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Image copyright AFP Image caption China's defence minister Chang Wanquan has suggested drills for "maritime rescues and disaster relief"
China has proposed joint maritime drills with South East Asian nations in the hotly contested South China Sea in 2016.
Beijing is currently hosting an informal meeting for defence ministers from the region.
China's Defence Minister Chang Wanquan has suggested drills for "maritime rescues and disaster relief".
China's reclamation activities in the sea in recent years have raised tensions with its neighbours.
The Philippines and Vietnam, in particular, have overlapping claims with China.
China's proposal comes a week after the US announced it was considering sending ships to an area of the South China Sea China has claimed for itself, a suggestion which sparked strong words from China.
Read more: What is the South China Sea dispute?
The suggestion for joint drills was made on Friday at a meeting with defence ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional alliance.
The drills would be one way of achieving the aim of "jointly solving disputes and controlling risks", China's defence ministry said in a statement.
The offer "indicates potential for the conflict to de-escalate" and if Asean states agreed, the drills would be "a confidence-building measure that can ease tensions", military studies research fellow Daniel Wei Boon Chua, of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told the BBC.
William Choong, senior fellow at think-tank II-SS, called it "a conciliatory effort at blunting the bad press" and "to tamp down the temperature when you have US Navy ships possibly sailing in."
But he felt that the drills would be "unlikely" to take off, "because I don't see any concerted buy-in from Asean on joint patrols," he said.
Asean has had internal disagreements on a co-ordinated response to China on the South China sea dispute.
Image copyright AP Image caption China has been reclaiming various islands and reefs in the area including Mischief Reef
China has been accused of militarisation and illegally expanding its maritime claims by reclaiming land around island reefs and building airstrips and structures on them. The US has called on China to halt such activities.
Vietnam on Tuesday alleged that China was constructing two lighthouses in the Spratly islands, and said it "resolutely rejects and vehemently protests China's action." The country saw anti-Chinese protests last year over a Chinese oil rig in a disputed area.
The Philippines has also taken China to a United Nations tribunal for arbitration over China's claims, although Beijing has refused to participate in the process.
China has insisted that it is developing areas within its sovereignty and that the structures are for civilian purposes such as fishing and rescue work. |
THE romance between Ukraine and the European Union is full of unmet expectations. Ukraine wants commitment from the EU; the EU wants proof that Ukraine has really changed. When EU officials visited Kiev on April 27th for a joint summit, they snubbed Ukraine’s requests for a peacekeeping force in the Donbas, for additional military aid and for visa-free travel. Western financial assistance is trickling in, but Ukraine wants more. “Greece already received $300 billion, with no war, with no Russian tanks,” Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the prime minister, said after the summit. Ukraine, he complained, has received just one-tenth as much.
The EU says help will come, but only after reforms. “You keep reforming, we keep supporting,” said the European Commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker. European leaders want to see Ukraine implement its new laws and decentralise governance, as agreed in the Minsk peace plan. Some worry that failure to do this will invite Russia to relaunch the war. Already violence is ticking up near the rebel capital of Donetsk and the Ukrainian-held port of Mariupol.
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Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, takes umbrage at charges that reforms are lagging. Lawmakers recently passed legislation to break up gas monopolies, increase energy-sector competition, and unbundle the state gas conglomerate Naftogaz, a fiscal black hole. Last month Mr Poroshenko picked a head for the newly created National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Yet the biggest test will be the struggle against Ukraine’s oligarchs. The latest battle pits the state against the country’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov. The government wants to end Mr Akhmetov’s coal and electricity monopolies, and may let his holding company, DTEK, go bankrupt. Coal miners have taken to Kiev’s streets, banging their helmets and calling for the energy minister to resign. Mustafa Nayyem, a reformist legislator, published leaked documents allegedly issued by DTEK that set out plans to engineer protests. DTEK said it “did not know the source of the documents”, but did not deny that they were genuine.
Following the miners’ march, Mr Poroshenko vowed that those who put pressure on the state “will get their knuckles rapped”. In a column in the Guardian, a British newspaper, Mr Poroshenko boasted of taking down Ihor Kolomoisky, an oligarch forced to resign as a regional governor last month after he deployed armed guards to protect his oil-industry assets from government reforms. But Europe does not want de-oligarchisation to become a game of whack-a-mole led by Mr Poroshenko, who is himself an oligarch. It wants Ukraine systematically to transform the oligarchs’ empires into law-abiding big businesses. Until that happens, Ukraine may feel itself to be in a relationship with the EU, one that could even lead towards membership—but the EU will respond that things are complicated. |
For decades, gonorrhea patients could expect to quickly dispatch the long-dreaded sexually transmitted disease with a time-tested round of antibiotics.
But the ever-mutating gonorrhea bacterium is becoming resistant to the dwindling number of medicines used to fight it, and public health authorities are raising alarms about the emergence of an untreatable “superbug” that will reverse decades of progress in lowering infection and transmission rates around the globe.
On Thursday, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are scheduled to release new treatment guidelines to slow the growth of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea in the United States.
These guidelines are coming none too soon, said William Smith, executive director of the National Coalition of STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) Directors.
“It is pretty clear that we have already seen significant resistance to the existing [gonorrhea] treatments, and internationally, we have seen complete treatment failures,” he said. “So right now is the time to be just ahead of this, and to try and figure out how we can control it a bit longer with the existing resources that we’ve got.”
“Complete treatment failure,” Mr. Smith said, means just what it sounds like — “that you have a chronic, active, ulcerative, infectious disease.”
Adaptable scourge
Gonorrhea, which has been known since biblical days, was a global scourge until the 1940s, when sulfa drugs were developed to vanquish it.
But the bacterium, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, proved to be a master of mutation. Over time, it learned how to survive against entire classes of antibiotics, including penicillins, tetracyclines and fluoroquinolnes.
Now only two drugs — ceftriaxone or cefixime — are recommended to treat gonorrhea. Both usually are fortified with another antibiotic.
In recent years, however, cases of complete treatment failure have been reported in Europe, Asia and Canada.
In July 2011, researchers said a gonorrhea strain, named H041, was identified in the throat of a Japanese sex worker.
The H041 strain was dubbed a “superbug” because it was resistant to all known antibiotics. When researchers cultivated it with other gonorrhea strains, it produced even more resistant strains of the sexually transmitted infection.
Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea is “a major global threat,” Dr. Edward W. Hook III told a CDC webinar in May.
If this gets out of control, it “could take us back more than 60 years, to a time when treatments for gonorrhea were not reliably effective and when there were no alternative therapies,” said Dr. Hook, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Alabama and director of the STD Control Program for the Jefferson County Department of Health.
The federal government estimates that 600,000 cases of gonorrhea are diagnosed in the U.S. each year; roughly half are not reported.
In the District, some 10,000 gonorrhea cases, including 4,000 among teens, have been reported, but, based on clinic information and outreach efforts, “we are not aware of any cases” that have not been cured, said Michael Kharfen, bureau chief for communications and community outreach in the District of Columbia Department of Health.
“We’re looking forward very much” to the new CDC guidelines on antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, Mr. Kharfen said Tuesday. “We’re obviously concerned because we’ve been seeing over the years a shrinking number of effective treatments.”
Seeking new cures
Meanwhile, there is an increasingly urgent need to find an entirely new class of drugs to defeat gonorrhea, as previously used antibiotics are ineffective and cannot be reintroduced, researchers told the CDC webinar.
It takes drug manufacturers at least nine years and up to 15 years to get a licensed product. Speculative research and development costs can range from $4 billion up to $12 billion, Carolyn Deal, chief of the STD branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told the CDC webinar.
Gonorrhea, known historically by such terms as “the clap,” “drip” or “GC,” often goes unreported because it is asymptomatic, especially in women, and particularly if the infection is lodged in the oral cavity or rectum, STD researchers said. When there are symptoms, these usually include painful urination, discharge and itching.
Left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to scarring of reproductive tissues, which can cause infertility. It ulcerates or opens sores on the skin, raising the risk for acquiring HIV and other STDs. Pregnant women infected with gonorrhea are at risk for miscarriage, premature birth and other complications; infected mothers can transmit the disease to their babies, causing eye infections and other problems.
The best ways to avoid gonorrhea are to abstain from sex or stay in a monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner and use condoms consistently and correctly, Dr. Robert Kirkcaldy, a medical epidemiologist at the STD division of the CDC, told the webinar. Anyone who acquires gonorrhea, he said, should let the health care provider know if the infection is not resolved and notify all recent sex partners so they can be treated too.
With more than 600,000 new infections each year in the United States, gonorrhea ranks as the second most commonly reported bacterial STD after chlamydia. After infection rates fell steadily from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, infection rates essentially have held steady since then as the more treatment-resistant strains appeared. According to the CDC, the highest reported rates of infection in the U.S. population are among sexually active teenagers, young adults and blacks.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. |
Paul Haggis had a clear motive in mind when he wrote his Oscar-winning drama "Crash."
"I wanted to write that movie and bust liberals. It's too easy to bust folks we consider to be racist," he told HuffPost Live on Wednesday.
During a conversation about his new film "Third Person," Haggis said "Crash" was an exploration of people who fixate on political correctness but are often blind to their own prejudices.
"It's those people who think, 'We have it all figured out,' [and] who think, 'We're good people, we're good liberals' -- those are the people you can't trust, because there's a level of denial," he said.
And Haggis counts himself among that group. When host Ricky Camilleri asked which "Crash" characters were based on his own racial fears, Haggis answer was "all of them."
The writer and director also recalled a review of the film in 2004 that perfectly illustrated the problem he was tackling in his script.
"When 'Crash' came out, I got a bad review in The Hollywood Reporter or some place, and they said, 'Oh please, if this movie had come out 10 years ago, it would be significant, it would be talking about issues that matter at the time, but we've solved these problems basically.' That week, there was a race riot at Santa Monica High School," he said.
Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation with Paul Haggis below. |
When people in the mainstream press wonder why people don’t trust them to be fair and impartial, Katy Tur’s comments are a perfect illustration of why there is no trust. Donald Trump’s comments about Vladimir Putin in his interview with Bill O’Reilly were reprehensible.
When old that Putin is a “killer,” Trump responded that the United States kills people and so we’re not any worse. Naturally, Trump’s answer obfuscates the real problem. U.S. Presidents are not the habit of killing journalists whereas Putin does.
For Trump to act as an apologist for Putin is ridiculous enough. When the media takes it to a whole new level of absurd, it takes attention away from the original absurdity. Katy Tur of NBC News was interviewing Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer when the subject turned from Betsy Devos to President Trump’s comments about Putin. Watch:
Senator, the junior senator in your state, Senator Ben Sasse, came up strongly over the weekend condemning Donald Trump’s assertion that we are just as bad as Russia. When he said that, you know, we — America does bad and terrible things, too, when Bill O’Reilly asked him if Vladimir Putin was a killer. Why — what is your sense of why this president is going above and beyond — bending over backwards, if you will — to stay away from criticizing the Russian president and to almost give him an excuse? As we know, there’s, since 2000, been a couple dozen suspicious deaths of journalists in Russia who came out against the government there. Donald Trump has made no secret about going after journalists and his distaste for any news that doesn’t agree with him here. Do you find that this is a dangerous path he is heading down?
Her implication, of course, being, “Will President Trump attempt to take out some journalists he doesn’t like?”
Note to Katy: You’re a reporter. Report what Donald Trump says not what you think he could do or the “dangerous path” you think he is heading down. |
James Comey hopes Cleveland’s consent decree can be a model for reforming policing in US cities with large minority populations and increasing violence
Divide between police and minorities must be addressed, FBI director says
The FBI director, James Comey, said on Thursday there is a crisis in big cities across the country as the divide between law enforcement officers and minority communities widens while violent crime and murder spike upward.
FBI chief: 'unacceptable' that Guardian has better data on police violence Read more
Comey made his remarks during a forum at a community college in Cleveland, where the relationship between police and the majority black community has been especially troublesome the last several years because of highly publicized police custody deaths and fatal shootings, such as that of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who was holding a pellet gun.
Cleveland is in the early stages of implementing a federal court-monitored agreement that the city and the US Department of Justice reached after the DoJ concluded last year that city police officers too often used excessive force and violated people’s rights and that the problem primarily affects the black community.
The people who are dying as the result of violent crime in American cities are typically young men of color, Comey said.
“It’s a problem the rest of the country could easily drive around because it’s happening to those people in those neighborhoods,” he said. “We can’t allow that to happen.”
Comey called Cleveland a “place of great pain” that is an example of the divide that exists. Without referring to the agreement, called a consent decree, he added that leadership in Cleveland makes him hopeful the city can show the rest of the country how to narrow the gap. The ultimate answer, he said, is “unscientific”.
“It’s simply understanding that it’s hard to hate up close,” he said. “We must see each other more clearly.”
One of the key provisions in Cleveland’s consent decree is to train officers about how to engage the community in bias-free policing and to create systems to make the police department accountable for doing its job without regard for race, gender or sexual identity.
Law enforcement officers must “own our history” about how minorities have been treated by police, Comey said at the question-and-answer forum.
“Because people we serve and protect don’t forget,” he said. “That’s part of their inheritance as well.”
While law enforcement must always work to improve, better policing won’t solve the problems that plague poor neighborhoods of color, Comey said, adding that it would be a mistake to focus just on police. People need to realize that they need police to “weed the predators out”, he said.
“We need police in these neighborhoods to save those lives because those lives matter,” Comey said. “These are Americans dying in our streets, so we are needed there.” |
Israel's Interior Minister Eli Yishai said on Wednesday that most of the migrants from Africa are engaged in criminal actions and should be placed in detention facilities. Yishai said that Israel is willing to provide financial assistance for migrants to leave.
In an interview with Army Radio, Yishai differentiated between refugees and asylum seekers, saying that "whoever is considered a refugee, and there are few, can stay. One cannot forsake the security of Israelis."
Yishai's comments came in the wake of increased reports of criminal activity among the migrant and refugee community. On Tuesday, four Eritrean asylum seekers were arrested in Tel Aviv in connection with the rape of a 19-year-old woman.
A police patrol sighted a suspicious gathering near the old central bus station in the Neveh Sha'anan neighborhood of Tel Aviv. As they approached they saw several men surrounding a woman who was crying for help, and arrested four suspects. The young woman was taken to the hospital, and later told the investigators that as she was heading home she was attacked by the group of Eritrean refugees. She said she was robbed, and then raped by at least one of them.
Also this week, the Foreign Ministry announced that the international law poses no barrier to deporting all 700 South Sudanese who live in Israel, but the government should examine the situation of every South Sudanese asylum seeker to ascertain whether their lives would be at risk if they were sent back.
The brief, which has been sent to several government agencies in the past few days, will form the basis of the government's June 3 response to the District Court for Administrative Matters in Jerusalem on whether Israel can lift the collective protection of asylum seekers from South Sudan.
Read this article in Hebrew.
African refugees in Levinsky Park in Tel Aviv. Daniel Bar-On
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CLOSE A look at everything that went down at the Oregon Capitol during the Independence Day holiday. Statesman Journal / Wochit
Buy Photo Sun cast early morning light on the Golden Pioneer on the Oregon Capitol (Photo: Diane Dietz, Statesman Journal)Buy Photo
Oregon Republicans took the lead in arguing for spending $36 million on health care for undocumented Oregon children during a Monday session.
The “cover all kids” Senate Bill 558 passed the body on a 21-8 vote. The bill now proceeds to the House where it's likely to find favor with the majority Democrats.
Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, said he’ll take a shellacking for his ‘yes” vote on the bill from constituents who believe extending benefits encourages illegal immigration.
“I can hear the town hall questions; I can write them,” he said.
“I will look at folks with anger in their eyes and they will not listen to the answer that it is less expensive (to provide coverage),” Ferrioli said, finally adding, “Folks can sharpen their knives and load up. I’ll be in the district after the session is over. I can answer the questions then just as I can now.”
The bill would extend coverage under the Oregon Health Plan to an estimated 15,000 children in the state who otherwise would be prohibited from signing up because they lack legal residency status.
Gov. Kate Brown highlighted the cover all kids program as a priority in her proposed budget. Ninety-eight percent of Oregon children are covered today. The bill, which takes effect Jan. 1, would bring the proportion even higher.
A hospital provider tax of 1.7 percent on large hospitals and 4 percent on small hospitals passed in June will pay for the expansion, according to legislative documents.
Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, carried the bill to the Senate floor and made the case that it is really a conservative bill. Children don’t go completely without care, he said. When they turn up sick at hospitals, hospitals have to treat them, and that’s the most expensive way to treat them.
“I know about the optics of this thing. We could get wrapped up in sanctuary this, sanctuary that. We could get wrapped up with immigration this or immigration that,” Kruse said. “This is not about the optics or the politics. This is about health care at a reasonable cost.”
Passing the bill will bring relief to hospitals large and small across the state.
“We have asked hospitals to step up in a major way with the provider tax,” Kruse said. “Now to ask them to absorb (emergency department) care for these kids is just one more ask. That is an ask too much. ...
“Chances are I’m going to take some political hits for this too, but quite honestly, I don’t give a damn. I don’t care about politics, I care about policy and I care about doing the right thing.”
Not all Republicans favored the bill.
“My priority are services to veterans who fought and have been injured for this country and for this state,” said Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, who voted no. “We have not taken care of them the way we need to. If there are tens of millions of dollars, we need to start there.
“We can work our way to seniors who need care in their homes, those with disabilities, those who are vulnerable -- and there are many Oregonians who are in need,” he said.
All Senate Democrats voted in favor of the bill. Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, a high school principal, said schools must teach all the children who turn up. “They only learn when they’re healthy,” he said.
Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, is a public health nurse.
“Every child needs health care regardless of where they were born,” she said. “It is the moral and right thing to do. A child is not responsible for who their parents are, whether they’re legal or illegal, whether they’re rich or whether they’re poor.”
Read or Share this story: http://stjr.nl/2tKDfrh |
UPDATE 29th June 2016: EA has said it's looking into the FIFA Ultimate Team chemistry glitch that hit the headlines this week.
Community manager Rob Hodson took to the FIFA forum to say EA was on the case. Here's the statement:
Thanks to the FUT community for raising awareness of a potential fitness and chemistry inconsistency in some FUT items. After hearing this, our teams were in over the weekend and continue to thoroughly investigate the information. We will keep you informed with updates from the investigation. Our commitment to a fun, fair and secure experience in FIFA is ongoing, and as a community your feedback helps us achieve that goal. A special thanks for your continuous efforts across all channels.
Wondering what all the fuss is about? The video below provides a useful summary.
ORIGINAL STORY 27th June 2016: The FIFA community reckons it's exposed a "chemistry glitch" that proves a long-running theory about Ultimate Team handicapping.
One FIFA player believes he's proved the chem glitch through the use of a skill move.
Users on the FIFA subReddit have picked apart the way the football game works and believe they've proved a troubling glitch that might have been a part of the series for years.
A summary: users reckon they've proved FUT includes handicapping - that is, teams comprised of highly-rated players feel sluggish. They reckon FIFA has been buffing low rated teams and nerfing highly rated teams without telling players.
Now for the detail: this has to do with chemistry. In FUT, by playing cards in particular positions you can increase your chemistry stats. High chemistry can boost the stats of players. A low chemistry can nerf them. Chemistry is important for FUT because it can give you the edge in a match. Theoretically, anyway.
FUT players believe the most expensive cards in the game do not attribute this chemistry-related stat boost properly, and it's this glitch that makes the players feel sluggish in comparison to cheaper cards which do attribute the chemistry stat boost properly.
Right, now for the working out. FIFA players believe chemistry does in fact work for day one cards (normal versions of cards), but does not work properly for non-day one cards, even more expensive, better versions of the same day one cards. This is why the belief is that some expensive upgraded cards are actually worse.
The FUT community is in uproar over this because these expensive upgraded cards are rare, and so people have spent a lot of real world money trying to get them.
Reddit user RighteousOnix made a video, below, that reveals the glitch: he took a day one player whose dribbling stat was below 86 and was unable to perform the "no touch sprint step over" skill move, which requires 86 dribbling. That makes sense.
He increased the player's chemistry so the dribbling was above 86 and was able to perform the skill move. This works as expected.
However, when he took an upgraded version of the player (a non-day one card), who also had a dribbling stat below 86, and increased the chemistry, he could not perform the skill move. The increased chemistry had no effect.
There's a solid round-up of the situation over at r/games. As is pointed out, this stat issue is not made explicit to the player.
EA has yet to address the situation (we've asked), and now the FIFA community has called for a boycott on the purchase of FIFA Points until the mega publisher clarifies what, exactly, is going on here. Here's a snippet from the FIFA subReddit:
It's a similar sentiment on EA Sports' FIFA forums, where some players have said they feel "cheated".
In the meantime, be warned: those expensive, upgraded versions of cards you wish you had may not be worth having at all. |
BERKELEY, Calif.—Days after a group of concerned professors raised alarm bells over a new network monitoring system installed at the University of California, Berkeley and the other nine campuses of the University of California system, a separate committee of system-wide faculty has now given its blessing. Some Berkeley faculty remain concerned that their academic freedom has been threatened by the new full packet capture system that sits on each campus network’s edge, however. They say that retaining such information could be used as a way to constrain legitimate discussion or research on controversial topics.
Last summer, the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) ordered that a Fidelis XPS system be installed at all 10 campuses at a total estimated cost of at least a few million dollars. The Fidelis hardware and software is designed to "detect attacks" and analyze "every single packet that traverses the network."
The move came in response to a July 2015 attack against the University of California Los Angeles Health System, which resulted in 4.5 million records being stolen. Following that attack, University of California President Janet Napolitano, the former Secretary of Homeland Security, moved quickly to bring more digital monitoring onto the campuses, which stretch from Berkeley to San Diego. The UC Regents, the governing board of the entire UC system, now face 17 separate lawsuits as a result of the breach at UCLA. Similar network monitoring hardware has also been installed at other universities nationwide.
"We recognize that the essential openness of the University represents a cybersecurity challenge," David G. Kay, a University of California Irvine computer science professor and head of the UC-wide committee, wrote in the Monday letter to the UC Academic Senate. "We have been informed that the monitoring of communications looked only for ‘malware signatures’ and Internet traffic patterns. As neither message content nor browsing activity were monitored, we believe this level of monitoring can be appropriate."
But exactly how the Fidelis XPS operates and what data is being retained and scanned is unknown.
Kate Moser, a UCOP spokeswoman, refused to answer Ars’ specific questions, referring us simply to prepared statements from both Napolitano and Executive Vice President Rachael Nava. She also pointed us to a new website, security.ucop.edu, which states, "UC is taking appropriate steps to prevent cyber attacks by advanced persistent threat actors." That site also touts the new Cyber-Risk Governance Committee, which acts as an umbrella group for the affected campuses, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the UCOP’s own network.
Opacity
The recent dust-up arose when Ethan Ligon, a member of a Berkeley Information Technology committee began alerting other faculty that the UCOP had "intrusive hardware" installed on the campus, "over the objections of our campus IT and security experts." That e-mail went out several days after the UCOP formally rejected the Berkeley group’s request to shut the Fidelis system down.
"It's a black box," Ligon, a professor of agricultural economics, told Ars over coffee at a campus-adjacent café this week. "Our own IT staff don't have any access to it. It's not like their IT guys are better qualified than our IT guys."
He said that many IT staff are concerned about speaking out for fear of losing their jobs—few of them have the kind of job security that Ligon and other tenured professors have.
Ligon shared with Ars a slide deck that he prepared for a committee meeting earlier this week. The economics professor also pointed Ars to a 2005 UCOP policy document stating that while the administration is certainly allowed to do network monitoring, it doesn’t comport with the provision that mandates the "least invasive degree of inspection."
Previously, campus-monitoring log files were deleted as a matter of course unless there was a specific reason to retain them. Ligon and his colleagues argue that this level of monitoring goes far beyond that policy, usurping the normal autonomy granted to each campus.
After being shown the Kay letter on Thursday, Ligon called this a "small move in the right direction" but said he hopes the UCOP will do more to acknowledge its role in perceived overreach. "The limited progress is the statement that UCOP's behavior constituted a ‘serious failure of shared governance,’" he added by e-mail. "But note that this is faculty saying this; we still don't have any acknowledgement of this from UCOP. Still, this seems to set the stage for UCOP to at least tacitly acknowledge that they misbehaved. Finally, the document doesn't say anything about stopping the monitoring, and indeed goes out of its way to suggest that it was justified."
The concern has extended beyond academia as well: Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) who represents western Los Angeles—including UCLA—has weighed in. Lieu is one of a handful of a computer science majors in Congress, and he is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserves. |
This post is about Teemo Counter and Counter tips and tricks to beat Teemo in the league of legends game. League of Legends is the most popular multiplayer battle game and most popular in almost all part of the country especially in North America and Asia. Teemo is one of the champions in the League of Legends game who loves to play and doing fun in the game. If you want to beat Teemo, then you need a Teemo Counter who plays well against Teemo and has the ability to beat him down.
Important Topic: Darius Counter: Killer Tricks To Counter Darius
Here comes our champion – Teemo.
League of Legends is the most popular multiplayer PC game developed and produced by the famous ‘Riot Games’. If you’re a LOL player, you have to manage the champions in the battle to defeat your enemy. Each champion in the game has some special ability as well as strength and weakness. So, as a ‘Summoner’ who has the main job to control all the champs, you should know all the details of your picked up champion. Teemo Counter are the counter specialist champs which you need to pick in the battle.
Check this: Garen Counter: How to Counter Garen in League of Legends
Here, are all the details of Teemo that you need to know before counter him in the battle arena and becoming a Teemo Counter.
Teemo – A swift Scout | League of Legends
Teemo is the fast and furious champion in the League of Legends and most popular too. He plays as a counter champion to many other champs like Teemo is a Darius counter, Garen counter etc. He is a fun loving champ and just loves to play. Teemo’s passive ability makes him a perfect ninja champion.
Teemo is a mobile attacker. Because of his long range and fast in attack he can easily build his attack to the enemy and give a lot of damage to them. So, as a Teemo counter, whoever champion you pick, you need to be careful about his strength, weakness and abilities.
Strength of Teemo:
In the levels 1-5, Teemo is a lane mobster. So, particularly in that time, Teemo is the one with a great power.
Because of his Move Quick ability, he is incredibly fast.
Teemo’s mushroom acts as a defensive wall and it’s not an easy task to gank him.
In LOL, Teemo can be seen with different skins and that makes him unique.
Weakness:
The auto attack range of Teemo is short as well as the casting.
When it comes to the team fight, Teemo is not the suitable champion.
Teemo’s short attack range and squishy in nature makes him vincible.
Abilities of Teemo:
Camouflage: It’s the great ability of Teemo and a passive strength. When stand still without doing any action for a little duration, he becomes little stealthed . But, after that period he incredibly increases his attack speed about 40% for the three seconds.
It’s the great ability of Teemo and a passive strength. When stand still without doing any action for a little duration, he becomes little stealthed . But, after that period he incredibly increases his attack speed about 40% for the three seconds. Blinding Dart (Q): This is the ability of Teemo in which Teemo blind the taget with a magical damage.
This is the ability of Teemo in which Teemo blind the taget with a magical damage. Move Quick (W): Here, Teemo increases his movement speed by 10-26% and can give a massive damage to the enemy.
Here, Teemo increases his movement speed by 10-26% and can give a massive damage to the enemy. Toxic Shot (E): Teemo can poisons his target which deals a damage of 10-50% to the enemy.
Teemo can poisons his target which deals a damage of 10-50% to the enemy. Ultimate (R): It’s the greatest ability of Teemo. He used a mashroom in to a trap that can detonate the enemy when they step on it. I t may bring a lot of damage to the enemy and can slow down the movement speed by 30-50%.
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Teemo Counter:
Pick the champions who plays exceptionally well against Teemo. Here are the few champions who are the perfect Teemo Counter.
Yorick:
Yorick is the grave digger and a tough champion against Teemo. Pick him in the League of Legends to give a counter attack to Teemo.
Akali:
Akali is a magical assassin with a ninja style. She is a mobile attacker. She has the most deadliest kit in the LOL. So, you can pick her also to count Teemo. She is a great Teemo Counter.
Kennen:
Kennen is the ninja player who has some special ability and you can use these to beat Teemo.
Pantheon:
Pantheon is a versatile attacker and can play on the top lane. He is really strong in the level 1-5. So, he can be on of the best Teemo Counter.
How to Counter Teemo – Tips:
If you have a auto attacking champion, then avoid to fight with Teemo.
Against the gap closers, Teemo is really weak. His Move Quick ability will go on a cool down for long time.
Teemo is expert to tackle the gank with his mashroom. So, consider to use red trinket against him.
If Teemo gets the first blood during a battle, then surrender unless satan will dominates your game.
Use active twin shadow to find Teemo, if you unable to find.
For a melee champion, let Teemo to use his blind ability first before you engaged to him.
Use dubstep ignite to slow him down as he has low hp.
These are the possible counter tips that you can use while countering Teemo in LOL. Teemo is really an intelligent champ, so you have to play cautiously as a Teemo Counter. Now you know all the strength, weakness and abilities of Teemo. Just go and get Teemo and become a Teemo Counter.
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Skyrim had its fair share of teething problems when it got released last year, but PS3 gamers probably had the worst time of it. However, Bethesda has been hard at work on bug fixing and updates, and the 1.4 update is hotly anticipated. Not only will 1.4 bring bug fixes and optimizations, it also sees the release of the promised Creation Kit and Steam Workshop for modders.
The Creation Kit is top of the most-wanted list by Skyrim owners because it allows access to the same development tools Bethesda used to create the game. On release, it should see the modding community burst into action and extend the gameplay on offer well beyond what Bethesda shipped. That’s not to say modders haven’t been active over the past few months.
The Steam Workshop release is also highly desirable as it allows players to find and install community mods easily.
The good news is, the 1.4 update is now available, but you use it at your own risk. That’s because Bethesda has taken the decision to release it in Beta form through Steam. In other words, it isn’t guaranteed to work perfectly, and could eat your save games or crash your computer. Deciding to install it definitely requires a backup of your game data first.
If you want to take the risk, then load up Steam, select Settings, and in the Account tab change your Beta Participation to include Skyrim Beta. Restarting Steam should see the Beta version of the 1.4 update download and install. If the Beta doesn’t work for you, just go back into your Steam settings and opt out. Another restart will see Skyrim revert back to a non-Beta patch state.
As well as the modding and discovery tools, 1.4 brings with it a long list of bug and quest fixes. The full list of what those fixes include can be viewed here.
Read more at the Bethesda Blog |
Q: How do you make the object of your affections fall in love with you? A: Take them for a ride on a rollercoaster
If you fancy someone and want them to fall for you the usual plan of action involves flowers, chocolates or just a few meaningful glances.
But if you really want to win hearts get them on a rollercoaster.
If there's not one within screaming distance, you could always try bungee jumping or white-water rafting instead.
Adventure sports cause a rush of a hormone which makes us fall in love
White-knuckle pursuits apparently create a rush of the hormone that makes us fall in love, a science conference heard yesterday.
Phenylethylamine is vital in the science of attraction, according to author Richard Robinson.
Mr Robinson, whose books include Why The One You Fancy Never Fancies You, said: ' Phenylethylamine is secreted when you see someone across the room that you really, really fancy.
'It is the hormone of euphoria, it is the hormone of joy and ecstasy.'
He told the British Association's Festival of Science in Liverpool that not wearing perfumes to let your own natural scent shine through was also important.
A person's smell provides clues about their genetic make-up. We are programmed to sniff out those whose genes are different to our own. This apparently helps ensure any children born will have broad immunity against disease.
Those looking to impress should also keep conversation to a minimum and concentrate on their appearance.
Research shows that 55 per cent of first impressions are based on how we look rather than what we say.
Getting off the sofa and out and about is also important.
'Meeting a lot of people is key,' Mr Robinson said. 'Sitting there moping and eating chocolate is not going to get you anywhere.' |
From nowhere, they appear as a sudden surge of power in the radio spectrum. Then, a few milliseconds later, they're gone—and as far as we could tell, they never come back. They've picked up the name "fast radio bursts," but nobody's entirely sure of what produces them. Follow-up observations have generally failed to find anything interesting in their direction, and the bursts didn't seem to repeat, leaving everyone who cares about these sorts of things a bit mystified.
One possible explanation for their one-time-only appearance would be that they're the product of a process that destroys the object that creates them. Thus, if they were produced by the collapse of a neutron star into a black hole (to give just one example), there'd be no way for that to happen twice.
But a new study suggests that at least one of them has repeated, which would take cataclysmic explanations off the table. There are enough differences between this burst and previously observed ones, however, to raise the question of whether there might be several processes producing similar surges in radio emissions.
The burst in question (which goes by FRB 121102) was identified using the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. There was nothing especially unusual about it, but the authors scheduled it for follow-up observations. Some of these turned up nothing. But others turned up several bursts, sometimes within hours of each other. All told, they saw 10 additional bursts (FRB 121102 goes to 11!) over the course of two months. These had different brightnesses, and different intensity peaks showed up at different wavelengths, suggesting a somewhat chaotic process.
Looking through the timing data, the authors found no indication of a periodic process, which makes some sort of orbital behavior unlikely; the quick repetition in some cases also makes an orbital phenomenon unlikely. And, as the authors put it, "Repeat bursts rule out models involving cataclysmic events."
So what is still on the table? Neutron stars with intense magnetic fields, called magnetars, can create giant flares. But none of the ones we know about have produced more than a single flare. The authors suspect it might be a pulsar—a rapidly rotating neutron star—where sporadically, one of the normal pulses is greatly amplified. This sort of behavior has been seen in at least some neutron stars in our galaxy.
Confusing matters further is the question of whether FRB 121102 is a typical fast radio burster. The other ones we know about are more intense by about a factor of 10, and they appear to originate outside our galaxy. Based on the direction it's coming from, however, the authors suggest there's a chance that FRB 121102 comes from an object inside our galaxy. Finally, there's the issue of instrumentation. Most fast radio bursts have been spotted by Australia's Parkes telescope, which isn't as sensitive as Arecibo and wouldn't have identified most of the bursts emitted by FRB 121102.
So, rather than definitively ruling out a destructive cause for fast radio bursts, the best that this paper can do is indicate that at least some of them leave their source intact. Which, given how little we knew about these previously, represents progress.
Nature, 2015. DOI: 10.1038/nature17168 (About DOIs). |
The Ajax defender has talked up a switch to White Hart Lane and revealed that Belgium team-mates including Vincent Kompany & Thomas Vermaelen are telling him to move to England
By Greg Stobart Ajax star Jan Vertonghen has described Tottenham as an “amazing club” and spoken of his desire to play in the Premier League next season.understands Spurs are leading a host of English clubs in the race to sign Vertonghen and held talks with Ajax over a move for the £10 million-rated defender in January.Spurs boss Harry Redknapp was in the stands to watch Vertonghen during Ajax’s Europa League clash against Manchester United on Thursday night - and the 24-year-old made it clear after the game that he would welcome a move to White Hart Lane.“I think Tottenham are an amazing club and you see how well they are doing this season,”Vertonghen told Goal.com. “They are in the top three in England and that’s where I want to play.“I can’t say anything about whether there has been contact about a transfer but I think my game can be suited to English football.“I love the atmosphere and it has the best players in the world, it breathes football. It’s one of my goals to play in the best leagues and against the best players.“It’s the only competition I watch apart from Barcelona.”Vertonghen, the Ajax captain, is also a target for Newcastle United and Arsenal while Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is a long-term admirer.The versatile defender admits his international team-mates - including City captain Vincent Kompany and Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen - are constantly in his ear trying to influence his decision on his future.“A lot of my colleagues from the national team play here and some are calling me to come,” Vertonghen added.“It’s a beautiful competition, the best in my opinion. I hope one day I can play in the Premier League with this atmosphere.“To play for a team in the Premier League would be amazing and that’s what I am going for.“It’s flattering to be linked with clubs, the rumours give me confidence but I just try to do my best every game.”One player who is unlikely to sway Vertonghen’s thoughts is Belgium team-mate Eden Hazard, the £30m-rated Lille star who is also a target for Tottenham.Vertonghen admits it would be “nice” to play with Hazard but the two are not close friends as the Ajax man speaks Flemish and does not communicate with the winger in the same language.“I read that Tottenham might sign Eden Hazard,” Vertonghen said. “It would be nice to play with him but he speaks a different language to me. He speaks French.”While Vertonghen is almost certain to leave Ajax this summer, he believes another Premier League target, Christian Eriksen, should stay at the Amsterdam ArenA for another season.The Dane has been linked with a number of leading European clubs including Manchester United but Vertonghen has urged the playmaker not to rush into a hasty exit.“Maybe for Christian it’s better to stay one more year and he can learn something, be the leader in the field for Ajax one day,” Vertonghen added. “I hope he stays one more year at least.“Christian is a clever guy and he will leave at the right moment.” |
Some friends and I were exchanging stories yesterday when the topic of kissing came up.
“We went back to her place and kissed on her couch,” said my friend, whom I’ll call John. “That was all, though. No sex.”
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Kissing, but not sex? Let’s not mince words here, “John.” Kissing is sex. And the fact that no one corrected you only confirms our culture’s backwards views on the issue.
I don’t care who you are, or where you or your romantic partner is from—when you’re kissing each other, you’re having sex. A kiss on the cheek is sex. A big smooch on the arm is sex. Making out is French kissing, which is hardcore sex. Kissing your own hand isn’t sex, but kissing someone else’s hand? That’s sexual intercourse.
Making out is French kissing, which is hardcore sex.
Now, I understand there are real gray areas regarding whether something strictly counts as “sex.” It can be unclear, like when two people take off their hats and rub them against each other, or touch their hands together while licking their lips in synchrony. Unfortunately, you must resolve such ambiguous edge cases on an instance-by-instance basis.
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When it comes to kissing, though, the truth is clear: That’s sex. And if you don’t agree, you’re obstructing progress. It’s time to get the message out: When people engage in anything that either of them views as kissing—be it Eskimo kissing, videotaped kissing (i.e., pornography), drunk kissing, kissing while fucking, kissing pictures of each other, imaginary kissing, or kissing-of-the-teeth—then those people are having sex.
It means they’re in love. |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Car bombs killed at least 39 people across Iraq on Sunday and wounded more than 120, mainly targeting busy commercial streets in and around the capital, police sources said.
The deadliest attack took place in the predominantly Shi’ite Muslim district of Bayaa in Baghdad, when a bomb in a parked vehicle exploded near car workshops, killing seven and wounding 14, the sources said.
An attack on another car workshop in the Sunni district of Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, killed three and wounded 10 after nightfall.
Violence in Iraq is at the highest level in at least five years and the capital has been targeted almost daily. More than 8,000 have been killed this year, the United Nations says.
Sunni insurgents, mostly with links to al Qaeda, have claimed several large bombings. The last large set of blasts was on November 21, north of the capital. Since then, there has been a steady flow of smaller attacks, mainly targeting Shi’ite communities but also some Sunnis.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bombings but al Qaeda has increased its grip on parts of the country since the escalation of the crisis in neighbouring Syria and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011.
At least 123 people were wounded in Sunday’s attacks. In one, a car bomb exploded in a busy square in central Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 15, police said.
Slideshow (2 Images)
In Radhwaniya, a predominantly Sunni area in the capital, a roadside bomb killed two people and wounded eight, police said.
There were other attacks in Baghdad’s mainly Shi’ite districts of Amel, Ghadir, Sadr City, Ameen and Hussainiya.
In Baquba, 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a bomb in a parked car blew up inside a market killing two people and wounding seven, police said. |
Jost, 19, was Colorado's first-round selection (10th overall) in the 2016 NHL Draft. He recently completed his freshman season at the University of North Dakota, tallying 35 points (16g/19a) in 33 games. Jost finished second on the team in points, goals (tied) and assists, and shared the club lead with five power-play goals. His 35 points currently rank second among all NCHC freshmen.
The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that the team has signed forward Tyson Jost (JOH-st) to a three-year, entry-level contract. Jost is scheduled to join the Avalanche for the remainder of the 2016-17 season.
"We are excited to announce that Tyson has signed his entry-level contract and will be joining us for the rest of this season," said Avalanche Executive Vice President/General Manager Joe Sakic. "Tyson is an all-around player. He competes, plays the game hard and is reliable at both ends of the ice. He just finished a strong year at North Dakota and we're looking forward to seeing him in an Avalanche sweater."
A native of St. Albert, Alberta, Jost helped Team Canada to a silver medal at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship in Montreal/Toronto this past January. The 5-foot-11, 191-pound center tallied four points (1g/3a) in seven games during the tournament.
Prior to enrolling at North Dakota, Jost was named the 2015-16 British Columbia Hockey League Most Valuable Player (Vern Dye Memorial Trophy) after tallying 104 points (42 goals, 62 assists) in 48 games for the Penticton Vees. His 62 assists led the BCHL, while his 104 points ranked third. Jost's 2.17 points-per-game average was the highest in the league.
