrenergic agonist treatment. However, this alteration was not seen either in the epidydimal WAT depot of the transgenic mice or in the inguinal depot of wild‐type littermates. The importance of Prdm16 for the β3‐adrenergic‐mediated appearance of presumed beige adipocytes in WAT was further highlighted by Prdm16 heterozygous mice developing many fewer clusters of brown‐like adipocytes in their inguinal WAT compared to wild‐type littermates when subjected to a β3‐adrenergic agonist. PRDM16 is also required for the browning of WAT in response to TZDs, and it has been suggested that the effects of TZDs on browning are due in large measure to the stabilization and accumulation of PRDM16 58. Apart from its suggested role in beige adipocyte formation, PRDM16 acts as the molecular switch for directing Myf5‐positive progenitor cells into the brown adipocyte lineage, whilst repressing their development into skeletal muscle cells 46. Interactions between PRDM16 and both PPARγ and the transcription factor C/EBPβ are important in controlling this cell fate switch 46, 59. From the preceding discussion, it is clear that PRDM16 plays a vital role in the formation of both classical brown and beige adipocytes. Hence, this protein, often referred to as a master regulator of brown adipocytes, constitutes a very interesting target for pharmacologic intervention aimed at increasing the presence of thermogenically competent adipocytes. Pgc1α PGC1α was first identified as a protein that interacted with and coactivated PPARγ and THR in brown adipocytes 33. Its expression was shown to be dramatically increased in both BAT of cold‐exposed mice and in adipocytes subjected to a β‐adrenergic agonist. Forced expression of the protein in white adipocytes not only increased the expression of Ucp1 and genes encoding proteins of the respiratory chain but also the mitochondrial DNA content of the cells, suggesting increased mitochondriogenesis. Hence, PGC1α appears to be a factor that could induce a full thermogenic programme in response to adrenergic signalling triggered by a cold environment. In support of this view, PGC1α‐deficient mice have a severely blunted capacity for cold‐induced thermogenesis 60. In addition, PGC1α‐deficient brown adipocytes fail to induce expression of thermogenic genes in response to adrenergic signalling 61. Despite its importance for adaptive thermogenesis, PGC1α does not seem to be a master regulator of BAT formation per se as both iBAT and subcutaneous WAT depots normally containing clusters of beige adipocytes, present with a seemingly normal morphology in PGC1α‐deficient mice 62. The differentiation of brown preadipocytes lacking PGC1α also seems to be normal as they express brown adipocyte marker genes and develop into cells with a characteristic brown adipocyte morphology 61. Hence, PGC1α seems to be an essential regulator of adaptive thermogenesis but not an indispensable factor for determination of brown or beige adipocytes. PRDM16 and PGC1α – players at the crossroad of BAT formation and function Several transcriptional regulators affect BAT formation and function, and the effects of many of them are, at least in part, exerted through modulation of the cellular content or function of either PRDM16 or PGC1α. Euchromatic histone‐lysine N‐methyltransferase (EHMT1), a protein selectively expressed in brown adipocytes, was recently shown to be an integral component of the machinery that induces brown adipocyte cell fate 63. Deletion of Ehmt1 in brown adipocytes leads to the loss of BAT characteristics accompanied by the induction of a skeletal muscle gene programme. In addition, mice with adipose tissue‐specific deletion of Ehmt1 are cold sensitive due to a marked reduction in BAT‐mediated adaptive thermogenesis and fail to develop beige adipocytes in WAT depots in response to β3‐adrenergic stimulation. In contrast, overexpression of EHMT1 in brown adipocytes increases expression of thermogenic genes and raises the oxygen consumption rate. EHMT1 controls brown adipocyte cell fate and BAT thermogenesis by interacting with and stabilizing PRDM16. The NAD‐dependent protein deacetylase sirtuin‐1 (SIRT1) is another protein with the capacity to modulate adaptive thermogenesis. Increased activity of SIRT1 can mimic the action of TZDs and induce browning of subcutaneous WAT depots by facilitating the interaction between PPARγ and PRDM16 by deacetylating PPARγ 64. Several transcriptional regulators have been demonstrated to affect the development and function of thermogenic adipocytes, at least in part, by influencing the activity or cellular levels of PGC1α. One such protein is nuclear receptor‐interacting protein 1 (NRIP1, often referred to as RIP140), which binds directly to PGC1α and inhibits its activity 65. In agreement with this, NRIP1‐deficient mice attain clusters of beige adipocytes in their WAT depots, and NRIP1‐null cells express high levels of UCP1 and have elevated energy expenditure 66, 67. Steroid receptor coactivators (SRCs) belonging to the p160 family have also been shown to affect BAT function by modulating the activity of PGC1α. Whilst the expression levels of thermogenic genes are reduced and adaptive thermogenesis is impaired in Src1‐deficient mice, Src2‐deficient mice display increased expression levels of thermogenic genes and have increased capacity for adaptive thermogenesis 68. Picard et al. 68 showed that SRC‐1 stabilizes the interaction between PGC1α and PPARγ, whereas SRC‐2 inhibits this interaction by competing with SRC‐1 by forming a less active complex with PGC1α. SRC‐3 has also been shown to inhibit the activity of PGC1α 69. SRC‐3 appears to mediate its effects by increasing the expression of Kat2a (also called Gcn5), the gene encoding histone acetyltransferase KAT2A. This enzyme can acetylate PGC1α and thereby inhibit its activity 70. Hence, Src3‐deficient mice have increased expression of thermogenic genes and increased energy expenditure 69. Identification of proteins that influence the activity or cellular levels of PRDM16 and PGC1α is of great importance because such factors represent potential targets for pharmacological intervention aimed at expanding BAT and/or enhancing its function.