Jost captained Team Canada at the 2016 IIHF Under-18 World Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he led the entire tournament in scoring with 15 points (6g/9a) in seven games. His 15 points established a Canadian record at that event, surpassing the previous mark set by Connor McDavid (14) in 2013. Jost was selected as the tournament's "Best Forward" and was named to the All-Star Team. |
On Sunday, Palestinians and their supporters marked the 63rd anniversary of what they call the "Nakba," or catastrophe, that befell them as hundreds of thousands fled or were pushed out of their homes following Israel's establishment in 1948. They observed the anniversary this year by staging coordinated demonstrations, in part inspired by recent protests around the Arab world. Thousands marched on Israeli borders and walls in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon. Where they attempted to climb border fences and enter Israel, Israeli troops opened fire, reportedly killing a dozen and injuring over 100. At the Syrian border, over 100 protesters breached the border, at least one of them hitchhiking 130 miles into Tel Aviv. Gathered here are images of some of the scenes around Israel last weekend. |
By Laura Woods, Contributor
On Sunday, March 20, President Obama made history when he became the first American leader to visit Cuba in the post-Cold War era. Prior to his trip, the last American president to set foot in the country was Calvin Coolidge in 1928 -- more than 88 years ago.
The First Family was warmly welcomed to Old Havana, Cuba. Obama hopes the first official meeting of the two governments in more than 50 years will ignite positive changes in Cuba and boost tourism.
Learn about the United States' history with Cuba, how you can travel the island country and for how much.
President Obama to Spur Travel to Cuba
When Fidel Castro took office on Jan. 1, 1959, he swiftly imposed a number of sanctions -- placing substantial taxes on imports from the U.S. and publicizing private land and companies-- that caused the U.S. to sever ties with Cuba.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower initiated the first Cuba embargo on Oct. 19, 1960, including all U.S. exports to Cuba, with the exception of medicine and select food items. Just over one year later, on Feb. 7, 1962, President John F. Kennedy made the embargo a permanent arrangement and expanded it to incorporate U.S. imports from Cuba. Consequently, the Cuban government estimates the rigorous trade restrictions have cost the country approximately $1.126 trillion over the more than 50-year period since the embargo was put in place.
During a Monday, March 21 press conference with Cuban President Raul Castro, President Obama declared the Cuba embargo will end, but he didn't say when. The ruling must come from Congress, but so far, lawmakers haven't budged.
Can Americans Travel to Cuba?
If you're wondering whether Americans can travel to Cuba, the answer is yes but not without a host of restrictions. Since the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba was restored in December 2014, Americans have been able to travel to Cuba under 12 categories of authorized trips. The Obama administration recently loosened sanctions, allowing Americans to travel to the country independently, as long as they complete a form declaring the visit an educational journey.
Cuba tourism is still technically outlawed, so if you want to book solo travel opting for an educational visit, you'll need to plan a people-to-people trip, where you meet Cuban citizens in normal daily life settings, such as schools and community centers. Previously, Americans visiting for educational purposes were required to have a fully booked cultural itinerary, which meant booking a trip with a tour company, which could come with an average weekly price tag of $2,000 to $3,500 per person.
Planning a trip to Cuba on your own can be more affordable, but you'll need to find your own hotel and get in touch with locals to meet with, which might prove challenging.
Preparing for Travel to Cuba
The impact of President Obama in Cuba could result in a near-50 percent drop in flight prices if travel restrictions between the two countries are removed, according to the travel site Hopper.com.
The average price of a round-trip ticket from the U.S. to Cuba is currently $717, but could fall to $364 without any travel constraints. Trips from Miami would be the cheapest, averaging $275 for a direct flight.
Currently, you have to take a chartered flight when traveling to Cuba, but this will soon change. In February, the U.S. and Cuba signed an aviation agreement allowing for up to 110 daily flights to Cuba on U.S. airlines. American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines and Delta have all announced plans to submit a bid to become a carrier.
Cuba Exchange Rate
After arriving in Cuba, you'll need local currency. The country uses two different currencies, the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) and the Cuban peso (CUP). When visiting from the states, you'll need the CUC, which has a 1:1 exchange rate with the U.S. Dollar.
The Cuban government imposes a 10 percent tax on U.S. currency exchange -- and many retailers charge a 3 percent service fee -- so work these costs into your travel budget.
Some U.S. credit and debit cards can also be used when traveling to Cuba, but many businesses, especially those outside Havana do not yet have the infrastructure to accept this form of payment.
Cuba Cell Phone Service and Internet
Another technology concern to prepare for is the use of American cellphones. Sprint and Verizon have roaming services in Cuba, but other carriers do not yet offer mobile phone service.
In March, Google announced plans to equip Cuba with high-speed internet, but efforts are still in early stages. Cuba does currently have internet access, but it is very limited, so don't rely on this form of communication.
Cost Breakdown of Travel to Cuba
If you're planning to travel to Cuba, expect to spend about $45 per day during your trip, according to the travel site Budget Your Trip. The cost breakdown includes:
Hotel: $24.62
Food: $7.24
Water: $1.24
Local transportation: $6.25
Entertainment: $26.59
Communication: $1.50
Tips and handouts: $1.15
Intercity transportation: $12.67
Souvenirs: $6.24
Alcohol: $8.15
Spending a week in Cuba will cost you approximately $315, but with pricey chartered flights averaging $717 per ticket, your grand total will reach an estimated $1,032.
Of course, if you want to upgrade to a luxury property, such as the Paradisus Varadero Resort & Spa in Varadero, your nightly accommodation rates could total $300 to upwards of $1,300.
While traveling to Cuba might be pricier than you expected, President Obama's trip to Cuba could help drop prices in the near future.
President Obama Arrives in Cuba
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Everyone knows corporations are evil, not to be trusted, and are completely willing to kill on a whim, but we don’t expect them to be so brazen about it. We want their decisions, especially the ones where they show they don’t care about their customers or the law, to be made behind closed doors, not in public view so we can make a list about them.
Well OK, maybe you don’t want them to, but we do. That way, we can write about how …
10. Listerine Straight-Up Invented a Problem to Sell a Product Nobody Needs
Listerine was once used to clean floors. We’re not taking a pot shot at its nasty, foul taste that burns the roof of your mouth and makes orange juice taste like out-of-date acid someone spat in. It literally used to clean people’s floors.
When its inventor realized nobody wanted to buy it, he realized he needed to give them a reason to do so, and that reason was smelly breath. This guy literally invented halitosis, a problem no one suffered from (because it didn’t exist) that his product could cure. To make it even better, Listerine doesn’t do jack. Sure, it cleans your mouth, but as for stopping bad breath, the reason it was supposedly invented, it can actually make bad breath worse.
9. Converse Adds an Unnecessary Layer of Fuzz to Skip Taxes
If you happen to be a fan of Converse shoes, congratulations on paying $50 for ugly slippers. That’s not a slang term. As discussed here, the clever people at Converse add a fine layer of fuzz to the bottom of their shoes. This technically makes the shoe a house slipper, lowering the crap out of the import tariff Converse pays on shipping them into the country. So technically, Converse shoes are never supposed to be worn outside. Or ever really, if you ask us.
You may think this sounds like a clever exploit of a loophole — which it is — but it’s also one on behalf of a huge company that is effectively robbing the US of millions in taxes. Not to mention the environmental cost of putting all that fuzz onto the soles of the shoes (they must shave a lot of animals to get it all.)
Wait a second, maybe this is why pandas are going extinct. Don’t wear Converse kids, unless you want to live in a horrifying panda-less future.
8. Rinse-and-Repeat Doesn’t Work, Even Though It’s Still on the Shampoo Bottle
Unless you’re going for the well-dressed hobo look, chances are you washed your hair within the last few days. You no doubt have seen the now-famous phrase “rinse, lather, repeat” written somewhere on your bottle of shampoo, unless you bought an industrial-sized bottle, in which case it will just be covered in tears.
As noted here, with the progress shampoo technology has made in the last few years (tons,) repeating the process of lathering your scalp in soap is almost entirely pointless. Shampoo today is just that good. This hasn’t stopped companies from leaving that instruction on the bottle though, since it makes you use more shampoo and that’s all they care about.
The weird part is that all shampooing does is replenish the natural oils in your hair, which your hair will do on its own if you don’t wash it for 6 weeks. If you’re willing to look flustered for 6 weeks, you’ll likely never need to wash your hair again. Lets see you find that on a shampoo bottle.
7. Huge Supermarkets are Buying Out Pubs to Gut Them Without Permission
Under English law, you can convert a pub into another business without applying for any of that nasty planning permission. We don’t know specifically why that’s in the law, but we presume it wasn’t put there to let big businesses get a stranglehold on local shops. So naturally, that’s exactly what is happening.
Over in England, the two biggest supermarkets, Tescos and Sainsbury’s, have been buying up pubs and then turning them into chains. As pubs are usually right in the middle of streets and communities (you try walking two miles for a pint,) this gives the supermarkets a huge advantage over local suppliers. Also, since they don’t have to apply for planning permission, the local community is powerless to stop big business from rolling in, destroying their quaint local drinking place, and undercutting everyone with their low-cost inferior products.
Since they legally can’t be stopped, pub owners have had to petition the government directly. You know a problem is serious when the people with infinite alcohol at their disposal don’t even think they can drink it away. Jeez, is every business in England evil?
6. Every Business in England is Evil
As Ned Flanders answered when asked what taxes pay for, “Oh, why, everything! Policemen, trees, sunshine! And let’s not forget the folks who just don’t feel like working, God bless ’em!” You may not like taxes, but you can’t say they aren’t necessary. Even if they aren’t, they’re at least fair. If you have to pay them, so should everyone else, right?
Well, over in England, due to their closeness with Europe, many businesses are able to take advantage of the many tax loopholes and safe havens found around the part of Eastern Europe that always smells like Toblerone. Dozens of businesses have taken advantage of such rules to diddle the government out of millions.
Now, American businesses do that too, and can be just as bad as the pansies in the UK. But over in England, their taxes pay for hospitals too. Now we aren’t saying any of these businesses are taking money away from people with lots of cancer, but we aren’t going to delete the previous sentence either.
However, if you want a reason to be proud, American companies squirrel so much tax away from the UK, they don’t even bother counting it in their official figures. HA! Take that, English people with serious illnesses!
5. British Stores are Forcing People to do a Job for No Pay
We’re not quite done with England yet, because when we heard about this one our heads nearly exploded. Basically, if you’re out of work in England there is a scheme in place where, in order to claim your benefits, you have to work at something of benefit to your community.
You may think this sounds like a good thing, which it is, in theory. So, of course, giant corporations decided to ruin it. Dozens of companies got in on the scheme and effectively had free labor provided for them at the taxpayers’ expense. These companies, we should point out, could have easily paid these people with all their screw-paying-taxes money!
Just read that again. Private companies managed to convince the government to effectively supply them with free workers that they were under no obligation to hire once their contract was up. Wow, no wonder people in those stores always look so depressed. But if you want to see how to really get slave free labor, you have to go to China, baby.
4. The “Interns” That are Building PS4s
The Sony Playstation 4 is an amazing piece of kit, but did you know it is being built by people who aren’t being paid? You’re probably thinking, “well duh, of course not. It’s being built in China, and no one there gets paid a damn thing.”
Which isn’t true, at least not in this case. The company in question, Foxconn, pay reasonably well by China’s standards. However, a story erupted in 2013 about “interns” from the Xi’an Institute of Technology being asked to assemble PS4s for several weeks straight. The beauty of the plan was that the interns have to build the systems in mind-numbingly long shifts, for free, or they’ll lose course credits and not graduate. Now that is how you motivate a work force.
3. Samsung Put a Feature in their Phone to Make it Seem Like it Worked Faster
Despite the fact that most people use them for nothing but checking e-mail, Facebook, and ignoring calls from their ex (it’s over Carol!) phone companies keep bragging about making them more powerful. Regardless of whether or not it’s necessary, we can understand the allure of owning a device more powerful than the first space shuttle and forcing it to sit next to your wang. Samsung, however, decided that rather than actually give their customers the powerful phone they were paying top-dollar for, they’d just lie and hope everybody would be stupid enough to fall for it.
In this article by ARS Technica, when they benchmarked a Galaxy Note 3, something odd happened. Without getting too technical, the phone had a feature in place that would artificially inflate its score when it was tested with benchmarking software, which essentially tests the limits of a phone without the reviewer physically needing to test everything. The Galaxy Note 3, upon detecting that such software was being used, would put all of its processing power into the test, effectively making it seem 20% more powerful that it was during day-to-day use.
Yes, Samsung actually went to the effort of making their phone seem faster instead of actually improving it, because why would they want to give you a quality product when they could just lie about it and use inflated review scores to make you buy it? The sad part was, without this feature, the phone was still faster than its competition. Samsung, if you don’t even have faith in your products’ ability to best the competition, how the hell are your customers supposed to?
2. Ticketmaster Have Such a Stranglehold on Ticket Sales, Not Even Pearl Jam Could Beat Them
Pearl Jam’s a pretty big deal, but apparently not as big as Ticketmaster. During their 1994 tour, the band realized Ticketmaster was gouging the hell out of their fans by adding absurd charges to their tickets. The band retaliated by refusing to play any show at a Ticketmaster venue. This tour was later cancelled, as they couldn’t play anywhere. Seriously, the band couldn’t find a single major venue to play at that Ticketmaster did not have huge sway over, and had to resort to building giant stages in fields. When the cost got too great, the tour had to be cancelled.
That’s how little Ticketmaster care about their customers. They’d rather nobody see their favorite band than not rip them off. The best part was when the CEO of Ticketmaster openly claimed his company didn’t control the market. Dude, when Pearl Jam can’t tour without your help, you don’t just control the market. You freaking own it.
1. Paper Companies Poisoned the Environment to Make a Quick Buck
As the Hulk would tell you seconds before punching you into the Sun, being green ain’t easy. It’s for this reason the government offers people huge incentives for cutting emissions and using greener fuel. One such scheme was one which promised to pay companies for using diesel. Paper companies, of all groups, realized that they simply had to add diesel to a product they already produced, and they could make billions.
To explain, the paper-making process creates something known as Black Liquor, a byproduct of paper production that is then burnt. The resulting energy lets paper companies produce a lot of their own electricity. When the scheme was introduced, paper companies quickly realized diesel allowed them to qualify for the tax break.
Along with being hugely unethical, the move actually served the exact opposite purpose of the scheme’s intention. Since the process didn’t need diesel to be added, paper companies were just creating more emissions, and doing more damage to the environment as a result.
That’s the image we want to leave you with: a company openly pumping millions or gallons of toxins into the air, to make money from a scheme set up to help the environment. Captain Planet weeps every day.
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French High-Speed Train Derails Close To German Border
A French TGV train has derailed and some of its cars have landed in a canal during a test run close to the German border. At least five people died in the crash, according to multiple French media reports that cited the government in Bas-Rhin prefecture.
There's no sign of a criminal cause or that the incident might be somehow related to the Paris attacks that struck Friday, officials say.
From looking at photos of the crash site, it seems that the force of the derailment was enough to completely separate some of the train's wheels and axles from their carriages.
News is still coming in about the crash; we'll update this post as details emerge.
Update at 11:15 a.m. ET: Deaths Reported
Emergency crews have evacuated people who were wounded, according to local news site Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, which says more than 40 passengers had been on the train.
After initial reports stated that five people had died, TV station France 3 Alsace says that in the final tally, seven people were killed in the incident.
Our original post continues:
The derailment injured train company agents, the Alsace news outlet reports, saying that part of the train caught fire after it crashed at a bridge near Strasbourg. The city's mayor, Alain Fontanel, says via Twitter that there were "very numerous injuries and possible deaths."
News outlet Le Parisien says that France's rail authority has confirmed the accident but isn't offering more details. |
Reenactment photo courtesy the author
Summer break sounds amazing in June, but by August the teens have grown restless. They're broke, they've got all these hormones that they can't properly act on, and Mom's at work. Today's teens are left at home with little more than technology and other teens to keep them company. It's with this sense of boredom and the possibility of danger in mind that we turn to our top story This Week in Teens.
A 15-year-old boy in Florida got a Snapchat of his cousin holding a stack of cash, so he and four of his friends decided to rob his cousin's house. They would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for his cousin's pesky dogs, and the fact that the rest of his family was home. The teens ran from the house, taking a laptop with them, but were caught by police—because that's what happens when your aunt sees you robbing her house. This story is truly a perfect encapsulation of the way teens live now. The traditional teen traits of confusion-fueled idiocy and responding to the pressures of capitalism with petty crime are compounded by technology. Snapchat, an app that's wildly popular among young people, is being valued at around $10 billion. Teens are an instrumental part of the app's success, so there's a certain poetry in the idea that the app is inspiring them to commit crimes for cash.
Check out the rest of This Week in Teens:
-The impressively-named website Action News Now reported that a 16-year-old in Anderson, California, died after what the teen thought was cocaine turned out to be poison. Following this incident, the Anderson Police Department issued a statement telling parents to "Talk to your kids. Monitor their lives as much as possible. Educate them. Communicate with them. Make every effort to steer them in the right direction." While your This Week in Teens columnist is usually pretty skeptical of anti-drug rhetoric, they're right. Teens really have no business taking cocaine. For parents who want to talk to their kids but don't know how, we've helpfully compiled the following real facts behind cocaine use.
The energy drink version isn't much better than the real thing. Photo via Flickr user Lauri Rantala
Cocaine is, by most measures, a pretty unjustifiable drug to use. Its production destroys the environment and its sale goes to support murderous drug cartels. Plus, it's expensive—on minimum wage, a small bag of cocaine costs like eight hours! And here's why people take cocaine: It makes other people who want cocaine hang out with you, it's fun to go into bar bathrooms with another person, and wasting money feels good. Cocaine activates the same pleasure centers in your brain as breaking champagne glasses or taking an Uber. Teens who want to use drugs should stick with pot and low-grade psychedelics, drugs that coincide with their unique ability to identify hypocrites and see the world as it really is. If teens want to feel wired, they should use energy drinks or Adderall, two fairly affordable substances that they already have easy access to. There's a time and a place for cocaine, and that time is almost never—except maybe just once more (I mean honestly I haven't heard this Interpol song in a decade and it really holds up—you can really feel that bass line).
This teen needs more sleep. Photo via Flickr user Sheila Steele
-Adults use cocaine to stay up later than their day jobs and five 7&7s would otherwise allow, but you know who's naturally really, really good at staying up late? Teens. Unfortunately, they eventually have to turn off the Playstation and go to bed since they have school and all. Now the American Academy of Pediatrics wants schools to start later than 8:30 AM, so that students will have a better chance of getting the recommended eight-to-ten hours of sleep. Well-rested students could mean better grades, higher test scores, and lower incidences of depression, obesity, and sleep-induced car crashes. But changing school times means shifting the schedules of teachers, after-school sports, and parents, so it's unlikely that this recommendation will be implemented any time soon. Which is too bad, because our teens aren't just going to decide to start going to bed early. As sleep researcher Dr. Judith Owens notes—in what is surely an homage to Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55"—"The average teenager can't fall asleep at 11."
-“A lack of sleep is just another factor that contributes to teens’ high-risk behavior,” is something that a pessimist might say. My glass is half full of Monster, and I choose to see high-risk behavior as high-reward behavior. Teens in Hong Kong climbed atop a skyscraper to eat a banana and take a selfie, resulting in what some are calling the "world's scariest selfie" and what Google News is calling over 100 articles. Enough has been written about whether or not selfies are a vapid reflection of youth culture’s emptiness, and even the subculture of climbing dangerous things to take selfies has been documented, but what no one seems to get at is the fundamental lameness of selfies. To wit: at one point in this "most dangerous selfie" video, a teen extends his phone with one of those wildly embarrassing retractable "selfie sticks." Sure, climbing on top of a large building in order to take a photo of yourself is scary, but it's far from the devil-may-care attitude that made society admire teens in the first place. In this sense, skyscraper selfies are like longboarding: moderately dangerous, and not very cool.
Follow Hanson O'Haver on Twitter. |
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off came out when I was 15, and as such I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been the perfect age for its theatrical release. The film was huge at my school. Everyone saw it and most kids went twice. John Hughes wrote and directed the film, and it came right after his other monumental teenage film of the time, The Breakfast Club.
The two films are mirror images of each other. The Breakfast Club is a film about teenagers having a terrible day and all of the pain and angst that is associated with being a teenager. While Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is about a teenager’s perfect day and how much fun and opportunity there is for teenagers at that age.
The other day I caught a documentary about the inside story of the filming of Ferris Bueller. It is a bit cheesy and is one of those obviously made for television specials that stations throw together on the slimmest of budgets. But hidden away at the 1:09:00 minute mark is a startling observable truth of the feminine imperative in action.
In the documentary they’re talking about testing the film in front of audiences so as to make any final tweaks before the general release. The executive producer and one of Paramount’s vice presidents at the time, (who was a woman), talk about this first test screening. It all went extremely well but there was one negative reaction, and it was a big negative reaction. It concerned the parade scene when Mia Sara is talking to Cameron, Ferris’s best friend. The line she says goes something like this:
It’s so much harder for boys because a girl can always cop out and have a baby and find some guy to support her.
Cameron says that this is depressing. Mia replies,
It is depressing, but it’s an option. You don’t even have an option.
Well, believe it or not, but at that first test screening, girls hated that line. As the VP at Paramount recounts:
The young female scores for the film at that first preview were very low, and we realized right away from the cards and the focus group that it all came down to that one line, and we cut the line. I think it’s the most dramatic preview change I’ve ever seen by simply cutting one line. We cut that one line and young female scores went up 40 points.
The running time for the film is 103 minutes. That one line can’t have been more than 15 seconds. That’s 15 seconds in a film that plays for an hour and three quarters. And yet it affected the young female score by 40 points. That’s astounding.
But it’s understandable. Because that line is pure truth about female hypergamey which is female poison in a feminized world. That line speaks to the heart of what drives women. Yet it is the opposite of what society tells us. Remember, women are good and pure, and everything they do is “empowering” while men are supposed to be the awful ones who benefit from this mythological entity known as the patriarchy.
The crowning irony of the feminine reality is that men should be accused of patriarchy while enabling the very framework of the feminine imperative. The feminine sexual strategy is victorious because even under the contrived auspices of male oppression, it’s still the female goal-state that is agreed upon as the correct effort. Satisfying the feminine imperative, achieving the ends of the feminine sexual strategy is still the normative condition. Men’s goals are aberrant, women’s are beatific.
That is a quote from Rollo’s brilliant essay on the Feminine Imperative. What John Hughes did in the film with that one line was to blow away the mask of deception that clouds this reality. And young girls positively hated it. From Rollo’s same essay:
Everything a man experiences, every social conditioning he receives from the earliest age, every accepted social norm and every expectation of him to qualify as the definition of a mature adult Man in contemporary society is designed to serve the female imperative … Our media celebrates it, and brooks no dissent. There is very little dissent, since to peel back the veneer is to be at odds with a reality defined by the female purpose.
Not only does the media brook no dissent, but young teenage girls watching a film with a 15 second throwaway line will absolutely positively brook no dissent. Based on those scores, if the producers had left that line in the film then Ferris Bueller’s Day Off might well have been a flop.
That right there is a startling piece of real life evidence of the laws of the feminine imperative in action. Right from the voting scores of young teenage girls. |
When England line up at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane for the first Test against Australia on 11 June, the home team will recognise many of the faces from the side who crashed out of the World Cup against them on 3 October last year.
Eddie Jones’s great achievement of the Six Nations was to take a group of players who had performed so poorly at their home World Cup and to turn them, with one or two judicious tweaks, into grand slam winners at the first time of asking. And thanks to the timing of this summer’s tour and the Premiership final, Jones will have only a week to prepare the team before that first Test, so I think there is little chance of significant changes to that side.
Bath captain Stuart Hooper retires after suffering back injury Read more
This is the first three-Test tour of Australia England have ever undertaken and it should make for a really exciting spectacle, something two-Test series too often are not. This makes it a real shame England will not be able to prepare properly, thanks to the mess that is the end of the domestic season. The Premiership final is on Saturday 28 May, Wales are the opposition in a one-off at Twickenham the following day and the first Test is two weeks later on 11 June.
This is clearly an improvement on the last time England toured at the end of the season, when Stuart Lancaster had to name pretty much two squads in 2014 because the Premiership final was a week before the first Test against New Zealand – but it is far from ideal.
Having the Premiership final last – because the European Champions Cup final is on 14 May, rather than at the end of the season – guarantees two English clubs, and a good number of England players, playing until the final minute of the season, which puts England’s preparations under so much pressure. By the time the players involved in the final have flown out to Australia and recovered, they will have little more than a week to prepare for the first Test, compared to the fortnight they had before this season’s Six Nations games. With preparation time so short and with no midweek games in which to have a look at some dark horses, Jones is unlikely to tinker too much with the side that won the grand slam.
So I don’t expect there to be any great selection surprises when the squad is announced towards the end of May – but one name I reckon will be there is the centre Ben Te’o, who will join us at Worcester this summer from Leinster and so be eligible for selection.
Te’o has been in tremendous form in the Pro12 and will offer England something akin to the direct, power‑running Manu Tuilagi brings. He is strong in defence, too, and Jones is well aware of his attributes from Te’o’s time playing rugby league in the NRL in Australia. Alongside Te’o, I am sure Tuilagi, Henry Slade and Jonathan Joseph will travel and this gives Jones a pleasant selection headache. Joseph wore No13 with some success during the Six Nations but I would not say he is 100% certain to start and we know Jones like the look of Slade. We also know that Jones sees Tuilagi as a No12, although the success of Owen Farrell as a distributor there in the Six Nations has put real pressure on Tuilagi to add to his power‑running game.
So I think we may be looking at Tuilagi and Joseph getting the chance to show how they can combine in the centres, with Farrell fighting it out for the No10 shirt with George Ford. With Te’o and Slade breathing down their necks, though, and with Farrell’s excellent Six Nations, there are high‑class options in these positions – and that’s before we’ve even mentioned Elliot Daly.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Leinster’s Ben Te’o, in action against Bundee Aki of Connacht, joins Worcester this summer and is eligible for England selection. Photograph: INPHO/Rex/Shutterstock
Chris Robshaw had a great Six Nations but I still think Jones is looking for a bigger ball carrier as a blindside. We already have Billy Vunipola’s huge threat from a standing start off the base of the scrum and round the fringes but I think Jones also wants a No6 who can carry in the wider channels. If Nathan Hughes’s residency qualification came up three weeks earlier I think he would be on the plane but he only becomes eligible two days after the final Test. Dave Ewers was called up to the squad in the Six Nations and he is exactly the big, ranging runner Jones is looking for to carry wider from the breakdown as he looks for his side to play first and then tidy up if need be rather than playing safe sequences.
One player I think might make a late run into the squad is the Wasps scrum‑half Dan Robson. Robson has been in superb form and is an integral part in his club’s run to the European Champions Cup semis and a top-four spot in the Premiership.
I think Jones will want three No9s on the tour and with a bit more time, and the odd midweek fixture, Robson might have fancied his chances of forcing his way into the Test reckoning. But with only a week to prepare the team to face opposition he will be desperate to beat, I think Jones will reckon that this is not the time to experiment. |
Director: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
Writer: Kazumasa Hirai, Fumio Konami
Cast: Sonny Chiba, Rikiya Yasuoka, Saburo Date, Koji Fujiyama, Tooru Hanada, Ryuji Hayami, Jiro Ibuki, Harukui Jo, Kenji Kawai, Hiroshi Kondo, Koji Miemachi, Etsuko Nami, Yoshio Neshima
Running Time: 86 min.
By Kyle Warner
There are two types of film fans in the world; those who learn of Sonny Chiba’s 1975 werewolf action movie Wolf Guy with a “Huh?” and those who almost immediately plunk down $20 so that they can watch the newly unearthed gem. I belong to the latter group. As a fan of Japanese cinema with something of a soft spot for Sonny Chiba’s hissing karate master persona, the idea of him sorting out justice as a well-armed werewolf is basically irresistible. I went into the movie expecting something weird. And even so, I was unprepared for the level of weird that I got.
Wolf Guy is that rare sort of movie that can make a sober man feel drunk. The plot operates with a devil-may-care sense of abandon, the camera sees the world at tilted angles, visions of superimposed murder cats come spiraling out of the gloom, ninja cops leap out of the walls… the viewer is left dazed and confused.
In Wolf Guy, Sonny Chiba is a wolf man named Akira. He doesn’t look like a wolf man, never transforms or dons special makeup, and only occasionally shows animalistic traits (landing on all fours in a fight, for example), but trust me: he’s a wolf man. I know this only because the film’s characters keep reminding us of the fact. No one seems particularly surprised to be sharing the earth with a werewolf, though. Akira’s wolf man lineage is so easily accepted that I thought I’d missed something. Strengthened by a full moon but otherwise no different in appearance from any other Sonny Chiba hero, the titular Wolf Guy is more like a superhero vigilante than the typical werewolf from myth and lore. (The film’s full title is Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope. Simply knowing the term ‘lycanthrope’ is about as close as the film comes to embracing werewolf mythology.)
More interesting than the wolf guy is the phantom tiger. At the start of the film, a rock star played by Rikiya Yasuoka (Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter) stumbles into traffic screaming about a tiger that means to kill him. “Miki turned into a tiger!” Sonny Chiba’s sleuth reporter Akira intercepts the troubled man only moments before Rikiya’s shirt is torn open with deep, bloody cuts running down his chest and back. Akira is brought in as the only suspect but is quickly released when the autopsy reveals that the rocker was likely killed by a demon. The coroner’s straight-faced reading of cause of death: demon is the first sign that we’re operating in a different sort of reality here.
Akira follows the clues. The rock band known as the Mobs raped a girl named Miki. Now, somehow, Miki’s fury has manifested as a vengeful ghost tiger that tears her enemies to shreds. As Akira gets closer to Miki, a mysterious evil organization that’s part Yakuza part Blofeld starts closing in on them. Not only do the bad guys want to manipulate Miki’s rage for their own benefit, they hope to extract the wolf guy’s blood to create a wolf guy of their own (“I received a transfusion of your blood and became a wolf man, too,” is one of my favorite lines of the script).
Akira encounters many other women in his attempts to rescue Miki from her strange fate. And all of these women want to get naked with him almost immediately. At first, it just seems like the film’s attempt to meet a certain skin quota, but some of it soon becomes a bit, err, odd. Like when one lady wants to sleep with him because she wants to have sex with an animal. Um. And in a later part, a lady shoves her boobs into Sonny Chiba’s face and he falls in love with her because she reminds him of his Mom. Uhh. But to be clear, the film always felt a bit trashy and nasty right from the start. It’s just that it finds a way to become more so as it goes on.
Directing the film is B-movie favorite Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, who worked with Sonny Chiba previously on Sister Street Fighter and the underrated Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2. In an interview included on the new disc from Arrow, Yamaguchi admits to not being a big fan of the werewolf sub-genre. It shows. But that’s not to say that he fails to come up with some crazy visuals and ideas. The manner in which Miki’s tiger slashes her enemies to death calls to mind A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Kreuger, who would not make his screen debut for another nine years. Another image that’s impossible to forget is the wolf guy’s healing powers, which includes a shot that shows Sonny Chiba’s intestines getting sucked back into his stomach after being mortally wounded. Yamaguchi’s weird visuals, coupled with a wicked 70’s funk soundtrack, make Wolf Guy hard to forget.
Wolf Guy has been newly unearthed for fans in the US and UK and released on DVD and Blu-ray. The picture and sound are both impressive, I thought. Three new interviews recorded in 2016 are included as special features. The first, talking with director Yamaguchi, shares a bit about his film career and his fairly reluctant decision to adapt Wolf Guy to film. The second interview is with producer Toru Yoshida, who specialized in B-movies for Toei. He expresses some regret in not making Wolf Guy a better film with a bigger budget, but also shares a laugh remembering how much Wolf Guy’s manga creator hated the film. Finally, we get a new interview with Sonny Chiba, which does not speak on Wolf Guy in particular but rather has the actor sharing his views on acting, learning the craft, and how difficult it is to throw a fake punch. Sonny Chiba’s always a fun interview subject, because he’s so clearly passionate about his craft, and this interview is no different.
Part male wish fulfillment, part martial arts movie, and part gonzo anything-goes entertainment as only the Japanese film industry could dream up, Wolf Guy is a bizarre piece of work. It’s silly stuff, but I had a good time.
Kyle Warner’s Rating: 6.5/10 |
"Galvani" redirects here. For other uses, see Galvani (disambiguation)
Luigi Aloisio Galvani (;[1] Italian: [ɡalˈvaːni]; Latin: Aloysius Galvanus; 9 September 1737 – 4 December 1798) was an Italian physician, physicist, biologist and philosopher, who discovered animal electricity. He is recognized as the pioneer of bioelectromagnetics. In 1780, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs twitched when struck by an electrical spark.[2]:67–71 This was one of the first forays into the study of bioelectricity, a field that still studies the electrical patterns and signals from tissues such as the nerves and muscles.
Galvani's wife Lucia Galeazzi Galvani encouraged his independent research, and served as a counselor and guide for his experiments until her death. Due to the conventions of the time she wasn't credited for any scientific work she may have done in the lab. She grew up with science and her father was a prominent member of the Bologna Academy of Science. [3]
Early life [ edit ]
De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari Experiment
Late 1780s diagram of Galvani's experiment on frog legs
Luigi Galvani was born to Domenico and Barbara Caterina Foschi, in Bologna, then part of the Papal States. Domenico was a goldsmith, and Barbara was his fourth wife. His family was not aristocratic, but they could afford to send at least one of their sons to study at a university. At first Galvani wished to enter the church, so he joined a religious institution, Oratorio dei Padri Filippini, at 15 years old. He planned to take religious vows, but his parents persuaded him not to do so. Around 1755, Galvani entered the Faculty of the Arts of the University of Bologna. Galvani attended the medicine course, which lasted four years, and was characterized by its "bookish" teaching. Texts that dominated this course were by Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna.
Another discipline Galvani learned alongside medicine was surgery. He learned the theory and the practice. This part of his biography is typically overlooked, but it helped with his experiments with animals and helped familiarize Galvani with the manipulation of a living body.
In 1759, Galvani graduated with degrees in medicine and philosophy. He applied for a position as a lecturer at the university. Part of this process required him to defend his thesis on 21 June 1761. In the following year, 1762, he became a permanent anatomist of the university and was appointed honorary lecturer of surgery. That same year he married Lucia Galeazzi, daughter of one of his professors, Gusmano Galeazzi. Galvani moved into the Galeazzi house and helped with his father-in-law's research. When Galeazzi died in 1775, Galvani was appointed professor and lecturer in Galeazzi's place.
Galvani moved from the position of lecturer of surgery to theoretical anatomy and obtained an appointment at the Academy of Sciences in 1776. His new appointment consisted of the practical teaching of anatomy, which was conducted by human dissection and the use of the famous anatomical waxes.
As a "Benedectine member" of the Academy of Sciences, Galvani had specific responsibilities. His main responsibility was to present at least one research paper every year at the Academy, which Galvani did until his death. There was a periodical publication that collected a selection of the memoirs presented at the institution and was sent around to main scientific academies and institutions around the world. However, since publication then was so slow, sometimes there were debates on priority of the topics used. One of these debates occurred with Antonio Scarpa. This debate caused Galvani to give up the field of research on which he had presented for four years in a row: the hearing of birds, quadrupeds, and humans. Galvani had announced all of the findings in his talks, but had yet to publish them. It is suspected that Scarpa attended Galvani's public dissertation and claimed some of Galvani's discoveries without crediting him.
Galvani then began taking an interest in the field of "medical electricity". This field emerged in the middle of the 18th century, following the electrical researches and the discovery of the effects of electricity on the human body.[5]
The beginning of Galvani's experiments with bioelectricity has a popular legend which says that the Galvani was slowly skinning a frog at a table where he and his wife had been conducting experiments with static electricity by rubbing frog skin. Galvani's assistant touched an exposed sciatic nerve of the frog with a metal scalpel that had picked up a charge. At that moment, they saw sparks and the dead frog's leg kicked as if in life. The observation made the Galvanis the first investigators to appreciate the relationship between electricity and animation—or life. This finding provided the basis for the new understanding that the impetus behind muscle movement was electrical energy carried by a liquid (ions), and not air or fluid as in earlier balloonist theories.
Galvani coined the term animal electricity to describe the force that activated the muscles of his specimens. Along with contemporaries, he regarded their activation as being generated by an electrical fluid that is carried to the muscles by the nerves. The phenomenon was dubbed galvanism, after Galvani and his wife, on the suggestion of his peer and sometime intellectual adversary Alessandro Volta. Galvanis are properly credited with the discovery of bioelectricity. Today, the study of galvanic effects in biology is called electrophysiology, the term galvanism being used only in historical contexts.
Galvani vs. Volta [ edit ]
[6] Electrodes touch a frog, and the legs twitch into the upward position
Volta, a professor of experimental physics in the University of Pavia, was among the first scientists who repeated and checked Galvani’s experiments. At first, he embraced animal electricity. However, he started to doubt that the conductions were caused by a specific electricity intrinsic to animal's legs or other body parts. Volta believed that the contractions depended on the metal cable Galvani used to connect the nerves and muscles in his experiments.[5]
Volta's investigations led shortly to the invention of an early battery. Galvani believed that the animal electricity came from the muscle in its pelvis. Volta, in opposition, reasoned that the animal electricity was a physical phenomenon caused by rubbing frog skin and not a metallic electricity.
Every cell has a cell potential; biological electricity has the same chemical underpinnings as the current between electrochemical cells, and thus can be duplicated outside the body. Volta's intuition was correct. Volta, essentially, objected to Galvani’s conclusions about "animal electric fluid", but the two scientists disagreed respectfully and Volta coined the term "Galvanism" for a direct current of electricity produced by chemical action.[7] Thus, owing to an argument between the two in regard to the source or cause of the electricity, Volta built the first battery in order to specifically disprove his associate's theory. Volta's “pile” became known therefore as a voltaic pile.
After the controversy with Volta, Galvani kept a low profile partly because of his attitude towards the controversy, and partly because his health and spirits had declined, especially after the death of his wife, Lucia, in 1790.
Since Galvani was reluctant to intervene in the controversy with Volta, he trusted his nephew, Giovanni Aldini, to act as the main defender of the theory of animal electricity.[5]
Galvani’s landmarks in Bologna [ edit ]
Luigi Galvani's monument in Piazza Luigi Galvani (Luigi Galvani Square), in Bologna
Galvani’s home in Bologna has been preserved and can be seen in the central.
Galvani’s monument. In the square dedicated to him, facing the palace of the Archiginnasio, the ancient seat of the University of Bologna, a big marble statue has been erected to the scientist while observing one of his famous frog experiments.
Liceo Ginnasio Luigi Galvani. This famous secondary school (liceo) dating back to 1860 was named after Luigi Galvani.
Religious beliefs [ edit ]
Galvani, according to William Fox, was “by nature courageous and religious.” Jean-Louis-Marc Alibert said of Galvani that he never ended his lessons “without exhorting his hearers and leading them back to the idea of that eternal Providence, which develops, conserves, and circulates life among so many diverse beings.”[8]
Death and legacy [ edit ]
Galvani actively investigated animal electricity until the end of his life. The Cisalpine Republic, a French client state founded in 1797 after the French occupation of Northern Italy, required every university professor to swear loyalty to the new authority. Galvani, who disagreed with the social and political confusion, refused to swear loyalty, along with other colleagues. This led to the new authority depriving him of all his academic and public positions, which took every financial support away. Galvani died in Bologna, in his brother’s house, depressed and in poverty, on 4 December 1798.[5]
Galvani's legacy includes:
Works [ edit ]
De viribus electricitatis, 1791. The International Centre for the History of Universities and Science (CIS), Università di Bologna
References [ edit ]
Sources [ edit ] |
It has proven to be an interesting year so for Disney theme parks.
There was so much rain in California one day, Disneyland was practically deserted, making for few crowds and short lines for those willing to brave the storms before the park ended up closing early. And now, it rained so hard in Florida that Disney World’s Magic Kingdom actually flooded. So, if you’re planning on visiting either amusement park, you might want to consider packing a blow-up raft in your carry-on!
According to Florida natives, rain is practically a daily occurrence for the area. So we’re sure Disney World is used to dealing with short intermissions due to weather. But flooding is a next-level weather issue that’s not quite as common. Because the rains were so heavy, the Magic Kingdom’s drainage system was unable to keep up with the downfall.
New attraction at Magic Kingdom: pic.twitter.com/zNCXNuKFC7 — Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) February 22, 2017
Of course, those visiting the park had to capture this rare occurrence on their phones. I mean, it’s not every day you’re practically swimming through puddles at Disney World.
Disney World reportedly carried on with its activities as normal, making just a few adjustments for all of the water.
Instead of their normal 3 p.m. parade, they performed what they call the Rainy Day Cavalcade, during which those in the parade wear rain coats, and characters such as Minnie Mouse stay dry by riding in golf carts.
Epcot fans didn’t let the rain stop them either.
No such thing as a rain delay @Disney 🌧 If anyone would like details on where to find my stylish plastic poncho, just DM me 💁🏼 pic.twitter.com/k4q1nGiXtS — Carly Zucker (@CarlyAplin) February 23, 2017
A post shared by Mike Gustin (@mike081020) on Feb 23, 2017 at 8:13am PST
Nevertheless, it quite literally can’t “rain on the parade” when you’re at Disney World, because the staff at Disney have planned for any eventuality.
That’s what makes it the most magical place to be, no matter the weather! |
There is mounting evidence that oil prices are poised to rebound from a historic bust.
Rig counts hit new lows each week. For the week ending on April 17, Baker Hughes says the U.S. lost an additional 34 oil and gas rigs, bringing the total down to 954. Domestic crude oil production appears to have plateaued and the EIA expects a contraction in May. Nearly every driller is dramatically scaling back spending, which should increasingly cut into new output. And oil consumption is finally picking up, as drivers far and wide take advantage of cheap fuel.
But what if the bust is not over yet? Despite the signs of a rebound, ExxonMobil’s CEO Rex Tillerson has a much more bearish take on oil prices. Speaking at the IHS CeraWeek conference in Houston, Tillerson predicted that oil prices would remain subdued for the next several years.
While the longer-term is harder to predict, there is quite a bit of evidence to suggest that oil prices may not rise much higher than where they are right now in the short-term. For one, crude oil inventories continue to build. Although the stock build has slowed in recent weeks, it is still dramatically higher than the five-year average. Until production slows to the point that consumers are drawing down inventories faster than they can be replaced, oil prices have little room to rise.
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Another significant factor that could limit any further increases in oil prices is the enormous backlog of wells awaiting completion. Since most of the value of oil and gas coming out of shale occurs in the first few months of production, drillers are avoiding completing hundreds of wells because selling into the current low-price environment would earn them a lot less cash than if they wait until prices rise again. As a result, there is a vast collection of shale wells that will be completed once oil prices increase (an estimated 900 in North Dakota alone), which could bring a flood of new production online. The effect on prices is debatable, but the CEO of ConocoPhillips thinks it could send oil prices down once again.
“If you get a price signal, you’ll see more supply come on,” ConocoPhillips Ryan Lance said at CeraWeek. “That certainly has the opportunity to exacerbate the problem depending on where demand is.” He went on to add, “If $80-$90 [per barrel] comes back, there’s a good chance that $50-$60 comes back as well because of all the new oil that will come online from completed wells. Boom, bust, boom, bust.”
Moreover, the industry is seeing substantial declines in costs for drilling. When oil prices are high, costs to drill rise as demand for equipment, rigs, and other oil field services increases. But, just as high oil prices can be inflationary on costs, an oil bust has a corresponding deflationary effect on costs. As companies like Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Transocean, and others are finding out, service companies are being forced to slash their prices for drilling services amid collapsing demand for drilling. Upstream producers stand to benefit in the meantime. In other words, low oil prices allow for costs to decline, which allows more companies to stay business. As a result, oil prices tend to stay lower, longer.
Finally, there is the issue of OPEC. Saudi Arabia is now producing oil at the highest level in decades, in an effort to keep the heat on higher cost producers. Elevated production from OPEC probably won’t change anytime soon. Worse yet for oil prices, is the potential for Iranian crude to come to global markets. If a nuclear deal can be finalized, Iran could step up production in 2016, adding more supplies to an already well-supplied marketplace.
Obviously, there is a ton of uncertainty. Oil markets are already starting to adjust with the pending production cutbacks from U.S. shale. That could lead to higher prices.
But facing headwinds, it may not be enough to raise prices any further, increasing the possibility of an extended down period for oil. For smaller companies, that could be devastating. But the majors view this is a normal a business cycle. When asked what the energy industry would look like several years from now after a long stretch of lower prices, ExxonMobil’s Tillerson said defiantly, “we will still be here.”
This article originally appeared on Oilprice.com.
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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Wildcat formation was a couple of weeks in the making, but Green Bay Packers receiver Randall Cobb had angled for it his whole NFL career.
"I've been waiting on it for seven years," Cobb said. "It was fun to be back there a little bit."
It might be seven more before the former University of Kentucky quarterback gets another chance to take a direct snap. He did it three times in Sunday against the Bears and the results were underwhelming -- runs for minus-1, 6 and 3 yards.
"We've got some work to do with that," Cobb said. "We didn't line up correctly a couple times. We didn't execute the play like we wanted to a couple times. So if we're going to continue to do that, then we've got to clean it up a little bit."
It's something coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett put into the plan after Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone last month. They finally decided to give it a try against the Bears.
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"I love it," Cobb said. "That's all I did in college, so that's right up my arsenal."
Maybe they should just let Cobb throw it. He's attempted one pass in his NFL career -- an incompletion. He played a hybrid role of quarterback-receiver at Kentucky. He threw five career touchdown passes (and five interceptions).
"We did the Wildcat; that was like 40 percent of our offensive production," Cobb said.
Cobb had one other run on a traditional toss play from quarterback Brett Hundley and totaled just 8 yards rushing on four attempts. His biggest impact against the Bears came as a receiver with three catches for 52 yards, including a 38-yard catch-and-run to convert a third-and-5 on the first drive of the game, which resulted in a field goal.
"Randall by far is one of the toughest guys I've ever been around," Bennett said. "He's sharp ... He has a great awareness, his knowledge of the game, his preparation is off the charts. He does an outstanding job. And then you go back and look at that very first third-down conversion: He goes, runs a good route, breaks a tackle.
"And that's what we’ve always been talking about as far as breaking tackles creates a big-play opportunity. You break a tackle and it ends up with a [38-yard] gain. That's what it's about. Tremendous versatility ... put the ball in guys like that hands and good things happen." |
In March 2009, SAX Limited had sought a loan from Gulf Bank to buy two aircrafts and related equipment. Mohamud Sheikh Hussein offered his property L.R No. Eastleigh 36/11/1 as the guarantor. By then, his property was worth Sh160M and has since gone up. For him it was just another of many bank engagements but unknown to him, it would end up in a decade long fight to regain full control of his suit property.
In April, 2009, Gulf Bank after reviewing the securities, agreed to advance a Murabaha Asset Finance Facility To SAC Ltd as the borrower Sh95M. This amount would be used in purchasing a used Aircraft Beechcraft Baron 95-E55,5Y-BPC at a cost of Sh11,200,000. A 5 tonne, Sideley HS478 Aircraft From Track Mark Ltd at Sh80M and Sh2.9M to purchase propellers.
The Sh160M property of Mohamud was to guarantee for Sh120M with SAC directors guaranteeing Sh94M but the registration was to remain jointly in the name of the bank and the company SAC. The terms for this MURABAHA facility was that profit and not interest would be charged at 16.5% of the facility.
That was a deal sealed and so Mohamud thought his work was finished. Things started making twists on 4th May barely weeks after SAC was advanced the principal amount of Sh95M. Gulf issued SAC with a second letter of offer varying the terms of the MURABAHA facility and this would translate into review of security terms for the mortgage. In a offer letter dated 4th May 2008, now the security property as the first ranking had a legal charge of Sh95M, Mohamud switched to guarantee Sh95M.
In a letter of offer dated 4th November 2009 and seen by Kenya Insights, a second Murabaha stock finance was advanced to SAC the borrower for the sum of Sh15M. This amount was over and above the sums secured by the initial mortgage dated 9th September according to court papers.
Now here’s the point Fraud started playing, this second facility of Sh15M was given by the bank to SAC using Mohamud’s knowledge and consent as the guarantor and so the Murabaha facility wasn’t secured by the initial mortgage according to a court of appeal ruling on this case.
Gulf representatives liaised with SAC, reviewed the terms of mortgage while using the guarantor’s property, went ahead and issued another facility of Sh15M without his consent just to make the open breach clearer. The varied terms of repayment of the loan facility were of no effect and as a result, Mohamud was discharged from his obligation. Gulf unlawfully accommodated SAC the borrower and varied his terms of payment.
Having been fully discharged by the bank as a guarantor, there was no way in law the bank would reviver any amount on the second facility from Mohamud but from SAC the principal borrower. To affirm this in a demand letter dated 26th April 2010, in admission to this fact, wrote to SAC seeking the payment of the second facility. Mohamud wasn’t copied since he had been fully discharged by the bank as the guarantor on the principal amount.
In June 24th 2010 according to court documents, Gulf confirmed that SAC had fully settled the Murabaha loan facility which was done by the insurers on payment of the insurance of $370,000.
It didn’t end there, SAC(borrower) went ahead and sought a third facility(Tawarraq Working Capital Finance) Of Sh58,672,978 which was to be repayable in 24 months. Once again, Mohamud’s Eastleigh property without his knowledge and consent, was used to guarantee this third and illegal loan facility which wasn’t registered against his property according to court papers.
SAC the principal borrower defaulted in the payment of the third facility and Gulf sent him a demand letter dated 19th November 2010 seeking the settlement of arrears of Sh4,174,525.31. This letter wasn’t copied to Mohamud in tacit admission by the bank that Mohamud wasn’t liable as the guarantor.
Despite of all the accusations of playing dirty, the bank insisted that Mohamud was aware of the variations and approved them contradicting their body language. They never engaged him at any point after inking the initial mortgage facility.
In a sharp twist by a letter dated 26th January 2011, a firm Mohamed Muigai Advocates purported to issue a three months statutory notice on behalf of the bank seeking payment of Sh67,078,541.08. Here’s where the real games started playing.
SAC as the principal borrower informed Mohamed Muigai firm that the bank had waived the purported statutory notice by accepting payment and rescheduling proposal. By this, SAC admitted to liability as the principal borrower and the numerous proposals for settlement.
Despite all the breaches of all standard banking precepts, Gulf Bank purported to restructure the loan facility to make Mohamud who was the guarantor to make him the principal borrower. This, Mohamud says in court letters that it was illegal,l and vitiated by Fraud, duress and coercion so as to constitute an unconscionable bargain in law.
In play, the security documentation and letters were all drafted by the Gulf’s legal department and Mohamud wasn’t allowed the privilege of independent legal advice on the implications of signing the letter of offer dated 26th May 2011 in what he says the bank unlawfully coerced and duped him by purporting to restructure the loan facility and waive its exercise of statutory power of sale while in law, the bank didn’t have any statutory power of sale.
It doesn’t make sense that the bank purportedly made Mohamud the principal borrower yet there wasn’t consideration for the diminishing Musharaka sale and lease back Finance facility and not a single cent has been disbursed to Mohamud.
Worth noting that the bank had initially discharged Mohamud as the guarantor when it rescheduled the facilities in favore of SAC the principal borrower. For a fact, Gulf Bank has forwarded Mohamud a re-conveyance Of mortgage confirming that all the money secured under the mortgage of Sh95M the principal amount that is the only one he approved to had been fully paid.
Amina Bashir, the Then Bank’ Company Secretary and Head of Legal Department is a key person of interest in this ploy. According to court documents seen by Kenya Insights, Amina drew agreements dated 26th May 2011 and purchase agreement dated 30th June 2011 in which she made Mohamud liable for payment of Sh68,455,295.08. In this reversal of roles, Amina purported to make Mohamud the principal borrower (SAC) now the guarantor to Mohamud when in fact no facility was advanced to him.
The Sh68.4M that now the bank was putting on Mohamud, Musharak Asset Purchase Agreement that Mohamud alleges he was duped and coarced into signing is described as a clear fraud on his side to enable the bank sale his property. Simple question that the bank need to answer is if Mohamud was a principal borrower as they purport then where’s the proof that he was paid? None as it never happened.
September 4th 2012, SAC the principal borrower in admission through a letter, confirmed it owed the bank the Sh68,455,295.08 that the bank purported to have been borrowed by Mohamud in their reversal roles theatrics. This debt according to court documents is fictitious and fraud that can’t be basis of any valid statutory notice.
In arguing their case to hold the statutory notice, Gulf Bank lies to the Court of Appeal by not disclosing that they had registered a re-conveyance of mortgage dated 8th August 2011 on 18th 2011 and there wasn’t mortgage in force.
The Chief Land Registrar confirmed that the last entry on the file was the re-conveyance of mortgage confirming that the property is fully and legally under Mohamud and held no debt, keep in mind the bank has cleared him of the loan.
With everything working against them and all factors exposing this clear fraud, Gulf Bank has served Mohamud with a notice of sale by public auction by Garam Investments on 17th Dec in respect of his Eastleigh property that he used to guarantee a loan and which the bank had cleared him of. The property would be auctioned on 19th February 2019 despite there being no mortgage registered against the property, non whatsoever
Following the sustained efforts to illegally acquire and sell his property, Mohamud has since published a Caveat Emptor Buyer Beware on local dailies warning the public against being duped into the purported public auctioning of his Eastleigh property.
At Kenya Insights, we’re just opening a case which we believe if it’s the norm, then there could be many frustrated customers like Mohamud. We’re asking members of public who might have fallen prey to such mannerisms of coercion and duping to write to us with solid proof on either Gulf Bank or any financial institution, we will highlight. Our email is below this post.
As for Gulf Bank, we’ve picked this case and will be going into much deeper details in subsequent series, how a bank turned against a guarantor is a reason to worry many other potential or existing guarantors to their facilities. What does the bank know that Mohamud or the courts doesn’t know? Why is the bank withholding Mohamud’s land documents despite having cleared him of any debt? Why did Amina Bashir change the loans agreements along the way without consent of the guarantor? What’s the level of BODs involvement in this scheme? Series continues… |
TYPES AND USES OF MANURE
Let’s talk manure, an important part of any compost pile. First, where do you find it? You can buy composted manure at any garden center in the spring. The problem with already composted manure is that it will contain the wormers and other medications and god-knows-whats that are given to animals raised in commercial factory farms. As it has already been composted, it is ready to apply to your garden right out of the bag with no need to be composted by you. The drawback to this is that it will not heat up your compost pile and help with the microbial action needed to compost the other materials in your compost pile. Your compost will remain cold.
Then there are the fresh manures that you can get from your local farmer. These will usually be advertized in small local papers. It will either be sold delivered, or not..in which case you need a pick up truck and a strong set of arms. It is best to get the manure when it has not been sitting out in the rain as it is lot easier to move around. Shoveling wet compost is a chore. (Well, shoveling dry compost is also a chore.) If you can get your manure in the late summer and let it compost all fall and winter, that is ideal.
There are as many types of manure as there are animals. Don’t try any manures from carnivores or human vegetarians. They contain too many pathogens and just smell awful (as I’m sure you know by now).
These are a few of the most common manures with a rundown on my personal experiences with them after years running test plots on all of them.
1st Rabbit Manure.
I love this stuff. It is absolutely the best manure out there. It is a cold manure, which means it will not burn your plants even if you apply it directly out of the rabbit. However, as with all manures that have not been composted, it may contain pathogens that you will not want on your veggies, so compost it first, or just use it uncomposted on flowers. I have never seen anything grow the way a plant grows on rabbit manure. I buy it from a local farmer for 10 dollars for a 50 lb sack.
2nd Chicken Manure.
This is a very hot nitrogen rich compost. If you are buying composted manure from a garden center, this is the best kind to get. If you have raw chicken manure around, compost it before applying it to your garden. It is possible to make a tea from uncomposted chicken manure which you can the apply directly to your garden.
3rd Horse manure
The best thing about this manure is that it is easy to find in large quantities. Horses poop a lot…rabbits not so much. This manure should either be tilled into the soil in the fall or composted over the winter.
4th Steer manure
This works the same as horse manure.
5th Goat and sheep manure.
I found that these work better than either steer or horse manure, but should be tilled into the soil in the fall.
Good Luck! |
Stop calling vegan food “cruelty-free”
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Guest Post by Dr. Frances McCormack
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Sometimes it’s easy to compartmentalise ethical issues and to forget that abstaining from one moral wrong doesn’t eradicate all others. Many vegans proudly proclaim that their food is “cruelty-free” as though issues of justice and injustice begin and end with our use of nonhuman animals. What is probably an innocent shorthand for “no nonhuman animals were exploited to make this”, though, can appear as a complete disregard for the fact that many of the foods that we commonly consume are products of forced labour, human trafficking, exploitation and suffering.
Certainly, there are more issues surrounding nonvegan consumption, and in no way can nonvegans hold the fact that food production systems are exploitative over us as a “gotcha”. Nor does the enormity of the exploitation in which the nonvegan participates by way of their food choices mean that we, as vegans, don’t have to try harder or do better.
Cashews are often processed by people who receive caustic burns from the acids that lie between the two layers of the hard shell of the nut. Some cashews are produced in forced-labour camps where the workers are beaten and shocked into harvesting, cleaning, and preparing a vegan staple. Much of the chocolate that we consume is the product of child labour, with reporters finding children as young as five using dangerous tools to harvest cocoa beans. Workers on coffee farms are often housed 40 to 60 to a room without sanitation, working without a signed contract and not receiving a minimum wage. Farm workers are frequently exposed to toxic chemicals, endangering their health and those of their families. And, in fact, an estimated sixty percent of child labour worldwide takes place in the agriculture sector.
When we talk about cruelty-free food, then, we’re ignoring the fact that food production is bound up with many forms of injustice. At the very least, we ought to find another shorthand to convey the idea that our food does not contain animal bodies or products. But if we really take seriously the idea of living in a way that minimises harm, then we are morally obliged to educate ourselves on the human rights issues involved in food production, to support ethical and fair-trade companies where we can, and to learn more about where our food choices come from and how they were produced.
The proceeds for writing this article will be donated towards local TNR projects. |
February 14, 2016 Comments (2) Smoking Meat
Why Did We Write This Guide About Smokers?
We have put this guide together to remove all the mystery and hype about smokers.
There is a ton of information on smoking meats and vegetables on the internet. So much, in fact, that it is easy to slip into information overload. How is one to dig through the mountain of information to sift out the actual data you might need? Have no fear. We will give you tips, buying guides, detailed information, and more. This is the most up-to-date, comprehensive guide on smokers that you will find.
Who Is This Guide For?
This guide is for anyone who is thinking of getting a smoker. We’ll help you find the best one for you.
Whether you are contemplating buying your very first smoker, or maybe upgrading your existing unit, the information you will need is right here. We will give you basic information on how to smoke meats and vegetables, as well as descriptions of each type of smoker, and what they are best for. We will help you determine what smoker is right for you.
We will take all of the guesswork out of selecting a smoker, setting it up, and enjoying the wonderful tastes and smells of real smoked food.
Buying a Smoker: Our Infographics
To make it easy for you, we’ve created this image that summarizes our guide:
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By: TastyMeat.net
The Art Of Smoking Meat
The process of smoking meat is so old that no one knows exactly when it started.
We do know that it wasn’t long after humans learned how to make fires and cook food that they discovered you could dry meat and fish near a fire to preserve it. At some point, someone obviously left a piece of fish, or meat too close to the fire, and instead of just drying it, it became smoked, and one of life’s great pleasures was born. Every primitive culture that has ever existed has smoked meat. The ancient Carib tribes of the Caribbean went one step further, and invented a special smoking technique that led to the invention of barbecue: Barbacoa. It originated centuries ago in Barbados, a Caribbean island. The word “barbados” comes from “Los Barbadoes” that means “the ones with beards”. It was given by the Portuguese explorers that arrived on the island on the 16th century, because of the big bearded fig plants that covered the islands.
Since then, we have learned how to smoke just about everything from vegetables, and cheeses, to sausages, bacon, and hams.
It is widely believed the West Indies native Taino people, a subgroup of the South American Arawaks, first used green, fire-resistant bearded fig branches for cooking. They marinated foods in tropical herbs and spices to enhance natural flavors and preserve them after cooking. The Tainos called their preparations “barabicu,” or “sacred firepit,” that over time became “barbecue.” These cooking methods were superb at keeping their foods from prematurely spoiling.
No other technology or knowledge was ever shared as freely, and as rapidly as the art of smoking.
It transcended tribal rivalries, wars, politics, continents and oceans. Every country on earth has it’s own method of smoking meat. It is so universal that one might get the idea that there is really something wonderful about it. And, you’d be right. Smoked meat is satisfying on a very primitive level. Nothing is as good properly smoked as meat, with it’s subtle woody overtones, and slightly charred textured that compliments the natural tastes. And the aroma of smoking meat, which can be detected at considerable distances when the wind is right, can drive you insane. Smoked foods feed the soul as well as the body. Another universal aspect is that smoking food is a social event. The very concept of cookouts and feasts began with the invention of smoking. It has always been a communal activity, and it remains so to this very day.
It’s time to consider the single most important tool you will use to create your bits of culinary heaven.
4 Reasons Why You Should Get a Smoker
If you are going to smoke meat, you really need a smoker. Of course, you can build your own, but why bother? There are great smokers to fit any price range. In fact, good used smokers can even be found in yard sales and flea markets for as little as $15.00. So there is really no good reason not to have a smoker, unless you really plan to never smoke your own meat. It’s been my experience that if someone has a smoker, they will use it, at least occasionally.
So, why would you want to smoke meat?
1. Flavor. nothing on earth tastes like real smoked meat. It is satisfying on a primal level, appealing to the cave man (or woman) in all of us. It harkens to ancient times, when people were strong, life was simple, and food was big… Artificial short-cuts will always come up short once you have partaken of real smoked meat. Leave the Liquid Smoke on the shelf, and live a little.
nothing on earth tastes like real smoked meat. It is satisfying on a primal level, appealing to the cave man (or woman) in all of us. It harkens to ancient times, when people were strong, life was simple, and food was big… Artificial short-cuts will always come up short once you have partaken of real smoked meat. Leave the Liquid Smoke on the shelf, and live a little. 2. Slow-Cooking . smoked meat is so tender that it requires little chewing. Even tough cuts like brisket will melt in your mouth after 12 -16 hours of smoking. Indoor crock pots do not break down the tough connective tissues like real smoking does.
smoked meat is so tender that it requires little chewing. like brisket will melt in your mouth after 12 -16 hours of smoking. Indoor crock pots do not break down the tough connective tissues like real smoking does. 3. Preservation . smoked meat resists spoilage , and freezes better than meat prepared by other cooking methods. You can enjoy smoked salmon, smoked chicken salad, long after the fires have been extinguished. You can even make your own hams, bacon and smoked sausages, which will be far superior to their store-bought cousins.
smoked meat , and better than meat prepared by other cooking methods. You can enjoy smoked salmon, smoked chicken salad, long after the fires have been extinguished. You can even make your own hams, bacon and smoked sausages, which will be far superior to their store-bought cousins. 4. Well-Being . smoking your own meat instills a sense of empowerment, and self-sufficiency. Food tastes better when you know that you processed it yourself, and you can survive with minimal outside support. Also, for the health-conscious, depending on how you acquire your meat and vegetables, you know everything that is in it. You can eliminate such vile things as msg, dyes, excessive salts and sugars, and other questionable additives. Smoked meat is healthier than fried foods, tastes better than baked food, retains more nutrition than baked foods, and keeps better than all of them. Smoked food feeds the soul as well as the body, and is an outstanding and wholesome hobby for the whole family. It engenders a sense of togetherness and community.
We need to distinguish between a smoker and a grill. A grill cooks food at higher temperatures, and much faster. With some grills, it is possible to also use them as a smoker by placing the heat source on one end, the food on the other, and carefully controlling the temperature. But you will be limited to smoking small amounts of food this way. Smokers are set up to be used as smokers, but almost all smokers also make great grills. And, there are combination units that have an offset smoke-box, to give you the best of both worlds.
“What smoker should I buy?” Keep reading to find it out!
Choose Your Style: Horizontal or Vertical Smoker?
There are two basic styles of smokers. The vertical smoker, which resembles a barrel or box standing on it’s end, and the horizontal smoker, which looks like a barrel or box laying on it’s side. Both styles can be either round, or square.
Vertical smokers. In my opinion, the vertical style is more efficient and versatile. Vertical smokers take up much less space than a horizontal smoker, and they make it much easier to maintain the proper temperatures because they have excellent air circulation. They also allow more smoke to circulate around the meat because the design takes advantage of the smokes natural tendency to rise. And lastly, they can also be used as a great Hibachi-style grill. They are some of the least expensive smokers you can buy. Most electric smokers are vertical smokers. The only drawbacks to vertical smokers is if you plan on smoking very large amounts of meat. If you are going to smoke whole hogs or goats, ¼ or ½ sides of beef, ½ sides of deer, or large quantities of fish, you may want to consider a horizontal smoker.
Horizontal smokers. As a rule, they are large, heavy and stable. The wood and propane types usually have at least one set of wheels and they can be wheeled into the back of a truck, on a flatbed trailer, or some even come with a built-in trailer hitch to be pulled behind a vehicle. There are very large permanent stationary smokers that can smoke a complete side of beef at one time. Some horizontal smokers are capable of smoking several hundred pounds of meat at a time, and are the best choice if you plan on smoking at large get-togethers, conventions, cook-offs, or even commercially. These are the choice of professionals. Smaller versions are made, but they are still very heavy and solid. They have offset smoke-boxes, and the fires can be kept smoldering for days and days. They are wonderful for smoking a lot of meat, but are somewhat impractical for smaller, family-size amounts. This is why most serious smokers have both types. The drawback to horizontal smokers is that they are a lot more work to clean. The only way I can get mine really clean is to take it to the car wash, with the high-pressure hot water and degreasers.
Horizontal or Vertical? It depends on your needs. But whatever smoker you choose, it is important that it has an accurate thermometer. A broken or inaccurate thermometer can be replaced for under $25.00. The thermometer probe is inserted though a small hole drilled through the smoker lid, and is retained by a nut on the inside. Replacing a thermometer takes less than 5 minutes and only requires a wrench. A good thermometer is necessary to make sure you are maintaining the correct temperatures, and is critical if you plan on making smoked and/or fermented sausages. A thermometer is also needed if you plan on drying fish, or making jerky in your smoker.
Once you decide on a style, you need to figure out what type of smoker you want. The types are based on the heat source. The choices are wood/charcoal, gas/propane, electric, and wood pellet. What type you need depends mostly on how much hands-on control you want. We’ll address each type.
Choose Your Type: Charcoal , Gas , Electric , Wood Pellet …
Wood/Charcoal. these are the simplest, least expensive, and many will say (myself included), the only real smokers. They have no moving parts, save for the access doors, and vents, no small parts to break (although some thermometers can be delicate), require no gas or electricity, and can be used just about anywhere but in the house.
They are simply a box, or barrel that you build a fire in, add your smoke wood, and let it smoke. I am especially fond of the vertical wood style. They have a metal bowl at the bottom to build a small fire in, which makes more efficient use of your wood or charcoal, and above that, a drip pan which keeps juice from dripping onto your coals and either putting them out, or making them flame up. Also, water, wine, beer or other liquids can be added to the drip pan to keep everything moist, and provide extra flavors. Above that, there are two or more racks that hold a surprisingly large amount of food, up to 50 lbs or more. They are made from light aluminum and can easily be taken to the lake, or out camping with you.
There are no moving parts to break, and all the parts are very easy to clean. The temperature is controlled by judicious use of vents that control the air-flow. The horizontal type has an off-set smoke-box. This lends itself to many types of smoking. Wood smokers are the purest way to smoke food. Your food will have no flavors of propane, no sterile electrical feel, and you don’t have to depend on commercial fuels like pellets. You are cooking over a real fire, and real coals. Nothing but fire, smoke, and meat (or cheeses, veggies, etc…), working together in perfect harmony, as nature intended. The disadvantages:
There is a slight learning curve (you have to learn how to build a fire….not a bad thing to learn in any case….).
(you have to learn how to build a fire….not a bad thing to learn in any case….). You may need a little practice using the vents to keep the correct temperatures.
Wood/Charcoal smokers are all manual. You have to do everything.
Clean up is a job, compared to all other types of smokers.
Gas Smokers. these are best for those with a ‘set it, and forget it‘ mentality. They are easy to use, and are preferred by many. A lot of restaurants use gas smokers because of their simplicity. You don’t have to start a fire. All you have to do is light the burner. The best models are the vertical ‘cabinet’ types. These allow the smoke to circulate freely around the meat. All gas smokers are powered by propane. Combustion of the gas is used to burn the smoke wood. Since the flame level is easily controlled by a valve, it is much easier to maintain precise temperature control, than with wood smokers. Other than the gas, they work just like wood smokers. The Cons are:
They are more expensive than wood smokers. but still not bad, at around $200.00 or less.
but still not bad, at around $200.00 or less. The vapors from the burned propane mix with the water, and create a perfume-like overtone to the food. Some (myself included) find undesirable. Others swear they do not notice it, so it’s a matter of taste.
Some (myself included) find undesirable. Others swear they do not notice it, so it’s a matter of taste. You have to leave the top vent fully open at all times. Otherwise the gas can deposit soot on your food.
Otherwise the gas can deposit soot on your food. Gas smokers never come with propane tanks, so you will have to buy two separate tanks. You need two because a half-empty tank will run out of fuel in the middle of your smoking operations.
You need two because a half-empty tank will run out of fuel in the middle of your smoking operations. propane is a hydrocarbon. If you are environmentally conscious, even though it is touted as burning clean, it still releases chemicals into the environment.
If you are environmentally conscious, even though it is touted as burning clean, it still releases chemicals into the environment. Propane is obviously flammable. A punctured tank can ignite.
A punctured tank can ignite. The biggest complaint about gas smokers is that none of them are wide enough for a whole rack of ribs. You have to cut them in half, or hang them.
In spite of all these drawbacks, gas smokers have a following. If ease of use is your primary concern, then a gas smoker may be just the thing for you.
Electric Smokers. there is no question that electric smokers are the easiest to use. All you have to do is add a little smoke wood, usually an oz or less. set the temperature and time, and forget about it. It will shut itself off when it is done.
They work by using an electric heating element, just like an electric stove. Your smoke wood and water go above the element, or elements. A rheostat (on cheaper models) or thermostat controls the temperature.
You just set it, add food, and go about your business. There is no building a fire, no checking the fuel every hour or so, and no soot, or char build-up. And since they have a thermostat that maintains a steady temperature, these are ideal for fish, peppers, and other temperature-sensitive foods. They are very easy to clean, cheap to operate, and seem to hold up well. Sounds perfect, right? Well…maybe not so much. Again, it depends on your personal preference.
Foods cooked in electric smokers lack the character of foods cooked in a wood, or even gas smokers. There is no replacement for real fire.
There is no replacement for real fire. Electric smokers have no combustion. The wood just smolders, rather than slow-burns, so you don’t get all the chemical reactions you do with other types of smokers.
The wood just smolders, rather than slow-burns, so you don’t get all the chemical reactions you do with other types of smokers. Electric smokers will not give you a wonderful crunchy crust, or the ‘smoke-ring’ on your food. The pink layer of meat on the outside that says, “I have been genuinely smoked…”
The pink layer of meat on the outside that says, “I have been genuinely smoked…” Electric smokers can be expensive . ome can run $500.00 or more.
. ome can run $500.00 or more. Electric smokers are prohibited at most cook-offs.
But, most people that have electric smokers absolutely love them, so I can’t really knock them too much. Again, it’s what you want that counts.
Pellet Smokers. Outwardly, they resemble a typical wood smoker, but the resemblance ends there. These are super high-tech units. Comparing a wood smoker to a pellet smoker is like comparing the Wright Brothers first airplane to the Space Shuttle. These are digitally controlled, with an automatic pellet feed, igniter, and circulation fan. They have computer-controlled thermostats that can even be programmed to smoke at a certain temperature for a specified period of time, then raise or lower the heat for another time period. Some even have ‘leave-in‘ meat probes that will lower the temperature to a warm holding level when the internal temperature of the meat reaches the target value.
They really are ‘load, set, and forget’ units. The way they work is that you load a hopper with the wood pellets, and an auger feed system automatically feeds the correct amount of pellets into the beer-can sized burn-pot, which also contains and igniter. The igniter is a simple heating element, just like in an electric oven. You set the time and temperature, and the igniter will light the wood pellets, causing them to smolder slowly. The igniter, fan and feeder will keep feeding and burning wood pellets, and supplying air to maintain whatever temperature you select, for the time you set. The system is basically an indirect convection oven. Since you are smoking with real heat, the meat will taste just like wood smoked meat.
The only drawback I can think of to these units is cost. They run from $500.00 to well over $1000.00. But you get what you pay for. You want high-tech, it’s going to cost you high dollars. Also, you can only use pellets in them. So if you have a fallen hickory tree on your property, you can’t use it in these smokers. The other drawback is that they really can’t be used as a grill. The only heat source is indirect, so you can’t properly sear meat as soon as it hits the grill. Other than that, they are wonderful smoking machines. If you can afford one, they are a great addition to your culinary arsenal.
You now have a basic working knowledge of smokers. It’s time to get more in-depth.
Wood/Charcoal Smokers: The Real Smokey Flavor
Most experts will agree that if you want authentic smoked meat, you have to have real smoke from a real fire. This means a wood/charcoal smoker. Sure, it’s more work than the other types, but you get out what you put in. If you want genuine, mouth-watering, fall-off-the-bone tender smoked meat, you’re going to have to work for it. You’ll need to learn how to build a fire (not a bad thing to learn, anyway….), learn about the different characteristics of various types of smoke-woods, and develop an instinct on how to time the food.
A wood/charcoal smoker is just a container for food and fire. There’s a bowl in the bottom to build a fire in, and grates above it that hold the food. Other than the thermometer, there are no mechanically moving parts to break. The only parts that move are the lid, with a simple hinge, the vents, which just pivot around a simple rivet, and the grills, which are removable. You have to build a real fire in the firebox, by hand, and adjust the temperature by the size of the fire, and using the vents. This is the way it has been done for thousands of years.
If a Bronze Age peasant can do it, you should be able to as well. As long as you keep your wood smoker clean and dry, and protect it from the elements between uses, it will last a very long time. One of my brothers still has a smoker that belonged to my dad. He made it from a surplus 55 gal oil drum, and an oven thermometer from the USS Duane, in 1945 when he came home from WW-II. It still works and looks like new. With any luck, my nephews children will be cooking on it after long I have passed on. Neither gas, nor electric smokers have this kind of durability, because they have mechanical parts that will eventually wear out and fail.
The most expensive wood smoker you can buy will not last long at all unless proper maintenance is done. Your smoker needs to be cleaned and dried completely after use, the grills removed and scrubbed clean, and all the vents need to be cleaned. The fire-bowl needs to be completely emptied, wiped out and dried. I always wipe the insides and grills down with a thin coating of vegetable oil. Always keep your smoker covered with a tarp when not in use, even if it is in the garage. This will keep your smoker fresh and clean for a very long time.
“What’s so great about wood?”
The simple answer is that wood produces real heat, and real smoke. Recently, a test was conducted between wood and gas smokers, using hamburgers and steaks. In blindfolded tests, no one could tell the difference between the burgers, but the difference in the steaks was like night and day.
The differences are most apparent in thicker cuts of meat, and longer cooking times. Hamburgers are thin, and cook quickly, so they are not really suited for smoking in the first place. They cook too rapidly for the smoke to be able to penetrate them. Food cooked in a wood smoker absorbs the character of the wood, because burning wood produces heat and smoke. As the food absorbs the heat, it also draws in the smoke. Gas smokers do not supply enough smoke from the wood, so the food is less ‘smoked‘, and electric smokers are hardly better than if you just threw some wood chips in your kitchen stove along with a turkey.
Also, you will be smoking for several hours, and using propane will put a ton of fumes around your food, which is why it will taste different than wood-smoked food. When they say that propane is a ‘clean‘ burning fuel, they just mean clean compared to raw coal, or diesel fuel. The main fumes are water vapor and carbon monoxide. Just as in your blood, carbon monoxide binds to the molecules in your food 200 times easier than oxygen, which is why your food tastes different in a gas smoker. Your food has been oxygen-starved, or suffocated. The carbon monoxide also effects the ability of the food to absorb the smoke. While this won’t render your food inedible, it won’t have the character and nuances of wood-smoked food. Likewise with electric smokers. Since they do not create actual combustion, the amount of character and nuances imparted to the food from the wood is greatly reduced.
There are 7 features that are good to have on a charcoal/wood smoker:
A good thermometer is almost a necessity. Most units come with a cheap thermometer, which which is usually inaccurate. Check your smoker thermometer readings with a set-in oven thermometer that you trust, and upgrade the smoker thermometer if necessary. The vents should be attached firmly, but pivot freely, and stay in place where you want them. The grills should fit snugly, but not too tight. Remember, they will expand during smoking. The grills should sit solidly on the supports. so there is no danger of them falling when when loaded with a lot of heavy meat. The portal between the smoke-box and the main chamber should be large enough. So that a lot of smoke can circulate through. The smoke-box should have a large side-door so it will be easy to add more wood, and charcoal when needed, and make it easier to clean afterwords. If it has a water bowl, there should be easy access to it during cooking. So you can refill if if it dries out during smoking. A large wood smoker should have wheels, to make it easier to move around.
Our Top 3 Picks for Wood/Charcoal Smokers
With all of this in mind, we’ve selected (in our opinion) the top 3 wood/charcoal smokers, based on our experience, price, users needs, and other relevant factors. They are:
1. Weber Smokey Mountain Series
Weber, which is actually Weber Stephens, is one of the first families of smoking and grilling. They’ve been in business since 1893, and invented many parts that are standard equipment on most modern grills, as well as producing the first commercially produced round kettle grill. They are one of the most trusted names in the smoker and grilling world.
We rated their Smokey Mountain Smoker/Grills as the #1 Charcoal Smoker on the market. The Smokey Mountain Series are vertical wood/charcoal smokers, and they are available in 3 sizes, 14.5”, 18.5”, and 22.5”. These measurements are the diameters. These ultra-reliable units are outstanding for large roasts, huge turkeys, hams, briskets, and similar cuts. The 22.5” size easily smokes 2 30+ lb turkeys, or large roasts, hams, etc…at a time. In addition, it makes a great hibachi-style grill. By moving the fire bowl to the 1st grate tier, placing lava rocks on the coals, and setting a grate directly on top of the fire bowl, it even makes a wonderful brazier. They are very easy to clean and maintain, and light enough to easily take with you to the lake, river, or grandmas house for the holidays. The only con I can think of for this cooker is that it’s cooking area is too small for a large racks of ribs (unless you cut them), a side of beef, a whole hog, spreading out fish, sausages, cheeses, and such. For these, you’d need a Texas-style horizontal smoker, which is a lot heavier and harder to move around. No smoker will do everything. But for a family, this comes as close to a perfect smoker as you can get.
The Smokey Mountain Series features:
Porcelain enameled steel construction , with 2 premium nickel-plated grates.
, with 2 premium nickel-plated grates. A premium-grade ultra-accurate thermometer, that will not need to be upgraded.
that will not need to be upgraded. A Heavy-Duty aluminum water pan
Individual vents on both the lid and the bowl for easy access during smoking and grilling.
on both the lid and the bowl for easy access during smoking and grilling. Nylon, heat-resistant handle on the lid.
A bottom heat-shield , to protect whatever surface it is setting on.
, to protect whatever surface it is setting on. Comes with a premium-grade cover , to keep it clean between uses.
, to keep it clean between uses. 10-year warranty , and backed by Weber’s outstanding Customer Service.
, and backed by Weber’s outstanding Customer Service. Dimensions: (For the 22.5”): 48.5” high x 23” wide x 24” long. It provides a full 726 square inches for cooking area. Empty Weight < 20 lbs.
The 3 sizes allow you to choose the one that best suits your needs. The 14.5” is ideal for a single person, or someone who lives in an apartment, subdivision, or other limited space area. It is also small enough to easily take with you when you go to the lake, camping, cook-outs, or as a back-up for your larger smoker/grill. The 18.5” is a compromise between the large and small sizes, large enough for respectable-sized turkeys and roasts, but still small enough to be convenient. The 22.5” size is perfect for family gatherings, and smoking larger amounts of food at one time. It is still small and light enough to be easily portable.
I own this model, in the 22.5” size. The construction is first-rate. All the welds are neat and well-done. The rivets are tight and even. The lid fits snugly and the vent doors close completely. The handle is robust, and firmly attached. I still have the original thermometer in the lid, and when I tested it (with boiling water), It was high by only 1 degree. There is little heat leakage from anywhere. The cover keeps water out of the unit, even when sprayed directly with a garden hose. All-in-all, this is a solid, well-made smoker.
Most reviews give this series a resounding 5 out of 5 straight across the board. Price is fair, this smoker is a bargain in anyone’s book.
2. Napoleon Apollo AS300K 3-in-1 Smoker
Napoleon is a Canadian company that specializes in the manufacture of wood and gas fireplaces, inserts, heating systems, smokers and grills. They have been in business since 1976. We rated their Apollo AS300K #2 for several reasons. First, Napoleon has been in business for a much shorter time than Weber. Weber only makes smokers, grills and accessories, where as for Napoleon, it seems more of a sideline.