The importance of BAT as a metabolic regulator Given BAT's capability to dissipate chemical energy as heat, it is not hard to envision BAT playing a major role in the regulation of metabolism. In 1979, Rothwell and Stock discovered that overfeeding rats with a palatable diet induced increased thermogenesis in BAT 71. This discovery led to the concept of diet‐induced thermogenesis, meaning that activation of BAT in response to caloric excess could reduce metabolic efficiency and avoid or diminish obesity. Consistent with this view, early studies using surgical denervation or transgenic ablation of BAT by overexpression of diphtheria toxin A‐chain specifically in brown adipocytes demonstrated increased body weight and insulin resistance in treated mice 37, 72. As previously mentioned, ablation of the Ucp1 gene in mice leads to reduced cold‐induced thermogenesis. Surprisingly, such mice did not become obese when housed at room temperature 36. However, they did become obese when housed at thermoneutral temperature (29 °C), which suggests an important metabolic role of BAT 73. Although the idea that BAT, in addition to being a source of heat, plays a role in an innate defence against obesity is controversial, it is clear that an increased number or activity of thermogenic cells in the form of brown or beige adipocytes can counteract obesity and insulin resistance. This is illustrated in several mouse models in which the number of such cells has been artificially increased by genetic manipulation of BAT‐regulating genes. As an example, increasing the number of beige adipocytes in WAT by overexpressing UCP1 in the adipose tissue of a mouse strain genetically prone to obesity normalized the phenotype of the animals 74. In line with this, adipose tissue‐specific overexpression of FOXC2, a transcription factor thought to sensitize adrenergic signalling, increased the amount of beige adipocytes in WAT depots and protected mice against diet‐induced obesity, hypertriglyceridaemia and insulin resistance 19, 75. Importantly, the capability of rodents to recruit beige adipocytes within WAT depots upon cold exposure or adrenergic stimulation is subject to genetic variation and varies greatly between different mouse strains; the capacity is lowest in strains prone to obesity and insulin resistance. However, the iBAT depot does not show this genetic variation in rodents 41, 76, 77. Table 1 gives an overview of the metabolic implications of BAT in rodents. Table 1. Importance of brown adipose tissue for metabolism in rodents References Ablation of BAT causes obesity and insulin resistance. 37, 72 Thyroid hormones increase BAT differentiation and activity and are locally regulated by type 2 iodothyronine deiodinase. 87-89 Thermogenic adipocytes are present as classical brown adipocytes in iBAT and as beige adipocytes in WAT after adrenergic stimulation. 40-45 The ability to recruit beige adipocytes in WAT is associated with decreased obesity. 41, 76, 77 Expansion of BAT in transgenic mouse models leads to resistance to obesity and hypertriglyceridaemia. 19, 75 Upon cold exposure, BAT is activated within minutes and its energy demands are met by rapid lipolysis of the intracellular lipid stores 78. To replenish the intracellular triglycerides, BAT takes up FFAs released from the lipids of triglyceride‐rich lipoproteins (TRL) by lipoprotein lipase in the endothelium of its dense vasculature. BAT activation through short‐term cold exposure was recently shown to increase TRL metabolism by controlling vascular lipoprotein homeostasis in mice and ameliorating hyperlipidaemia 79. Recently, metformin was demonstrated to reduce plasma cholesterol and lipid levels in an animal model of human lipoprotein metabolism by increasing BAT activity, leading to increased triglyceride and VLDL uptake through BAT 80. Similar to the effects in exercising muscle, BAT activation leads to dramatically increased glucose uptake by cells in humans (Fig. 2) 30. Although evidence for a potential therapeutic effect in humans is still missing, data from rodents provide robust indications for amelioration of insulin resistance upon physiological or pharmacological stimulation of BAT 81-83. Importantly, several observational studies in humans indicate an association of increased BAT activity and insulin sensitivity as well as reduced obesity 13, 15, 17, 22, 23. Table 2 summarizes relevant findings on BAT in humans. Table 2. Relevance of brown adipose tissue in humans References BAT is present in a majority of adult humans. 12-17 BAT activity is increased in hyperthyroidism. 91 BAT activity can be increased by repeated mild cold exposure. 119 BAT activity is inversely associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. 13, 15, 17, 22, 23 Severe obesity is associated with less BAT. 110, 111 BAT in adult humans is predominantly of the ‘beige’ type. 45, 48, 50-53 Outdoor temperature is inversely associated with BAT activity. 13, 22, 38, 39 Figure 2 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint 18F]‐fluorodeoxyglucose. The location of the supraclavicular BAT depots are indicated with arrows. (From Virtanen KA, Lidell ME, Orava J, Heglind M, Westergren R, Niemi T, Taittonen M, Laine J, Savisto NJ, Enerbäck S, Nuutila P. Functional brown adipose tissue in healthy adults. Cold‐induced glucose uptake in supraclavicular brown adipose tissue. Computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) images of a subject exposed to cold (PET cold) and room temperature (PET warm), respectively. Two hours prior to the ‘PET cold scans’, the subject was exposed to 17–19 °C temperature whilst wearing light clothing. During imaging one of the subject's feet was occasionally placed in ice water. PET was performed with the tracer [F]‐fluorodeoxyglucose. The location of the supraclavicular BAT depots are indicated with arrows. (From Virtanen KA, Lidell ME, Orava J, Heglind M, Westergren R, Niemi T, Taittonen M, Laine J, Savisto NJ, Enerbäck S, Nuutila P. Functional brown adipose tissue in healthy adults. New England Journal of Medicine 360:1520. Copyright © 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society. Reprinted with permission.) Reprinted with permission.) Taken together, several lines of evidence demonstrate major effects of BAT on metabolism both in animals and in humans. Moreover, BAT could be a potential target for therapeutic intervention to treat metabolic disease in humans.
Endocrine regulation of BAT Several hormones influence both the activity and expansion of BAT. Physiologically, increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system transmitted by norepinephrine acting primarily on β3‐adrenoreceptors activates BAT 27. Accordingly, the role of catecholamines in adrenergic stimulation of BAT activation is well established. Hypersecretion of catecholamines from pheochromocytoma in humans has been noted to lead to the transformation of WAT depots to a BAT phenotype, and an inverse association of abdominal obesity and plasma catecholamine levels in patients with pheochromocytoma has been described 84-86. Thyroid hormones play a pivotal role in the proper function of BAT by modulating adrenergic signalling, and it has long been known that hyperthyroidism increases resting metabolic rate. The hormones are predominantly secreted as T4, which is converted into the biologically more potent T3 in peripheral tissues by deiodinases. The expression of DIO2 is a characteristic feature of brown adipocytes. Upon noradrenergic stimulation, DIO2 expression in BAT increases dramatically, leading to a high local availability of T3 87. Stimulation of THRα1 leads to increased sensitivity of the tissue towards catecholamines, whilst THRβ is crucial for expression of UCP1 in BAT 88, 89. Additionally, expression of PGC1α, the master regulator of BAT function, is increased by T3 via a thyroid hormone response element in the Pgc1α promoter 90. Although these mechanisms are known from animal models, the effect of hyperthyroidism on human BAT was only recently demonstrated by FDG‐PET/CT and indirect calorimetry 91. The important interplay between thyroid hormones and catecholamines is further modulated by bile acids that increase the expression of DIO2 by activating the G‐protein‐coupled bile acid receptor TGR5 92. Specific activation of TGR5 also leads to increased insulin sensitivity in mice 93. In recent years, effects of several peptides on BAT function and development have been described, mostly in animal models. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are a family of growth factors that were first described in the context of bone and cartilage development. However, they also play a major role in the morphogenesis of other tissues, and BMPs have recently been implicated in the development and growth of BAT. BMP7 activates brown adipogenesis by inducing early regulators such as PRDM16 and PGC1α. Adenovirus‐mediated overexpression of this cytokine leads to a significant increase in BAT mass and blunts weight gain 94. Subcutaneous infusion of BMP7 increases the amount of beige adipocytes in WAT depots and reduces obesity in mice kept at temperatures below thermoneutrality, indicating that the cold stimulus is still important for activation of expanded BAT depots 95. Another member of the BMP family, BMP8B, regulates BAT activity on both a central and a peripheral level 96. Even though the BAT morphology of BMP8B‐deficient mice appears to be normal, the thermogenic function of the tissue is impaired. Central administration of BMP8B increases sympathetic outflow towards BAT, whilst direct treatment of brown adipocytes with the peptide increases their lipolytic capacity in response to norepinephrine 96. Administration of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) increases body temperature and BAT thermogenesis in newborn mice and induces expression of thermogenic genes in vitro 97. Additionally, FGF21 seems to be secreted by BAT in an auto‐ or paracrine fashion in response to adrenergic activation upon cold exposure 98, 99. Recently, however, the BAT specificity of FGF21‐stimulated thermogenesis has been questioned 100. Recent evidence suggests that natriuretic peptides (NPs) have the capacity to induce browning of WAT depots 101. The levels of these peptides in plasma increase dramatically in response to cold exposure, and infusion of NPs leads to increased energy expenditure and expression of thermogenic genes in subcutaneous WAT in mice. Mechanistically the effects of NPs are mediated by the NP receptors via the cGMP second messenger pathway and protein kinase G (PKG). The actions of PKG overlap with those of the catecholamine‐stimulated protein kinase A (PKA): activation of hormone‐sensitive lipase and perilipin induces lipolysis and phosphorylation of p38 MAPK, which in turn triggers phosphorylation of PGC1α, finally leading to transcription of Ucp1 101. The signalling pathways of NPs and catecholamines thus seem to converge and act synergistically to activate BAT. Whilst this observation has to be corroborated in humans, it might provide a possible link between heart failure and related cachexia. Recently, Boström et al. 18 described irisin, a novel peptide from muscle that induced a brown adipocyte phenotype when applied to subcutaneous white adipocytes in culture. Adenovirus‐mediated overexpression of irisin in mice led to a beige phenotype in subcutaneous adipose tissue depots. Additionally, increased plasma levels of irisin were detected in humans after muscular exercise. Using the recombinant peptide, others were initially not able to reproduce these effects in vitro 102. However, a recent study by Zhang et al. 103 convincingly showed that recombinant irisin induces browning of adipocytes isolated from subcutaneous WAT of rats. Importantly, the recombinant peptide also induced browning of subcutaneous fat pads in vivo, and protected mice against weight gain and insulin resistance induced by a high‐fat diet. It has been questioned whether the beneficial effects of irisin observed in mice can be translated to humans or not as a mutation (ATG → ATA) present in the start codon of the human FNDC5 gene, that encodes the precursor of irisin, greatly reduces the translation efficiency into full‐length peptide 102. However, Lee et al. 104 recently confirmed circulating irisin in humans using a mass spectrometry approach. The authors also confirmed that exercise increases the serum levels of irisin. In addition, they demonstrated that cold exposure of healthy humans increased circulating irisin levels and that the secretion of the peptide correlated with shivering intensity. Irisin secretion might thus not necessarily be linked to muscular exercise per se but to repetitive small movements as in shivering. Importantly, Lee et al. 104 also showed that the recombinant peptide induced browning and thermogenesis in human neck adipocytes in vitro. Hence, irisin appears to link shivering thermogenesis to an increase in nonshivering thermogenesis. The major endocrine factors influencing BAT are listed in Table 3. Table 3. Key endocrine regulators of BAT function and development Norepinephrine Primary neurotransmitter responsible for acute activation of BAT as well as mitochondrial biogenesis, increased UCP1 expression and tissue hyperplasia. Thyroid hormones Increase local sensitivity of brown adipocytes towards catecholamines and expression of UCP1 and PGC1α; local availability of T3 increased by expression of DIO2 in response to adrenergic stimulation. BMP7/BMP8B Natriuretic peptides FGF21 Irisin These hormones have recently been shown to enhance the induction of beige adipocytes in WAT depots.
Increasing BAT energy expenditure as a therapeutic means Enhancing thermogenesis to facilitate weight reduction is not an entirely new concept. During the 1930s 2,4‐dinitrophenol (DNP), an artificial uncoupler of mitochondrial respiration, was widely popular as a drug for inducing weight loss. This small lipophilic molecule acts as a shuttle for protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane, thereby short‐circuiting the respiratory chain in a manner similar to UCP1, albeit in an unregulated fashion 105. Compared with UCP1, DNP does not selectively act on brown adipocyte mitochondria, and although it was effective in inducing weight loss, it was withdrawn from the market because of a narrow therapeutic range and severe side effects 106. Prior to the discovery of metabolically active BAT in human adults, several studies evaluated the use of β3‐adrenergic agonists to facilitate weight loss in humans. Although the selective β3‐adrenergic agonist L‐796568 acutely increased energy expenditure in obese men, it failed to induce weight loss or long‐term increased energy expenditure 107, 108. Administration of another β3‐adrenergic agonist, CL 316,243, initially led to increased insulin sensitivity and fat oxidation, but it also failed to alter energy expenditure after 8 weeks of use; this was related to an unexpected decline in the plasma levels of the drug, indicating that the metabolism of the drug might have accelerated over time 109. However, several other factors may explain why long‐term treatment with β3‐adrenergic agonists has been unsuccessful. Chronic stimulation of adrenergic receptors commonly leads to down‐regulation of the target receptors over the course of a few days, a phenomenon that is referred to as tachyphylaxis, which is well known in clinical application of catecholamine derivatives. Stimulation of BAT by exogenous catecholamine analogues might also reduce the endogenous activation of the tissue. Furthermore, the prevalence and activity of targetable BAT appears to be lower in obese persons 110, 111. It should be pointed out that the human studies were carried out before the presence of thermogenically active BAT in adult humans was demonstrated and the tissue's activity was thus not measured. Given the increased knowledge about BAT in humans and the much improved methods of its assessment, it is still worthwhile to pursue developing new β3‐adrenergic agonists with enhanced specificity, oral bioavailability and more constant plasma half‐life over time, as such drugs very well could give the desired effects in humans. Stimulation of BAT via the sympathetic nervous system is thought to contribute to the weight loss effects from appetite‐reducing drugs such as sibutramine or ephedrine 112-114. These centrally acting drugs can cause serious side effects such as cardiac arrhythmias or hypertension, however, and have therefore been withdrawn from the market. A more selective way to increase BAT thermogenesis might be to target local conversion of T4 to T3 by stimulation of the G‐protein‐coupled bile acid receptor TGR5, thereby inducing expression of DIO2, or direct targeting of THRβ with selective agonists 115-117. Pharmacologic interventions that activate and expand BAT would provide a very attractive means for weight reduction, especially in individuals unable to exercise. However, physiological interventions such as intermittent cold stimuli or a reduction of ambient temperature could also provide a safe and affordable alternative, analogous to increasing energy expenditure through muscular exercise. In this respect, it is important to notice that human BAT is activated by mild cold stimuli such as ambient temperatures around 16 °C or by placing a hand in cold water at around 20 °C 14, 118. Accordingly, recent preclinical research demonstrated an increase in BAT activity and cold‐induced thermogenesis as well as a reduced amount of body fat after 6 weeks of repeated short‐term mild cold exposure (17 °C for 2 h) in healthy men with normal weight 119. Whether these effects translate to reduced obesity or increased insulin sensitivity needs to be evaluated in future studies.
Conclusion From the literature, it is clear that expansion or increased activity of BAT in rodents is associated with a metabolically healthy phenotype. Despite this intriguing association in rodents, BAT was until recently not seen as a potential target for anti‐obesity drugs in humans because adults, the primary age group that would use such drugs, were not believed to possess significant amounts of metabolically active BAT. Hence, BAT was perceived as a conceptually interesting target without promise for therapeutic use. With the discovery of metabolically active BAT in adults in 2009, however, the tissue has become the subject of intense research. Over the last 5 years, increasing numbers of BAT‐related studies have been published that confirm that the association between BAT and a metabolically healthy phenotype also holds true for humans. During the last decade, our knowledge about factors influencing BAT recruitment and function in rodents has increased substantially. Hopefully, this new knowledge can be extrapolated to humans and provide a foundation for studies that will identify and evaluate potential molecular drug targets in the coming years.