The Apollo AS300K, a vertical wood/charcoal smoker/grill similar to Weber’s Smokey Mountain Series, is a great example of the fact that there are many possible solutions for any single problem, in this case, how to stack grates to hold more food for smoking. Weber uses retaining tabs set at different levels. Napoleon decided to go with a modular approach. The basic unit is simply a kettle grill. By adding one or more of the modular sections, attached with metal clips, it converts to a smoker of two possible cooking volumes. Great idea, in theory at least. More about that later. It is made from steel sheet, but much thinner sheets than the Weber. But it does have something the Weber doesn’t….5 meat hooks in the lid to hang pieces of meat for smoking. Other features include:
Multi-vents for temperature control.
for temperature control. Cooking gates, each section contains a 20” cooking grate.
each section contains a 20” cooking grate. Temperature eyelet holes at each level for inserting a thermometer probe.
at each level for inserting a thermometer probe. Dimensions: (with all three sections): 20” x 20” x 47”. Weight, when fully assembled: < 30 pounds.
First, the good. The Apollo’s modular design lends itself to a lot of situations, from a tail-gate hibachi to a full-size smoker. The meat hooks add to it’s versatility. The temperature probe holes let you check the temperature at different levels.
Now, the bad. Compared to the Weber, there are construction issues. While fully functional, the quality of construction is considerably below that of the Weber. The riveting appears a little sloppy in places. The steel is much thinner. The vent doors are made more cheaply,. The handles are cheaply made, but since they are bolted on, they could be upgraded. Heat leaks out between the sections because the metal clips do not make an airtight seal, and since they are riveted, replacement would be difficult, if not impossible. Heat also leaks out from the vent doors. All of the welded seams seem a little sloppy. There is no heat shield, so you will have to be very careful where you set the unit to use it. And lastly, it does not come with a cover. One can be purchased separately for around $30.00. However, when I tested the cover, water came in around the mesh bottom and pooled in the fire bowl. This would eventually rust out the bottom, so the unit must be stored indoors, even with the cover. These reasons are probably why the unit is only warranted for one year, vs the Weber’s 10-year warranty. Also, when I tested the thermometer in the cover (by putting the probe in boiling water…at my elevation, water boils at 205°F), it was off by 25°F.
While none of these issues would keep the until from working, for a while at least, I would expect more from a unit that costs around $350.00. It smokes meat acceptably, and is still better than a gas, or electric smoker. And it does work better than some other models in it’s price range. Because of this, the Apollo gets the #2 spot, right behind the Weber Smokey Mountain Series.
3. Brinkmann 810-5301-V Smoke’N Grill Charcoal Smoker
Brinkmann, a division of the Remington Corporation, is a Texas-based company that imports and manufactures a lot of outdoor products, such as grills, smokers, flashlights, spotlights, knives, and more. They have been in business as Brinkmann for around 30 years. Brinkmann products are well-known due to being sold through large outlets such as Walmart, Home Depot, and others.
The #3 spot goes to the 810-5301-V Smoke’N Grill Charcoal Smoker. This is an entry-level vertical wood/charcoal smoker, with few bells and whistles. Remember, we rated these using price vs value as one of the criteria. This unit is a straight smoker/grill that can hold up to 50 lbs of meat at a time. At a retail price of $65.00 or less, it is by-far the least expensive smoker we reviewed. It is made in China, and the workmanship is adequate. Not great, but adequate. You get what you pay for. The unit features:
It has 2 cheaply made chrome-plated grates , but they do work.
, but they do work. It has a thermometer in the lid (sort of…)
in the lid (sort of…) Sturdy wooden handles that are surprisingly well-made.
that are surprisingly well-made. The hinged aluminum front door is firmly attached and closes well.
is firmly attached and closes well. Porcelain-covered water and fire pans.
Cover included
1-year warranty
The best features of this unit is that it is great for a beginner, or as a back-up smoker. It doesn’t have a lot of things to have to fiddle with. It does exactly what it was intended to do…smoke meat. And it does this well.
Now for the bad. It’s a Chinese-made unit, so it is cheaply made, but fully functional for it’s intended purpose. There are no controllable vents, and no vent holes in the fire-pan, so it can clog up with ash. However, this is easily corrected by drilling 5 or 6 small holes in the bottom of the firebox, to allow more air circulation. The lid is not a snug fit, but tight enough to smoke. The access door is a little narrow, making it harder to add wood/charcoal, but still doable. The temperature gauge is a joke. It doesn’t even have any numbers on it. Just a dial of ranges that say, ” Warm, Ideal, and Hot”. I didn’t even bother testing it. The first thing I would do with this unit is replace the thermometer with a good numerical one. The cover is adequate, and kept the unit dry when tested. The worst thing is that Brinkmann Customer Service is non-existent. It is impossible to defeat their computer answering system to reach a live person. You have to leave a call-back number, which almost never results in a call-back. However, Walmart, and Home Depot both have good return policies if there is something wrong with your smoker.
Is this the best choice out there? Far from it. Are there better ones for under $80.00 new? Not at all. This smoker does what it is supposed to do, and for the $65.00, it represents a good value. With a few inexpensive modifications, it can be a very good smoker.
Final Words on Wood/Charcoal Smokers
These three smokers represent our idea of the 3 best buys for a charcoal/wood smoker. As you can see, there is a great deal of difference between the different models. They will serve you well in the years to come. They are not the most expensive, nor the cheapest, but the best value compared to the prices.
Gas Smokers: Easy To Use Units
A gas smoker is very similar to a wood smoker, but instead of charcoal or wood as fuel, it uses propane to supply heat. Small amounts of smoke-wood are added for the smoke. While some grills are fueled by natural gas, all commercially-made gas smokers use propane. Some people have converted them over to natural gas, but this is inadvisable. Natural gas burns much hotter than propane. For smoking, you want a steady temperature of around 225°F, or less. Natural gas can make temperature control problematic for a smoker. Propane is readily available at most hardware stores, convenience stores, and other handy locations. It is relatively expensive and burns clean compared to other similar fuels.
No Pain with Propane Smokers
There are some advantages to using gas smokers:
The entire operation is much cleaner. You don’t have to fool-around with messy charcoal.
You don’t have to fool-around with messy charcoal. Controlling the temperature is much easier , mostly just turning a knob and watching the thermometer.
, mostly just turning a knob and watching the thermometer. Propane burns cleaner than charcoal or wood, but this is a double-edged sword, as you will read about in the next section.
but this is a double-edged sword, as you will read about in the next section. Gas smokers heat up quicker , usually within 10 minutes or so.
, usually within 10 minutes or so. Gas smokers maintain more even temperature over time. Charcoal and wood get cooler as they burn down, so the temperature inside the smoker goes up and down a lot. It’s not really a problem, but it does mean you have to monitor the temperature closely, where as with gas, you just need to check your fuel tank periodically, and change tanks when necessary. The heat source is at a constant temperature as long as the gas is flowing.
Charcoal and wood get cooler as they burn down, so the temperature inside the smoker goes up and down a lot. It’s not really a problem, but it does mean you have to closely, where as with gas, you just need to check your fuel tank periodically, and change tanks when necessary. The heat source is at a constant temperature as long as the gas is flowing. Gas smokers are more convenient. Just turn on the gas, ignite the burner, apply smoke-wood, add food, close ‘er up and let it do it’s thing.
Propane’s Main Banes…
As handy as propane is, there are some drawbacks to using it in a smoker:
Your food will not have the signature ‘smoked’ flavor , because a lot of the character of smoked food comes from the combustion of wood. Something will be missing, but if you have never eaten food from a wood burner, you won’t notice. You have to almost taste them side-by-side to tell, as it is a very subtle difference. Propane produces less smoke, more water vapor, and more carbon monoxide, which inhibits the absorption of the smokey nuances. The food will still taste great, just not the same as in a wood-burner.
, because a lot of the character of smoked food comes from the combustion of wood. Something will be missing, but if you have never eaten food from a wood burner, you won’t notice. You have to almost taste them side-by-side to tell, as it is a very subtle difference. Propane produces less smoke, more water vapor, and more carbon monoxide, which inhibits the absorption of the smokey nuances. The food will still taste great, just not the same as in a wood-burner. You won’t get the same crispy skin (called the ‘bark’), or the same reddish ‘smoke-ring’ on your food as you would with a woody. They will still be there, just a little different.
They will still be there, just a little different. A gas-burner will not get as hot as a wood smoker. This doesn’t really matter much when smoking, because you only need around 225°F, but for grilling, you need to sear the meat as soon as it hits the grill, requiring temperatures of 800°F, or higher. A gas grill/smoker won’t make it that high.
This doesn’t really matter much when smoking, because you only need around 225°F, but for grilling, you need to sear the meat as soon as it hits the grill, requiring temperatures of 800°F, or higher. A gas grill/smoker won’t make it that high. There is a slightly higher possibility of mishaps, due to the flammable nature of propane gas. Propane is rated as a Class 2.1 Hazardous Material. While perfectly safe under most conditions, freak accidents have happened. Always store your tanks outside the house, even when you think they are empty..
Propane is rated as a Class 2.1 Hazardous Material. While perfectly safe under most conditions, freak accidents have happened. Always store your tanks outside the house, even when you think they are empty.. You have make sure none of your vents are facing directly into the wind. A sudden gust could blow out the burner, and the regulator will still keep spraying propane, which will build-up in the smoker. The only other thing needed for a disaster is for an unwary cook to check on the smoker with a lit cigarette, cigar, pipe, or cause a static spark, and KABOOM! You’ll be scrapping your turkey off the side of your house for hours.
A sudden gust could blow out the burner, and the regulator will still keep spraying propane, which will build-up in the smoker. The only other thing needed for a disaster is for an unwary cook to check on the smoker with a lit cigarette, cigar, pipe, or cause a static spark, and KABOOM! You’ll be scrapping your turkey off the side of your house for hours. Propane is odorless, so the law requires that a chemical is added to make it smell, so that gas leaks can be detected. This can impart a ‘unique’ flavor to your food. Many have described it as “bacon-ish”. Others say they do not detect it.
This can impart a ‘unique’ flavor to your food. Many have described it as “bacon-ish”. Others say they do not detect it. Propane costs more than wood or charcoal , which for those of us who live in the boonies, is often free.
, which for those of us who live in the boonies, is often free. You have to have at least 2 propane tanks, because they have a habit of running out when you are in the middle of smoking something. Most gas smokers do not come with a propane tank.
Most gas smokers do not come with a propane tank. Gas smokers are not allowed in most competitions and cook-offs.
As you can see, there are both advantages, and disadvantages to gas smokers. Thousands of people successfully smoke food in gas smokers every day. Whether or not a gas smoker is right for you…only you can decide. Do you want to be a ‘purist’, or do you want convenience? There is room in the smoking world for both.
Gas Smokers: The Big Three Reviewed
We’ve selected our favorite 3 gas smokers, based on our experience, price, users needs, etc…. They are:
1. Masterbuilt Cookmaster Propane Smoker
There is no question, Masterbuilt is the King of gas and electric smokers. The company began in 1976 as M & M Welding, changing the name to Masterbuilt in 1982 (it’s a long story…). The company makes outdoor cookers, and after-market automobile accessories. Some of their many innovations were creating the first electric Turkey Fryer, the first Electric Smoker, and the first indoor Turkey Fryer.
All of Masterbuilts smokers are built like tanks. They are solid, and feel very well-built. Nothing on them looks, or feels cheap. These are the Cadillac of propane smokers. You will find Masterbuilt smokers in some of the finest BBQ restaurants, steakhouses, and resorts in the world. Professional cooks appreciate the consistency and time-saving convenience of these smokers. Masterbuilt’s Propane Smoker easily captured the #1 spot in our reviews.
Here’s why:
Two sizes to choose from : a 30” and a 40”
: a 30” and a 40” 4 heavy-duty chrome smoking racks , with 717 sq. inches of cooking space for the 30”, and over 1300 Sq. inches for the 40”.
, with 717 sq. inches of cooking space for the 30”, and over 1300 Sq. inches for the 40”. They come with a Type 1 regulator and hose, with a spark igniter, and a gas control knob.
with a spark igniter, and a gas control knob. A porcelain-coated drip/water bowl and wood chip tray.
A super-accurate thermometer in the door, and a push-button igniter.
and a push-button igniter. A 15,400 BTU stainless steel burner.
A cool-touch handle, to lock the main door.
to lock the main door. Insulated for better heat retention.
The 30” model is large enough for most multi-family functions, but for those who think they may need to smoke a whole mastadon, or a medium-sized dinosaur in the future, the 40” has enough room to smoke just about anything that walks, climbs, swims, or flies (cut into manageable pieces, of course). The insulation stretches your propane supply, giving about 24 hours of smoking time per tank. And if you are not sure whether you want a wood/charcoal smoker, or a gas smoker, you’re in luck. Both sizes of the Cookmasters can also be used as wood smokers, and you can still use the propane to start the charcoal. The doors seal good, and there is little leakage of heat or smoke. The thermometer on the unit tested to +/- 5°F, which is good in anyone’s book.
The only drawbacks I could see in this unit is that it does not come with a cover. Also, the water pan is a little small for this size smoker, so I would recommend replacing it with one of those $1.00 larger aluminum ones. The only other thing I can think of is to add a beer bottle opener on the side, and you’re good to go…
Considering the prices, these smokers are a bargain, anyway you slice it.
2. Camp Chef Smoke Vault
Camp Chef is based in the Cache Valley, Utah, within sight of the breathtaking Bear River Mountain Range. What better place for making outdoor supplies? And make it they do, since 1990. Camp Chef specializes in high-end outdoor cookers, and cooking supplies. Their Smoke Vault Propane Smoker was good enough to earn the #2 spot in our review.
The Smoke Vault comes in two sizes, 18” and 24”. Both models have fully adjustable heat controls, an accurate door thermometer, a heavy gauge steel wood chip tray, and water pan, and lots of accessories are available, such as patio covers, beer can roaster racks, turkey cannons, rib racks, and more…. Some of the great features are:
Comes with 2 adjustable smoking racks and 1 jerky rack
You can remove the porcelain base tray for easy clean-up
for easy clean-up 3 damper vents for good temperature control and circulation
for good temperature control and circulation matchless ignition
a protected burner drum for excellent heat-control
for excellent heat-control Dimensions (for 24”model): 24″ W x 16″ D x 30″ H.
(for 24”model): 24″ W x 16″ D x 30″ H. Total Height (with legs): 44”.
(with legs): 44”. 18,000 BTU/hr
Weight: 75 lbs.
This is a serious piece of cooking equipment. It is solid, and well built. The 24” is big enough to easily smoke 2 large turkeys at once. All of the door hinges, and vents feel secure. In the event that something does go wrong, Camp Chef has excellent Customer Service.
One really nice characteristic about this smoker is that it is stingy with propane. You can easily get 24 hours or longer out of a regular tank of propane, at normal smoking temperatures. It holds heat well, so if you do run out of propane in the middle of smoking, the temperature will stay steady for the few minutes it takes to switch out the tanks. The Smoke Vault requires very little babysitting. Another great feature is that you can get it hot enough to actually bake in it at temperatures up to 500°F, which means that outdoor pizzas, and other baked goods are possible. The two sizes make it easy for you to find the right smoker for your situation. The 18” is great for anyone with limited space, or just really doesn’t want the huge space of the 24” model. Even the 18” has enough cooking area to do a large turkey, or a large amount of food at one time, more than enough for most family get-togethers. Other than size and weight, the two models are identical.
The downsides? Well….there really aren’t any. It was a tough choice giving this the #2 spot, and it was a very close contest. We rated it as number two only because it is not really set-up to be able to also use it as a charcoal smoker, like the Masterbuilt, and it only comes with a 90-day warranty, vs the Masterbuilt’s 10-year one. Also, it was a little more expensive than the Masterbuilt. If you want a gas smoker, this one will absolutely do the job for you, and do it very well, with a minimum of fuss.
3. Outdoor Leisure 34168G Smoke Hollow Propane-Gas Smoker
Outdoor Leisure products is very difficult to get any real information from. They were incorporated in Texas around 40 years ago, but that incorporation is now inactive. It could be another company with the same name. The current address for the company is in Neosho, Mo. Their website supplies no useful information about the company, basically just a list of officers, and a contact number. The Better Business Bureau has no information on them. Calling the phone number gets you to an automated system for leaving a call-back number. And, a big shocker…no call-back as of the time of this article. This makes me suspect that they are just a sub-division of a large import company that brings products in from China, and other overseas locations to market to Walmart, Home Depot, and other large retailers. All of their smokers are made in China.
This is by far the smallest gas smoker we examined. It measures 16” x 13” x 34”, and weighs about 60 lbs. It is small enough to put in the trunk of some cars (with a little help, maybe…). Some of its features are:
a push-button ignition
3 adjustable cooking racks
porcelain-coated wood chip tray and water pan
cast brass burner
temperature control knob
magnetic door closure
2 side-handles for easy and convenient transport
temperature gauge
I examined one of these units at a local feed store. From other reviews I’d read, I was prepared to deal with some issues. They had one in the box, and I volunteered to assemble it for their display. The outward appearance was similar to the Masterbuilt, but appearances can be deceiving. The unit felt solid. But the bolts and nuts were really cheap pot metal. The nuts were all press-fit, and the bolts will strip in a heartbeat, so extra care must be taken when assembling the unit. Also, I noticed that the regulator was permanently attached to the hose, which is not a good thing if you ever need to change the jet.
When I tried to attach the smoker housing to the burner housing, I noticed the holes for the screws did not line up, no matter what I did. Upon closer examination, I noticed the corners of both the smoker and burner housings were very sloppily welded, some with as much as a 1/4” gap. This made it impossible to continue with the assembly. The store had 4 more in boxes, and by going through all of them, I was able to mix and match enough parts to get one put together. Many of them had the powder coat damaged, and were missing pieces. All-in-all, the workmanship of all the parts is pretty shoddy. The door handle is press-fitted, and it promptly came off in my hand the first time I pulled on it. The thermometer was off by 35° (I tested it with boiling water), so I replaced it with a Weber model SKU 2269, that tested +/- 3°.
After assembly, I tested the smoker in operation. They planned on using this unit for their week-end barbecues and the street dance (I live in a very small, rural community…), so they said it was OK to put it through it’s paces. I coated the inside with olive oil to season it. I hooked it up to a 5-gallon propane tank, and….the push-button starter did not work. I had to go through two of the other units before I found one that worked. Once I got the burner going, I set the temperature to Low. The smoker heated up to 300°F very quickly, which was OK for seasoning it, but much too hot for smoking. I let it season at that temperature for about an hour, then tried to lower the temperature. The only way I could get the temperature to the 180° to 250°F range was by turning the knob past High, and starting it at Low, again. This seemed to remedy the problem.
We threw in some mesquite chips, and loaded it with a brisket, a pork roast, and 2 chickens, all unseasoned. After 12 hours, the meat was perfectly smoked, with a nice thick smoke-ring, beautiful bark, and a mouth-watering natural taste. The brisket was so tender that it hardly required chewing. This smoker is very good on propane. We only used a little less than half of a 5-gallon tank in 13 hours.
The bottom line is that if you are willing to go through a little hassle, these can be good units. At an average retail price of $209.00, it seems a little over-priced, considering the poor workmanship. They rate well below the other two we reviewed, but they can be made to work. This one got a #3 rating because I could only rate 3 smokers. From what I hear from other professional grillers, this one is the best of the Chinese smokers, so the others must be a lot worse. This smoker will eventually work well for you, but be prepared to return a few before you get one that does what it should.
Some Last Words on Propane Smokers…
As you can see, price is not always a good indicator of quality. You should check any unit you are thinking of buying very well. And remember, the ones in the store were mostly likely assembled by a clerk that had other things to do, so they may not be assembled all that good in the store. It’s best to get one in the box, examine it at the store, then assemble it yourself at home. Propane smokers can be your gateway top a whole new world of culinary delights. Keep reading to see the other options.
Pellet Smokers: Automatic and Precise
In this part of the guide, we’ll be talking about the newest type of smoker on the market, wood pellet smokers. Purists will tell you that the only way to get the true smoked food taste and character is with a charcoal/wood smoker, pretty much just like our paleolithic chef de cuisine ancestors did. But, charcoal/wood smoking involves a good bit of work, and planning. So the quest was on to find an easier way to smoke food. Propane worked, and was much easier, but it did change the taste of the food slightly. Once Nikola Tesla perfected the AC generator, it was a logical step to apply it to cooking, more specifically, to smokers. Electric smokers were (and still are) incredibly easy to use, but again, the food still is a little different. So the problem was to find a way to get the real smoked taste of charcoal and wood chips, with the convenience of propane and electricity.
The Traeger Story
In 1982, Traeger designed a heating unit that used pellet as fuel. They eventually figured out that this system would also work well as a grill/smoker. By adding a fan, they designed a smoker/grill that operated much like a convection oven. And history was made. It wasn’t long before other companies were marketing their own versions of wood pellet smokers, and now there is one available to fit just about any situation.
How To Become A Pellet Zealot…
Pellet smokers are truly the best of all worlds. They are as easy to use as any electric smoker, but since they smoke, and cook with a real fire, and real wood, the food has the same taste profile and characteristics as a charcoal/wood smoker provides. The only drawback is that they can only use wood pellets as fuel, but why would you want to use anything else, anyway? Pellets may seem to be a little more expensive than charcoal, at an average of $1.00 per pound vs .50-.75 cents per lb for charcoal, but wood pellets are as cheap, or cheaper than charcoal plus your wood chips, which can be pricey depending on what wood you want.
Building A Better Mouse-Trap….
Wood pellet smokers are the easiest smokers to use of all the types. They have a precise thermostat controlled temperature setting, so all you do is dial in your desired temperature. Then, you just load your wood pellets in the hopper, fill the drip pan, load your food, turn it on, and forget about it until the food is done. That’s all there is to it. The smoker automatically feeds the wood pellets and maintains the selected temperature. So, in a nutshell:
Pros:
Everything is automatic. Except for loading the food, wood pellets, setting the temperature, and cleaning.
Except for loading the food, wood pellets, setting the temperature, and cleaning. Maintains precise control without monitoring.
Food has the signature smoked flavor profile.
Cons:
Can only use wood pellets.
They have to be plugged in to a 100v electrical power source.
Price. Wood pellet smokers cost a little more than other smokers, on average
Wood pellet smokers cost a little more than other smokers, on average Your friends, relatives, and neighbors will be stopping by a lot to see what’s cooking…
Reviews Of Our 3 Favorite Pellet Smokers
We’ve selected the top 3 wood pellet smokers, based on our experience, customer needs, price, features, and more… They are:
1. Rec Tec Model 680 Wood Pellet Grill
The Rec Tec Model 680 easily made the #1 spot on our list. With features like heavy-duty stainless steel construction, locking caster wheels, stainless steel firebox, and more…it could hardly miss. More features include:
Rec Tec’s proprietary Smart Grill Controller technology
proprietary PID algorithm , maintaining precise automatic temperature control throughout the entire cooking process.
, maintaining precise automatic temperature control throughout the entire cooking process. attractive High-Temp powder coat finish
4 tool hooks
hopper holds 2 large (20 lb) bags of pellets, enough for several long smoking sessions
enough for several long smoking sessions grill/grates made from solid 1/4” stainless steel
made from solid 1/4” stainless steel 10 gauge stainless steel firepot
stainless steel firepot 12 gauge stainless steel heat deflector and drip pan
stainless steel heat deflector and drip pan modular construction for easy replacement of parts
for easy replacement of parts Even heat , from 180°F-500°F
, from 180°F-500°F a full 19” x 38” cooking area for 680 cubic inches of smoking space, with over 9” of headroom
for 680 cubic inches of smoking space, with over 9” of headroom side and bottom shelves
pellet loader doubles as a warmer
interior light for night-smoking and grilling
for night-smoking and grilling 6-year warranty with first-class Customer Service
Never having used one of these before, I was a little apprehensive. I may be a great chef, but I am famous locally for being mechanically inept. My stepson is a manager at the local Ace Hardware store. I am so bad with tools that if I go in there without my wife, they page him and make him escort me through the store. They will not sell me anything without a note from my wife. I heard a rumor once that the City Council had entertained a motion to declare any tool in my possession as a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Nevertheless, I managed to acquire a new Model 680 to assemble and test. One reason I never used one before was that I regarded them as a new-fangled gadget for people that didn’t know how to smoke food the right way. Boy, was I ever wrong……
Assembly was surprisingly easy, even for me. It took me about 1-1/2 hours. A good handy-person could probably do it in 25 minutes or so. If I can do it, anybody can. All the parts were well-made, the welds neat, and all the joints were true. Rec Tec’s Customer Service Dept. assured me that, although some of the parts are fabricated in China, the electronics, assembly and Quality Control are done here in the US, mostly at their facility in Augusta, Ga. I was very impressed with the quality of the all the parts. The grill was made from solid 340 stainless, not the cheaper 400 stainless steel common in a lot of other units. Assembled, the unit feels as solid as an M-1 Abrams tank, and just as powerful. The wheels rolled smoothly, and locked solidly. All the doors and hinges worked smooth as well. The electrical cord was long enough, without being so long as to be getting in the way. The smoker weighs over 200 lbs, but it is so well balanced that it was fairly easy to roll around, even in the grass.
I loaded it with 20 lbs of Woodmaster blended pellets (cherry, maple and hickory), filled the water pan, and seasoned the smoker at 420ºF for 20 minutes. All I had to do was set the temperature and punch a button. It only took 17 minutes to reach the temperature, and the thermometer was dead-on. It didn’t even have to reload any pellets during the break-in.
Next, I loaded it with a large ham, 2 large Perdue chickens, a feral hog loin, and a deer tenderloin. It would have held more, but that’s all I had thawed out. The timer goes all the way to 24 hours, so I set the timer for 14.5 hours at 210°F, and let it do it’s thing. It felt really weird not having to ever check on things, and I was constantly walking out just to see if it had blown up, caught fire, or some other catastrophe. At no time did the temperature ever vary more than 3°F. There was no need to check on it. It was happily smoking along, using around ½ lb of pellets per hour. It only used a little more than 7 lbs. of pellets during the entire smoking process. My Weber would’ve used at least 20 pounds or more of charcoal, + wood chips, during the same period of time.
All of the meat came out texbook perfect. The flavor was at least as good, if not maybe a bit more refined, than in my charcoal smokers. All of my friends and neighbors agreed. I would rate this as a professional-quality unit.
2. Traeger Elite Model
From the creators of the original wood pellet smoker, a smaller kinder smoker. Under normal circumstances, Tragers would’ve been a shoe-in for the #1 spot, but alas, as of two years ago, 2 things happened to cause them to lose ground. They started outsourcing to China, and their marketing director, Bruce Bjorkman left the company, and now works at USA-made Mak Grills. As expected, the quality and workmanship has suffered a little. But they are still good enough to take our #2 spot with their Lil Texas Elite.
The Lil Texas Elite is a re-worked version of their popular Lil Texas smoker. The Elite has upgraded wheels, and an upgraded multi-position thermostat. The Lil Texas Series was designed to be a small smoker for people with limited space, or need a more portable smoker. It is supposed to be capable of putting out a maximum of 20,000 BTUs. It features:
418 sq. inches of cooking space. It will hold approximately 20 lbs of food.
It will hold approximately 20 lbs of food. Dimensions : 41” x 22” x 24”
: 41” x 22” x 24” Weight : 127 lbs
: 127 lbs powder-coat finish
comes with a cover
The assembly instructions were a little hard to figure out, but I was finally able to fit everything together with the correct fasteners. When assembled, it felt sturdy, and looked like a standard Texas-Style charcoal grill/smoker, only a lot smaller. The hood was a little sticky on opening, but a little Break-Free on the outside of the hinges fixed it fine. The wheels were also a bit sticky, and the left rear one had a habit of hanging up every so often. The grate was a standard chrome one that you see on all of the other retail Made-In-China brands. The drip pan seemed to be thin aluminum, and I thought there might have been a tiny pinhole in it. I didn’t trust it, so I lined it with aluminum.
It only heats up to 375°, which is just barely enough to season it, but I loaded it with pellets, water, and started it up, anyway. I let it go for around 1 hour. To my surprise, it is a hungry little unit, digesting 1.5 pounds of pellets. The thermostat was off by -17 degrees, so it was actually 392°F. Not a deal-breaker, but again, a little disappointing. I wanted to smoke some carp in it, but I could never get the temperature down to the 160°F range I needed for slow-smoking. 210°F was the lowest it would go, so I did 2 chickens instead. I smoked them for 4 hours at 220°, and they came out fine. I did some hamburgers on the grill at 320°F and they were fantastic.
This would be an OK smoker for a small patio. It is one of the better Made-In China pellet smokers you will find. It works pretty much as it should. It’s not going to give you professional results, but more than adequate for family get-togethers and such. Actually, as a grill, it works very well. For the money, it’s not bad. There are better pellet smokers out there, but not in this price range.
3. Traeger BBQ155.01 Junior
If you are looking for a pint-sized pellet smoker for easy portability, or limited space, this may be just the unit for you. The Traeger Junior Elite made # 3 on out list because for it’s size and price, it represents a good value. It features:
digital thermostat-controlled heat
porcelain-coated grate,
auto-start ignition
20” x 15” grate, allowing 300 sq. inches of cooking space
Dimensions: 38” x 36” x 16”
38” x 36” x 16” Weight: 69 lbs
Assembly was easy, and all the parts fit reasonably well for an Asian-made product. Assembly took me around 1 hour.
When assembled, the smoker feels sturdy. The wheels rolled smoothly, and all the vents and the lid moved freely. One of the grate spacers was a little mis-aligned, but I was able to bend it by hand to where the grate would fit on it. The drip pan was aluminum, and the firebox is thin steel. The body is made from thin 20-gauge steel with no insulation, so smoking in winter could be a problem if you live where it gets really cold.
I seasoned it at 375°F (that’s as hot as I could get it, but it did heat up quickly…) for 30 minutes. When I checked the thermometer, it was off by -25°F, so it was actually at 400°F. I was able to fit 2 whole racks of ribs in it, and I loaded it with hickory pellets, water and hit the start button. Allowing for the thermostat differential, I set it for 190°F for 5 hours. When I checked it an hour later, the temperature was actually 217°F…just right. It maintained that temperature for the whole cooking time, within +/- 2°F…not bad at all.
The ribs came out wonderfully. The unit used 5 pounds of pellets, which isn’t bad. The drip bucket and heat shield cleaned up easily, as did the grill. All-in-all, a nice experience.
A few suggestions:
I would replace the small wheels on this with lawn mower wheels. It should be an easy switch.
It should be an easy switch. You really need a cover if you store this outside.
if you store this outside. Get the add-on shelves for it. They will come in handy.
They will come in handy. Get the add-on pellet hopper extension, because the hopper only holds a few pounds of pellets at a time.
For a single person, or maybe even a small family, or if you have limited space, this smoker will do you a good job. It is light for this type of smoker, and easily portable. At around $300.00 retail, it represents a very good bargain for what it does.
Electric Smokers: Set-and-Forget
Electric smokers have the advantage of you not having to fool with messy wood and charcoal, or flammable gas. Electricity is safe and relatively cheap. Since most electricity is generated by hydroelectric dams, nuclear power-plants, and even wind, electricity is clean, and environmentally friendly. To make them even more convenient, many even come with remote controls. Some also come with accurate digital thermometers.
There are 2 main drawbacks to using an electric smoker:
Your food will be missing some subtle nuances. As we’ve already mentioned, but not really enough to make much of a difference to the average person.
As we’ve already mentioned, but not really enough to make much of a difference to the average person. The heating elements. These are the weakest part of the unit, and can go bad without warning. Replacement is easy for the models that are replaceable. Otherwise, you’ll need to replace the entire element and housing, which can run as high as $60.00. As a rule, elements last about as long as the ones in an electric kitchen stove.
Our Recommended Electric Smokers
We’ve selected the top three electric smokers available, based on our experience, user needs, and other factors. They are:
1. Masterbuilt 40” Stainless Steel Digital Electric Smokehouse
It’s not really much of a surprise that Masterbuilt made the #1 spot for consumer electric smokers. This is in my opinion the best electric smoker out there: Ultra-reliable, extremely well-built with top quality workmanship, it’s easy to see why you will find Masterbuilt smokers on a lot of patios.
This particular model was the first digital electric smoker on the market, and is still one of their top-sellers. It comes in both a 30”, and a 40” size. Some great features are:
attractive stainless steel construction
a large front window so you can watch your food as it smokes
so you can watch your food as it smokes a remote controller
a built-in meat probe and ultra accurate digital thermometer, to take the guesswork out of temperature control
to take the guesswork out of temperature control 4 large adjustable smoking racks. Large enough for just about anything you may want to smoke, except for whole hogs, or sides of beef
Large enough for just about anything you may want to smoke, except for whole hogs, or sides of beef removable drip pan and rear-mounted grease trap.
Wood chip dispenser, so you don’t have to open the unit to add more wood chips
so you don’t have to open the unit to add more wood chips Dimensions (for the 40”): 25.6 x 19.3 x 41.3 inches. Weight: 65.7 pounds
A local store was kind enough to let me test-drive one of these smokers. I selected one in the box to assemble for a store display and employee use. The manual and assembly instructions were very easy to read and understand. This unit looks and feels just like what it is, a high-end smoker. It feels solid, the doors and vents work smoothly, and the rivets and joints are neat and well-done. All of the parts fit perfectly together, and nothing feels cheap, very surprising for a Chinese-made product. Even though I am horrible with tools. assembly only took around 20 minutes.
One of the really neat features on this smoker is the wood chip dispenser. It has a wood chip box that you can load with pre-soaked wood chips, and when you turn the handle on the dispenser, it loads exactly 1 cup of wood chips in the wood chip pan. You never have to open the smoker to add more wood chips. The water pan is large enough, and loads easily on it’s rack. The grills were solid feeling, with no give to them, even when loaded heavy. I was able to load the racks with more than 50 lbs of meat with no trouble at all.
Both the meat probe and the digital thermometer tested to +/- 1°F. The temperature control goes all the way down to 100°F for slow-smoking, and up to 275°F, which is more than enough for any type of smoking you may want to do.
I smoked a lot of meat for the store’s Anniversary Parking Lot Party. The food came out as perfect as possible from an electric smoker. The slight loss of flavor character is more than made-up for by the convenience and accuracy of the unit. The remote control was especially helpful, and worked flawlessly. The wood chip loader worked smoothly, and it was nice not having to manually load more wood. The briskets and ribs I smoked were the hit of the party.
Anyone should be able to use this smoker successfully, even if you can’t follow a recipe. I can’t imagine an easier smoker to use.
2. Smokin It Model 2 Electric Smoker
The only reason this smoker made #2 on our list, instead of #1, is because it is a little smaller than most of the others, at only 27” tall with the included caster wheels, and it doesn’t have a lot of extras. There is a smaller version, and a larger version of this model available. However, this one big enough to easily smoke 35 pounds of food at a time, more than enough for most family functions.
Some of its great features are:
stainless steel construction
well insulated to reduce heat-loss
easily replaceable 700-watt heating element
4 adjustable smoking racks
3” caster wheels to make moving it around a breeze
Dimensions: 17-1/4″ x21-1/2″ x 27 (including wheels). Weight: 79 lbs
One of the cool things about this smoker is that, except for the casters, it comes fully-assembled. Upon examining the unit, my first impression was that this is a fairly well-made, scaled-down Chinese copy of my beloved Cookshack commercial-grade smoker. I wasn’t far off the mark. This smoker is a cut above most of the other smokers of the Asian-persuasion. It looks and feels solid, with no sloppy welds, or cheaply-made components. Even the 4 smoking racks are stainless steel.
This smoker is made from 18-gauge stainless steel, and feels like it could survive a direct hit from a Howitzer. It is well-insulated. The wheels roll smoothly, and moving it around was easy (one caution: you want to be sure it is on fairly level ground, or it may take off without you….the two rear casters can be locked). The drip pan slides under the smoker, and can be refilled without opening the door. The wood box is very well-built. The door has good solid latches that do not hang-up, and the door swings freely. The 12’cord was long enough, without being so long that it gets in the way. When you are carrying a heavy tray of meat, the last thing you need is a lot of loose electrical cable underfoot. Since it has wheels, it is easy to move near the electrical source. The thermometer tested to +/- 4°F, which is outstanding. I tested the insulation by heating it to 250°F, then turning it off and letting it set with the door closed. The air temperature was 54°F that day. After 20 minutes, it had only lost 10°F, which is as good a job of insulation as a lot of coolers. The smoker comes with a small bag of hickory chips for you to season it with….a nice touch. And, Smokin It’s website has a forum with all kinds of great tips, tricks, add-ons, DIY modifications, and recipes….enough to keep even a die-hard smokinero happy.
It easily smoked a large rack of ribs and a brisket to as good as an electrical smoker can get. It’s a bit pricier than a lot of consumer-grade smokers, but usually, you get what you pay for. It may not have as many bells and whistles as some other models, but it is a solid performer, and Smokin It has a ton of accessories for it.
3. Masterbuilt 20078215 GEN II 30” Electric Smoker
Another great offering from the folks at Masterbuilt. This is one of their newer designs, with a sleek top-mounted digital control station, with a cool-looking blue LED display. One of the drawbacks with earlier digital displays was that they were unreadable in direct sunlight. This one eliminates the problem. Other neat features include:
an air damper, for better smoke circulation
for better smoke circulation a drip deflector, to help keep the inside of the smoker cleaner
to help keep the inside of the smoker cleaner a drip/water pan with front access
digital thermostat controlled heating to maintain a constant even temperature throughout the smoking process.
controlled heating to maintain a constant even temperature throughout the smoking process. 4 chrome smoking racks, with a total possible cooking space of 730 cubic inches
with a total possible cooking space of 730 cubic inches a wood-chip loading system with a side wood-chip loader
with a side wood-chip loader 90-day Limited Warranty
Dimensions: 20” x 17” x 33.5”. Weight: around 60 lbs.
Much like putting toys under the tree on Christmas Eve, the term, “Assembly Required” has a special meaning for many of us. This smoker is no different. Fresh from the box, all the parts were about what I expected, well-made, and solid. No sloppy joints or welds, and everything fit well. The only assembly issue I had was that the drain tube was cut a bit too long, making it catch on the grease trap drawer. A little grinding with a Dremel took care of the problem. Also, the water pan seemed to hang up on something at times. A quick inspection showed there was a small burr on the edge of the pan. A few seconds with the Dremel, and it was a thing of the past. Aside from these issues, assembly was uneventful. The manual was easy to understand, unlike many other Chinese-made products.
The adjustable spacers for the racks were nice, and fit well. It was easy to adjust the smoker for different sizes and types of meat. It’s a shame they didn’t think to put some meat hooks for hanging sausage in the top, because removing the racks would give it plenty of hanging room. Oh, well…you can’t have everything. The digital thermometer was dead-on accurate, and the thermostat tested to +/- 3°F….plenty good enough for most smoking. The smoker heats up reasonably quick. It reached 225°F in around 18 minutes…not bad. The automatic cooking timer was short by 2 seconds, not a problem. The electronics seem to be very good quality. The unit is insulated good enough that it only lost 25 degrees in 20 minutes after it was shut-off, even though it was in the mid-40s that day.
Smoking a turkey was as easy as loading the bird, and setting the temperature and time. You can vary the amount of wood-chips for as much, or as little smoke as you want. The smoker was very judicious with the wood-chips. I only had to re-load wood-chips twice in 14 hours. The side-loader worked flawlessly. I never had to refill the water tray. It had only gone down by half.
Personally, I liked the fact that this smoker doesn’t have a front window. I don’t like windows on cookers of any kind, because they provide an avenue of escape for heat. But that’s just me. It’s been my experience that they quickly get too smeared and stained to really see anything anyway. I don’t know of anyone that sits there and watches food smoke. That’s in the same category as watching the grass grow to see when to mow it. Some hooks in the top would be a nice addition, and could probably be DIY’ed. But over-all, at an average retail price of around $200.00, this is a good smoker for the money. For most family uses, it will do exactly what it is supposed to do…smoke food with a minimum of fuss. There aren’t many smokers in this price-range that are better, but a lot that are a whole lot worse.
These are our top-three rated smokers, based on our experience, price, performance and features. We hope you find these reviews helpful, and that we are taking some of the mystery out of smoking.
Offset Smokers: Versatile Units
Horizontal smoker, simply referred to as Offset smokers, have 2 advantages:
They also function as a grill with a very large cooking area. You can smoke a lot of stuff at one time. Some are big enough for a whole side of beef.
For large get-togethers, offset smokers are a standard feature. Many parks, camping areas, and recreation areas have permanent offset smokers for large groups to rent and have barbecues.
A Star Is Born….