Acknowledgements The work was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (2012‐1652 and 2010‐3281), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Sahlgrenska University Hospital (LUA‐ALF), the European Union (HEALTH‐F2‐2011‐278373; DIABAT), the IngaBritt and Arne Lundgren Foundation, the Söderberg Foundation and the King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria Freemason Foundation.
Conflict of interest statement Sven Enerbäck is shareholder and consultant to Ember Therapeutics. |
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Friday that the number of North Korean cyberattacks on the South has doubled over the past month.
The National Intelligence Service told a parliamentary committee meeting that the North unsuccessfully tried to hack into the railway control system and computer networks of financial institutions in South Korea, according to the office of lawmaker Joo Ho-young who attended the private meeting.
The NIS also accused North Korea of having tried to hack into the smartphones of 300 foreign affairs, security and military officials in South Korea between late February and early this month. According to the NIS, North Korea succeeded in hacking the phones of 40 of those 300 officials and stole their text and voice messages and phone logs, said an aide to Joo who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to media publicly.
The NIS didn't say whether the stolen messages include any sensitive information.
Seoul has accused Pyongyang of launching other similar cyberattacks in recent years. Pyongyang has denied the allegations.
Animosities between the rival Koreas have risen since North Korea's nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year.
Furious over harsh new U.N. sanctions and the biggest-ever South Korea-U.S. military drills, North Korea has fired short-range missiles and artillery into the sea and vowed to expand its nuclear arsenal. On Friday, North Korea's state media quoted leader Kim Jong Un as having ordered more nuclear explosion tests but it didn't when they would be conducted. |
Patients and physicians may be reluctant to abandon widely used treatments that have been found to be ineffective. In 2002 and 2008 the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of clinical trials showing that arthroscopic debridement and lavage—surgical treatments to remove damaged tissue and debris—do not benefit patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. To determine whether the trials’ publication was associated with changes in practice patterns, we examined ambulatory surgery data from Florida and found that the number of debridement and lavage procedures per 100,000 adults declined 47 percent between 2001 and 2010. The reduction translates into national savings of $82–$138 million annually. These reductions may be offset by increases in the use of other procedures. The results indicate that clinical trials of widely used therapies can lead to cost-saving changes in practice patterns.
Clinical trials and comparative effectiveness studies of existing treatments have the potential to reduce costs by identifying treatments that are no better than less expensive alternatives. Cost savings, however, will be realized only if patients, providers, and payers change their behavior in response to new evidence. The same characteristics of the health system that promote the adoption of new, untested technologies—specialization and organizational fragmentation, fee-for-service reimbursement, and third-party payment for medical care—may slow the rate at which existing therapies found to be ineffective are actually abandoned.
Arthroscopic debridement and lavage for osteoarthritis of the knee provide a good case study for assessing the impact of clinical trials of standard medical therapies on practice patterns. Two randomized clinical trials have found that these procedures do not relieve pain or improve function relative to no treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee. In this article we assess the trials’ impact on the use of this surgical treatment.
Background
Arthroscopic debridement and lavage are minimally invasive procedures, normally done in the same operation, to treat damage to the knee joint. A patient undergoing arthroscopic surgery receives several small incisions in the knee. The surgeon inserts a lens attached to a camera (the arthroscope) to inspect the structures and surfaces of the knee joint. After validating the initial diagnosis, which is based on the patient’s history and a physical examination as well as x-ray and magnetic resonance imaging findings, the surgeon will wash out debris (lavage) and remove (debride) torn or damaged soft tissue (for example, articular cartilage and menisci).
During the 1990s debridement and lavage were widely used to treat osteoarthritis of the knee. In the 2000s the New England Journal of Medicine published results of two randomized controlled trials of arthroscopic debridement and lavage for patients with osteoarthritis. Exhibit 1 reports a timeline of the publication of the trials and subsequent changes in payers’ coverage policies.
Exhibit 1 Major Trials And Coverage Events For Arthroscopic Debridement And Lavage For Osteoarthritis Of The Knee Date Event July 11, 2002 Trial 1 (Moseley et al.) is published: “The outcomes after arthroscopic lavage or arthroscopic debridement were no better than those after a placebo procedure” a October 10, 2002 CMS initiates a National Coverage Determination process July 3, 2003 CMS releases decision memo: “CMS has determined that the evidence is adequate to conclude that arthroscopic lavage alone is not reasonable and necessary for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee; therefore, we intend to issue a national noncoverage determination” b September 26, 2003 The insurer Aetna revokes coverage of arthroscopic surgery for people with “with knee pain only or with severe osteoarthritis” c September 11, 2004 CMS releases National Coverage Determination: Arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis is a “noncovered” service d September 11, 2008 Trial 2 (Kirkley et al.) is published: “Arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee provides no additional benefit to optimized physical and medical therapy” e
The first trial, conducted by J. Bruce Moseley and colleagues and published in July 2002, randomized 180 male patients with moderate to severe osteoarthritis of the knee to arthroscopic lavage, arthroscopic debridement, or sham surgery. 1 A single surgeon performed all procedures. Neither treatment relieved pain or improved function relative to sham surgery at any time during the two year follow-up period.
Based on the trial, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated a coverage review process in 2002. CMS then released a decision memo in July 2003 stating its intent to discontinue coverage of arthroscopic debridement and lavage for patients with severe osteoarthritis or knee pain only. CMS would continue to cover debridement and lavage for patients with “less severe and/or early degenerative arthritis.” 2 Many private insurers also withdrew coverage. CMS issued its National Coverage Determination in June 2004. 3
In September 2008 the New England Journal of Medicine published a second trial with more far-reaching treatment implications. Alexandra Kirkley and colleagues randomized 188 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee to physical and medical therapy alone versus physical and medical therapy plus arthroscopic surgery. 4 Patients with large meniscal tears were excluded.
The researchers concluded that “surgery…provides no additional benefit to optimized physical and medical therapy.” 4(p1097) The study included female patients, multiple surgeons, and patients with mild osteoarthritis. However, some surgeons have argued that the trial, like that of Moseley and colleagues before it, 1 lacked external generalizability because patients who were good candidates for surgery were not considered for randomization. 5
Although both trials were widely publicized, it is unclear whether they led to a decline in the use of arthroscopic debridement and lavage. Patients, most of whom pay only a small share of the cost of the procedure out of their own pockets, often expect knee arthroscopy to be a part of their treatment and, in our experience, lack enthusiasm for the more involved and slower course of conservative therapy.
Additionally, physicians face financial incentives to perform arthroscopy. Although many insurers withdrew coverage of lavage and debridement for some indications, enforcement may have been hampered by the imprecision of diagnostic coding. For example, codes do not indicate the severity of osteoarthritis and meniscal tears.
To examine trends in debridement and lavage, a recently published study used the case logs routinely collected for surgeons taking the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery’s examination for board certification. 6 The number of arthroscopic knee procedures in patients with osteoarthritis declined from 2.36 per surgeon in 2001 to 1.40 in 2009. However, the sample was limited to surgeons who were in their first few years of practice. In this study we examined trends in debridement and lavage using a data set that includes procedures performed by all types of surgeons.
Study Data And Methods
Data Source
We measured trends in the rate of arthroscopic debridement and lavage in outpatient surgery centers from 1998 to 2010 using Florida’s State Ambulatory Surgery Database. We selected Florida for the analysis because it is a large, demographically diverse state. The data capture 100 percent of outpatient surgeries and include information such as patient demographics and diagnosis and procedure codes that are typically found in insurance claims databases. The data include procedures performed in freestanding ambulatory surgery centers as well as hospital-based outpatient surgery units.
We identified arthroscopic debridement and lavage procedures using Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes 29877 (debridement) and 29871 (lavage) and International Classification of Diseases , Ninth Revision (ICD-9), procedure code 80.86.
We also identified other types of arthroscopic knee procedures and arthroscopic shoulder procedures using the relevant CPT and ICD-9 codes, described in online Appendix Exhibit 1. 7 Examining trends in the use of other arthroscopic joint procedures is useful for gauging underlying trends in the demand for and use of knee arthroscopy.
The vast majority of arthroscopic knee procedures are meniscectomies to remove torn meniscal tissue. Tears in the menisci, which are cartilaginous disks in the knee joint, may cause pain and limit mobility. Patients who undergo arthroscopy for osteoarthritis may undergo a meniscectomy if the surgeon observes torn meniscal tissue during the procedure. These procedures would be billed using codes for debridement and meniscectomy (CPT codes 29880 and 29881) and were not counted in the “debridement and lavage” category for the purposes of our analysis.
Analysis
We report age- and sex-standardized trends in quarterly procedure rates per 100,000 adults. We standardized rates to the 2000 Florida population. Osteoarthritis is not recorded consistently on claims, so we do not report diagnosis-specific trends in procedure rates. The database captures a 100 percent sample of outpatient procedures, and thus quarter-to-quarter differences in procedure rates are not influenced by sampling variability.
The data do not include observations for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who did not have surgery. Thus, we cannot examine the impact of trial results on the likelihood that patients with osteoarthritis undergo debridement and lavage.
Following Cary Gross and colleagues, 8 we calculated the significance of changes in procedure rates using a regression spline approach. We calculated quarterly procedure rates from 1998 to 2010 ( N = 52 ) and then estimated an ordinary least squares regression of the rates as a function of a variable that indicates the period after publication of Moseley and colleagues’ trial 1 and a time-trend variable that is allowed to vary before and after those results were released. Details are provided in the Appendix. 7
Study Results
Trends In Procedure Rates
The data include observations for 67,878 debridement and lavage procedures and 653,774 arthroscopic knee surgeries, excluding debridement and lavage. The average age of patients undergoing debridement and lavage between 1998 and 2010 was forty-four, and 45 percent were male. Ten percent were insured by Medicare, 65 percent were covered by private payers, and 25 percent were covered by other payers or uninsured (see Appendix Exhibit 2 for further detail). 7
Exhibit 2 displays quarterly procedure rates. Rates of debridement and lavage procedures declined 47 percent between 2001 and 2010. (Appendix Exhibit 3 displays annual procedure volumes and rates). 7 Rates dropped sharply following the publication of Moseley and colleagues’ results 1 and then again after CMS issued a decision memo stating its intent to discontinue coverage. 3 Trends were similar across major payer types (see Appendix Exhibit 4). 7 Exhibit 2 Trends In Arthroscopic Procedures Of The Knee Per 100,000 People Ages 18 And Older, By Quarter, 1998–2010 y axis. Other arthroscopic procedures are denoted by the red graphing line and relate to the right-hand y axis. a See Note b CMS is Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. See Note c NCD is National Coverage Determination. See Note d See Note SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data from the Florida State Ambulatory Surgery Database. NOTES Rates are standardized by age and sex to the 2000 Florida population. Debridement/lavage is denoted by the blue graphing line and relates to the left-handaxis. Other arthroscopic procedures are denoted by the red graphing line and relate to the right-handaxis.See Note 1 in text).CMS is Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. See Note 2 in text.NCD is National Coverage Determination. See Note 3 in text.See Note 4 in text.
The number of arthroscopic knee procedures per 100,000 people, excluding debridement and lavage but including meniscectomy, decreased less than 1 percent between 2001 and 2010. During that same period, the number of shoulder arthroscopies per 100,000 increased 85 percent (data not shown).
The number of debridement and lavage procedures per 100,000 decreased 15 percent between 2008 and 2010 (the trial conducted by Kirkley and colleagues 4 was published in September 2008). The number of arthroscopic knee procedures per 100,000, excluding debridement and lavage, decreased 6 percent over the same period.
The number of shoulder arthroscopies per 100,000 increased 3 percent between 2008 and 2010, but the rate of growth was slower than it had been earlier in the decade. For example, the number of shoulder arthroscopies per 100,000 increased 11 percent between 2006 and 2008. The United States entered a recession in December 2007, which may also have dampened demand for elective surgery.
The regression model indicates that there was a significant decrease in lavage and debridement procedure rates following the publication of Moseley and colleagues’ results ( p < 0.001 ). 1 There was also a significant increase in the use of other types of arthroscopic procedures of the knee ( p < 0.001 ). (Appendix Exhibit 5 provides full results.) 7
Exhibit 3 displays trends in the number of arthroscopic knee procedures (all types, including debridement and lavage procedures and meniscectomies) per 100,000 by age group. In each age group, publication of Moseley and colleagues’ trial results 1 was associated with an immediate decline in arthroscopic knee procedure rates. Surprisingly, rates continued their downward trend among patients ages 18–44. After an initial decline, rates increased among patients age forty-five and older, although it is difficult to discern trends, given the pronounced seasonality of rates. Rates declined after 2008 in both age groups. Exhibit 3 Trends In Arthroscopic Procedures Of The Knee Per 100,000 People, By Age Group And Quarter, 1998–2010 a See Note b CMS is Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. See Note c NCD is National Coverage Determination. See Note d See Note SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data from the Florida State Ambulatory Surgery Database. NOTE Rates are standardized by age and sex to the 2000 Florida population.See Note 1 in text).CMS is Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. See Note 2 in text.NCD is National Coverage Determination. See Note 3 in text.See Note 4 in text.
Impact On Health Care Costs
We calculated the impact of changes in the use of arthroscopic debridement and lavage on costs by applying the 2001 and 2010 rates of debridement and lavage procedures per 100,000 to the 2010 US population, which imply a reduction of 55,000 procedures annually. Our calculations are described in Exhibit 4 .