The first offset smokers were designed and fabricated by hungry Texas oil field workers in the late 1960s. The rapid expansion of oil fields meant that these hard-workers had to spend long months in some pretty remote locations, far from restaurants. They began to make smokers based on BBQ pit designs, from surplus oil pipes (cleaned up, of course….) and oil barrels. They mounted these huge units on trailers so they could be towed behind a vehicle to wherever the workers were. Now, they could cook their own food wherever the job took them. The units worked so well, that in 1973, a Houston, Tx. businessman, Wayne Whitworth, began fabricating the units and selling them locally to the public. They became very popular, went national, and now make up a significant portion of all smoker sales.
What is an offset smoker?
A horizontal offset smoker is basically just a large steel tube, or box, with access doors cut into it, laid on its side and fitted with legs. with a separate firebox at one end, connecting to the main chamber so smoke and heat can travel the length of the unit. A thermometer is usually installed. It’s really a simple design, and it’s amazing that someone hadn’t thought of it sooner.
Offset smokers can be charcoal/wood, gas or pellet fueled. Whatever the fuel, fire is built in the smoke box with charcoal and smoke-wood (or gas and smoke-wood, or pellets, etc…). The heat dissipates oxygen in the firebox, causing a vacuum that pulls air from outside, through the vent. The temperature is adjusted by opening or closing the vents, allowing more, or less air to enter. The smoke from the wood then travels through the portal into the main chamber and circulates around the food, then flows out through the smokestack, which is also adjustable. The amount of smoke can be controlled by adjusting the exit vent, and smokestack vents for more, or less smoke.
By building a fire in the main chamber, directly under the food, instead of in the fire-box, the unit also functions as a large grill, making it very versatile. That’s really all there is to them. Whether they are charcoal, gas, or pellet-fueled, they all work the same way.
Why An Offset Smoker?
There are lots of reasons for having an offset smoker. Vertical and offset smokers both have their defenders, and defend them they do…fiercely at times. As for me, I own both types. I use both types. I like both types. Each has it’s pros and cons. Which one I use depends on the situation. If I am smoking for just the Mrs. and myself, or 2 or 3 guests, I use the vertical smoker, mainly because it it easier to clean. I just take it to the car wash, hose it down with detergent and degreaser, scrape the grill, drip bowl and fire bowl with a brass brush, hose it down with hot water, dry it, and it’s good as new, ready to fire-up again. It takes about 10 minutes, and costs me .75¢. If I want to do 50 pounds of meat, a whole hog, ribs, or 5 turkeys…. I use the offset. To clean it, I have to use the garden hose, degreasers, brass brushes, and get really messy. About twice a year, I take the grates to a machine shop and have them sandblasted.
Advantages:
Large cooking area holds all the food you will ever want to smoke at one time. Even the small units can easily hold 50 lbs or more of food.
Even the small units can easily hold 50 lbs or more of food. Few moving parts means there is not much that can go wrong. Mechanically, at least….
Mechanically, at least…. Plenty of room to spread out slow-smoking items. Like peppers, veggies, fish, chicken breasts, etc….
Like peppers, veggies, fish, chicken breasts, etc…. The only non-permanent way to efficiently cook for large numbers of hungry people. Such as neighborhood BBQs, Family Reunions, etc…
Such as neighborhood BBQs, Family Reunions, etc… Easily modified and can be customized.
Disadvantages:
Very heavy and bulky. Takes some planning to transport.
Takes some planning to transport. They usually cost more than vertical smokers.
Cleaning these is a real job.
Large size means it takes more charcoal/gas/pellets to heat it up.
Poorly designed units often leak smoke. And have uneven heat and smoke circulation, although this can be easily fixed.
Char-Griller 1224 Smokin Pro Review
Here is a review of a typical lower-end offset smoker, the Char-Griller 1224 Smokin Pro:
The Char Griller 1224 Smokin Pro is a traditional barrel-designed smoker, made from heavy-gauge, powder-coated steel. Some of it’s features are:
Offset firebox is lower than the level of the main chamber, promoting good, even circulation of heat and smoke.
Heavy-duty, non-stick cast iron grates.
Removable Charcoal Drawer.
Dimensions: 62” x 29” x 52”. Weight-146 lbs.
I was able to find one of these at a local hardware store, and they agreed to let me smoke some chickens in it, for their employees. It was already assembled, so I couldn’t review the assembly procedures, but I did talk to the person that assembled it for the store, and she said that the only difficult part was that it can be assembled with, or without the firebox. Attaching the firebox required hammering and punching out a panel in the side, but she said it wasn’t really all that bad. All the parts fit correctly, all the welds were neat and well-done, and all the parts were there.
I seasoned it at 400°F (148.8°C) for 45 minutes. The thermometer was only off by 9 degrees, better than what I expected. Next, I loaded it with 6 large chickens, and some mesquite wood. I placed a stainless steel mixing bowl full of water at the near end of the main chamber. I smoked the chickens for 6 hours, and I don’t see how they could have come out more perfect. The staff agreed. Clean up was fairly easy for this type of smoker. I basically just had to hose it out with some dish-washing detergent, and rinse. The non-stick grill mostly just wiped off, with no need for a wire brush. The fire box drawers made clean-up much easier. I just dumped the box, and wiped out the compartment. I would’ve cleaned it up to like-new condition, but a customer bought it as-is after tasting some of the chicken. Cleaning was completed by helping him load it into the back of his truck.
Off-the-shelf, this smoker is good to go. There was only 20ºF (6.6ºC) difference from the firebox to the far end of the smoker, so a modification is not really necessary (but I would do it anyway…more on that in a minute). The smoker sealed just about air-tight, and no smoke leaked out. I think about all I would do to this smoker is maybe replace the thermometer with 2 more accurate ones, one at each end. At a retail price of around $150.00, this is one of the best Chinese-made smokers that I have ever reviewed. I was truly impressed. It’s a consumer-priced smoker with near-professional quality. I highly recommend this unit if you are in the market for an offset smoker, and don’t want to spend much more for a Yoder, Lang, Horizon, or other high-end professional unit.
Making It Yours: How To Modify Your Offset Smoker
One great thing about offset smokers is that they are easy to modify. With one exception, almost everything else on them can be improved. The exception is that some inexpensive smokers are made from very thin steel, resulting in uneven heat. There is a partial fix for this, but nothing that will completely eliminate it. But you can avoid this problem just by examining the smoker before you buy it, comparing it to other units. It is better to get a unit with the fire-box on the same side as the chimney, for better circulation, but this isn’t a deal-breaker. Even this can be overcome.
It is very possible to buy a relatively inexpensive smoker, and easily modify it to near-professional quality. If your on a short financial leash, the modifications can be done one-at-a-time. Here are some of my favorite mods to smokers:
The first thing I do with any smoker under $400.00 is to trash the thermometer. They are usually cheap and inaccurate. On an offset, the next thing I would do is plug the thermometer hole with Master Bond EP21NDFG Sealant. You need to be able to monitor the temperature at both ends of the smoker, so buy 2 new good thermometers. Next, drill 2 holes in the front facing of the smoker, about 8” from each end. Make the holes just big enough to be able to screw the new thermometers through the holes. Make the holes too big and you will have leakage. Install the thermometers. Now, you will have an accurate temperature reading on both ends of the smoker.
They are usually cheap and inaccurate. On an offset, the next thing I would do is plug the thermometer hole with Master Bond EP21NDFG Sealant. You need to be able to monitor the temperature at both ends of the smoker, so buy 2 new good thermometers. Next, drill 2 holes in the front facing of the smoker, about 8” from each end. Make the holes just big enough to be able to screw the new thermometers through the holes. Make the holes too big and you will have leakage. Install the thermometers. Now, you will have an accurate temperature reading on both ends of the smoker. If your smoker gets a lot hotter near the firebox than at the far end, you need to install a deflector, convection plate, or a reverse-flow duct. There are several easy ways to do this. You can make a deflector plate that channels the heat and smoke under the food by cutting a flat metal panel to size, then attaching it at a downward angle above the opening from the fire-box, to the bottom of the main chamber. This forces the heat and smoke to flow under the food before going out the chimney. I have made these successfully from an old aluminum cookie sheet, and attached it with a small self-starting set-screws.
There are several easy ways to do this. You can make a deflector plate that channels the heat and smoke under the food by cutting a flat metal panel to size, then attaching it at a downward angle above the opening from the fire-box, to the bottom of the main chamber. This forces the heat and smoke to flow under the food before going out the chimney. I have made these successfully from an old aluminum cookie sheet, and attached it with a small self-starting set-screws. You can easily make a “poor-mans” reverse-flow duct system in your smoker by using the above method to fashion and attach a deflector plate, then just covering the grate with aluminum foil, and punching a lot of small holes in it. This forces the smoke under the grate. As the smoke and heat rise at the far end, the top is cooler than the bottom, forcing the heat and smoke to travel back towards the fire-box (it’s complicated physics…just trust me on this…it works…), then up towards the cooler air in the top, across and out the chimney. You can also fashion a duct system by cutting old cookie sheets to the correct width, bending them to shape, and attaching them with small set-screws. Here’s how the duct system looks:
You can improve the circulation further by extending the chimney down further into the main chamber, forcing the heat and smoke to flow closer to the food. All you need is some aluminum flashing, available at just about any hardware store. Just roll it up, and insert it in the chimney from below. Now, heat the grill up and let the aluminum expand to fill the chimney. Once it has expanded, just grab the bottom end with pliers and pull it down 4 or 5”. Make sure the top does not extend beyond the top of the chimney, or it will interfere with the chimney vent. If the flashing won’t pull down below the chimney top, just cut it off flush.
Adding a water/drip pan is easy. Just use a disposable aluminum pan, fill it with water, and set it on the grate in the firebox, right above the charcoal grate.
Just use a disposable aluminum pan, fill it with water, and set it on the grate in the firebox, right above the charcoal grate. Adding a charcoal grate. If your offset didn’t come with a charcoal grate (a secondary grate below the main one), you can make one easily by just buying a replacement grate the next size down from yours, and setting it underneath the main one.
If your offset didn’t come with a charcoal grate (a secondary grate below the main one), you can make one easily by just buying a replacement grate the next size down from yours, and setting it underneath the main one. Leaks can be sealed. You can use Master Bond EP21NDFG sealant, which is FDA approved for food-service use. It is rated to over 700ºF (371.1ºC)
You can use Master Bond EP21NDFG sealant, which is FDA approved for food-service use. It is rated to over 700ºF (371.1ºC) If you have one of those smokers made of thin steel, you can do two things to maintain heat better. One is to wrap several bricks in aluminum foil, and place them in the bottom of the main chamber. It will take longer to heat up, but will hold heat longer, and more evenly. The other thing is to cover the main chamber with a welding blanket while smoking. This will absolutely insulate your main chamber.
With these modifications, you can turn any offset smoker into an almost pro-quality unit that will give you a lifetime of service. They are easy, cheap, and actually a lot of fun, especially if you are the kind of person that likes to tinker and fiddle with things. So don’t let your budget stop you from enjoying the great taste of food smoked in an offset smoker.
Conclusion: Choose The Right Smoker For You
We hope you find our guide helpful, and that we are taking some of the mystery out of smoking meat. If you have questions, feel free to get in touch with us. If you like what you read, make sure to subscribe to TastyMeat’s email list. |
Left-wing German politician Selin Gören has just admitted she lied to police and said she wasn’t raped to prevent the spread of racism against migrants.
Back in January, 24-year-old refugee activist Gören was attacked and raped and assaulted by three men while at a playground in the middle of the night, Der Spiegel reports. In her work as a refugee activist, Gören has visited a refugee camp in Iraq. She also is a national spokeswoman for a left-wing political group called Solid.
The reason the public is now hearing about this change of heart is because of Gören’s interview.
Immediately after the attack, she ran to the police to inform them she had been raped, but refused to divulge the ethnic identity of her attackers because of how badly migrants suffered in the aftermath of the mass sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, where countless hundreds of migrants swarmed German women and abused them.
Her motive for not telling the police the truth about being raped was to prevent migrants from suffering even more racism, though she said she had mixed motives. She didn’t want the men to get away with what they had done, but she didn’t want so-called racists to use the story to increase their strength.
Instead, she claimed a mixed group of foreigners and locals attacked her. She said they spoke German, but in reality, the men were speaking either Kurdish or Farsi.
But just 12 hours after she was first assaulted, she went back to the police and came clean, spilling all the details about the men who raped her.
According to Gören, a friend persuaded her to tell the full truth of the incident.
She now believes people should never hide the truth for the purpose of political expediency.
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At the United Nations Security Council on April 5, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley held up pictures of children killed by a gas attack in Khan Shaykhun, south of the Syrian city of Idlib. Estimates suggest that about 50 to 60 people died in this attack. The United States, the United Kingdom and France placed a resolution before the Security Council condemning the attack and asking for an investigation of it. There is no call for armed action against anyone because the Council is divided on who perpetuated the act.
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Strikingly, Ambassador Haley then said, "We don’t yet know about yesterday’s attack," meaning that nobody had definitive intelligence about the attack. Yet, there was a hasty dash to judgment in the West that the perpetuators were the government of Bashar al-Assad — perhaps with Russian assistance.
How do we know what happened in Khan Shaykhun? The sources for the Western media outlets are mainly "opposition activists," as BBC put it in one of its early reports. This BBC story from April 4 (Syria Conflict: ‘Chemical attack’ in Idlib kills 58) lists the various sources that it has relied upon:
1. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Founded in 2006, the SOHR is based in the United Kingdom and receives funding from the European Union and — most likely — the United Kingdom. It relies upon a network of opposition activists across Syria to provide raw information, which its director — Rami Abdul Rahman — then digests. The SOHR is openly anti-Assad.
2. Khotwa (Step) news agency. Founded by opposition activists in late 2013, the Khotwa — as they say — aims to "bring the world’s attention to the suffering of the Syrian people." Its 40 correspondents are mostly based in the rebel-held areas. In 2014, its director — Mohammad Hrith — was in the news in Turkey due to a fracas between Hrith and the Prime Minister of the Syrian Interim government Ahmed Touma. Touma’s people suggested that Hrith came to demand funds from them.
3. Local Co-ordination Committee (LCC) of the town. The LCC is part of a network of local groups emerged to coordinate protests after 2011. They represent the politics of the area in which they are established. Their general tenor is anti-Assad.
4. Hussein Kayal, a photographer with the pro-opposition Edlib Media Center. Kayal and the Edlib Media Center are part of a network of journalists that include those involved with the Aleppo Media Center. They are affiliated to the Syrian Expatriate Organization, led by Mazen Hasan who is a leading figure in the Syrian opposition that is based in the West and is a key person in the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition for a Democratic Syria. This latter group — the Coalition — has been urging U.S. armed action to overthrow the Syrian government.
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5. An AFP news agency journalist (unnamed). Some of the main photographs from Idlib came from two Agence France-Presse photographers, Omar Haj Kadour and Mohamed al-Bakour. Both offered vivid pictures from the hospital in Maaret al-Numan and Khan Shaykhun. Omar Haj Kadour’s Twitter account shows that he is decidedly on the side of the opposition. The account by the stringer al-Bakour seems utterly sincere. He says, "My job is to take pictures. To cover this attack. To show this horrendous crime to the world."
Neither of the AFP reporters confirms who used these weapons on the civilians, many of them little children. They merely document the act. They are not experts. Their evidence includes foam at the mouth of one of the victims and the smell ("The first thing that hits you is the smell"). Most nerve agents are odorless. The photographers say what they experience. To analyze their information would take a great deal more time on the ground. The others quoted by BBC do not hesitate. They point their fingers at Assad. Those with the densest relationship to the armed opposition are the first to claim that this attack was done by the government.
Investigation
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which had previously worked in Syria to destroy all banned chemical weapons, now says that it will investigate the attack in Khan Shaykhun. The OPCW has announced that the Fact Finding Mission (FFM) is already in "the process of gathering and analyzing information from all available sources." The FFM has had a very controversial history since its establishment on April 29, 2014.
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Scholars Karim Makdisi and Coralie Pison Hindawai have authored an important study of the UN role in the investigation of chemical weapons in Syria ("Creative Diplomacy amidst a Brutal Conflict: Analyzing the OPCW-UN Joint Mission for the Elimination of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Program," Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, Beirut, 2016). In this study, they write that the FFM was — from its inception — seen by many well-regarded people in the United Nations as "highly political."
That the FFM was sent into Syria — led by Malik Ellahi — to find out about chlorine use was itself a problem — Makdisi and Hindawai write — since "investigating allegations of use [of chlorine] would prove extremely challenging at best, and the actual use almost impossible to establish scientifically." The FFM’s work was criticized for lacking in professionalism and for its methodology.
At any rate, the main point here was that the West seemed to want to push these investigations — knowing full well the difficulty involved in ascertaining use of chlorine — in order to create a narrative of chemical weapons use. The FFM’s reports became the basis for the UN Security Council Resolutions 2209 (2015) and 2235 (2015), both of which threated Syria with Chapter VII (armed) action by member states of the UN.
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Denials
During the debate on UNSC resolution 2235 in August 2015, the Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin voted for the resolution. However, Churkin raised the "question of who had used chemical weapons." He hoped that an investigation would keep these questions alive and not begin with the assumption that the government had used these weapons. The Russian military intervened in Syria the next month. Between August 2015 and April 2017, with the Russian forces in Syria, there has been no serious allegation of chemical weapons use against the government.
Syria’s ambassador to the UN — Bashar Ja’afari — said at the August 2015 meeting that his country had "warned the Council of the danger of chemical weapons use by terrorist groups, some of which were affiliated with al-Qaeda." He pointed his finger at the Khan al-Assal incident of July 2013, which was not taken seriously in the West. SOHR posted a video which showed Syrian soldiers on the ground, lying as if gassed. Both the al-Qaeda affiliate — Jabhat al-Nusra — and the Ansar al-Khalifa brigade had conducted this attack. No investigation was held.
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In June 2016, in eastern Ghouta, the Syrian army said that their soldiers had been hit with toxic gas. The Saudi proxy in the area — Jaish al-Islam — denied the use of any chemical weapons. But video evidence suggested that there was some kind of atmospheric weapon used against the soldiers.
Russia and the Syrian government now suggest that there was perhaps a stockpile of such weapons in Khan Shaykhun, which combusted perhaps by a Syrian Air Force strike. There is no confirmed evidence of any such warehouse, although the Russian Defense Ministry says that this information is "fully objective and verified." Whether aerial bombardment can have this effect on gas housed in a warehouse will need to be investigated.
The politics of the moment
The Syrian armed opposition was disheartened at the Geneva V talks. The Syrian Army and its Russian and Iranian allies have made gains across the country. The armed opposition’s political leadership in Geneva openly called for U.S. intervention to help them. They feel utterly isolated.
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A few days later, the administration of Donald Trump said plainly what had been clear since the Russian intervention of September 2015: that regime change in Damascus was off the table. This had been the policy of the Obama administration for the past two years, but it did not directly say so. Trump’s people acknowledged reality: with Russia and Iran in the picture, removal of Assad would take a fierce international conflict far greater than the tragedy that has befallen Syria.
With Turkey now drifting towards the Russian-Iranian narrative and Jordan dragged into chaos by the refugee crisis, easy borders to resupply the rebels are no longer available. The defeat of the armed opposition — including the al-Qaeda proxies and others — in Aleppo was the greatest blow.
For the Syrian government — at this time — to use chemical weapons in such a public way would not only have been foolhardy but it would have welcomed a U.S. attack. It seems only an utterly arrogant and blind leadership in Damascus would have committed such a crime. But the leadership in Damascus has shown that it is crafty, using openings of all kinds of ensure its survival. This is not to say that it would not have necessarily done such an attack. Eagerness to end the war before it can impose a political settlement on the rebels could have led to the use of such weapons. But this is not considered likely.
Over half a million Syrians are dead. Half the population is displaced. There is sadness across Syria — from one side of the firing line to another. Aerial bombardment by the Americans, the Russians, the Syrians and others continues to devastate Syria and Iraq. The Americans recently admitted to a major atrocity in Mosul — where 200 civilians have been killed. That attack did not seize the Security Council or bring forth fulminations from the Western press. Hypocrisy is central to the morals at the Security Council. This does not mean that one should not be horrified by what has happened at Khan Shaykhun. One should.
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But more than anything the international community must urge a thorough investigation of these events before rushing to either a forensic judgment about what happened and to a response — particularly a military response — in retaliation. Sober heads need to prevail. War is rarely the answer. Particularly when we don’t as yet know the question. |
I have written in the past about Bush, Cheney, and Palin derangement syndrome. It is a psychiatric defect suffered only by Democrats. Now we have Trump derangement syndrome. He is the Republican presidential nominee. Paradoxically, this syndrome afflicts only former Republican elites.
Apparently these folks thought they owned the Republican Party. However, because they need 70 million voters to win in November every four years, they led the rank-and-file Republican voters to believe that THEY owned the party and got to choose its nominee.
It is fair to say that the Republican Party elites regret that they did not create a huge number of super delegates, namely themselves. I think it’s fair to call George Will and Brett Stephens and Thomas Sowell and Mitt Romney “undocumented Republican super delegates” who are really pissed that they do not now have the power to overrule the rank-and-file Republican primary voters.
Early in this campaign, they demanded that Trump sign a pledge to support the Republican nominee. He did. So did all the other candidates. Trump commented at the time that it had to be a two-way street. He was assured it was. The only person who might not support the Republican nominee was said to be Trump.
Those with Trump derangement syndrome claim two problems: 1. Trump will lose in a landslide in November taking the Republican Congressional majorities with him. 2. Trump is vulgar and uninformed about issues.
For a year, people have been predicting that Trump would lose in a landslide in his efforts to win any nominating convention delegates. They were wrong—by a mile. Why does it not occur to them that they might be wrong about the general election?
I believe there were similar fears in 1980 when Reagan won the nomination. The elites that year favored George H.W. Bush. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for Carter. In 1984, Reagan won reelection by 525 to 13 over Mondale whose campaign manager was Bob Beckel, now an “expert” on MSNBC.
If the experts are as wrong about Trump in the general as they were in the primaries, Trump will win a historic victory in November, maybe exceeding Reagan’s number of electoral votes and carrying downticket Republicans with him.
America is a democracy. Universal suffrage. Someone told Democrat presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson in the 1950s that “all thinking men are with you.” “That’s not enough,” Stevenson replied. “I need a majority.” So does Trump. The American people as a group are vulgar and uninformed about the issues.
As president elect, Trump will do what he has been doing since he graduated from college: figure out how to achieve what he wants. He has spent his whole adult life figuring out how to achieve his various successes and learning from his various failures. His main skill is hiring, training, and retaining good executives. His enterprise is too vast for him to be the kind of one-man band he is often accused of being.
He is now being pilloried by the likes of George Will and Thomas Sowell for incompetence. While their literary and academic accomplishments are many, neither of those gentlemen have ever met a payroll or built a building or starred in a long-running TV show—or won an election. You would think they might, as a result, have more of the humility they now demand Trump acquire immediately.
The big fear has been a “broken” convention. Trump fixed that in spite of no help from the Establishment—indeed they spent millions to stop him from eliminating the broken convention. Now the Republicans have a self-inflicted broken elite, including Speaker Paul Ryan. And they claim Trump is the one who is nuts.
Unifying behind the party’s nominee has gone without saying for 150 years. What in the name of God is the goal they expect to achieve by refusing to support the nominee of their party?
They are welcome to resign from the party in protest. That would be the honorable thing to do—if there is honor is psychiatric disorders. But no, instead, they remain in the Republican kitchen so they can urinate in the Republican Party Soup to punish the rank and file for not voting for the candidates their betters told them to vote for—the “low-energy” guy.
Donald Trump is not some guy who fell off a turnip truck. That is the implication of all this criticism about his vulgarity and ignorance. He is one of the most accomplished and versatile celebrities or citizens of the U.S. He grew up in Queens and still talks like “Archie Bunker,” a fictional character also purportedly from Queens. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Bunker
Here’s a video of Archie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lDb0Dn8OXE
Okay, Trump’s not that bad, but you can see where he came from in “Archie.”
Bill O’Reilly is another Long Island guy who got educated and became rich and prominent, but defiantly did not let anyone take the Long Island out of him. It is a viable, legitimate personal choice.
I went the other direction. As a DJ in college, I was horrified when I heard my South Jersey accent in a tape of my show. I decided to lose the accent and did. (I can still do it as a comedy routine.)
I am from South Jersey, but abandoned almost all that came with that. (Chris Matthews is probably the most prominent Philly area celebrity who did not lose the accent.)
I did not become aristocratic and Ivory Tower like George Will. I just got rid of the distraction of the South Jerseyisms. I became a generic American—West Point had guys from every nook and cranny of America—not an aristocrat. It would probably have been better if Trump and O’Reilly did the same, but it is not required.
And there sure as hell is no requirement that you adopt the aristocratic affectations of “elite” guys like George Will or John Kerry or Bill Buckley. Trump is unaffected. That’s a good thing, not a catastrophe. |
Greetings denizens of Agon.
We’ll start this news with a public service announcement:
Starting today characters that have been inactive for over a month will start getting placed in storage and clans with all characters getting stored will be disbanded. The content of their clan vaults will be lost and owned holdings will become neutral again. It will depend on when the character was last active, and it will happen progressively.
Starting Friday, accounts that had only one month of game time will start going inactive.
Some of you should already be inactive, but we chose to extend the first month a bit due to the technical issues we’ve had on the first day and this past week end.
You may already extend your game time by upgrading your bundle in the store. The longer bundles being cheaper per month.
After an account becomes expired, it will have 1 week to upgrade until it loses access to bundles and will only get access to a monthly subscription at 9.99€.
Remember that, either way, for each month of InDev purchased, you will get at least 1 extra week for Live launch.
With this out of the way, we would like to give players an updated estimate of what we are expecting for the rest of the InDev period.
In general we are happy with our velocity. We did a lot more than we expected to have done by now.
There are more gameplay issues than we remembered, so we’ve had to change our priorities based on player feedback and fix more issues than planned, however we have had some very positive surprises on the engine side which balances out.
In short, as of today we estimate that we’ll have an InDev that lasts the full 9 months, but with more features than planned.
As you’ve probably noticed by now, we operate in Patch Cycles, with each cycle having general goals and features fitting a theme.
Patch Cycles 1 and 2 were about foundational changes and we’ve spent quite a while working on improving the engine, fixing the player progression and the first iteration of behind the scene systems. Patch Cycle 3, the one we are in now, is very much about transitioning into expanding the game and switching to adding content.
We believe that after Patch Cycle 3, or during Patch Cycle 4, the game will be marketable to at least former Darkfall players.
This will mark the start of our active promotion of the game in preparation for the final showdown.
We will now describe in broad strokes the plan until the end of InDev:
Patch Cycle 3:
– Second wave of interface changes.
– Expanding mounts with active riding and inventories.
– Completing villages and sea tower revamps, including housing and ships tweaks.
– First balance pass and start of The great Magic Overhaul
Patch Cycle 4:
– Engagement system.
– Casual players aimed content.
– Free period and start of external marketing.
– Watchtowers.
Patch Cycle 5:
– Title system.
– Local markets.
– Harvesting and crafting revamp.
Patch Cycle 6:
– Spawn scaling.
– Local banking.
Free period showdown:
– A period where everyone gets a chance at seeing the game as it should be.
– Consolidation and polish patches, with final tweaks before the switch to the Live server.
– This is meant as a mirror to the stress test period, for players to see the before/after and get a taste of what is to come.
As you can see there is a narrative going throughout patch cycles, with each one mandatory for the next, preparing for the switch to the final world.
Of course these are only the large features each cycle will bring. With all patch we’ll continue to add tweaks, bugfixes, quality of life changes and interface improvements.
Now you know what the future holds, and we hope you are as excited as we are to see it come to fruition.
Link to discussion thread. |
Kevin Rudd and Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, during a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem yesterday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday rejected Kevin Rudd's call that its nuclear facility should be subject to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Standing alongside Mr Rudd during a press conference in Jerusalem, Mr Lieberman said what was important was not whether any country was a member of the Non- Proliferation Treaty but that it was responsible.
He made it clear Israel did not regard any such inspection as necessary as it was a responsible country "and we have proved this for many years".
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Mr Rudd, in an interview with The Australian this week, had said Israel's nuclear facility should be subject to inspection by the IAEA.
The comment shocked Israeli officials, who could not recall an Australian minister suggesting that their facility at Dimona should be subject to inspection.
Mr Rudd had said: "Our view has been consistent for a long period of time, and that is that all states in the region should adhere to the NPT, and that includes Israel. And therefore their nuclear facility should be subject to IAEA inspection."
But Mr Lieberman said yesterday: "I think that we have a very clear position -- we are a very responsible country and a responsible government and we have proved this for many years."
He said in his view, the question was not the NPT but whether a country and its government was responsible or not.
"Iran joined with the NPT and is part of the NPT and we see every day cheating and many attempts to waste time (allowing in inspectors) and, of course, they're part of the NPT but the reality is completely different."
While Mr Rudd had made his comment in an interview in Cairo, in Jerusalem yesterday he softened his position, saying Australia recognised Israel's "unique security circumstances".
He concentrated much more on Iran's nuclear program than Israel's. Mr Rudd said Australia was "deeply concerned" about Iran's nuclear weapons program and while its stated aim was nuclear energy for civilian purposes, it found itself in defiance of provisions of the NPT.
"Therefore Iran has obtained from us and from other countries . . . universal condemnation, secondly sanctions and thirdly, in the case of Australia, autonomous sanctions over and above those which are required under the UN Security Council," he said.
"Iran's nuclear weapons program and nuclear program in general represents a fundamental threat to security across the wider region.
"On the question of other regional states, including Israel, the position of the Australian government has long been reiterated by governments of both political persuasions in Australia that all states, including Israel, should become accessories to the NPT and its associated obligations.
"We recognise . . . Israel's unique security circumstances . . . but in terms of our fundamental position on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as it applies to this region . . . all states should be in, including Israel." |
It’s just after 1PM ET, and Microsoft’s servers are blazing with a hot new update for Windows Phone 8.1 . The update will bump the OS to version 8.10.12393.890 and it's about 21 MB in size, though what changes the update includes is currently not known. This is the second update to come out for Windows Phone 8.1. The first update for Windows Phone 8.1 came in mid-May and introduced battery improvements.
Want to grab the update? Head into Settings > Phone Update > Check for updates to get the latest.
We’ll update this article as more information comes in!
Update: For some, the Windows Phone boot screen has now changed from left to right (as seen above) for some users, which matches the Lumia 630. Other previously had the boot screen on the right, so may not be new for some of you.
Thanks, everyone for the tips! |
The objective
Make a black box, a device which would record short clips from camera in loop overwriting oldest clips. That would produce constant stream of short movies which put together would make one long recording containing last 30minutes (or more – depending on storage capacity) of my riding. Among with the recording, telemetric data would be collected such as velocity, RPM, temperature, front and rear brake pressed, depressed, and turn signals, and maybe more. Then this data could be put on the video in overlay.
The motorcycle
Yamaha XJ6SA 2010.
Identify by what means communication between the ECU and the dashboard is performed.
Which cables are used and what is the protocol used? After inspecting the service manual for my bike I was able to eliminate wires which are used for other things (see picture), and I left with only one, which is connecting the dash, the ECU and the immobilizer. Other ones was for flashing some warning LEDs, gathering information from fuel pump, oil switch and so on. So the yellow-blue wire was my first guess and it was correct. On the ecuhacking forum, which was source of very helpful information, guys was talking about something called K-line. I believe it is something widely common in the automotive industry, and for certain it has bunch of ISO standards describing it, but hey, if this is only one wire, and data flowing inside is some kind of serial communication, I bet I could sniff it, and figure out without any standards, which are hard to find and get (there is so much of them, I’ve got confused after few minutes of googling).
Figure out how to interface this, make some circuit if needed.
Again on the ecuhacing forum I’ve found information that K-line has logic levels relative to 12V, where 0V is logic 0, and 12V logic 1. There has to be some voltage level converter if I want to connect some TTL stuff to it. On the forum some guys were using a L9637 chip which is described as “ISO 9141 INTERFACE” by its datasheet. So I bought a few of these and connected it as follows :
Later on I removed the 510 ohm pull up resistor, because after turning engine on there was error showing of on the dash. I guessed that could be this resistor, and it helped. Dunno what was wrong.
Most difficult part for me was to find a place in motorcycle’s wiring to connect to. After some time I managed to insert piece of rigid wire to the back side of ECU connector as depicted below:
5V supply voltage I was drawing from step down voltage converter which I bought on the Internets. It is a PCB with a few discrete parts and quite huge radiator with some coils inside. There is [EDIT] label on it. To the output of L9637 I connected a Saleae logic analyzer, which I also bought. It is quite cheap and has good software for Windows, Linux and MAC OS. I can definitely recommend it, especially if you want to use it with Linux (I use Ubuntu).
Sniff the data, and collect it for further investigation.
My circuit worked the first time. After turning ignition to the ON state this is what I got:
Sealae app, among others, has a “Async serial” analyzer which I used with default configuration, and “use autobaud” checkbox checked. This useful option corrected initial 9600 baud to whatever it thought to be appropriate, and showed 16064 baud. Pretty odd value isn’t it? None the less it is very useful information if I want to read the data with some AVR, or something like that. It turns out, that data comes in packets which are 6B long. First byte is some kind of command, and the rest is the reply i.e the dashboard issues command 0x01 ant then ECU replies with 5 bytes of data. From the ecuhacking I knew that forst byte of the reply would be the RPM, second probably velocity, third an error code, fourth would be engine temperature (that is coolant or oil temperature?) and the very last is the checksum.
Collect the data in some more useful format.
Although Sealae has an option to store the analyzer’s data in CSV, sooner or later I would have to make some custom electronics anyway. Yet I want to make self contained logger hidden in neat case somewhere in the bike. I want to use a Raspberry PI i own as the main component of the gizmo, but after reading about serial communication with the Pi, I gave up for that time, and connected Arduino Mega. The main problem with PI is that I don’t know how to set it up for so unusual baud rate as 16064 baud (or 15625 as someone suggested). I had limited time, so for now I chose the Arduino. Below the code I uploaded :
#include <SoftwareSerial.h> SoftwareSerial mySerial ( 10 , 11 ) ; // RX, TX void setup ( ) { // initialize both serial ports: Serial. begin ( 115200 ) ; // set the data rate for the SoftwareSerial port mySerial. begin ( 16064 ) ; } void loop ( ) { static int count = 0 ; // read from port 1, send to port 0: if ( mySerial. available ( ) ) { int inByte = mySerial. read ( ) ; if ( inByte == 0x01 && count >= 5 ) { Serial. println ( ' ' ) ; count = 0 ; } Serial. print ( inByte, HEX ) ; Serial. print ( ' ' ) ; ++ count ; } } #include <SoftwareSerial.h> SoftwareSerial mySerial(10, 11); // RX, TX void setup() { // initialize both serial ports: Serial.begin(115200); // set the data rate for the SoftwareSerial port mySerial.begin(16064); } void loop() { static int count = 0; // read from port 1, send to port 0: if (mySerial.available()) { int inByte = mySerial.read(); if (inByte == 0x01 && count >= 5) { Serial.println(' '); count = 0; } Serial.print(inByte, HEX); Serial.print (' '); ++count; } }
As you can see, RX is set up for pin 10, so the only thing I did was to disconnect the logic analyzer, and connect Arduino pin 10 instead. But nothing happened. This was because the SoftSerial library have a few baud rates predefined, namely the most usual ones. The solution was to modify arduino-1.0.5/libraries/SoftwareSerial/SoftwareSerial.cpp so it looks like that:
// .... line 59 static const DELAY_TABLE PROGMEM table [ ] = { // baud rxcenter rxintra rxstop tx { 115200 , 1 , 17 , 17 , 12 , } , { 57600 , 10 , 37 , 37 , 33 , } , { 38400 , 25 , 57 , 57 , 54 , } , { 31250 , 31 , 70 , 70 , 68 , } , { 28800 , 34 , 77 , 77 , 74 , } , { 19200 , 54 , 117 , 117 , 114 , } , { 16064 , 66 , 140 , 140 , 137 , } , // added baud rate { 15625 , 68 , 144 , 144 , 141 , } , // added baud rate 2 { 14400 , 74 , 156 , 156 , 153 , } , { 9600 , 114 , 236 , 236 , 233 , } , { 4800 , 233 , 474 , 474 , 471 , } , { 2400 , 471 , 950 , 950 , 947 , } , { 1200 , 947 , 1902 , 1902 , 1899 , } , { 600 , 1902 , 3804 , 3804 , 3800 , } , { 300 , 3804 , 7617 , 7617 , 7614 , } , } ; // .... // .... line 59 static const DELAY_TABLE PROGMEM table[] = { // baud rxcenter rxintra rxstop tx { 115200, 1, 17, 17, 12, }, { 57600, 10, 37, 37, 33, }, { 38400, 25, 57, 57, 54, }, { 31250, 31, 70, 70, 68, }, { 28800, 34, 77, 77, 74, }, { 19200, 54, 117, 117, 114, }, { 16064, 66, 140, 140, 137, }, // added baud rate { 15625, 68, 144, 144, 141, }, // added baud rate 2 { 14400, 74, 156, 156, 153, }, { 9600, 114, 236, 236, 233, }, { 4800, 233, 474, 474, 471, }, { 2400, 471, 950, 950, 947, }, { 1200, 947, 1902, 1902, 1899, }, { 600, 1902, 3804, 3804, 3800, }, { 300, 3804, 7617, 7617, 7614, }, }; // ....
Here is the link you should follow for more info. I haven’t figured it out by myself. After this modification Arduino happily sent me my precious data, which I observed in serial monitor.
This is the data I collected so far (motorcycle standing on central stand, back wheel revolving, velocity comes from the back wheel, ABS LED blinking).
Ignition ON, engine stopped.
1 0 0 0 30 30 1 0 0 0 30 30 1 0 0 0 30 30 1 0 0 0 30 30 ...
Ignition ON, engine started, no throttle (~1200 RPM), no gear (N) i.e. wheel not revolving, cold engine:
1 24 0 0 30 54 1 24 0 0 30 54 1 24 0 0 30 54 1 24 0 0 30 54 ...
Ignition ON, engine started, little throttle (more RPM), no gear (N) i.e. wheel not revolving, cold engine:
1 34 0 0 53 87 1 34 0 0 53 87 1 34 0 0 53 87 1 34 0 0 53 87 ...
1st gear, no throttle (engine warmed up thus less RPM). About 10 km/h
1 17 0 0 5C 73 1 17 1 0 5C 74 1 17 1 0 5C 74 1 17 0 0 5C 73 1 17 1 0 5C 74 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 18 0 0 60 78 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 17 1 0 60 78 1 17 0 0 60 77 1 17 1 0 60 78 1 17 1 0 60 78 1 17 0 0 60 77 1 17 1 0 60 78 1 17 1 0 60 78 1 17 0 0 60 77 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 18 0 0 60 78 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 18 0 0 60 78 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 18 1 0 60 79 1 17 0 0 60 77
23 km/h (6th gear)
1 17 2 0 68 81 1 17 2 0 69 82 1 17 2 0 69 82 1 17 2 0 69 82 1 17 1 0 69 81 1 17 2 0 68 81 1 17 2 0 68 81 1 17 2 0 68 81 1 17 2 0 68 81 1 17 1 0 68 80 1 17 2 0 69 82 1 17 2 0 68 81 1 17 2 0 68 81 1 17 1 0 68 80 1 17 2 0 68 81
40 km/h
1 2B 4 0 70 9F 1 2B 3 0 70 9E 1 2B 3 0 72 A0 1 2B 3 0 72 A0 1 2B 4 0 72 A1 1 2B 3 0 72 A0 1 2C 3 0 72 A1 1 2C 4 0 72 A2 1 2C 3 0 72 A1 1 2C 3 0 72 A1 1 2C 4 0 72 A2 1 2C 3 0 72 A1 1 2C 3 0 72 A1 1 2C 4 0 72 A2 1 2C 3 0 72 A1 1 2C 4 0 72 A2 1 2C 3 0 72 A1 1 2C 3 0 72 A1
60 km/h
1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 41 4 0 74 B9 1 41 6 0 74 BB 1 41 4 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 41 5 0 74 BA 1 40 5 0 74 B9 1 40 5 0 74 B9
80 km/h
1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 55 6 0 77 D2 1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 55 6 0 77 D2 1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 56 6 0 77 D3 1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 56 6 0 77 D3 1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 56 6 0 77 D3 1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 56 6 0 77 D3 1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 56 7 0 77 D4 1 56 6 0 77 D3
Future
Due to uncertainty Raspberry PI serial communication I plan to make custom PCB with AVR in form of shield to Raspberry Pi. It will have two purposes. First it will acquire the data in some similar manner as depicted above, and will pass it to Pi by I2C or SPI (probably with velocity in some more usable form), among with some other data such as brakes and turn-lights, an maybe even outdoor temperature (I always wanted to have this information, especially in spring and autumn). And secondly it will drive some relay to cut the power to Pi which draws 2W of power even when shut down. Of course it also should send some signal first to Raspberry to shut it down correctly. If someone know something more about Pi’s UART and custom baud rates in particular, please let me know. Maybe there is a way to read K-line directly without AVR. |
Victoria’s forest management policies need to be urgently reviewed in response to the discovery that logging can contribute to the severity of bushfires in wet forests, like the devastating fires on Black Saturday in February 2009.