Exhibit 4 Estimates Of Savings From Reduction In The Use Of Debridement/Lavage Between 2001 And 2010 Description 2001 2010 Rate per 100,000 50.1 26.6 Number of procedures a 117,254 62,157 If the cost per procedure is $1,500: Spending (millions) $175.9 $93.2 Savings (millions) — b $82.6 If the cost per procedure is $2,500: Spending (millions) $293.1 $155.4 Savings (millions) — b $137.7
We used $1,500 and $2,500 as low and high estimates of the cost per debridement procedure. These figures are reasonable based on Medicare reimbursement rates 9 and charges to private insurers, 10 but the actual amount may be higher or lower. Moseley and colleagues 1 stated that the cost of arthroscopy was $5,000 per procedure, but we were unable to find a reference or support for this figure in publicly available payment rate databases. 9,10
We estimate that nationwide spending on debridement and lavage declined $82.6–$137.7 million annually over the ten-year period. Kirkley and colleagues’ trial 4 compared surgery and therapy to therapy alone, but it is possible that some patients may view surgery and physical therapy as substitutes. If patients received therapy at a per patient cost of $788 11 instead of debridement or lavage, savings would be $39.2–$94.3 million annually.
Discussion
Use of arthroscopic debridement and lavage declined immediately following publication of the results of a trial conducted by Moseley and colleagues in 2002, 1 before insurers changed their coverage policies, and then again in the second half of 2003, following the release of the CMS decision memo. These results suggest that changes in coverage policies are partly but not entirely responsible for declines in procedure volume. Rates also declined following publication of the results of Kirkley and colleagues’ trial 4 in 2008.
Many patients in Florida continue to receive debridement and lavage: More than 3,800 debridement and lavage procedures were performed in 2010. Direct measurement of appropriateness would require a review of all patients’ medical records, which would be prohibitively expensive.
Prominent payers, including Medicare and Aetna, responded to Moseley and colleagues’ trial 1 by issuing policies specifying termination of coverage for arthroscopic debridement and lavage for patients with severe osteoarthritis in 2003 and 2004. 3,12 Insurance claims, however, do not record the severity of osteoarthritis or meniscal tears, and so these policies can be difficult to enforce. In some cases, insurers may unknowingly pay for noncovered procedures. In other cases, insurers may deny claims for medically appropriate arthroscopic surgery, such as surgery for patients with symptomatic meniscal tears.
We focused on debridement and lavage because the impact of the trials, if any, should be most readily apparent for this group of procedures. However, it is also important to consider the impact of the trials on all types of arthroscopic procedures of the knee. Publication of the trials’ results may have reduced the number of meniscectomies among patients with osteoarthritis where repair of a torn meniscus was not the primary goal of the procedure. Alternatively, physicians may have begun to perform more meniscectomies in patients with osteoarthritis to circumvent insurers’ coverage restrictions.
Based on the trends depicted in Exhibit 2 , it does not appear that surgeons increased the use of meniscectomy to compensate for the decline in debridement and lavage procedures. However, the number of meniscectomies is large in relation to the number of stand-alone debridement and lavage procedures, so it is difficult to determine whether declines in the use of debridement and lavage were offset by increases in meniscectomies.
Procedure rates for all arthroscopic procedures of the knee among patients age forty-five and older continued to increase after publication of Moseley and colleagues’ trial results, 1 while rates among patients ages 18–44 decreased. This finding was surprising. The prevalence of osteoarthritis increases with age, so we expected procedure rates to decline in the older age group. 13 It is possible that among patients with osteoarthritis, younger patients were more likely to undergo arthroscopic surgery before Moseley and colleagues published their results. Older patients may be more accepting of the activity limitations that accompany osteoarthritis and less likely to pursue aggressive therapy.
We estimate that the reduction in the per capita rate of arthroscopic debridement and lavage procedures between 2001 and 2010 translates into savings of $82–$138 million annually. Hypothetically, actual savings would be higher under three scenarios: if the per procedure cost exceeded $2,500; if, in the absence of the two relevant trials, 1,4 procedure volume had increased through 2010, given that the prevalence of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis was increasing over this period; 14 or if the trials depressed the use of other types of arthroscopic procedures in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
Savings would be lower if declines in the use of arthroscopic debridement and lavage were offset by increases in the use of physical therapy, other arthroscopic procedures, or total knee replacement surgeries.
Implications For Studies Reporting ‘Negative’ Results
The trials of arthroscopic debridement and lavage are examples of studies reporting “negative” results—that is, where patients receiving the target therapy did not fare better than those in the control condition. Although the studies were not comparative effectiveness studies in the strict sense of the term, understanding their impact on practice patterns is helpful for gauging the potential impact of comparative effectiveness research on spending.
Savings will materialize only if patients and physicians are willing to abandon ineffective treatments. Physicians practicing in a fragmented, fee-for-service system, however, have little incentive to abandon the treatments that help define their specialty and provide a source of income. Likewise, patients may be reluctant to forgo aggressive and expensive treatments if they pay only a small share of the cost of the treatments out of pocket.
Employers and insurers stand to gain when trials lead physicians to abandon costly treatments, but insurers’ ability to influence treatment patterns is limited. 15 In the case of arthroscopic knee procedures, insurance claims do not contain sufficient detail to determine whether patients are appropriate candidates for surgery. Costly review of patients’ medical records and imaging studies is needed to ascertain appropriateness.
Previous studies of the impact of negative trial results have found some instances in which trials led to rapid changes in practice patterns 16 and others where practice patterns changed slowly 17 or not at all. 18 Physicians and patients may be more likely to abandon treatments that are associated with side effects or patient discomfort than those that are simply ineffective but cause no harm. Complications from arthroscopic knee surgery are rare, but, like all surgeries, the procedure can lead to infections and blood clots and entails a recovery period.
Some orthopedic surgeons questioned whether Moseley and colleagues’ trial, 1 which enrolled only male veterans age seventy-five and older, and Kirkley and colleagues’ trial, 4 which took more than six years to enroll subjects, were externally generalizable. Other trials reporting negative results have been subject to similar criticisms, which potentially blunts their impact. 15 Inclusion of broader patient populations, as is required for grantees by the newly formed Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, should facilitate the translation of results into practice.
Our analysis suggests that trials and comparative effectiveness studies targeting widely used therapies of uncertain value have the potential to reduce costs. Through a combination of publication of randomized controlled trials, information dissemination to providers and insurance carriers, and changes in coverage policies, the use of arthroscopic debridement and lavage declined 50 percent following publication of negative trial results. Many older patients continue to receive arthroscopic surgery, so there may be additional opportunities to reduce use.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: DAVID HOWARD, ROBERT BROPHY & STEPHEN HOWELL In this month’s Health Affairs , David Howard and coauthors report on their study of the impact of clinical trials showing that a certain surgical treatment for knee osteoarthritis—arthroscopic debridement and lavage—did not benefit patients. The trial results, published in 2002 and 2008, prompted payers like Medicare to discontinue coverage of the procedure for patients with severe osteoarthritis. Howard and coauthors, examining ambulatory surgery data from Florida, found a 47 percent decline in the use of the procedure between 2001 and 2010 that nationally may have translated into $134 million in annual savings. Howard is an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory University. A health economist by training, Howard conducts research using economics and statistics to better understand physicians’ decision making and its implications for public policy. He is currently studying the impact of comparative effectiveness research on medical practice patterns and the value and pricing of new anticancer therapies. Howard has acted as an adviser or consultant to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on Medicare issues; the American Cancer Society; the Division of Transplantation, Department of Health and Human Services; and the Institute of Medicine. Howard received his doctorate in health policy from Harvard University. Robert Brophy is an assistant professor of sports medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where his clinical focus is on shoulder and knee injuries. He has a particular interest in the treatment of shoulder instability and rotator cuff tears and meniscus, articular cartilage, and multiligament injury in the knee. Brophy played on two national championship teams in the United Soccer League (1992 and 1996) before enrolling in medical school at Washington University in St. Louis. He entered residency in orthopedic surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Brophy is a team physician for the St. Louis Rams football team. He has also been a team physician with the St. Louis Blues hockey team and the head team physician for the St. Louis Athletica of Women’s Professional Soccer. Stephen Howell is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Davis. He is also a clinician, researcher, and innovator in total knee replacement, anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, and meniscal injury. At his clinical practice in Sacramento, California, he focuses on the treatment of degenerative processes and sports-related injuries to the knee. Howell is a paid consultant for his development and clinical application of “kinematic alignment” in total knee replacement. He also is a paid consultant and receives royalties for his development of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction instruments and products. He has been awarded eleven US patents, two European patents, and eight patents pending. He is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Sports Medicine . Howell received a medical degree from Northwestern University.