Our recent study, based on data from areas that burned on Black Saturday, clearly shows how extensive logging can increase the severity of bushfires in mountain ash forests. We found that the risk of “crown” fires, which burn severely and spread rapidly through the forest canopy, is greatest in mountain ash forests that have been regrowing for about 15 years. Before the 2009 fires, these young trees were established following clearfell logging.
The Victorian government will review its forest management policies in the coming months and we encourage it to consider our findings.
Forests and fires
Mountain ash trees, which can grow higher than 100 metres, are restricted to high-rainfall zones of Victoria: the Central Highlands north and east of Melbourne, the Strzelecki Ranges of South Gippsland, and the Otway Ranges in the state’s southwest.
Some of these forests are up to 500 years old. They can be very complex in their structure, with trees of varying ages that regenerate from seeds after infrequent and sometimes intense fires. The forests have also been a major logging resource since the 1930s.
We studied about 10,000 sites in the Central Highlands mountain ash forest that burned on February 7 2009, spread over two regions 56 kilometres apart. These regions had similar stand ages, topography and burned at the same time of day. This allowed us to look at the variables that influence fire severity.
As expected, most of the severe fire occurred when the fire weather was extreme, both before and after the late afternoon wind change. However, patterns of fire severity during this time were variable. We tested for several environmental factors that could influence these patterns, including slope and aspect, but found that the tree age had by far the greatest influence on fire severity.
The most severe fires, which consume the crowns of the trees, were most prominent in mountain ash trees aged between seven and 36 years of age, with a peak around 15 years. Virtually all trees under seven years of age did not sustain crown fires and crown fires were infrequent (around 10% of forest area) in trees up to 300 years old.
Taylor et al. 2014
Changing risks
Crown fires result in the most severe impact on vegetation and they have greater rates of spread when compared to other fires, such those burning in the understorey. Crown fires often feature large flames extending above the forest canopy and pose the greatest threat to life and property. They are driven by extreme fire weather conditions, combined with high fire intensities and high densities of the crown fuel.
In mountain ash forests, the fine fuel loads approach their maximum levels at around 15-30 years of age. At this stage, trees undergo rapid self-thinning. In the early stages of growth, a mountain ash forest has anywhere between 200,000 and 1,000,000 seedlings per hectare. Competition for light and nutrients is fierce and dominant trees quickly suppress surrounding trees in the early stages of growth.
The suppressed trees die and turn into large amounts of fine, dry material that can act as “flash fuel” in a fire. Where previous logging has taken place, woody debris left by the logging adds to the available fuel. One study found that mountain ash logging leaves behind up to 30% of the forest biomass and this material can remain in logged areas for 50 years.
In older stands, fuel loads remain high, but the risk of crown fire drops because the crown is higher above the ground and the density of the fuel is dispersed. The trees themselves become dispersed and a more moist understorey, including rainforest plants, becomes prominent. These conditions make it more difficult for fire to burn severely.
Logging legacy
Logging is known to increase fire risks in moist forests around the world and our findings show why it’s critical to consider the long-term changes to mountain ash forests resulting from logging. Our findings are largely supported by previous research, which shows that the risk of crown fire decreases with age. Another study also shows a similar trend in its data to our findings, but it downplayed the significance of any relationship.
Adapted from Attiwill et al. 2013 (red arrows added)
Managing the risk
Mountain ash forest dominated by young trees is becoming more widespread. Up to 2009, around 30% had been clearfell logged across the region. Around 35% of mountain ash forest was burnt by the fires. Combined, the fires and the previous logging resulted in young trees occupying around 60% of the mountain ash forest area.
Clearfell logging continues in remaining unburnt areas of mountain ash forest, especially in places like the Royston and Rubicon valleys, northeast of Marysville, which have become a largely continuous chequerboard of young trees.
Google Earth
There are arguments that the amount of logging across Victoria is small and that its influence on overall fire severity is negligible when compared to the overall area impacted by a fire. However, this argument does not hold when looking at mountain ash in isolation. It covers only 15% of the region’s forested area, yet some 60% of the region’s logging operations take place within this forest type.
Remaining unlogged areas are often small and fragmented, mostly forming linear strips alongside streams. The impacts are concentrated and regionalised - now most areas that have mountain ash forest feature extensive logging.
We can’t change the area of young trees resulting from the the Black Saturday fires, but we can determine the other areas of young trees that we establish following logging. Remaining unburnt mountain ash forests are now more important than ever. They not only serve as refuges for wildlife in an extensively burned landscape, but provide areas that carry a much lower risk of crown fire.
Changes are urgently needed to logging policies in these forests. Any future logging must be negligible in its cumulative impact. Given the large area already logged and the huge impact of Black Saturday, an expanded formal reserve system would serve an important role in protecting remaining unburnt areas of mountain ash forest. |
Even though the Big 12 might not be the most stable conference among the major ones in College Football, there are powers trying to push for an expansion to big TV markets, with Central Florida and Cincinnati the likeliest of candidates.
A lot of the future plans for the Big 12 becoming bigger than 10 teams have to do with the identity of the next Texas Athletic Director, as Oliver Luck, the Director of Intercollegiate Athletes at West Virginia, is one of the premier candidates, having engineered the Mountaineers departure from the Big East (now the AAC) and procured money for a new baseball stadium.
But it’s not just Luck that’s pushing for more teams. In the reality that’s been formed over the last few years, it seems like it’s been a lot of eat or get eaten. The Big 12 lost Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC, Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-12. For a moment there, Texas and Oklahoma were on the verge of forming a Pac-16 and breaking the Big 12 apart. The Big 12, however, brought in TCU and West Virginia, keeping it a 10-team conference, with better money sharing for current members.
Rumors coming out of several media outlets including in West Virginia suggest that Fox Sports is behind the power moves by the Big 12 to attempt and expand, especially keeping an eye on Florida and the Midwest. There were previous talks about Florida State, which would be somewhat of an earthquake for the ACC, but that’s off the table for now.
So who is there to take? The University of Central Florida, playing in the AAC, is having a strong season, but most importantly, they reside in a big TV market, not to mention being a part of the desired recruiting fields in Florida. TV money is important, but having a chance to tap in to the gold mine that is Florida high school football is also something Big 12 teams would clearly be in favor for.
But if you’re adding an 11th team, there needs to be a 12th, right? South Florida, a more established football program than FIU or Florida Atlantic has come up as a candidate a couple of times, but is it really wise to recruit two teams from the same state? That brings us to Cincinnati, who seem like they’re just waiting for someone to take them out of what has become of the Big East. The Bearcats are in a smaller TV market than USF (Tampa), but Ohio is another region conferences would like to tap into in terms of recruiting talent. |
Workers' Voice, the AFL-CIO-affiliated super PAC is out with a harsh new ad campaign Thursday morning branding Mitt Romney an "economic traitor."
"Bain Capital is outsourcing jobs at Sensata Tech in Northern Illinois to China," the website economictraitor.com states. "When executives from the new plant in China came in to visit the factory, Bain Capital made Sensata staff take down the American flag until they left."
A television ad featuring the incident will air in the industrial swing state markets: Youngstown, OH; Pittsburgh PA (to hit western OH part of market); and Green Bay, WI, according to the group.
“Mitt Romney is an economic traitor who desecrated the flag while decimating jobs,” said Workers’ Voice Communications Director Eddie Vale. “It’s bad enough that Romney & Bain destroy American jobs and send them to China. But to make American workers take down our flag while training their Chinese replacements is something only an economic traitor would do.” |
C track: compiling C programs.
It is important to understand that while some computer languages (e.g. Scheme or Basic) are normally used with an interactive interpreter (where you type in commands that are immediately executed), C doesn't work that way. C source code files are always compiled into binary code by a program called a "compiler" and then executed. This is actually a multi-step process which we describe in some detail here.
The different kinds of files
Compiling C programs requires you to work with four kinds of files:
Regular source code files. These files contain function definitions, and have names which end in " .c " by convention. Header files. These files contain function declarations (also known as function prototypes) and various preprocessor statements (see below). They are used to allow source code files to access externally-defined functions. Header files end in " .h " by convention. Object files. These files are produced as the output of the compiler. They consist of function definitions in binary form, but they are not executable by themselves. Object files end in " .o " by convention, although on some operating systems (e.g. Windows, MS-DOS), they often end in " .obj ". Binary executables. These are produced as the output of a program called a "linker". The linker links together a number of object files to produce a binary file which can be directly executed. Binary executables have no special suffix on Unix operating systems, although they generally end in " .exe " on Windows.
There are other kinds of files as well, notably libraries (" .a " files) and shared libraries (" .so " files), but you won't normally need to deal with them directly.
The preprocessor
Before the C compiler starts compiling a source code file, the file is processed by a preprocessor. This is in reality a separate program (normally called " cpp ", for "C preprocessor"), but it is invoked automatically by the compiler before compilation proper begins. What the preprocessor does is convert the source code file you write into another source code file (you can think of it as a "modified" or "expanded" source code file). That modified file may exist as a real file in the file system, or it may only be stored in memory for a short time before being sent to the compiler. Either way, you don't have to worry about it, but you do have to know what the preprocessor commands do.
Preprocessor commands start with the pound sign (" # "). There are several preprocessor commands; two of the most important are:
#define . This is mainly used to define constants. For instance, #define BIGNUM 1000000 specifies that wherever the character string BIGNUM is found in the rest of the program, 1000000 should be substituted for it. For instance, the statement: int a = BIGNUM; becomes int a = 1000000; #define is used in this way so as to avoid having to explicitly write out some constant value in many different places in a source code file. This is important in case you need to change the constant value later on; it's much less bug-prone to change it once, in the #define , than to have to change it in multiple places scattered all over the code. #include . This is used to access function definitions defined outside of a source code file. For instance: #include <stdio.h> causes the preprocessor to paste the contents of <stdio.h> into the source code file at the location of the #include statement before it gets compiled. #include is almost always used to include header files, which are files which mainly contain function declarations and #define statements. In this case, we use #include in order to be able to use functions such as printf and scanf , whose declarations are located in the file stdio.h . C compilers do not allow you to use a function unless it has previously been declared or defined in that file; #include statements are thus the way to re-use previously-written code in your C programs.
There are a number of other preprocessor commands as well, but we will deal with them as we need them.
Making the object file: the compiler
After the C preprocessor has included all the header files and expanded out all the #define and #include statements (as well as any other preprocessor commands that may be in the original file), the compiler can compile the program. It does this by turning the C source code into an object code file, which is a file ending in " .o " which contains the binary version of the source code. Object code is not directly executable, though. In order to make an executable, you also have to add code for all of the library functions that were #include d into the file (this is not the same as including the declarations, which is what #include does). This is the job of the linker (see the next section).
In general, the compiler is invoked as follows:
% gcc -c foo.c
where % is the unix prompt. This tells the compiler to run the preprocessor on the file foo.c and then compile it into the object code file foo.o . The -c option means to compile the source code file into an object file but not to invoke the linker. If your entire program is in one source code file, you can instead do this:
% gcc foo.c -o foo
This tells the compiler to run the preprocessor on foo.c , compile it and then link it to create an executable called foo . The -o option states that the next word on the line is the name of the binary executable file (program). If you don't specify the -o , i.e. if you just type gcc foo.c , the executable will be named a.out for silly historical reasons.
Note also that the name of the compiler we are using is gcc , which stands for "GNU C compiler" or "GNU compiler collection" depending on who you listen to. Other C compilers exist; many of them have the name cc , for "C compiler". On Linux systems cc is an alias for gcc .
Putting it all together: the linker
The job of the linker is to link together a bunch of object files ( .o files) into a binary executable. This includes both the object files that the compiler created from your source code files as well as object files that have been pre-compiled for you and collected into library files. These files have names which end in .a or .so , and you normally don't need to know about them, as the linker knows where most of them are located and will link them in automatically as needed.
Like the preprocessor, the linker is a separate program called ld . Also like the preprocessor, the linker is invoked automatically for you when you use the compiler. The normal way of using the linker is as follows:
% gcc foo.o bar.o baz.o -o myprog
This line tells the compiler to link together three object files ( foo.o , bar.o , and baz.o ) into a binary executable file named myprog . Now you have a file called myprog that you can run and which will hopefully do something cool and/or useful.
This is all you need to know to begin compiling your own C programs. Generally, we also recommend that you use the -Wall command-line option:
% gcc -Wall -c foo.cc
The -Wall option causes the compiler to warn you about legal but dubious code constructs, and will help you catch a lot of bugs very early. If you want to be even more anal (and who doesn't?), do this:
% gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -ansi -pedantic -c foo.cc
The -Wstrict-prototypes option means that the compiler will warn you if you haven't written correct prototypes for all your functions. The -ansi and -pedantic options cause the compiler to warn about any non-portable construct (e.g. constructs that may be legal in gcc but not in all standard C compilers; such features should usually be avoided).
References |
The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, has begun its movement to Europe, loading the first trains this week that will send a heavy brigade’s worth of tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and other equipment overseas in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.
Iron Brigade Soldiers, led by 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment with the help of 4th Sustainment Brigade, began Nov. 7 to stage and load vehicles and containers at the railhead here to kick off operations that ultimately will send more than 2,000 pieces of rolling stock to eight countries in central and eastern Europe.
“A movement of ABCT assets like this from the United States into Europe hasn’t occurred in decades,” said Capt. Kenneth Kloeppel, the rail head officer in charge and a unit movement officer for 1-66 Armor Regt. “It’s huge for this type of brigade effort to unite and lean forward with this mission.”
The full set of ABCT equipment will arrive at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, in January, and then move by rail, commercial line haul and military convoy to Poland, where 3rd Brigade will consolidate before dispersing units to Germany and across six other countries from Estonia to Bulgaria beginning in February.
The ability to mass and move heavy equipment rapidly will be an integral part of 3rd Brigade’s mission to provide an increased U.S. Army presence across Europe. The 4,000-Soldier ABCT will contribute to and strengthen the NATO Alliance’s deterrence and defense capabilities.
“During our nine-month rotation, we’ll routinely exercise, mass and move throughout the European theater to refine our ability to maneuver an armored force across Alliance member states,” said Warrant Officer Abraham Rosales, 3rd Brigade mobility officer. “The first example of this will be our arrival to Bremerhaven and demonstrating our ability to move all of our equipment to Poland within a couple weeks of the equipment’s arrival to Germany.”
The first leg of this movement — rail operations at Fort Carson — will persist over the next month.
“There are a lot of moving pieces, checks and balances, inspections, etc., to ensure that the mission runs smoothly,” said Kloeppel. “There were a lot of things that took place to get to this point. We performed meticulous equipment maintenance and had inspections at the lowest level all the way to the top. Everything gets accounted for and we label hazardous material accordingly.”
Once the equipment clears final inspection, it is moved onto rail cars.
“It is necessary to have all paperwork for these vehicles done properly so that we can move them onto the rail cars,” said Sgt. 1st Class Freddy Drayton, a motor transport operator and platoon sergeant for Company A, 64th BSB. “The Soldiers are trained and prepared to do their mission up to standard. It’s an opportunity for them to take on leadership roles and gain more experience on a bigger scale because this is a huge mission. I applaud them for being motivated, for knowing what to do, how to do it and executing. None of this happens without them.”
The 4th Sustainment Brigade also is providing vital support, not only at Fort Carson but when the equipment will be transferred from trains to sea vessels at a port in Texas and again when it arrives in Germany.
“We are providing mainly maintenance and recovery as well as fuel support for them before they go overseas,” said Capt. Charles Pearson, a plans officer for 4th SB who has served as a liaison between his brigade and 3rd Brigade’s 64th Brigade Support Battalion.
Kloeppel, of 1-66 Armor Regt., is confident the movement to Europe will go well.
“We have a lot of continuity within the battalion and the brigade,” he said. “We have Soldiers and leaders who have experience with loading equipment on the railhead through previous operations, including when we transported our equipment to the National Training Center (at Fort Irwin, California) a couple months ago and for our deployment last year to the Middle East.” |
So I watched The Good Dinosaur…
I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing this movie. The look of the dinosaur and the film’s title bothered me. Plus the plot was shrouded in real mystery and the trailers didn’t entice me sufficiently to make me wanna see it. But, as regular readers of this blog will know, I have a obsession with watching movies at the cinema and luckily for me I do or I would have missed out on a really enjoyable movie.
Okay, basic plot: Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) is the youngest of three siblings living on a farm together with his parents, Papa Henry (Jeffrey Wright) and Momma Ida (Frances McDormand). Arlo has a crippling fear of almost everything and this leads to him feeling ostracised from his family and wondering if he’ll ever earn their respect. One day Arlo falls into the river, outside his farm, and is swept away far from his family. He must now embark on a daring adventure to make his way back home, along with the help of a human caveboy named Spot (Jack Bright).
This movie is fantastic! Or should I say the films it’s based on are fantastic? There are several times when this movie does a Lion King/Finding Nemo impersonation. So I wouldn’t say it’s original but I always think that if you can’t be original at least be a fun ride; and this film certainly is that. This is a fun movie to watch! It doesn’t quite have the typical range of a Pixar movie and is almost exclusively made for young children. Where a typical Pixar movie would handle elaborate themes with subtlety and symbolism, this film just spells it out for you. It simplifies the majority (if not the entirety) of its plot and themes and makes them incredibly accessible for children. That being said, this is still a film that adults can enjoy. It is a little bit on-the-nose at times and has almost zero mystery to it but it is still entertaining.
I loved how focused the narrative in this film is. The Good Dinosaur is just over an hour and a half long – which in today’s filmmaking world is something akin to a short movie. This film has zero bloat or filler scenes and gets to the point with refreshing pace. Don’t worry, this film isn’t rushed – its events are told in a logical way with enough time given for you to process them. Director, Peter Sohn and screenwriter, Meg LeFauve, don’t beat around the bush. They get to the crux of the matter quickly and efficiently and produce a well-paced, highly-engaging story. This film has plenty of moments of humour, heart and emotional poignancy; but it never produces the raucous laughter or unexpected tears of a typical Pixar film. This is a Disney-Pixar film and I think Disney tend to have far less finesse in the way they handle certain themes. Their approach is more blunt and direct and this works well for kids because it takes less to make a kid cry than an adult.
My fears about this film’s visual style were completely unfounded. This film’s animation is superb. There’s great attention to detail and there were moments where I wondered whether I was watching live-action footage or animation. The way the scenery and backgrounds are rendered is truly amazing. The animation team behind this film truly do a great job and transport you to an immersive and captivating world.
Overall, The Good Dinosaur is more than I expected. It’s a coming of age story that’s told with some real humour and fun. Yes, it borrows heavily from Pixar and Disney’s earlier work, respectively, but it does so with real class. If you have a young child this is a great film for them to see and if you have an overactive inner-child, they’ll definitely enjoy this too. It’s worth watching 7/10. Actually scratch that, this film is so well animated, I’m going to give it an 8/10 |
TORONTO — Mini Camps are pretty much in the books (exception Edmonton) and CFL clubs have been tasked with trying to cut their rosters down before training camp.
By Monday, May 1st, CFL teams were to have their roster totals down to 75 players, not including non-counters (rookie draft picks, junior players, territorial exceptions).
As a result, CFL teams have been busy getting their rosters down which they will maintain until final cuts at the end of training camp in June.
Here is a look at the transactions team-by-team:
HAMILTON TIGER-CATS
Released: DB Elroy Douglas, WR Greg Jenkins, DB Isaiah Lewis, OL Jeremy Lewis, OL Nathan Locke, DB K.J. Morton, DL Giorgio Newberry, DB Axel Ofori Jr., WR Nathan Palmer, WR Royce Pollard, LB Torri Stewart, DB Jordan Sullen, LB Myke Tavarres, DL Tani Tupou
SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS
Released: DE Tavarus Dantzler, DB Seth Ellis, OL Taylor Fallin, OL Kelby Johnson, DL Derrick Lott, RB Lyle McCombs, RB Dennis Norfleet, WR Jonathan Ray, DB David Van Dyke, WR Frankie Wims
OTTAWA REDBLACKS
Released: DL Kyle Fraser-Audit, K Sean Decloux, DB Jonte Green, DL Miles Grooms, RB Darius Hammond, WR John Harris, DL Paul Hazel, LB Jeremiah Kose, DB Waynd Lyons, RB Brandon Ross, WR Antoine Smithson, RB Shadrach Thornton WR Rahsaan Vaughn
TORONTO ARGONAUTS
Released: LB Trevontii Barber, DB Santavious Bryant, WR Dobson Collins, WR RJ Harris, K Ryan Hawkins, WR Jameon Lewis, DB Jabriel Washington
WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS
Released: QB Myles Carr, WR Di’Andre Campbell, WR Rashon Ceaser, WR Xavier Rush, WR Alex Chisum, DB Jeremy Harris, RB Johnta Hebert, DB Tre’ Hunter, DB Keith Lewis, LB Will Smith, DL Brandon Tennant, LB Akeem Whonder
BC LIONS
Released: DB Vicente Stafford, DB Matt Smalley, DB Robert Brown, DB Brennan Van Nistelrooy, WR David Richards, WR Darrin Peterson, RB Amir Carlisle, DL Louis Palmer, DL David Perkins, QB Bryan Scott |
Understanding Business Media with Hartford Business Journal Editor Greg Bordonaro, Public Relations Strategist Jason Simms, and Sujata Srinivasan, an independent journalist who has previously served as the editor of the Connecticut Business Magazine. A workshop to help entrepreneurs learn how and when to connect with the business press.
Greg Bordonaro is the editor of the Hartford Business Journal. He joined the editorial team in May 2008 after graduating from the University of Connecticut with a degree in journalism and history. Greg has been recognized for his writing and reporting by the Alliance of Area Business Publications as well as the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists. He lives in West Hartford and is enrolled in the University of Hartford’s part-time MBA program.
Sujata Srinivasan is an independent journalist with nearly 20 years of reporting, writing and editing experience at television, radio, print and online news organizations. She previously served as the editor of Connecticut Business Magazine, where she assigned and edited award-winning reporting; a contributing editor at the Connecticut Economic Resource Center Inc., senior financial editor at Ness Technologies for the Chicago investment consortium Thomas White International, where she trained and developed a team of financial analysts; and correspondent and interim chief of bureau at CNBC India-TV 18. She was the founding editor of the ethnic newspaper CT Indian Life, and is a volunteer editor for the Stamford nonprofit World on Stage. Her work has aired extensively on WNPR, where her reporting earned her five awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. She was a U.S. correspondent for the Indian edition of Forbes and her writing has appeared in Forbes.com, the Hartford Courant (she writes about small business and entrepreneurship), Hartford Magazine, Hartford Business Journal, Houston Chronicle’s Chron.com, and Patch (business columnist). Prior to that, she was a beat reporter for the Economic Times, India’s largest English-language business daily, and a contributor to Business India, the Business Line and the Hindu – national publications in India, and the North American edition of the Indian Express. Formerly a visiting adjunct instructor in economics at Saint Joseph College, Hartford. She has a bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Madras in Chennai, a one-year post-graduate diploma (distinction) in Journalism from the Times School of Journalism in New Delhi; and a M.A. in Economics from Trinity College, Hartford. She received a Jon Davidoff Journalism Scholarship to the Wesleyan Writers Conference, a seminar fellowship from George Mason University, and the Wharton Seminar for Business Journalists. Sujata is a contributor to Innovating Women: The Changing Face of Technology (Diversion Books, 2014). An avid Twain fan, she is the author of Mark Twain: An Audio Biography for Kids (Allegro Corp., 2009).
Jason Simms, along with his team at Simms PR, helps organizations with great stories connect with local, regional, national, and international media. His clients have appeared in Reuters, The Wall St Journal, New York Times, Buzzfeed, China Daily, and many other outlets. |
AND so, we're off! Last night the Australian Football League (AFL) season began. It's a time for reclaiming footy scarves from the back of the wardrobe, scheduling home games into the calendar and entering the work footy-tipping competition.
Research has demonstrated that male sport fans think women are less dedicated and serious about following sport. Below is a list of four different fan types that we identified from our research talking to female AFL fans around the country - the largest study of its kind undertaken in Australia.
We found the 68 women we interviewed are obsessive about Aussie Rules and every bit as committed as their male counterparts. These self-identified fans agreed to take part in our study after hearing about it through their club, via friends or through advertisements placed in newspapers and online.
We also discovered the process by which women become fans is more complicated and interesting than most people previously imagined.
From our results, we developed the following four types:
In the bloods
You were born into footy. You cannot remember a time when you didn't go to games on the weekend. Your childhood heroes wore a number on their back.
In the bloods:
• have parent(s) who are/were keen fans; may also have other relatives closely associated with the sport
• started to attend games with parents and were socialised into football fandom from an early age
• are from a state where Aussie Rules is the major football code (Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia), or their parents are
• consider fandom, including an unbreakable connection with a particular team, to be an important aspect of their identity
• are among 62% of fans from our sample group
Learners
Footy hasn't always been your passion but you've never hated it, either. Watching the occasional game on TV and going to a few matches with mates was enough to pique your interest. On the Couch is now essential viewing. You wonder how you ever lived without footy.
Learners:
• developed an appreciation of Aussie Rules progressively from attending games with others and/or watching football on television
• attend more games as knowledge and enjoyment of the sport grows
• eventually become ardent fans
• are among 24% of the female fans we spoke to
Converts
Becoming a fan was a revelation. Something switched in your brain the moment the siren sounded, the crowd cheered and the ball was bounced. You hardly recognise your life before football.
Typically, converts:
• change abruptly from being indifferent or even opposed to football to becoming "instant" fans
• attend a game, often their first, and are "transformed" by it into fervent, committed fans
• experience something akin to religious conversion, where people become suddenly devout following what they claim to be a divine revelation
• are among a small minority of fans in our sample - just 10%
Sexually transmitted fandom (STF)
You've swapped drinks with the girls for weekends at the 'G. The boyfriend is long gone, but your love of football remains.
STFs are a rare (4% of participants in our study) type of fan who:
• was introduced to football by a partner
• knew little or nothing about football and had no interest in it before meeting their partner
• initially attended games at the insistence of a partner, but became knowledgeable about football in their own right and an avid supporter
The AFL boasts high numbers of female spectators and AFL clubs do well in attracting and retaining women members - but no-one has thought to ask how women supporters come to football.
Knowing how women are socialised into fandom is valuable information from a sports marketing and promotion perspective. In a rapidly changing, globalised sporting arena driven by the commercial concerns of media broadcasting, corporate sponsorship and sports betting, women are a lucrative consumer cohort.
Our findings show that parents, friends, partners and the media are all avenues to recruit women to football spectating.
But the scenarios presented here go beyond catering to corporate strategies to sell more club memberships, merchandise or media. Greater knowledge about how women become fans may precipitate changes in how sporting associations, sports media, and wider society value women's relationships to sport.
Busting the stereotypes of female fandom
Our research debunks a couple of persistent myths about women sport fans. These myths concern women's motivation for attending football, which is commonly explained in terms of their duties as mothers (women support football because it is a "family" game), or dismissed as something that women do mainly because the men in their life are into footy.
These assumptions about why women follow football reinforce some particularly stubborn gender stereotypes. These stereotypes include the belief that men are authentic and more devoted sport fans whose knowledge and understanding of sport is better than women's. The other related idea is that women only go to the football to stare at guys in tight shorts.
Of all the fans we interviewed, this is the least likely way that women become supporters.
Our study also reveals that while family features significantly in the way women become fans - overwhelmingly women are socialised into following a team through their parents - they develop a connection with and enjoyment of AFL that prevails independently of family.
And while some of the women we talked to were unashamed to say that they appreciate hot bodies, many more rejected this stance. Female fans unanimously agree that they watch football for the skill, athleticism, competition and atmosphere.
- Kim Toffoletti is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Deakin University
The Conversation |
Las Vegas fire captain gathers petitions to reinstate previous solar rates
Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Capt. Richard Birt will present a petition letter with signatures from more than 500 valley firefighters to a governor-appointed energy task force today urging it to reinstate previous solar rates.
Birt, 50, has been living off a $25,000 solar panel system since moving off the NV Energy grid in 2006. He spent the better part of eight weeks from January to March collecting signatures in favor of reversing a 2016 law that made solar energy more expensive for customers of NV Energy.
Birt amassed 508 signatures, accounting for nearly half of the firefighters between the Las Vegas and Clark County departments.
“I just want to be able to say, listen, I have 508 of my brothers and sisters in a public service safety profession who are concerned for our community,” Birt said. “Our voice needs to be heard.”
All NV Energy customers used to pay a fixed monthly service fee of $12.75, and under a policy known as net metering, the energy giant reimbursed solar-equipped customers about 11 cents per kilowatt-hour of excess electricity generated.
Eager to take advantage of the desert sun’s potential and the associated discounts, a skyrocketing number of Las Vegans installed solar panels on their roofs. Last December alone, 1,311 applications were filed to start the installation process.
But a decision by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission forced solar customers to start paying a $17.90 monthly service fee starting Jan. 1. Over the next four years, that fee will rise to $38.51. And while solar customers will still pay 11 cents per kilowatt-hour of power bought from NV Energy, the value of their excess credits, which the PUC placed at 9 cents per kilowatt-hour this year, will fall to just 2.6 cents by 2020.
The PUC’s decision prompted companies like SolarCity and SunRun to cease Nevada installations. Applications for rooftop solar plummeted to 90 in January — down 93 percent from December’s 1368 applicants, according to Chandler Sherman, spokeswoman for the Bring Back Solar Alliance.
Last month, just 18 Nevadans applied to go solar, Sherman said.
Tyler Elliott, 33, is one of the firefighters who signed Birt’s petition, even though he hasn’t installed solar panels at his Las Vegas home. Elliott, like Birt, said he thought NV Energy should “embrace solar instead of discouraging it.” He emphasized the safety of his own family in the event of a power outage — something he believed wouldn’t happen with solar panels.
“It used to be a great deal all around, but now it’s ridiculously expensive,” Elliott said.
Another petition signer, Las Vegas Fire Capt. Chris Brewer, had solar panels for nearly one year before the rate hikes went into effect. He purchased his solar system for $38,000 from Sol-Up to power his northwest valley home,.
Brewer said he feels “ripped off” by NV Energy, who hiked the rates when “they realized customers were saving money.”
“It’d take care of energy costs, but we also want to look out for the environment,” Brewer said. “It’s just seems very unfair that they’re taking all of this money out of our pockets.”
A spokesperson for NV Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. |
EU leaders have said there will be no talks on Britain’s future relationship with the bloc until the UK government makes “sufficient progress” on the Brexit divorce, including settling its bills and citizens’ rights.
“Once, and only once we have achieved sufficient progress on the withdrawal, can we discuss the framework for our future relationship,” said Donald Tusk, the European council president. “Starting parallel talks will not happen.”
Speaking as the EU’s draft negotiating guidelines were sent to national capitals, Tusk said the EU27 were united. Talks would be “difficult, complex and sometimes confrontational,” he said, but the bloc would not seek to punish Britain. “Brexit itself is already punitive enough,” he said.
'No surprises really': politicians react to Tusk's draft EU negotiating guidelines Read more
The guidelines make clear it will be for the council to decide when “sufficient progress” has been made on the withdrawal deal, whose priorities will include the rights of EU citizens in the UK and British citizens on the continent, and agreement on Britain’s legal and budgetary commitments and liabilities.
Tusk rejected the description “Brexit bill” and said it was only fair that the UK paid what successive governments had signed up to. “It is only fair towards all those people, communities, scientists, farmers and so on to whom we, all the 28, promised and owe this money,” he said.
The UK’s only land border with the EU, between Northern Ireland and the Republic, will also be a key priority in the divorce deal, with the EU calling for “flexible and imaginative solutions ... with the aim of avoiding a hard border”.
Speaking alongside Tusk, Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta, said the negotiations would undoubtedly be tough, “but it will not be a war” and the two sides needed to remain friends.
The draft guidelines may well be revised over the next month, but are as likely to be strengthened as they are weakened. Tusk will chair a summit of the EU’s 27 prime ministers and presidents at the end of April to finalise the bloc’s negotiating position before talks with the UK begin.
The European commission will then draft its more detailed negotiating directives, which are expected to be adopted at a meeting of European ministers on 22 May, after which formal talks between the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and Britain’s secretary of state for exiting the EU, David Davis, can begin.
The guidelines say the UK must accept EU rules such as the “four freedoms” (including free movement), continuing budget contributions and the judicial oversight of the European court of justice during a transitional period likely to follow its departure in 2019 and before any free trade pact can be finalised.
On the future trade deal, which they say can be concluded only once Britain has formally left, the guidelines make clear the bloc’s primary objective is to “preserve the integrity of the single market”, which “excludes participation based on a sector-by-sector approach”.
Theresa May has said Britain aims to leave the single market and most of the customs union in favour of agreeing a bespoke free trade deal for individual industrial sectors such as the automotive and pharmaceuticals industries.
But a non-member “cannot have the same rights and enjoy the same benefits as a member” and “there can be no ‘cherry picking’”, the guidelines say. Separate negotiations between individual EU states and the UK are also ruled out.
The guidelines also make clear that any trade deal must be on “a level playing field in terms of competition and state aid”, with safeguards against “unfair competitive advantages through … fiscal, social and environmental dumping”.
A No 10 spokesman said: “These are draft guidelines and we look forward to beginning negotiations once they have been formally agreed by the 27 member states.
“It is clear both sides wish to approach these talks constructively, and as the prime minister said this week, wish to ensure a deep and special partnership between the UK and the European Union.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron said the guidelines showed ‘the carelessness of the UK government in isolating themselves from our European allies’. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/AFP/Getty Images
But Owen Smith, the former Labour leadership candidate, said Tusk’s statement showed how May’s “lofty rhetoric is colliding with hard reality”. The guidelines “underline the difficulty the government will have in keeping its Brexit promises,” he said.
“Ministers and leave campaigners have presented Brexit as a cost-free option. It is not. There will be a cost to Brexit, we just do not know how deep it will be. It is time for the government to start levelling with the British people.”
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the guidelines “show the strength of the EU in these negotiations, and the carelessness of the UK government in isolating themselves from our European allies”.
“The terms are clear: no sector-by-sector deals, no bilateral negotiations and no new trade deal until the withdrawal terms are agreed. This leaves no doubt that ... comments about special arrangements for the car industry or financial sector are worthless.”
Barnier has said he hopes the main outlines of the withdrawal agreement will be clear by autumn, enabling the UK and the EU to reach a broad agreement at a summit in December.
He has pencilled in January 2018 as the point where he hopes to start talks with the British on a future relationship. But there are lingering fears the talks could collapse. The EU wants an agreement, the draft text says, “but it will prepare itself to be able to handle the situation also if the negotiations were to fail”.
A senior EU official said the European commission took little notice of May’s claim that no deal was better than a bad deal with the EU.
Noting that the UK was “four or five times” more dependent on exporting to the EU than the other way round, he said: “Threats are never a good instrument in a negotiation and empty threats are even poorer instruments in a negotiation.”
The official said that if the UK walked away without a deal, “it will be bad for the union, but I think it would be fair to say it would be very bad for the UK”.
On citizens’ rights, the commission said it was presumed that UK promises to protect the rights of EU nationals already in the country would include the right for those who have previously lived there to return, and for current and future spouses and dependants to join those already in the country. |
A Portrait of Poly Psychopharmacology
You think maybe something wasn’t quite right? This journey started the summer of 1985 and is about to end in the next couple of months. I have been withdrawing the past 6 years.
Nothing ever did “work” and in retrospect much made me worse, hence the withdrawal process that began six years ago of which I am at the tail end.
The reason it didn’t work is because after an illicit drug induced mania, I basically just had average problems of living to deal with, and then once I started on drugs the issues became drug induced symptoms. Iatrogenic psychiatric and other symptoms. My diagnosis, given as a life sentence never really had much credibility.
Many times on the “trials” of these drugs I went through periods of at least two weeks (my doctor always told me to stick it out as the side-effects might pass) in which I suffered immeasurably. They generally didn’t pass, but sometimes I got used to them, sort of like the proverbial toad in water.
The cocktail I ended up after much experimentation left me the least twisted, but grossly twisted nonetheless. In retrospect I see now how one drug led to the next. The “mood-stabilizers” which left me depressed led to the antidepressants which left me with insomnia and agitation which led to the benzos for sleep. They still didn’t get rid of the agitation which led me to the antipsychotics (which made everything worse and in fact my doc kept adding Risperdal milligram by milligram until I was on 11 mg for my akathesia which I now know is CAUSED by the Risperdal—he was treating my symptom with the drug that was causing the symptom!! No joke.) My akathisia ceased when I finally got off the Risperdal. We always called it “anxiety.” What crap.
All that left me so sedated, the next step was the stimulants. The addiction to benzos left me in tolerance withdrawal which increased the anxiety and thus led to more benzos. Unfortunately I’ve learned this happens to way too many people, some of whom never even realize it. Drugs leading to more drugs leading to more drugs. And once in the trap it’s almost impossible to see clearly. To realize what is going on is difficult and perhaps sometimes impossible.
Now I’m virtually done with my withdrawal of the final cocktail of 6 meds that I was on for about 10 years after messing around with many others and my psychiatric symptoms are all gone except for irritability which I have gleaned now is most assuredly a withdrawal issue and not an underlying problem—I’ve been working on the underlying problems all along during this journey—though life remains an underlying problem, doesn’t it? Being human is challenging and will never cease to be. Let’s stop pathologizing it.
(The above was written in the summer of 2009–I’ve made a few edits to bring us to date, I’m not well so it’s easier to start with a piece that’s been written and add to it. But the immediate above paragraph needs explanation–at the time it was written I thought the withdrawal was going faster and that my withdrawal would be done in the summer. I’ve since become extremely ill and my mood is hardly good as a result. One might call it “psychiatric” if they didn’t know anything about the physical hell that is withdrawal, but knowing what I know about people detoxing from benzos, even people who’ve never had a psychiatric diagnosis or symptoms prior to their use, I know that what I’m dealing with is detox. It’s hell. I can’t leave the house. I often can’t leave my room or my bed. I have pain of every imaginable kind. Hence, I’m not happy. No. It sucks….here is a man whose story I relate to. He cold -turkeyed and it took him two years to start functioning again. Though my behavior is not all the same as his, the feelings behind it are familiar at this point. I’ve got off 6 drugs in 6 years and the last 3 years have been downhill, the last 6 months I could not have conceived of before living them. I can hope I get better sooner than he did since I didn’t cold-turkey, but it certainly begs the question if slower is better. Though I personally can’t go faster and know I’ve done the right thing for me as horrible as it’s been.)
I will share two brief paragraphs from emails from a friend who has gone before me and made it. She was sharing her situation to help me through mine.
To make you feel better, I’ll give you an idea of how bad things were. (Don’t read unless you want some gory details.) For three years I suffered from an irregular heartbeat, a resting pulse anywhere from 120 to 200 beats per minute, a paralyzed bladder (off and on, and I had to catheterize myself to pee), kidneys that didn’t work, glucose intolerance (it’s gone now), and at one point, complete loss of language skills. My eyes were swollen nearly shut, too. I vomited blood, my hair fell out in clumps, I had seizures, I couldn’t walk in a straight line, my skin peeled like a fruit roll up, etc. I’m telling you this to illustrate that if I can recover, anyone can. Anyone.
and:
I’m about 85% recovered now, and some days, even more. I’m doing great, and am eagerly looking forward to moving away, getting married, having babies, and doing everything I thought I’d never live to do. I can go on long walks, shopping…you name it. Out of the over 60+ symptoms I had, only 7 or so remain, and as I’m approaching the 18 month free mark, I know that one of these days, the remaining symptoms will disappear. I’m filled with such happiness and joy, and an appreciation for life I never had before.
Certainly that helps me feel like anything is possible and I need to think that now.
How long will I be physically disabled due to this detox, I don’t know. It’s frightening and humbling and as of now I don’t recommend anyone do this unless they have a lot of support. I could not have made it by myself for example. I’m completely dependent on my husband now and cannot take care of myself. While it certainly does not come to this for many and even most people, it can and it does for some.
I linked to this article about Benzo withdrawal a while back and will do it again now. Here we see people coming off ONLY benzos who become disabled. They have a hell of a time. God knows what all these drugs have done to me.
In order roughly by class (class is a bit subject to interpretation as so much of this stuff is used off label, especially when it was given to me):
Mood Stabilizers:
1. Lithium
2. Tegretol
3. Depakote
4. Trileptal
5. Topomax
6. Lamictal
7. Neurontin
Neuroleptics (antipsychotics—which is a bullshit term—these are chemical straight-jackets they don’t stop psychosis they just stop brain function in general)
8. Haldol
9. Prolixin
10. Mellaril
11. Thorazine
12. Risperdal
13. Seroquel
14. Geodon
15. Abilify
16. Zyprexa
Antidepressants:
17. Imipramine
18. Desipramine
19. Prozac
20. Wellbutrin
21. Zoloft
22. Effexor
23. Reboxitine (yes, I had it shipped from Europe as it was not approved here)
24. Paxil
25. Lexapro
Anti-anxiety agents:
26. Gabatril
27. Ativan
28. Xanax
29. Klonopin
30. Valium
31. Visteral
Sleep Aids:
32. Restoril
33. Ambien
34. Sinequan
35. Trazadone
Stimulants:
36. Ritalin
37. Concerta
38. Provigil
39. Strattera
Most likely by the end of February or early March, I will be drug free after a six-year battle of withdrawing from long-term use of 6 drugs at 2 to 4 times the usual maximum therapeutic doses. It can’t be soon enough. I’ve thought I was at the end a number of times before. This time, it’s likely to be real, as I’m on such a small dose of benzo that the only alternative to getting off in a month or two is complete failure or a reversal of all that I’ve done. THAT, seems more unlikely at this point.
By the way, writing and correspondence remain extremely difficult and sometimes impossible, though I do like hearing from friends if you have my email address.
I’ve been able to keep the blog updated with minimal energy, reposting old stuff as well as other people’s submissions. Will Hall, also continues to contribute as an editor now.
If I continue as I am now the old stuff I’ve been reposting is just about petered out and it’s likely the blog will be updated much less frequently for some time.
For December’s update see here.
For the entire withdrawal documented see here: Monica/Gianna’s withdrawal documented
*it is potentially dangerous to come off medications without careful planning. Please be sure to be well educated before undertaking any sort of discontinuation of medications. If your MD agrees to help you do so, do not assume they know how to do it well even if they claim to have experience. They are generally not trained in discontinuation and may not know how to recognize withdrawal issues. A lot of withdrawal issues are misdiagnosed to be psychiatric problems. This is why it’s good to educate oneself and find a doctor who is willing to learn with you as your partner in care. Really all doctors should always be willing to do this as we are all individuals and need to be treated as such. See: Psychiatric drug withdrawal and protracted withdrawal syndrome round-up
It’s become clear to me that whenever it’s possible that it’s helpful for folks who’ve not begun withdrawal and have the time to consider a carefully thought out plan to attempt to bring greater well-being to your body before starting the withdrawal. That means learning how to profoundly nourish your body/mind and spirit prior to beginning a withdrawal. For suggestions on how to go about doing that check the drop-down menus on this blog for ideas. Anything that helps you learn how to live well can be part of your plan. That plan will look different for everyone as we learn to follow our hearts and find our own unique paths in the world. Things to begin considering are diet, exercise and movement, meditation/contemplation etc. Paying attention to all these things as you do them helps too. The body will start letting us know what it needs as we learn to pay attention.
For a multitude of ideas about how to create a life filled with safe alternatives to psychiatric drugs visit the drop-down menus at the top of this page or scroll down the homepage for more recent postings. |
(CNN) -- A preliminary 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Monday morning off the coast of Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The quake struck around 9:39 a.m. and was centered 131 kilometers (81 miles) east of Wewak, which is on the northern coast of the Pacific nation, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Its depth was reported at 16 kilometers (9 miles).
The Japan Meteorological Agency -- which had an identical measure for the quake's strength -- noted on its website that "there is a very small possibility of a destructive local tsunami" as a result. It said any tsunami likely would not be over half a meter (20 inches) high.
"However at some coasts, particularly near the epicenter, high tsunamis may arrive (larger) than our estimation," the agency said on its website.
But within about two hours after the quake struck, the Japanese agency reported there were no such warnings or advisories still in effect.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue any threats or warning, noting on its website that there was no danger of a tsunami striking Hawaii. Similarly, the Australia tsunami warning center said there was no threat to that nation. |
MEDIA RELEASE: Sound and fury over firearms, signifying nothing
Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm has congratulated Justice Minister Michael Keenan on his impressive haul of firearms during the current amnesty nearing its conclusion
Senator David Leyonhjelm Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 11, 2017
More than 25,000 firearms have been surrendered across Australia since July 1 as the nation’s bikies, bank robbers and drug dealers take advantage of the no-questions-asked amnesty and seize the opportunity to finally rid themselves of their illegal weapons.
With still another 18 days before the amnesty ends, Senator Leyonhjelm said he was confident the remaining 235,000 illegal firearms the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has estimated to be in the hands of criminals would be recovered.
“There’s no way any crim would risk continuing to hold an illegal firearm, given the threat of a fine of up to $280,000, up to 14 years in jail and a criminal record,” he said.
“Thanks to Minister Keenan we can all now sleep soundly in our beds, knowing our families and the community are protected with all these illegal guns being wiped from our streets.”
Senator Leyonhjelm said he was particularly relieved to learn that among the impressive haul of surrendered weapons was a Beaumont Adams revolver (circa 1856), a WWI era Lee Enfield rifle and two WWII US M1 carbines, along with an incalculable number of rusty Lithgow .22s bravely seized by families after raiding grandpa’s shed.
“We can be comforted in the knowledge that the Australian people have dumped 25,000 antique, inoperable, neglected or unwanted firearms on the doorsteps of our law enforcement agencies,” he said.
“As Minister Keenan has reminded us all, just one firearm in the wrong hands can be deadly.”
Media: Kelly Burke 0408 734 586 |
(Adds details of resolution, paragraphs 4-6)
FRANKFURT/WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - Some Democratic members of the U.S. Congress have renewed efforts to find possible links between banks such as Germany's Deutsche Bank , U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia.
Investigations are being conducted in the United States into possible collusion between Trump's campaign team and Russia during the presidential election campaign in 2016. The White House and the Kremlin have denied there was any interference in the election.
Maxine Waters, ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, told reporters she had filed a resolution of inquiry demanding the U.S. Treasury Secretary hand over documents in his possession, "relating to President Trump's financial connections to Russia, certain illegal financial schemes, and related information".
The resolution asked for any records of loans or credit from a number of banks - including Deutsche Bank and Russian lenders Sberbank and Gazprombank - to Trump, and 22 of his closest associates, including family members and top White House and campaign advisers.
Specifically, the group is seeking documents that may have been unearthed by the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network that could show any ties between Trump's finances and Russia.
A resolution of inquiry is a legislative tool by which the House can request information from the administration.
Waters filed the resolution with the Financial Services Committee, which now has 14 legislative days to address it, either by debating it or voting it down.
If the committee, chaired and dominated by Republicans, ignores the resolution, it could head to the floor of the broader House.
Waters and four other colleagues have been especially interested in learning more from Deutsche Bank, which government ethics disclosures list as one of Trump's biggest lenders.
Deutsche Bank's lawyers have rejected requests for information, citing privacy laws.
Waters asked Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen at a hearing on Wednesday whether the U.S. central bank had uncovered anything about Trump in its Deutsche regulatory work.
Yellen said the Fed had not looked into it. (Reporting by Tom Sims; additional reporting by Pete Schroeder in Washington; editing by David Clarke and David Gregorio) |
The Intel Core i7-7700K benchmarks have leaked out, showcasing the performance of the company’s fastest 7th generation Kaby Lake processor.
The flagship Core i7-7700K CPU is based on the latest 14nm Plus FinFET process which delivers better clock gains and power efficiency over existing Skylake chips. The quad-core, multi-threaded chip features clock speeds of 4.2GHz base and 4.5GHz boost. It packs 8 MB of L3 cache and is rated at 91W TDP.
Intel Core i7-7700K Benchmarks With Stock and OC Speeds
The Intel The Core i7-7700K performance testing was performed on a MSI Z170A Gaming Pro board. The chip scored 17,049 kilo nodes per second in Fritz Chess benchmark, while Cinebench R15 CPU performance is rated at 913 points. In 3DMark 11, the chip hit 8467 points on the extreme preset using the GTX 1070 card.
The Core i7-7700K benchmarks reported scores of 30188 MB/s Reads, 31137 MB/s Writes and 27000 MB/s Copy speeds, with the native memory speed of 2133 MHz. During all tests, CPU temps varied around the 60C mark at the reference clock speeds.
Let’s move to the Core i7-7700K benchmarks with 5.0GHz OC. The memory speeds were pushed to 4133 MHz, bringing in some impressive memory intensive gains.
In Cinebench R15, the chip managed to hit 1089 points while Fritz Chess score comes out to be 19891 Kilo Nodes per second. Both tests were performed with the native memory clocks; however the memory speed did bump to to 3100 MHz in 3DMark 11 with the chip scoring 8664 points on the extreme preset.
Core i7-7700K Overclocked to 4.9GHz at 1.29V
Apart from benchmarks, a Facebook user Luning Duan has posted screenshots of the Core i7-7700K processor overclocked to 4.9GHz easily at just 1.26V. He shared CPU-Z and AIDA64 screen captures showing the chip’s overclocked settings as well as Prime95 CPU stress test.
The first attempt results in the Core i7-7700K hitting 4797.65MHz using a x48 multiplier and 1.296V. This however results in one of the cores flirting with a 100C temperature.
In his second attempt, Duan manages to overclock the chip to 4,901.18MHz with a x49 multiplier and 1.264V. This time, one of the cores hovered around the 90C mark, while other three mostly stayed in the low to mid 70C range.
We suspect this to be on air cooling, though Duan doesn’t say. Either way, there should be some headroom for overclockers to play with.
Intel is set to launch its entire Kaby Lake desktop lineup on 5th January at CES 2017. As for the pricing, the flagship Core i7-7700K CPU will retail at $349 US. |
After yet another Bank Holiday weekend where Manorhamilton town was left without access to an ATM, Fine Gael TD for Sligo - Leitrim, Tony Mc Loughlin has called on the management of Bank of Ireland to ensure that its ATM in Manorhamilton is kept filled with money during busy holiday periods.
Local people took to social media to say this is the third Bank Holiday the ATM was not working fully to access funds.
“It’s not good for local business or local people seeking to access their money during the holiday period,” stated Deputy McLoughlin.
“People had been left without access to money in Manorhamilton and had to make trips to either Sligo or Bundoran to access funds. This is unacceptable and it is not helpful to SME’s in Manorhamilton or other small villages close by.” He noted the ATM in Manorhamilton covers a large catchment area.
McLoughlin called on AIB to establish an ATM facility in Manorhamilton to help alleviate this problem. |
German authorities receive foreign intelligence tipoff warning that up to seven suicide bombers would attack two of the city’s train stations
Police in Munich are hunting Islamic State suspects after a foreign intelligence agency warned of a “concrete” plan to send suicide bombers to the city’s train stations during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Five to seven people were reportedly planning suicide bomb attacks on the main Hauptbahnhof station and Pasing station at the western end of the city centre, in what German authorities said was a “serious, imminent threat”, prompting them to evacuate the sites and warn people to stay away.
Munich police president Hubertus Andrä told a news conference on Friday that German officials had received a “very concrete” tip that suicide attacks were planned at train stations in the southern city at midnight.
“We received names. We can’t say if they are in Munich or in fact in Germany,” Andrä said.
About 550 officers have been deployed to secure the city and no arrests had yet been made, he said.
The Bavarian interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told a media conference on Thursday night: “The threat was very concretely centred on midnight and at these two places.” He added that all necessary security measures were being taken.
Citing anonymous security sources, Bavarian state broadcaster BR reported that Germany had received warnings from both US and French intelligence agencies earlier in the day. According to the intelligence, seven Iraqis living in Munich were named as the potential attackers, and they were planning to enter the stations in pairs and blow themselves up simultaneously.
Munich police spokeswoman Elizabeth Matzinger could not confirm the nationalities or the suspected residence of the suspects, or whether a manhunt for identified individuals was underway.
“Investigations are happening, but I cannot give out any details, that is a tactical information,” she told the Guardian. “I can’t confirm whether they are Iraqis, but it was apparently a group of five to seven people affiliated to IS [Isis].”
The two stations were shut down and evacuated around midnight, while special unit police officers armed with automatic weapons were stationed at entrances.
UK new year events go ahead amid heightened security around the world Read more
Munich police issued a statement saying that an attack was expected in the city during the night, and warned people to avoid the two stations and large crowds in general. But by 4 am, the situation appeared to have calmed significantly, and the two stations were re-opened.
Polizei München (@PolizeiMuenchen) We are glad that nothing has happened tonight. The inquiries go on of course and we will remain watchful. #munich
“The closures at the main station and the Pasing station have been lifted, but there selective controls are being carried out there,” Matzinger said. “The situation after midnight is more relaxed than it was before midnight, but notwithstanding that we cannot give the all clear. We had a terrorist warning from the French secret service and we are still taking it seriously, because we can’t rule out that it is not serious – and as long as there is still the danger of a grain of truth to it, we will continue our measures.”
At the media conference, Herrmann said the intelligence had not been 100% reliable, but serious enough that it could not be ignored.
He compared the assessment of the danger to that in Hanover on 17 November, when an international friendly football was called off and the stadium evacuated at short notice. There too, a foreign intelligence tip-off had led to the alert, but no arrests were made and no explosives found in the stadium.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Riot police armed with machine guns patrol the streets in front of Pasing railway station in Munich on Friday. Photograph: Johannes Simon/Getty Images
“The concrete tip-off came from one source,” Andrä said, before adding that there was no indication yet the threats could be confirmed or that any suspects had been arrested.
However, a spokesman for the police also said there would be a reinforced police presence in Munich city centre in the coming days. The police force was also bolstered in and around the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, where huge New Year’s celebrations were being happening. All large bags and backpacks were banned from the site of the huge street party.
Despite the Munich police warnings to stay away from big crowds, thousands of people were on the streets of Munich at midnight to welcome the new year with fireworks.
DPA reported massive delays in the city’s public transportation system after both train stations were quickly evacuated and trains no longer stopped there.
The latest development comes amid ongoing security operations across Europe. Police in Belgium detained six people during house searches in Brussels on Thursday in an investigation into an alleged plot to carry out an attack in the city.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police officers guard the entrance to the closed central station in Munich. Photograph: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images
Earlier in the week, two other people were arrested on suspicion of preparing attacks on “emblematic sites” in Brussels during the celebrations. Another man was questioned over links to last month’s Paris attacks.
Authorities in the Belgian capital said a fireworks display and festivities that attracted 100,000 people in 2014 would not go ahead after revealing the alleged jihadi plot.
“Unfortunately we have been forced to cancel the fireworks and all that was planned for tomorrow [Thursday] evening,” the mayor, Yvan Mayeur, told Belgian broadcaster RTBF. “It’s better not to take any risks.”
In Paris, where 130 people were killed in December, the annual fireworks display on the Champs Élysées was called off and 11,000 police, soldiers and firefighters patrolled the French capital. More than 100,000 police were deployed across the country, according to the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve.
Red Square in Moscow, traditionally a place where people gather to ring in the new year, was closed. “It’s no secret that Moscow is one of the choice targets for terrorists,” the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said recently.
New York City said it had its tightest ever New Year’s Eve security to protect an estimated 1 million revellers. |
For two weeks, DC Comics fans have nervously awaited some official word to debunk the swirling rumors that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was causing worry at Warner Bros. and the possibility Justice League: Part 1 would wind up cancelled. This weekend, I ran a story explaining why fans can relax because Batman v Superman is likely to be a big hit, and that the rumors are exaggerations mixed with speculation and errors.
Today, director Zack Snyder himself drove the final nail in those rumors' coffin, when he gave Entertainment Weekly the exclusive confirmation that he will begin shooting Justice League soon. The official start date for filming is April 11.
With Batman v Superman a mere four and a half weeks from release, Suicide Squad hitting theaters in August of this year, and Wonder Woman already filming, the notion Warner was somehow on the verge of pulling the plug on their plans to rethink it all was more than a little ridiculous. Especially so when, by all accounts, most of Batman v Superman is earning not just approval but rave reactions.
Batman and Lex Luthor in particular are said to be home runs, with some even suggesting this could be the best live-action Batman yet. Wonder Woman likewise met with enough approval to get her own movie put right into production (we might see a teaser trailer with Batman v Superman in a few weeks). Superman appears to be a return of Henry Cavill's well-received portrayal from Man of Steel but with even more of the familiar elements and comic-faithful daily life, costume, and even the curl.
EW also confirmed something many of us have already known for a while -- Batman v Superman features cameos by the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Snyder is already in Europe getting ready for the start of filming on Justice League, which by the way kicks off only 15 short days after Batman v Superman's opening weekend.
Today's announcement makes clear the overall confidence Warner has in Batman v Superman, the DCU plans in general, and Zack Snyder. After this, it'll be hard for anyone to be taken seriously when asserting there's any lingering case of significant nervousness about how Batman v Superman will perform or be received by audiences.
It's confidence well-earned, of course, in light of the fact this is just one of two movies featuring Batman in 2016, followed by another next year in 2017 -- meaning three of the four DCU films hitting theaters over the course of 21 months will include the Caped Crusader, in an iteration pretty much everyone who's seen it says is fantastic. Plus Wonder Woman gets her big screen debut this year, followed by her solo follow-up next year to capitalize on the one-two coattails punch of Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad as well as the advance buzz for Justice League later that year.
Justice League will be an even bigger endeavor than Batman v Superman, which itself had an extended production period and large cast. The April production start means it is certainly on track to meet the November 2017 release date, if Warner adheres to that plan. I've argued elsewhere for a July release instead, or for delaying it until 2018 to snag a March/April date or the July spot, but so far it appears WB is happy with November of next year. There's certainly plenty of time for Justice League to finish filming and post production in time for that calendar position.
The EW article says that, contrary to previous buzz and rumors a year or more ago, the two Justice League movies -- Part 1 and Part 2, as they're titled at the moment -- will not film together. However, the fact they are filming separately doesn't technically mean they can't be filmed back-to-back, which was really the gist of earlier reports. With 20 months between the start of filming and release, though, the necessary post-production work and promotion for Part 1 does makes it more likely we'll see a break between the two productions.
Fans have much to celebrate today, with the demise of any lingering doubts about Warner's reaction and plans regarding Batman v Superman, Justice League, and the rest of the DCU. By the end of next year, we'll have a fully realized DC cinematic world, with a wide cast of heroes and villains, and even more to look forward to in the following years. So if my article this weekend didn't do enough to quell your fears, dears readers, Zack Snyder's announcement this morning should do the trick.
Box office figures and tallies based on data via Box Office Mojo , Rentrak, and TheNumbers.
Follow me on Twitter, on Google+, and on Quora. Read my blog. Listen to my new Popular Opinion Podcast (POP) with Sean Gerber. |
Mr Assange was given the Sydney Peace Medal at a ceremony at the Frontline Club in central London today.
The Sydney Peace Foundation said that it was making the award to recognise Mr in recognition of the need “for greater transparency and accountability of governments”.
Professor Stuart Rees, director of the foundation, said: “By challenging centuries old practices of government secrecy and by championing people’s right to know, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange have created the potential for a new order in journalism and in the free flow of information.”
Speaking at the event, Mr Assange referred to whistleblowers as "heroes" and said it appeared the website had played a "significant role" in the recent Arab uprisings in north Africa by releasing US diplomatic cables in December that were later translated into Arabic and French.
He said WikiLeaks was part of England's historic "free speech traditions, these go back in the UK to the time of the English Civil War of the 1640s". He said: “The real value of this award, and the Sydney Peace Foundation is that it makes explicit the link between peace and justice.
“It does not take the safe feel good option of shunning controversy by uttering platitudes. Instead it goes into difficult terrain by identifying organisations and individuals who are directly engaged in struggles of one kind or another.
“With WikiLeaks we are all engaged in a struggle, a generational struggle for a proposition that citizens have a right and a duty to scrutinise the state."
WikiLeaks has caused controversy over the past year by releasing secret US Government documents including reports about detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
Mr Assange is currently staying in Norfolk while he fights extradition to Sweden over allegations of sexual crimes, which he denies. |
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Daesh terrorists have executed more than 300 former Iraqi policemen south of Mosul following heavy losses in the ongoing battle with Iraqi forces.
The executions were carried out near the recently-liberated Hammam al-Alil town three weeks ago and the victims were buried in a mass grave, the group said on Thursday.
The HRW cited a witness as saying that he saw the Takfiri terrorists driving four large trucks with 100 to 125 men on board on October 28 and that he recognized some of them as former policemen.
The terrorists then drove past an agricultural college close to the site of the mass grave where minutes later, he heard shots being fired from automatic rifles and cries of distress, the group said.
A similar scene was repeated the next night, with between 130 to 145 men being ferried, he told the group.
An unnamed Hammam al-Alil resident confirmed the news, saying he heard automatic gunfire shots in the area for three straight nights, each lasting nearly seven minutes.
“This is another piece of evidence of the horrific mass murder by Daesh of former law enforcement officers in and around Mosul,” Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch Joe Stork said.
The Iraqi army liberated Hammam al-Alil on November 7. A UN official said the next day that Daesh had abducted 295 former members of Iraqi security forces near Mosul.
Soldiers from the Iraqi Special Forces 2nd Division run for cover under fire from Daesh militants as they push into the Aden neighborhood of the northern city of Mosul on November 16, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
Iraqi troops are in the midst of a massive operation to retake Mosul, the last stronghold of the Daesh terrorists in the country.
On Thursday, pro-government Hashd al-Sha'bi fighters handed over the control of 16 villages in in Tal Afar to the Iraqi army after recapturing them.
A member of Nineveh Provincial Council, Husamuddin al-Abbar, said the army will control the territories as volunteer fighters proceed to free more villages.
Additionally, Iraqi counter-terrorism forces established full control over Tammuz 30 neighborhood in eastern Mosul.
Security forces also launched an offensive in Mosul’s eastern district of al-Moharebin and were reported to be capturing it within few hours.
Elsewhere in the western city of Kabisa, officials said an Iraqi army unit repelled a Daesh militant assault, killing scores of the terrorists in the process. |
Your web browser knows a lot about you, and tells the sites you visit a lot about you as well—if you let it. We've talked about which browsers are best for privacy before, and the best tools to lock your browser down, but there are also entire browsers designed to keep your data as secure and private as possible. Let's take a look at some of them.
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Whether your preferred browser is Chrome or Firefox, you have a few options to help you browse more securely—assuming that is, you're ready to give up on the version everyone else uses and try something new. Here are some options worth trying out.
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Tor is going through a rough period right now, but overall, the service is still excellent if you're looking to preserve your anonymity and privacy from the sites you visit, and from malicious tracking cookies and ads. For those unfamiliar, Tor routes your traffic across a series of relays designed to keep your real identity and computer as anomymous as possible. It's not perfect and it certainly has its drawbacks (which we don't have room to get into here), but if anonymity is your end goal, the Tor Browser (more specifically, the Tor Browser Bundle) is a great way to go.
The Tor Browser is based on Firefox, open source, and comes preconfigured to access the Tor network. The vast majority of built-in plugins and services have been disabled or stripped out, and it's important that you leave them that way, or else data you mean to keep private can leak to the sites you're visiting. Available for Windows, OS X, Linux, and in portable forms for all of those, it's a great way to surf when you're using an untrusted system, want to keep your identity close to pocket, get around content filtering or site-specific blocks, or keep your physical location a secret from the sites downstream (or anyone who may be watching along the way.) Remember though, Tor is designed for physical and digital anonymity, not security and encryption. What you do while you're using it may give away that anonymity (sending emails, logging on to web services, etc), and while communications inside the Tor network are encrypted, as soon as you leave the network, your data is in the clear (if it's not encrypted another way.)
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Epic Privacy Browser is based on Chromium, is open-source, and is available for Windows and OS X. We've highlighted Epic before, and while there's good, genuine skepticism about the browser—and its roots in Chromium (the open-source platform upon which Chrome is also based), overall Epic does what it promises. The browser blocks ads, tracking cookies, social boxes and widgets (until you interact with them), blocks tracking scripts and modules from loading (which results in faster-loading web pages), and sandboxes third-party processes and plugins. Epic Browser even encrypts your connection whenever possible (largely by shunting to HTTPS/SSL whenever it's available), routes your browsing through a proxy, and protects you from widgetjacking or sidejacking when you're browsing over Wi-Fi.
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All of these features are great, but the browser itself is fast and works smoothly. Of course, it doesn't support extensions or plug-ins (this is by design—the more you add to a browser the more potential holes you open up for your data to leak through), and it's a little heavier than your normal Chrome install, but once it's up and running you shouldn't have a problem actually using it. You'll also have to give up some of the conveniences you may be used to to save your privacy—autofill, address saving, password saving, history, cache—all of those things are either never stored, or deleted when you close the browser. Of course, your privacy is worth it, but they're all things to keep in mind if you want to use Epic as your daily driver, or even as a more secure option if you're working with sensitive data.
Comodo Browsers
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Comodo is an internet security company that's been in the business of protecting data for decades. You may know them best for Comodo Internet Security, their desktop antivirus and antimalware product, or Comodo Firewall, their lean, lightweight software firewall. Comodo also maintains three web browsers as well, and each of them offers additional protection that you won't find in a standard download of Chrome or Firefox.
Comodo Dragon is a Chromium-based browser that was one of Comodo's first browsers. It incorporates a number of Comodo-branded tools into the browsing experience, like the company's own SSL validation, where every site you visit has its SSL certificate and identity validated by Comodo. You'll get a notification if everything is on the up and up or if Comodo thinks the site you're trying to visit is questionable. If you allow it to, Comodo will route all of your browsing through its secure, encrypted DNS, so you leave fewer traces of your movements around the web. Comodo Dragon also blocks third party tracking cookies, widgets, and other site components from loading. Of course, because it's branded by Comodo, it'll prompt you to use Comodo's other security products as well to compliment it, which is a little ironic if you're using a privacy-focused browser in order to not be sold to all the time. It's worth noting that Comodo says that Dragon will only run on Windows 7 and below (although we had no issues with it in Windows 8.)
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Comodo Ice Dragon is another version of Comodo Dragon that's based on Firefox instead of Chromium. If you prefer the look, feel, or features of Firefox, this is the version you'll want to download. It offers the same level of protection, and like Comodo Dragon, it supports third party extensions. Also like Dragon, it'll scan pages for tracking elements and malware as soon as it loads, and warn you in advance if you're about to download something malicious. It does suffer from the same drawback as Comodo Dragon though—in the form that its branding can be a little aggressive. It supports Windows 7 and below (although again, we had no issues with it in Windows 8.)
Comodo Chromium Secure is a more up-to-date version of Comodo Dragon—if you want to ditch all of the branding, keep all of the protection, and go back to basics, Chromium Secure is the browser for you (and, if you're okay with a Chromium base, the one we recommend.) It looks and behaves like Chromium, and includes all of the best features of Comodo Dragon, including the on-site malware scanning, secure DNS, SSL and domain validation, and tracker blocking. It's just faster, strips out the Comodo branding (although it still suggests Comodo's additional products from time to time), and looks more like the Chrome you know and love, as opposed to a completely different and new browser.
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Two Popular Privacy Browsers We Don't Recommend
These aren't the only web browsers promising to make the internet a safer place—but they are the ones we think are worth downloading. There are a few others however that we should call out but don't necessarily recommend:
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SRWare Iron Browser : Iron Browser is Chromium based and promises to keep your data secure through all of the usual methods. They were some of the first people to call out this notion that Chrome calls home to Google all the time (which it does, but only if you allow it to or enable features that do so), and they promised to be Chrome with all the Google stuff stripped out. The reality wasn't so pretty—they're supposedly open source (but haven't released their source for years), and the browser doesn't really offer much you can't get by tightening down Chrome's own privacy features on your own. We can't recommend it, and you can read more about it in this old post about how Iron got its start, and this post about its supposed "tracking protection."
: Iron Browser is Chromium based and promises to keep your data secure through all of the usual methods. They were some of the first people to call out this notion that Chrome calls home to Google all the time (which it does, but only if you allow it to or enable features that do so), and they promised to be Chrome with all the Google stuff stripped out. The reality wasn't so pretty—they're supposedly open source (but haven't released their source for years), and the browser doesn't really offer much you can't get by tightening down Chrome's own privacy features on your own. We can't recommend it, and you can read more about it in this old post about how Iron got its start, and this post about its supposed "tracking protection." White Hat Aviator: Aviator has been heralded by some testers as "the most secure browser," even though it's both closed source (but based on Chromium, which is open source) and for a long time was only available on OS X. Aviator does have a lot to like—it defaults to Incognito mode, includes tools like Disconnect to block malicious ads and third-party tracking, blocks plugins like Flash until you enable them, defaults to DuckDuckGo instead of Google, and so on. On its face, that's all great—but again, it's nothing you can't do on your own, and as this Reddit thread notes, the browser has some serious issues. Some of those issues are technical, others are based on trust. Overall, it may be worth a shot, but you could roll your own Aviator so easily (and it offers less than some of the others above offer) that we can't really recommend it.
There's nothing really wrong with these privacy-focused browsers, but you do have better options available. Even so, they tend to come up when privacy is discussed, and they generally do what they promise they'd do. The problem however is that when it comes to privacy and security, if you're not able to look under the hood and make sure that what it promises to do is all it's doing, it's generally best to stay away. Trust between a user and a platform is critical, especially when it comes to privacy.
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Alternatively: Tweak Chrome or Firefox for Privacy
If you're not terribly keen on the idea of downloading a brand new browser, moving all of your bookmarks, extensions, and other data over to it, and starting from scratch, don't worry—you can always just tweak Firefox or Chrome to be the browser you want it to be.
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Of course, you can't remove some basic features like Google's built-in update engine for Chrome or Mozilla's engine for Firefox, but you can still do a lot. For example:
These are just a few steps, but if you follow them, your privacy and security should be in good shape (as long as you don't compromise it yourself.)
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Even though those methods are more complicated, they're all good practices anyway, and it's better to familiarize yourself with them over the long run than trust a single application like a web browser to keep you safe—especially if you're not sure how it keeps you safe. Still, these are good starting points, and worth checking out if you're looking for a little extra protection. |
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” – John 13:34
Happy Eid Al-Fatr y’all! 🙂
I decided to hold back in writing about love until the very end of Ramadan because it is the very essence of God. We as human beings have the capacity to love one another and ourselves, but so often we don’t. Why is that? Is it because love is in short supply or ? I think that some reasons why so many of us go without loving others is because we get selfish, we expect it without putting any effort in, we think love is something that will just fall in our laps, we get self-absorbed, we get scared…
I too am scared of love, more to the point true intimacy; because it is one thing to chill with your peeps and be unabashedly bold in what you say without thinking or blinking (or maybe you think and blink but you know what you’re saying will get a reaction of some sort.) but it is entirely different to put out the same things to a significant other, or at least I perceive it to be, because at the end of the night you go back to your SO’s place or your SO comes over to your place and you’re left with what you said.
And while I am careful in being articulate and communicating what I want to say so that there’s no misunderstanding as to what I have to say, I still worry to a certain extent, I worry will I still be liked and I worry will I still be loved. And I want to be liked and I want to be loved, and yet it is the root of my inhibition to be bold, to take risks, to ask girls out on dates…I am a work in progress, and I am getting over myself, but unfortunately I’ve been in that rut for a while.
Yet despite my hesitations it doesn’t slow me down in working on becoming the best possible version of me. I love me, healthily and wholly, I am glad I am me and not someone else because then I wouldn’t be me! Silly perhaps, but I am glad to be alive because it’s great to be alive! (My coworker reminds us all this on a daily basis, and I concur.)
I believe in love. I believe in being loved and loving others. I believe that love conquers all and drives out fear. I believe that everyone is deserving of love. I believe that everyone has the capacity to love others. I also recognize within my being that I am loved even when I don’t feel like I am being loved, being in community assures me of that on a regular basis, for I am a recipient of love and a giver of love myself.
***
I was extended love on Eid Al-Fatr by way of having an Eid dinner with my good friend and his family and friends. The majority of the time was spent talking to him and his 3 younger cousins, it was great to be in community and to have serious and silly conversations. Dinner was great too! Pakistani food, and also dessert, it was great to simply be with my friend and his family plus. I was caught up with it all during part of the evening, I found myself meditating and being present but being overwhelmed by the beauty and wonder of it all. I am thankful to God for moments when all my senses are in tune with my being and I feel deeply present where I’m at.
It is my intention to do better at loving others and to put some of my worries and what-if’s to the side as I pursue loving in a dating relationship context. Because I know what it is like to be loved and to love someone else, and there is no better feeling in the world than love because love put this world and universe into motion and it sustains it still.
So with all that being said, love was my keyword on the 30th day of Ramadan. Thanks be to God, The Source of Love, who loves us and knows us, deeply and truly. May we learn to love one another as God has loved us, may we learn to love ourselves, may we learn to meet people where they are at when they’re in need of love, on their terms and not our own.
Salaam alaikum be yours now and always,
Nathanael
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BOSTON – The Boston Celtics have compiled a 4-1 record to begin the month of March, helping them crawl up standings to the sixth seed in the East. Those five games have featured some great, some mediocre, and some not-so-great performances by the team.
The same can be said for Boston’s individual players, who have had varying levels of effectiveness during this recent hot streak. We take a look today at the players who have been at both ends of the Hot-or-Not spectrum during March’s five games. Each player’s averages and shot chart below are for the five games he has participated in this month.
20.8 7.6 5.6 Paul Pierce PPG RPG APG
HOT - Paul Pierce
Save for LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who are currently playing at otherworldly levels, Paul Pierce might be the hottest basketball player on Earth. Pierce is having his best offensive month of the season, and it’s not even close.
Boston’s captain is putting up 20.8 points per game this month thanks to some phenomenal shooting numbers. Pierce has hit 51.5 percent of his shots and 52.2 percent of his 3-pointers in March. How great are those numbers? His previous top overall shooting month this season was December, when he hit 44.1 percent of his shots. His previous top 3-point shooting month was February, when he hit 40 percent of his treys.
As you can see in the image to the right, Pierce is excelling from the wings and from beyond the arc. He has hit 11 of his 20 3-pointers from the wings this month. Pierce is also getting to the basket with ease, as 35.3 percent of his shots have been taken around the basket.
On top of the efficient and abundant scoring, Pierce is also hauling in 7.6 rebounds per game and dishing out 5.6 assists per game. Yeah, his turnovers may be up a bit to 4.0 per game, but that’s because the ball is in his hands more often than not.
12.8 3.0 4.0 Avery Bradley PPG RPG APG
HOT – Avery Bradley
Avery Bradley’s defense made an immediate impact when he returned to the lineup in early January following double-shoulder surgery last summer. A couple of months later, his offense is beginning to make an impact, too.
Bradley is scoring 12.0 PPG this month and is on pace to become the sixth Celtics player this season to average double-figures in the scoring column. He currently averages 9.7 PPG, but if his current pace continues, which it should, Bradley will record the first double-digit scoring season of his young career.
Much of the reason why Bradley’s scoring average has risen is because of the relocation of his outside shooting stroke. He hit half of his 3-pointers after last season’s All-Star break, but in his 21 games before this season’s All-Star break, Bradley had made just 29.8 percent of his shots from downtown. That poor shooting has gone by the wayside, as he has hit half of his 3s in the month of March.
Bradley is clearly comfortable again at the offensive end and that’s a bit of a surprise. Remember, he is still adjusting to the role of starting point guard after Rajon Rondo went down with his torn ACL. That isn’t an easy job. Bradley has overcome that challenge by finding his shot and dishing out 4.0 APG, which is the best assist month of his career.
14.8 9.6 1.8 Kevin Garnett PPG RPG APG
NOT – Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett is typically the most consistent player for the Celtics year-in and year-out. He doesn’t deviate much from his scoring or rebounding averages, and he’s typically going to hit about half of his shots. With that consistency in mind, we’ll give him a break for his struggles in early March.
Garnett is coming off of a 5-for-19 shooting performance Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City and he has hit only 41.7 percent of his field goals this month. He has struggled from just about everywhere on the floor with the exception of the left corner. Garnett has hit 55 percent of his shots from the left corner, but only 39.3 percent of his shots from the rest of the floor.
To KG’s credit, his poor shooting hasn’t affected the rest of his game. Garnett’s average of 9.6 RPG in March is his highest monthly number this season and he continues to bring the goods at the defensive end.
10.8 3.0 4.0 Jason Terry PPG RPG APG
NOT – Jason Terry
It’s quite a surprise that the Celtics have been rolling lately despite the fact that Jason Terry has struggled so mightily with his shot – that is, his 2-point shot.
Terry’s range from 3-point territory has been right on target this month. He has hit 45 percent of his 3s in the past five games, including a stellar 4-of-5 performance from the right corner. Ironically, his shots that are closer to the basket are the ones that have haunted him.
Boston’s sharpshooter has made only 32 percent of his shots from inside the 3-point arc during his last five games. That percentage includes an ugly 3-for-11 (27.3 percent) mark on shots that were taken around the basket.
Shooting struggles are currently plaguing Terry but he remains an integral part of this team. He single-handedly won the March 8 game against the Hawks by scoring the decisive and final five points of overtime. He has also averaged 4.0 APG during March’s five games, which has helped other players like Jeff Green excel.
Terry is not shooting the ball the way he would like to, and neither is Garnett. Their shots will come back around eventually, but until then, guys like Pierce and Bradley can lead the show. |
There seems to be a widespread misconception in the Orthodox world that the upcoming holiday of Simchat Torah is a “men’s holiday.”
I can understand the confusion, stemming from what we celebrate and how we celebrate it. Simchat Torah has evolved as a celebration of the annual cycle of weekly Torah readings—readings which, in Orthodox shuls, occur purely on the men’s side of the mechitza (divider). And we celebrate it by taking all the Torah scrolls out of the ark—also on the men’s side—and dancing seven circuits, or hakafos, with them. There is much joyful singing, generally in a masculine timbre, and the dancing men take turns holding the heavy scrolls.
READ: This is the Torah
With so much action naturally taking place on the other side, I can understand—sort of—why things tend to be much less lively on my side of the mechitza. Depending on the community, the women might dance, but it is rarely as exuberant, as populated, or as sustained as the men’s dancing. My childhood memories of the holiday involve a core group of women who enjoyed dancing and would try to get things going, while most of the women might join for a few minutes in between their primary activities of chatting, chasing sugared-up children (did I mention excessive candy often plays a role in the celebrations?), and watching the men. From what I have experienced and heard since, my shul was fairly typical, though in many places the women don’t dance at all—or even show up.
My husband likes to tell of the girl he once dated who was surprised at the suggestion that she might go to shul on Simchat Torah. “Why would I go?” she asked. “I have no one to watch!” For her, I think, it was accepted as a matter of course that dancing on Simchat Torah is what men do, and she wouldn’t have ever imagined that she could—or should—have a part in it.
For others, the questions around women and Simchat Torah are more fraught—and many focus on the Torah scrolls themselves, arguing that if the women can’t dance with a Torah, then they feel excluded, like their dancing is pointless. Indeed, in more recent years, as this sort of discomfort with gender disparities has increased, many rabbis have concluded that there is no real halachic problem with a woman carrying a Torah scroll, and in some shuls a scroll or two will be passed to the women’s side for the dancing
READ: This Video About Puberty Shows How Becoming a Woman Is Pretty Crappy
This is the part where I have a harder time understanding.
So often, I hear some version of either, “My rabbi lets the women have a Torah, so the women’s dancing is nice,” or, “The women in my shul don’t have a Torah, so it’s lame; they just stand around talking and watching the men dance.”
It is really easy to blame the men and the rabbis. It is really easy to say, “If only we were granted equal rights, and could dance with a Torah scroll, we would dance and celebrate, too.” It is really easy to say, “I’m not going to shul if the women are just going to sit around schmoozing and watching the men. It’s a men’s holiday; I don’t feel a part of it.”
It’s really easy to say those things, but if I may be frank, I think it’s all baloney. We have an equal right to Torah. I’m not talking about holding the scroll; that, to my mind, is secondary. The real point is that we have an equal right to rejoice in our sacred heritage. Nobody is making us chat; ultimately, no one is stopping us from dancing. If it’s a men’s holiday, that is because we let it be. We can unite and take back Simchat Torah. We can choose to dance.
And we don’t need a scroll to do it.
What are we dancing for, after all?
On Simchat Torah, I dance for the concept of Torah, not the object. I dance for myself and my love of Torah study. I dance for the joy of the completed cycle of reading, and I dance for the joy of beginning all over again. I dance because I will shortly have tears in my eyes, like I do every year, as I listen to the account of Moses’ death in the last few verses of the Torah. I dance because I will shortly be awed, as I am every year, when we begin again and read, “And it was evening, and it was morning, one day.” The very beginning of everything; something, where there had been nothing.