NOTES |
Photo Credit: Toby Perkins
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Read more of our blogs HERE!
References:
http://jefffsbeardboard.yuku.com/topic/17459/Eighteen-Beard-Myths
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonha-revesencio/science-explains-why-a-beard-makes-you-look-hotter_b_6618142.html
http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/men/shaving-tips/does-shaving-make-hair-grow-back-thicker.htm |
Vim
Vim, short for Vi IMproved, is a configurable text editor often used as a Python development environment. Vim proponents commonly cite the numerous plugins, Vimscript and logical command language as major Vim strengths.
Why is Vim a good Python development environment?
Vim's philosophy is that developers are more productive when they avoid taking their hands off the keyboard. Code should flow naturally from the developer's thoughts through the keyboard and onto the screen. Using a mouse or other peripheral is a detriment to the rate at which a developer's thoughts become code.
Vim has a logical, structured command language. When a beginner is learning the editor she may feel like it is impossible to understand all the key commands. However, the commands stack together in a logical way so that over time the editor becomes predictable.
Configuring Vim with a Vimrc file
The Vimrc file is used to configure the Vim editor. A Vimrc file can range from nothing in it to very complicated with hundreds or thousands of lines of configuration commands.
Here's a short, commented example .vimrc file I use for Python development to get a feel for some of the configuration statements:
" enable syntax highlighting syntax enable " show line numbers set number " set tabs to have 4 spaces set ts=4 " indent when moving to the next line while writing code set autoindent " expand tabs into spaces set expandtab " when using the >> or << commands, shift lines by 4 spaces set shiftwidth=4 " show a visual line under the cursor's current line set cursorline " show the matching part of the pair for [] {} and () set showmatch " enable all Python syntax highlighting features let python_highlight_all = 1
Here is how these configuration options look with a dark background on Mac OS X while editing the markdown for this webpage (how meta!).
Take a look at another example using these configuration options, this time with a light background and editing Python code from my Choose Your Own Adventures Presentations project.
The Vimrc file lives under the home directory of the user account running Vim. For example, when my user account is 'matt', on Mac OS X my Vimrc file is found at /Users/matt/.vimrc . On Ubuntu Linux my .vimrc file can be found within the /home/matt/ directory.
If a Vimrc file does not already exist, just create it within the user's home directory and it will be picked up by Vim the next time you open the editor.
Vim tutorials
Vim has a reputation for a difficult learning curve, but it's much easier to get started with these tutorials.
Vimrc resources
These are a few resources for learning how to structure a .vimrc file. I recommend adding configuration options one at a time to test them individually instead of going whole hog with a Vimrc you are unfamiliar with.
Vim installation guides
These installation guides will help you get Vim up and running on Mac OS X, Linux and Windows.
Upgrading Vim on OS X explains why to upgrade from Vim 7.2 to 7.3+ and how to do it using Homebrew.
The easiest way to install Vim on Windows 7+ is to download and run the gvim74.exe file.
On Linux make sure to install the vim package with sudo apt-get install vim .
If you're using PyCharm as your IDE you won't need to install Vim as a separate text editor - instead use the IdeaVim PyCharm plugin to get Vim keybindings, visual/insert mode, configuration with ~/.ideavimrc and other Vim emulation features.
Using Vim as a Python IDE
Once you get comfortable with Vim as an editor, there are several configuration options and plugins you can use to enhance your Python productivity. These are the resources and tutorials to read when you're ready to take that step.
Vim Plugin resources
5 Essential VIM Plugins That Greatly Increase my Productivity covers the author's experience with the Vundle, NERDTree, ctrlp, Syntastic and EasyMotion Vim plugins.
Getting more from Vim with plugins provides a list of plugins with a description for each one on its usefulness. The comments at the bottom are also interesting as people have suggested alternatives to some of the plugins mentioned in the post.
Powerline is a popular statusline plugin for Vim that works with both Python 2 and 3.
VimAwesome is a directory of Vim plugins sourced from Vim.org, GitHub and user submissions.
Command-T is a Vim plugin for fast fuzzy searching files.
Vim Plugin Managers
If you use many Vim plugins together it is really handy to have a plugin managers to sort out all of the dependencies. The following plugin managers are the most commonly-used ones in the Vim ecosystem.
Vundle comes highly recommended as a plugin manager for Vim.
Pathogen is a widely used plugin manager.
Vim-plug bills itself as a minimalistic Vim plugin manager.
Niche tutorials
After you have been using Vim for awhile there will be features you bump into without realizing they were ever there. The following tutorials show how to use some specific niche features. You may already know about these if you have been using Vim for awhile but everyone's learning path is different so it's useful to do a quick scan to make sure you are not missing anything.
Vim’s absolute, relative and hybrid line numbers shows how to change the line numbering scheme. There was a period of time I used relative line numbers although I eventually switched back to absolute numbers. The usefulness of these schemes is often dependent on what language you are working in.
A simpler Vim statusline explains how to customize your bottom screen statusline without using plugins such as vim-powerline or vim-airline.
The vim-clutch is a really cool project and walkthrough that shows how you can create a foot pedal to switch between Normal and Insert modes instead of using the typical ESC key (or a remapped key).
Now that you know about Vim, what do you want to develop in it? |
Master Mason Apron, 1819-1824, William Laughton (poss. 1794-1870), Hartford, Connecticut, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Purchase, 2014.070.7. Photograph by David Bohl.
As regular readers of our blog will know, the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library has one of the best collections of Masonic aprons in the world. We are always looking to add new examples with designs or makers that we are not familiar with. This apron, a recent purchase at auction, has both a design AND a maker that were new to us.
This Master Mason apron shows a typical all-seeing eye symbol on the flap, signifying watchfulness. The body features an arrangement of Masonic symbols with celestial and terrestrial columns on a mosaic pavement at the top of three stairs. Between the columns are a sun, moon, shooting star, seven stars, clasped hands, three candlestands and an altar with an open Bible. Rough and smooth ashlars appear to the sides and at bottom center is a coffin.
Applied on the back is a printed label for the apron’s maker – “Hartford / W. Laughton / Painter.” Unfortunately, little is known about William Laughton (possibly 1794-1870), despite the inclusion of his label on this apron. The best source of information about his activities is a series of newspaper advertisements in the Hartford papers between 1819 and 1824. In August 1819, he begged “leave to inform his friends and the public, that he has taken a room a few doors east of the Court House…where he will do all kinds of ornamental painting, in the neatest manner, and at the shortest notice.” By September 1819, he was advertising as a “delineator, ornamental, and sign painter,” and that he would “execute Masonic paintings and Signs of every description.”
In June 1820, he used his ad to “[tender] his sincere thanks to his friends and the public, for the encouragement they have given him in his profession for a year past.” In this same advertisement he specifically noted that he would do “Masonic paintings, such as carpets, aprons, etc., etc.” And, at the end, he noted “W.L. has on hand a few Masonic Aprons, which he offers very low.” In addition to his newspaper advertisements, Laughton marketed himself by entering a painting in the local cattle show in October 1822. According to a published account of the fair, “Mr. Laughton…offered for inspection, a fruit piece painted by himself. This was considered by judges, to indicate a talent in the art which deserves particular encouragement.” In 1823, his advertisements focused specifically on Masonic aprons, such as the one in the Connecticut Mirror on June 30, 1823, which was headed “Masonic Aprons,” and included an illustration of an apron. “William Laughton,” the advertisement read, “has now on hand, a handsome assortment of Masonic Aprons, plain and gilt, very cheap by the dozen or single.”
After 1824, Laughton disappears from the newspapers. He may have headed out of town to work as an itinerant painter. In an 1898 biography of Esek Hopkins (1718-1802) (Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy, 1775-1778), a portrait of Hopkins is mentioned. It was “taken from North Providence to Brookline, and in 1825, as it had become somewhat defaced, was turned over to a man by the name of Laughton, a carriage and sign painter, of Brookline, to be repaired.” We do not know for sure if this “Laughton” and the William Laughton who made this apron are one and the same, but it is possible. The 1838 Hartford City Directory lists Laughton back in the city as a “fancy painter.” Few other details remain to tell us about the latter part of his life. A “William W. Laughton” is listed in the records of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut. He joined Bridgeport’s St. John’s Lodge No. 3 in 1862, but there is no birth date given, so this is an inconclusive match, especially since it seems strange that Laughton would have joined so late in life after making and selling aprons in the 1810s and 1820s.
Perhaps further information about William Laughton will come to light over time. If you know of other aprons by Laughton, please let us know in a comment below!
To learn more about our apron collection, see our new book, The Badge of a Freemason: Masonic Aprons from the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, available June 2015 at www.scottishritenmj.org/shop.
References:
Connecticut Mirror, The Times, Connecticut Courant, 1819-1824.
Edward Field, Esek Hopkins, Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolution 1775 to 1778 (Providence: The Preston & Rounds Co., 1898).
Susan P. Schoelwer, ed., Lions & Eagles & Bulls: Early American Tavern & Inn Signs (Hartford: The Connecticut Historical Society, 2000).
I am indebted to Robert Fitzgerald, Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of Connecticut, for sharing the Laughton Masonic membership information with me. |
Perhaps no book has fulfilled the ‘Rebirth’ edict of telling he best possible stories, while returning the characters to who they should be, more than “Aquaman.” Dan Abnett and a rotating team of artists has given Arthur his best set of stories in quite some time. ‘The Deluge,’ the current story arc is bringing all aspects of his life – Justice League member, king, fiance – together in a truly satisfying way. We are thrilled to share an exclusive first look at #14, due out on January 4th.
Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Philippe Briones “THE DELUGE” part three! No sooner has Aquaman found a lead on the location of N.E.M.O.’s secret headquarters than the United States sends a team of aquatically trained super-soldiers to take out the sea king. Behold America’s Aquamarines!
Thanks again to DC, and make sure to pick up the book on Wednesday! |
Absecon Police dispatcher Richard Doherty is on the wrong side of the law after investigators say he was driving drunk when he struck and killed Alfonso Dickerson. NBC10's Nefertiti Jaquez reports. (Published Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015)
An intoxicated South Jersey police dispatcher — who sources say once lost his job as a police recruit due to alcohol — struck and killed a man overnight, said police.
The wreck left 29-year-old Alfonso Dickerson dead along Tilton Road near S Aloe Street in Galloway Township, New Jersey around 1:30 a.m. Friday. Dickerson — a father of a 2-year-old boy — died upon impact.
Richard Doherty was driving his 2011 Hyundai Sonata southbound when he struck Dickerson in the left lane, said investigators.
After the wreck, police arrested the 36-year-old Galloway Township man on suspicion of DWI.
Mayor John Armstrong said that Doherty had attended a party for the swearing-in of Absecon's new police chief before leaving earlier Thursday evening. Authorities confirmed that Doherty has spent 10 years as a police dispatcher in Absecon.
Doherty used to work dispatch for the Pleasantville Police Department and more than a decade ago applied to be a police officer, multiple sources with knowledge of the suspect's history told NBC10. Doherty only lasted three weeks in the academy — he was thrown out and fired after showing up drunk, said the sources.
He was named the town's employee of the quarter in Dec. 2013, reported the current of Pleasantville and Absecon. Armstrong said that Doherty was suspended without pay.
The wreck remained under investigation Friday and more charges are pending against Doherty.
In a strange twist, both men lived in the same apartment complex. It wasn't clear if they knew one another. |
A senior MP in the McGowan Government has been reported to the Local Government Department over personal donations to council candidates.
Darren West, parliamentary secretary to Alannah MacTiernan, was this week reported to the department over donations totalling $2500 made to candidates in Greater Geraldton and Esperance, because he failed to disclose the gifts in the correct time frame.
Under WA laws, both the donor and the candidate are required to disclose a gift worth more than $200 within three days of the transaction. The penalty is $5000 for each breach.
Nationals MP Martin Aldridge, who referred Mr West to the department, told Parliament on Thursday the matter was akin to Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi’s failure to disclose travel contributions.
“We have some good facts before us that Darren West, who is not just a member of this place but also a parliamentary secretary, has breached the local government regulations on at least three occasions,” Mr Aldridge said.
“I am going to be very interested to see whether my further questioning is answered in this place and whether the Premier will hold (him) to the same standard that he is holding other elected members in local government and will seek the resignation of Darren West.”
Mr West said he had been incorrectly advised, believing disclosure was required three days after the election. “As soon as I got the correct advice I disclosed the gifts,” he said.
It comes as full disclosure for the recent elections have been revealed, including a $9000 donation by Federal Liberal MP Ian Goodenough to new Joondalup mayor Albert Jacob.
On the disclosure form, both Mr Goodenough and Mr Jacob said the money was for the postage of a city-wide mail-out.
In Mandurah, new mayor Rhys Williams received almost $6000 in donations for his campaign via the GoFundMe website.
Mr Williams received another $29,000 in straight donations, including $3500 worth of advertising in local newspapers, from Strzelecki Group boss Greg Poland and $3025 from Australian Metal Workers Union WA secretary Steve McCartney.
Mr Williams’ predecessor, Marina Vergone, received gifts worth as much as $10,000 from a group called Friends of Marina. |
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