READ: Simchat Torah Edible Craft
I, too, can make something from nothing, in my own little way. I can walk into a women’s section full of schmoozing women and wild kids, grab some hands, and create a circle of joy. I can rejoice in Torah, and nothing—no object or lack of it, no mechitza, no rows of chairs presenting a logistical challenge—will stop me.
I only hope, this year, the other women on my side get up and dance, too. |
A former FBI official said Sunday that Bill and Hillary Clinton are part of a “crime family” and added that top officials impeded the investigation into Clinton’s email server while she was secretary of state.
Former assistant FBI director James Kallstrom praised Donald Trump before he offered a take down of the Clintons in a radio interview with John Catsimatidis, The Hill reported.
“The Clintons, that’s a crime family, basically,” Kallstrom said. “It’s like organized crime. I mean the Clinton Foundation is a cesspool.”
Kallstrom, best known for spearheading the investigation into the explosion of TWA flight 800 in the late ’90s, called Clinton a “pathological liar” and blamed Attorney General Loretta Lynch for botching the Clinton email server investigation.
“The problem here is this investigation was never a real investigation,” he said. “That’s the problem. They never had a grand jury empanelled, and the reason they never had a grand jury empanelled, I’m sure, is Loretta Lynch would not go along with that.”
“God forbid we put someone like that in the White House,” he added of Clinton.
Kallstrom blamed the FBI leadership under FBI Director James Comey as the reason the investigation was held back, but not the rest of the bureau.
“The agents are furious with what’s going on, I know that for a fact,” he said. |
The Snapdragon 810 has become an endless source of controversy in the smartphone world over the past few months. The purported overheating issues of the chipset lead to an exchange of reports stating that Samsung will abandon the problematic piece of silicon, Qualcomm allegedly responding with a modified version of the SoC for Samsung's use.
This dedicated release in turn fueled rumors, claiming that LG may sue Qualcomm over the matter. LG, however, has been quick to dissipate those rumors - the Korean company reached to us with the following statement.
"Rumors regarding LG taking legal action against Qualcomm are unfounded and a complete fabrication of the facts. Given the source of this rumor, we're surprised it's being taken seriously at all."
As unequivocal as it gets, LG's wording should hopefully put an end to the rumor and confirm the excellent relationship between the two companies.
LG has already announced its curved phablet offering, the G Flex2, featuring the said chipset. The company has denied experiencing any issues with the hardware in the smartphone, which is expected to hit its home market any day now. |
“More than 1000 asylum seekers have perished at sea since Labor relaxed its policies in 2008 - a move it now concedes was a mistake.” - The Australian, 18 July.
Asylum seekers drowning on their way to Australia was cited as one reason why the Rudd government announced its policy to send all those who arrive by boat to Papua New Guinea for assessment and resettlement if they are found to be refugees.
There were two more tragedies recently. A suspected asylum seeker boat capsized off Christmas Island last week, killing at least four people. It came a few days after nine people, including a baby boy, died on their way to Australia.
No official records are kept by any government agency as to how many people trying to reach our shores to seek asylum are dying en route. The most reliable open source data is kept by the Monash Australian Border Deaths Database which “maintains a record of all known deaths associated with Australia’s borders since 1 January 2000”. Deaths include those who perish at sea attempting to reach Australian shores, those who have committed suicide within Australian detention centres and those who have died of natural causes within detention. The database is assembled from “official sources, media reports and lists of deaths collated by non-governmental organizations”. It is one of the most comprehensive, independent databases.
Between 2000 and 2007 (the period which includes the introduction of the “Pacific Solution” for asylum seekers travelling by boat under the Coalition government), the database documents 746 reported deaths of asylum seekers. Of those, 363 asylum seekers died at sea while on their way to Australia. As well, 350 were presumed dead (their status is missing at sea with status unknown); 22 died in detention (the majority of those cases were suicide, but there were some deaths of natural causes); and 11 people were returned to Afghanistan and reportedly murdered for being “Australian spies”.
Between 2008 and July 2013 (under Labor), 877 asylum seekers have reportedly died. Of those, 15 committed suicide or died of natural causes in detention centres. So during this period, approximately 862 individuals died trying to reach Australia’s mainland to seek asylum.
During the 2000-2007 period of Coalition government, 363 died, with the status of additional 350 individuals unknown.
This is a tragedy that has occurred under both political parties, especially so since 90% of asylum seekers who arrive by boat have been found to be genuine refugees.
Verdict
The 1000 deaths of asylum seekers at sea figure regularly cited by politicians and the media is broadly correct. The best official figure is just under 900, but there is no doubt that deaths at sea have occurred and have not been recorded.
Review
Surprisingly, the government does not keep statistics on deaths related to claims for asylum in Australia as is noted in the article.
The article points to the best estimates we have outside official figures. On those figures to conclude that 1000 deaths is “broadly correct” when the best figure is 877 seems generous - it is more reasonable to round 877 up to 900.
Nonetheless, the inflation in the numbers in no way diminishes the tragedy of deaths occurring as a result of attempts to claim asylum in Australia. - Alex Reilly
The Conversation is fact checking political statements in the lead-up to this year’s federal election. Statements are checked by an academic with expertise in the area. A second academic expert reviews an anonymous copy of the article.Request a check at [email protected]. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible. |
Blair Cottrell: They will call you racists, bigots, they will put pressure on you, but in order to rise above it you need to not care. You need to put your fists up, be ready to fight, to stand up, defend the history of our great nation. [Applause, cheers]
Christine El-Khoury: A small but growing anti-Islamic movement has taken to the streets in rallies in cities and regional centres across Australia.
Blair Cottrell: You will see our movement grow. You will see us blossom, you will see us advance into the greatest upheaval this country has ever known. The only way to stop us now is to kill us, and good luck. [Applause, cheers]
Christine El-Khoury: The language is aggressive and war-like. It's as if they see Muslims and any sympathisers as an enemy in which there will be a fight to the death. And they don't understand why their views aren't mainstream.
Chris Shortis: Well, it's only controversial to those left-wing fucktards and all the sympathisers of Islam and all the treacherous dogs who are in office in our fucking country.
Christine El-Khoury: A number of new far-right groups have emerged, among them Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front. Both have ties to the Australian Defence League, an ultra-right-wing group known for its racist and anti-Islamic hate speech. They may gather under a different banner, but they all have one thing in common; they see Muslims and Islam as an evil ideology that must be overcome. Their supporters cloak themselves in the flag. Some are heavily tattooed, swastikas, angry men, some with criminal histories. It gives every appearance of being threatening and potentially violent. But according to Rise Up Australia president Daniel Nalliah, that image they present is not what he sees.
Daniel Nalliah: They are lovely young men. When I get into their hearts and start talking to them, sit down for a drink with them, have a meal with them, I see a different side to these boys. They are lovely Aussie boys who love their country.
Christine El-Khoury: These lovely Aussie boys are the members of the United Patriots Front, they're one of a number of far nationalist groups who have emerged this year. They want an end to Muslim migration and multiculturalism.
And they're on the police radar.
Neil Gaughan: I wouldn't say we have a profile, but, look, it's fairly clear that there probably is one. Fairly much young men in their mid 20s, appears to be young white men in their mid 20s from various backgrounds, some do come from military backgrounds there's no doubt about that.
Christine El-Khoury: Neil Gaughan is the head of counter-terrorism with the Australian Federal Police.
Neil Gaughan: It's probably men, young men particularly, looking for a purpose in life. It's no different to joining a motorcycle gang, or joining any type of other criminal enterprise. It's people that need some level of direction.
Christine El-Khoury: Hello, I'm Christine El-Khoury. On Background Briefing we're going inside the extremist right in Australia. Why are they flourishing and what threat do they pose?
Anne Aly: Last week the ADL posted on there, 'It's time for an eye for an eye', 'It's time to carry out lone-wolf attacks against mosques and Imams'. And some of the responses were like, yup, I'm ready, I'm ready to go, I'm ready to kill me a Muslim. Then they posted up 'Let's burn down mosques,' and people were posting up pictures of dynamite, yup, I need some more dynamite, I need this, I need that.
Christine El-Khoury: Anne Aly is a counter-terrorism expert with Curtin University. She says online chatter about violence is an early warning sign of things to come.
Since Malcolm Turnbull became Prime Minister there's been a marked change in the political rhetoric; gone is the 'us and them' of Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull has a new message:
Malcolm Turnbull: But I can say to you that the advice I have consistently from my parliamentary colleagues, from the security services, from the police services is that the Muslim community is our absolutely necessary partner in the battle against violent extremism, and that we have to work and we should work and we will work and we are working with the Muslim community to ensure that we can take on this scourge, which of course is as much a threat if not more so to the Muslim community than it is to the whole Australian community.
Christine El-Khoury: One of the leaders of the United Patriots Front is Chris Shortis. He regularly posts propaganda to his supporters, who he calls patriots. His involvement with Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front has brought him to the attention of police.
Chris Shortis: Because I am a gun owner, I have hand guns and rifles. This is the state of play. Because of my involvement with the Reclaim Australia rallies or through the UPF I did receive a snap inspection of my firearms a week ago. The two cops that come were cool. They saw everything, had a bit of a laugh and a good exchange. But the state of play is that licencing, the police commissioner, who is a liar anyway, and the government are keeping an eye on patriots who own guns. So make sure your storage is 100%, you keep your guns according to the Firearms Act. God bless you all.
Christine El-Khoury: The AFP's Neil Gaughan says the police can act to prevent violence.
Neil Gaughan: The terrorism laws as they're currently in form in this country, we don't actually need an act to take place, but we need a conspiracy. So we need a conspiracy to take an action and in effect we need some acts in preparation that would lead to that action taking place. Saying you're going to do something isn't a criminal offense, saying you're going to do something and then taking some step to procure a weapon or to do something else certainly is an offense.
Blair Cottrell: Are you a Bendigo local?
Crowd: Yes!
Blair Cottrell: Do you want a mosque in your community?
Crowd: No...bulldoze it!
Blair Cottrell: Do you want a mosque?
Crowd: No!
Christine El-Khoury: That's Blair Cottrell, the blonde haired body builder from Melbourne and the UPF's main man. At this rally in Bendigo in October the UPF had 350 supporters, many of them travelled from Melbourne and interstate to protest the construction of a new place of worship for Bendigo's Muslim community.
Blair Cottrell: With our weak and treasonous government, Islam could pose no threat. But at the end of the day you can either be a Muslim or an Australian. It must be either/or because the two do not co-relate and do not correspond.
Christine El-Khoury: The United Patriots Front or the UPF wouldn't talk to the ABC in Bendigo.
What's brought you to Bendigo today?
Neil Eriksen: To help the Bendigo residents stop the mosque. Because they don't want it here, the majority of them don't.
Man: ABC…
Neil Eriksen: Nah I can't, not ABC.
Man: Nah, you don't talk to ABC...no comment...no comment.
Christine El-Khoury: I just want to know how you're feeling about today.
Man: Oh no comment. I feel another no comment. You and me are going to be good friends with this no comment thing.
Christine El-Khoury: I wanted to ask the UPF's Blair Cottrell why he chose to decapitate a dummy at the front of the council chambers a week before the rally, and what he meant when he said he wanted to give the Muslim community a taste of British culture.
Blair Cottrell: It was a collective decision that we made and it was purely to draw attention to ourselves to increase our rally numbers so that people would come here and hear us speak. This is about all I've got to say thanks, I appreciate your time, thanks.
UPF mock beheading excerpt: We're just going to give you a taste of our own British culture. Carry on brother...
Christine El-Khoury: Chanting 'Allahu Akbar' or 'God is great', five men, some dressed in a male Islamic headdress, take a large knife and cut the head off the dummy. They spill fake blood on the ground and throw the head around before descending into laughter.
Amongst the crowd at the rally is Rod. He's lived in Bendigo for 30 years. He thinks Muslims are a threat to the Australian way of life
Rod: I've just had a gutful. I'm sick of people telling what's good for me when I know what's good for me. It will attract more Muslims and when you get Muslims in numbers you get unrest. Western culture and Muslim culture don't mix, it's oil and water. Bendigo is such a small town, it's a very dangerous social experiment, what the Bendigo council has done, approving this big huge mosque.
Christine El-Khoury: Rod doesn't know much about the UPF. He's worried they might be neo-Nazis but turned up anyway.
And what did you make of the United Patriots Front, they were here last weekend and staged the fake beheading, what did you make of that?
Rod: It doesn't help the cause. I think…I just asked them straight out are they Nazis or are they neo-Nazis or whatever is the term is, and the fellow that I spoke to said no, we're definitely not, no. Look I'll side with anyone who is against Islam just about I think.
Christine El-Khoury: The UPF circulated a leaflet targeting Bendigo Mayor Peter Cox, who supports the mosque development. The red leaflet showed a picture of the Mayor beside a bearded Muslim man holding a gun.
Peter Cox: What concerns me is that the Patriotic Front are using Bendigo as a focal point and then they abuse or defame characters like myself in Bendigo so that they can recruit new members to their way of thinking. Now, that's of real concern. You've only need to look at the Patriotic Front's Facebook website and see the YouTube videos they produce and it's just full of lies, misinformation. So they're not arguing the case on authentic grounds.
Christine El-Khoury: A week before the rally, 15-year-old Muslim school boy Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar shot dead NSW police employee Curtis Cheng in Sydney. The police believe Farhad was radicalised by older men who gave him the gun at a mosque.
Mayor Cox knows this is playing on people's minds.
Peter Cox: They're trying to promote fear, and I can understand some people, they already have a bit of fear. They sit on their couches and watch the news every night, and I guess when you see the terrorist acts that are happening overseas it is a bit of worrying time. But I really can't comprehend how people can associate the building of a mosque and having that terrorism in Bendigo in years to come.
Christine El-Khoury: Other than a small prayer room at the local university, Bendigo's 300 Muslim residents don't have a place to pray. Many of Bendigo's Muslim community are health workers, who have moved to the regional town to address a shortage of medical staff.
Peter Cox: 15 or so years ago we had a shortage of doctors, and about 25 Muslim doctors have come to live in Bendigo to provide their professional services, and I guess what some of the objectors are saying is that we welcome those people, but they can leave their religion, their culture, back in their own countries. Well, that's not what the Australian constitution says. It says they can practice their belief systems.
Christine El-Khoury: But for some at today's rally, there's only room for one religion in Australia: Christianity.
Matthew Grant: Yeah, I'm a bit of a bible thumper. Effectively I'm a really fervent Christian man.
Christine El-Khoury: That's 19-year-old Matthew Grant or Father Grant to his friends. He finished school last year, is working as a security guard and lives with his grandparents. He travelled eight hours to speak at the Bendigo rally. The UPF were so impressed with a speech Matthew gave at a Reclaim Australia event in his home town of Canberra they invited him to Bendigo. Amongst the shaved heads, tattoos and men in black, Matthew stands out from the crowd. He's wearing a brown jacket, shirt and red tie that gives him a maturity beyond his teenage years. Matthew wants the crowd gathered before him to take him seriously.
Matthew Grant: In the way I dress, it's because I'm a cultural traditionalist. I don't agree with the kind of decadent, morally depraved clothing a lot of people wear these days. Effectively, when I am wearing something that looks a bit more traditional or professional, I'm giving across more of a message that I've thought things through. I'm not just there angry at the muzzies taking over the streets or anything like that. I've got a background in philosophy and things of that nature, and that's what the UPF asked me to do. They wanted a more intellectual viewpoint and that's why they brought me down because that's what I could provide.
Christine El-Khoury: Matthew is a white nationalist, a philosophy he stumbled upon when he was 17 and spending a lot of time at the National Library. It's where he learnt about his political heroes—Arthur Calwell and Charles H Pearson—both fierce advocates of the White Australia Policy. He believes the threat of terrorism is helping Australians see things his way.
Matthew Grant: The Islamic problem what you might call it, has infuriated so many just everyday Australians, just average Australians, and they start questioning, 'Why would we invite Muslims into the country if that slightly, even slightly increases the risk of terrorism, why take that risk?' Then when they start thinking about immigration, it really opens their eyes to the reality that our country is being quite thoroughly overwhelmed with non-European immigrants. Whether they're good immigrants or bad immigrants is not of any consequence, it's the fact that our communities are being diluted and destroyed by this action of mass immigration.
Christine El-Khoury: Matthew is a proud racist. In his mind, multiculturalism just doesn't work and he's not afraid to say it.
Matthew Grant: There's this great disease out there. They call it political correctness. Because if you're going to go out there and say you're a nationalist and you oppose all mass immigration from non-European countries, that's extremely racist quite evidently, which is socially frowned upon at this current day, which means it takes courage to say it. If you're a racist, there's a horde of communists out there that will track down your employer and try and make you lose your job.
Christine El-Khoury: The anti-Islam movement has seen thousands spill onto the streets since April this year across the country. It was sparked by the Lindt Cafe Siege in Sydney's Martin Place last December. Over 16 hours, self-styled sheik Man Haron Monis held 17 people hostage. By the end of the siege, two were dead and so was Monis. It gave rise to TV commentary such as this from Channel 7's Mike Amor:
Mike Amor: Sadly, it's a wake-up call to Australians that they are now as much under threat as anybody in the world, that this is now happening in the centre of Sydney, just like it happened on the streets of New York and other cities around the world.
Andy Fleming: If you look at the kinds of statements that are being made by people who are associated with or involved in Reclaim Australia, the Lindt Café siege is a key moment. Many people are responding to that event. They understand it to be an indication that Islam is a poisonous ideology and a murderous one, and a stand needs to be taken against it.
Christine El-Khoury: That's Andy Fleming…well, sort of. It's a pseudonym to protect his real identity. For ten years, Andy Fleming, who is an activist, has been disrupting far-right groups through his blog and by organising counter-rallies. They've tried to hunt him down and he fears for his safety. He says these groups like the violent street movement the Australian Defence League, have been mobilising for several years without success, until now.
Andy Fleming: What's remarkable about Reclaim is, especially on the April 4 demonstrations, is that they attracted thousands that were part of an online network of concern, and what's happened is that online network is now beginning to shift into a movement that takes to the streets.
Christine El-Khoury: The online world is where it's at for extremist groups. Once upon a time, the far-right would have been printing leaflets and scrambling to get enough people together for a rally. But the rise of social media has enabled them to narrowcast their views and reach thousands of like-minded individuals in Australia and overseas. The internet has given extremists a platform in which to build a sense of community outside of the real world, where hate can flourish with little risk of reprisal.
Andre Oboler: We've seen, for example, a number of cases where an individual from the Muslim community has their photograph put up on one of these hate groups. They have their name, their address, other details published, and a vague comment, 'Someone should do something about this person.' Sometimes it makes a suggestion, saying, 'This person supports ISIS,' or something to that effect.
And it's this environment where online vigilantes can try and first identify a person, what we call doxing them, putting their information out there publicly. If enough people see it and decide this person should be targeted, the worst could happen. Now, the people they're targeting are just random members of society usually, there's no real reason for targeting that individual other than that they found a Muslim person, they found their details and they said, 'Let's target them.' We've seen that happening.
We've also seen when women engage in trying to counter this, we've seen threats of rape. We've seen one case where someone threatened to come and slit someone's throat and the throats of their children. It gets really, really nasty.
Christine El-Khoury: Dr Andre Oboler is the CEO of the Online Hate Prevention Institute, a charity that tracks, reports and tries to take down hate speech found online. For the last two years the charity has run a campaign targeting Muslim hate because he says it's been growing.
Andre Oboler: When we were looking at it at the end of 2013, we had groups like Petition to Ban Halal Products in Australia that had 1,200 people, Petition to Ban the Burqa had 1,500. We had other groups where they were getting up to the 2,000s, 4,000s. That's the range. The largest groups which were not Australian were in the order of 30,000 or so. But those groups would be considered small compared to what we're seeing online today. A lot of the Australian groups are already up to the 8,000, 10,000, 20,000 size. We've seen an online presence where people have joined and gathered towards, and part of that is because they've heard of these groups through the mainstream media as well.
Christine El-Khoury: Dr Oboler also consults for a range of Jewish groups to monitor anti-Semitism online. He says many of those who espouse anti-Semitic hate have now turned on Muslims.
Andre Oboler: A lot of the groups and people that are attacking the Muslim community now have previously attacked the Jewish community, so there's certainly a link there. But also a lot of the messages we're seeing are very similar to what we've seen with the anti-Semitic messages, the dehumanisation messages we're seeing, the idea that people don't fit it, that they're a threat. That's the sort of thing which we've got decades worth of experience against the Jewish community. And it's all there, you can match them side by side and see where this comes and where it's going. It's quite concerning to see.
Christine El-Khoury: But in the real world where fascism is still frowned upon, far-right groups are disguising their neo-Nazi beliefs beneath a cloak of Australian patriotism, often wrapped in the national flag.
Andy Fleming again:
Andy Fleming: Post Second World War there's been a series of iterations of Nazi politics. None of them have won any particular success. It was only I think with the emergence of a group like the Australian Nationalist Movement in the 1980s in Perth and National Action in Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide also in the 1980s that there's been a kind of shift away from the waving the Swastika flag to waving the Eureka flag or the Australian flag. There's been a kind of accommodation to the political reality in Australia which is that anyone who is viewed as or understood as espousing Nazi politics is marginalised. So for example if you look at Reclaim Australia and the UPF, there has been neo-Nazi involvement in those groups and those events, but generally speaking there is an understanding also that those Nazi politics can't be presented fully to the public.
Christine El-Khoury: ASIO and the Australian Federal Police are monitoring all forms of extremism, according to the Neil Gaughan, including members of protest groups, it's just not as obvious as the large-scale counter-terror raids that occurred in Sydney and Brisbane in September last year where footage was released to the media.
Neil Gaughan: It's very simple to see that there's action taken in relation to Islamic extremism because of the fact that there has been a series of counterterrorism raids in this country over the last 14 months. It's not as easy for me to explain the fact that we're keeping an eye on groups on right and left wing of the terrorism spectrum unless I actually show some level of overt action. I've spoken a lot about this to the Islamic community, about the fact that we keep an eye on it. You know, my guys have been tasked to look quite heavily at some of the language that's been used by some of these groups, to the extent that we're sought advice from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions about whether they've reached the criminal threshold. They haven't, but we'll continue to do that.
Christine El-Khoury: Since the attacks in Paris, there's been no change to Australia's National Terrorism Public Alert Level which shifted from medium to high days before the counter-terror raids. The Director-General of ASIO told ABC's 7.30 last week, he cannot guarantee that Australia will not experience terrorist attacks on home soil in the future.
The AFP's Neil Gaughan says the public and the media need to be realistic about terrorism.
Neil Gaughan: We've got to be realistic when we talk about terrorism threat in this country. The same week that we did those raids in Sydney or one series of raids in Sydney there were three domestic homicides here in the ACT. So three women lost their lives and no one in the particular raids was killed. We've got to get the proportion right. Now understand, the randomness of terrorism is what makes people fear it. There's more chance of people being eaten by a shark than there is of being a victim of a terrorism attack, and the statistics say that.
Christine El-Khoury: But fear of Muslims runs deep and has prompted the launch of a new political party inspired by the anti-Islamic Dutch MP Geert Wilders. The secretive anti-Islam lobby group, the Q Society, has just launched the Australian Liberty Alliance.
Intro to Debbie Robinson: And it is with the greatest of pleasures that I introduce you now to the senate candidate for Western Australia, the president of the Australian Liberty Alliance, Mrs Debbie 'Braveheart' Robinson!
Debbie Robinson: I would just like to thank…my stiletto is stuck in the stage…that's better [laughs]…
Christine El-Khoury: Debbie Robinson is vying for a Senate seat in Western Australia. The ALA attracted headlines by bringing Geert Wilders to Australia.
Debbie Robinson: I would just like to thank Geert for coming here, you're an inspiration. You inspired me to get out there, and…
Christine El-Khoury: Geert Wilders was a special guest at the launch. He came to Australia two years ago but no venue would host him.
Debbie Robinson: Since that last time you were coming and you couldn't speak, I've been so mad about that, so mad. And when someone tries to stop me doing something, I will fight. So we'll never stop, don't you worry, this party will forge ahead.
Christine El-Khoury: Background Briefing was refused permission to attend the launch, as were many other journalists. But later the ALA released an edited version of his speech.
Geert Wilders: And as you know, some have tried to discourage us. They protested against my presence here, should they grant me a visa or not. They made it hard for you to find a venue for this event. But they have not succeeded. The people are saying enough is enough, let us reclaim our country. Stop the mass immigration from Islamic countries. No more. We say no more to the governments and to the Islamisation process.
Christine El-Khoury: Geert Wilders was an inspiration for Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Breivik who cited him 30 times in the manifesto he released hours before going on a shooting rampage. The right-wing extremist set off a bomb in Oslo killing eight people, before gunning down 69 others at a left-wing youth camp.
Anne Aly worries about the influence Wilders might have on public debate in Australia.
Anne Aly: I think it was a little bit disappointing that he was allowed into the country, particularly given his influence on Anders Breivik who committed Norway's largest terrorist attack, who had a very, very strong anti-Islamic agenda and who was very much inspired by Geert Wilders, among others.
So we'll come out and have a knee-jerk reaction and say Chris Brown isn't allowed into the country because of his stance on domestic violence, but we'll allow Geert Wilders to come to Australia, and all very good and well under freedom of speech, but we should also be warned that his freedom of speech did, in fact, inspire one of the world's worst terrorist attacks.
Christine El-Khoury: Anne Aly says the rise in right-wing extremism has escalated since 9/11.
Anne Aly: Well, I think if you look at the way that the discourse on national security and terrorism has evolved since 9/11, you know, after the Bali bombings, John Howard said, 'Why do they do this? They do this because they hate us. Not because of anything that we've done, but because of who we are. Because they hate us.' Several years later, Tony Abbott repeated that mantra and he said, 'They hate us, that's why they do this. They hate us. It's not because of what we do, it's because of who we are. They hate us. They hate us because we're good.'
Christine El-Khoury: She says this has divided the Australian community into two camps; us and them.
Anne Aly: That kind of rhetoric, that kind of framing terrorism and national security as this battle of good and evil immediately creates sides. The way that this discourse developed was the 'them', the 'other' was inevitably going to be Muslim communities in Australia and anyone who is different in Australia, anyone who doesn't agree, because if you don't agree with us, then you must be one of them.
Christine El-Khoury: And this creates fear.
Anne Aly: If somebody hates you, what can you possibly do about it? If somebody hates you, not because of anything you do, but because of who you are, what can you possibly do about it? There is nothing you can do about it. And if there's nothing you can do about it, the only thing that you can do is really fear their reprisal, fear their violence.
Christine El-Khoury: Someone who knows how extremism works is 32-year-old father of two, James Fry. In the 1990s as a troubled and vulnerable 13-year-old, James was lured into a neo-Nazi group.
James Fry: I guess violence is probably an undercurrent that runs through it. Just through the terms of the language of the ideology, in the fact that it's framed in a very confrontational and war-like manner, it's very much an 'us versus them', 'good versus evil', and a sense of urgency kind of permeates through it all. With that constant belief that you're under threat, the violence I guess can come out in the language itself to begin with, although when it starts with the language, it then becomes very easy to justify physical violence.
Christine El-Khoury: During this time in his life, a period in which Sydney was experiencing an influx of Asian migration, James says he did things he still regrets.
James Fry: Yeah absolutely. I remember one occasion, I was walking through a railway station underpass and it was probably about 6 o'clock at night and I'd been drinking all afternoon and people were getting off the train. Looking back, it would have been two young men of an Asian background walking through that underpass, and one of them brushed up against me as I walked past. I was sure at the time that they did that deliberately and I just started beating into them. And because I was so caught up in this ideology that they were wrong and I was right, I had become the one who was actually the threat to society, and I had become really an animal in many ways.
Christine El-Khoury: In hindsight, James believes the situation could have been much worse.
James Fry: I'm incredibly grateful that those incidents were quite isolated because really, had I had access to firearms, had I perhaps lived in an area where more violence was encouraged or the ideology I'd aligned myself with had access to more means of violence, there's nothing to say that it wouldn't have just been two gentlemen in a railway station. It could have been a group of people. It could have involved murder, even.
Christine El-Khoury: Mariam Veiszadeh is a Muslim community advocate based in Sydney. Since the counter-terror raids in September last year, she's been tracking Islamophobia in the community.
Mariam Veiszadeh: What we're finding now, looking back on almost 12 months' worth of data, is that there is a correlation (from what we can see from preliminary findings) between what's playing out in the media and government rhetoric in the incidents that then come through in terms of how that then translates to people out on the streets who happen to be Muslim, or look Muslim for that matter, and how they're treated, and some of the reports that have come through since then.
Christine El-Khoury: Mariam has experienced first-hand how violence in the online world can become a frightening reality. She's received death threats and been under police guard, had her work details published online and received verbal abuse so bad the police have pressed charges. Some of the abuse has been linked to the Australian Defence League and supporters of Reclaim Australia.
Mariam Veiszadeh: The first time you get a death threat, you really freak out, and then after a while, you're just like, 'Oh dear, okay, all right, well, I know what to do.' I think the main thing is the rational version of me was like, okay, well, hopefully these guys are keyboard warriors.
Christine El-Khoury: Then it got real.
Mariam Veiszadeh: When some of the physical things happen, when someone actually bothered to send me bacon in the mail, then you start to realise, okay, maybe they are not just keyboard warriors. Clearly they have way too much time on their hands and they're willing to send a message by doing something like that, and having your accounts hacked and things like that, you then start to realise, okay, these guys mean business. So you just step up your security and take necessary precautions. To this day, I still do that.
Christine El-Khoury: And it's taken a big toll on her personally. She suffers from severe anxiety.
Mariam Veiszadeh: I have grown up in this beautiful country and I have been given wonderful opportunities that I know that I couldn't dream of if my parents made the difficult decision of not fleeing Afghanistan when they did. So I am eternally grateful for everything that I have been given, and the opportunities that I have been afforded, but when things like this happen and they just seem to be constant, and you're constantly weathering the storm and you just think when is this going to stop, it just makes it hard because some days you really don't want to get out of bed.
Christine El-Khoury: Mariam believes the level of anti-Islamic sentiment in the community is worse than ever.
Mariam Veiszadeh: Ultimately that's the impact that it's having, that you feel that your very identity is constantly being criticised, ridiculed and challenged. It's really exhausting, and for Muslim women in particular like myself who are visible, it feels almost worse than post 9/11, just sometimes the pressure that you feel when you are out in public.
Christine El-Khoury: Islamophobia has reached new heights across the western world, according to Kevin Dunn from Western Sydney University.
Kevin Dunn: I know there were people critical of Tony Abbott and that he may have…some people talk about dog whistle politics around Islamophobia and there may have been some of that but nothing compared to what we've seen some western politicians do elsewhere in the world.
Christine El-Khoury: Kevin Dunn believes overall Australia is not racist.
Kevin Dunn: When we look at things like the experience of racism and instances of intercommunal relations harm and especially widespread public disorder, we do very well compared to the rest of the world.
Christine El-Khoury: But he says there are worrying trends.
Kevin Dunn: Too many Australians, for instance, have what we could call Islamophobic attitudes. Far in excess of those people who were implacably opposed to diversity, which is only about 6% or 7%, but the number of people who have some anxiety about the Muslim presence in Australia gets closer to 46%. That's a big variation. So a lot of ordinary Australians who otherwise like diversity and difference have these concerns about Islam and Muslims, and so these organised racist groups, and I'll call them that, are attempting to politically leverage and benefit from that.
Christine El-Khoury: And do you think they could have much success?
Kevin Dunn: Well, there's a negative and a positive response to that. On the negative side, if we're being despondent, we could point to Western Europe where groups like them have had electoral success and it has been bad for community relations in those nations. So that's on the negative side. On the positive side, what we said about the success of multiculturalism makes it very difficult for those groups. They are reminded constantly that they are a minority politically, that their views are deviant in terms of the overwhelming view of the Australian public. So there's reasons to be both hopeful and despondent.
Christine El-Khoury: Also hopeful is Liberal Party pollster, Mark Textor. He thinks Islamophobia doesn't exist in Australia.
Mark Textor: I think that's complete fantasy. I'm not even quite sure what that means. Look, there are a significant number of Australians who are worried about social cohesion, but they're worried about the outcome, they're not anti-Islam, they're not anti-Muslim. They're obviously worried about radicalisation of some Islamic youth, they're worried about…obviously the caliphate potentially forming across the Middle East, but they tend to be strategic concerns about peace and prosperity, not about hatred of a particular faith.
Christine El-Khoury: For years Mark Textor helped craft the Howard government's hardline language towards asylum seekers. He thinks the media shouldn't pay too much attention to the Reclaim Australia movement.
Mark Textor: For good or for bad, these maddies in the far right, my radical brethren, don't represent either my faith or your faith, and the Reclaim Australia don't represent every traditional Anglo-Saxon person either. So we've just got to keep that in mind and realise that we need to re-normalise the conversation.
Christine El-Khoury: Anne Aly says we need to start taking right-wing extremism more seriously or we could see jihadi style violence perpetrated by neo-Nazis.
Anne Aly: I think it's very hard when you have had years, decades, of discourse where the 'other', the enemy is somebody other than you, other than 'us', to have that mirror turned around and to think maybe that there's elements of us that maybe we need to be working on as well. This also explains the reason, for me, why certain parts of Muslim communities become very defensive about violent extremism as well and about the issues within Muslim communities. It's hard to turn the mirror on yourself and be introspective. I think that's part of it. But I do think that we have been very dismissive of it and that we need to be more aware and more vigilant that this doesn't threaten Australia's harmony and the social cohesion that we have, and that it doesn't become something to the scale of the violent jihadism, because it could very well.
Christine El-Khoury: Background Briefing's coordinating producer is Linda McGinness, research by Anna Whitfeld, technical production this week by Andrei Shabunov, and the executive producer is Wendy Carlisle. I'm Christine El-Khoury. And you can listen to Background Briefing any time on the ABC radio app. See you next time. |
By MetroNews in WVU Sports | May 09, 2014 at 5:00PM
Ben Queen/MetroNews photo Mountaineer guard Terry Henderson (right) joins Eron Harris (left) and is transferring out of the Mountaineer basketball program.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU announced on Friday that junior guard Terry Henderson has asked for his release and plans to transfer out of the program.
“We have enjoyed Terry and his contributions to Mountaineer basketball,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said in a release. “We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Henderson’s departure is the second high-profile transfer for the Mountaineers this offseason following the loss of Eron Harris.
Henderson averaged 11.7 points per game this past season with West Virginia and would have been a key returning piece heading into the 2014-2015 year. |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consensus may be hard to find in Washington these days, but many corporate executives and economists seem to agree on one point: the biggest risk to the world’s largest economy may be its own elected representatives.
Down-to-the-wire budget and debt crises, indiscriminate spending cuts and a 16-day government shutdown may not be enough to push the U.S. economy back into recession.
But Washington’s policy blunders in recent years have significantly slowed economic growth and kept roughly 2 million people out of work, according to recent estimates.
Steep spending cuts are a big reason. But the governance-by-crisis also may be prompting businesses to sit on their cash rather than building new factories, buying more equipment and hiring more workers, some economists say.
“Increasingly I’m of the view that the reason why our economy can’t kick into a higher gear is because of the uncertainty created by Washington,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
Congress on Wednesday voted to re-open the government and extend its borrowing authority through February of next year. But the deal did nothing to resolve the underlying disputes that led to the crisis in the first place - leading many to fear that the standoff may play out again in a few months. The plan sets up a forum to try to forge a more permanent budget deal, but few expect it to succeed.
“We have crisis after crisis after crisis and it has a corrosive impact on the economy,” said Greg Valliere, an analyst with Potomac Research Group. “If you’re a business, how do you make plans in this environment?”
Leading chief executives agree.
“Most CEOs I speak to in the United States say they’re seeing a slowdown in business because of this,” said Laurence Fink, the CEO of giant asset manager BlackRock Inc, in an interview on Wednesday. “I was on a conference call with many of them, and I heard across the board, a slowdown from the American consumer because of this narrative, so it’s having an impact on our economy already - and it’s going to have an impact on job creation at a time when we need more job creation.”
Not all economists agree that the political circus in Washington is hurting the economy in a measurable sense. While worries over the debt ceiling have pushed up the government’s borrowing costs over the past week, those increases are minimal, and the S&P 500 stock index remains near its all-time high.
SLOW RECOVERY
But the pace of recovery since the 2008-2009 recession has been unusually slow.
While America’s total economic output is now higher than it was before the recession, the level of private investment remains lower than it was in 2007. Employers also continue to hire workers at a slower pace than before the recession.
Since the financial crisis eased, Washington has sent out one jolt after another. Democrats passed sweeping reforms of the healthcare system and the financial sector in 2010 which, whatever their merits, imposed wrenching changes on two pillars of the United States’ post-industrial economy.
Public unease with the healthcare law helped Republicans win control of the House of Representatives in 2010, ushering in an era of divided government that has led to repeated standoffs over taxes and spending. A near-shutdown in April 2011 led to the debt-ceiling impasse in July and August of that year, which took the country to the edge of default and prompted the country’s first-ever debt downgrade.
Like this most recent crisis, Congress averted disaster at the last possible moment. But the brinkmanship pushed consumer confidence to rock-bottom levels, where it remained for months. The S&P 500 tumbled 17 percent and took more than six months to recover its gains.
That debt-ceiling deal called for steep cuts to national defense, highway construction, scientific research and other forms of discretionary spending that Congress must approve annually.
Another budget deal, reached in January of this year after another round of brinkmanship, included tax increases to help narrow budget deficits further.
Neither of those deals addressed the health and retirement spending that poses the greatest threat to the country’s long-term fiscal health. A failure to cut back these programs or find savings elsewhere prompted a round of deliberately disruptive across-the-board spending cuts - the so-called “sequester” - to take effect in March.
Along with an improving economy, those steps helped U.S. budget deficits fall from 8.7 percent of GDP in the 2011 fiscal year to an anticipated 3.9 percent of GDP for the fiscal year that ended on September 30.
But this has all come at a steep cost.
JOBS NOT CREATED
In a report released on Monday, Macroeconomic Advisers estimated that 1.2 million more Americans would be working today if Congress had kept discretionary spending at the levels that were in place in 2010.
The forecasting firm estimated that Washington’s erratic behavior had also driven up unemployment by a further 900,000 jobs.
Zandi estimates the fiscal austerity has cost 2.25 million jobs. Without those measures, the unemployment rate would stand at 6.3 percent now rather than 7.7 percent, he says.
Even many of those who disagree with the notion that policy uncertainty has hurt the economy agree that the spending cuts and tax increases should have been phased in more gradually.
“Fiscal consolidation has been a big drag on the economy,” said Paul Ashworth, an economist with Capital Economics.
The International Monetary Fund called the United States’ deficit-reduction efforts “excessively rapid and ill-designed” in June and said the sequester cuts would nearly halve U.S. economic growth this year.
Meanwhile, Congress has punted on other important legislation like immigration reform that could boost the economy.
Construction firms have seen federal work plummet over the past several years. With the government shut down, they have been unable to use the federal E-Verify system to check workers’ immigration status or get permits to build in environmentally sensitive areas, said Ken Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America.
The delays could be more than an inconvenience for builders trying to line up financing for a new project, he said.
“You never know when the market’s going to turn and ... for some reason you may have missed the boat,” he said.
There’s more turbulence on the horizon. Simonson said lawmakers may not have the stomach to avoid further cuts on transportation spending when they take up the issue next year.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives depart after a late-night vote on fiscal legislation to end the government shutdown, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, October 16, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Though Washington may be responsible for lackluster business on Main Street, it may not have much of an impact on Wall Street.
Many economists had expected the Federal Reserve to begin scaling back its massive monetary stimulus program last month. The chaos in Congress means it now probably won’t begin pulling back its bond purchases until next year.
“I think the markets are beginning to learn how to live with Washington dysfunction,” said Valliere. |
Developers can use flags for many different things, but today the use-case we're going to discuss is all about protecting your data. Imagine a very real scenario in which you want to be able to protect a variable in certain situations. In this quick tutorial, we'll talk about a use-case in JavaScript where we want to retain the data inside a div that we replaced. Let's take a look.
The problem
Grey Elerson is working on a pretty cool project. I realize this isn't much to run on, but I don't want to give away too much more information than that. Within this project, he has attached comments to an object and wanted to have a hover effect on each comment. But a problem came with the hover command in jQuery; the mouseenter event would fire twice before firing the exit event.
His original code looked like this:
$ ( ' div.comment ' ). hover ( function () { var high = $ ( this ). height (); var wide = $ ( this ). width (); comment_html = $ ( this ). html (); console.log(comment_html); var hoverstring = "<div style='height: "+high+"px ; width: "+wide+"px ;'><p style='font-size: 30px; color: #efefef; text-align: center;position: relative; top: 50%;transform: translateY(-50%); opacity: 0.5;'>Reply</p></div>"; $(this).html(hoverstring).css("background", "#444"); console.log("mouse in"); }, function(){ $(this).css("background", "#efefef").html(comment_html); console.log("mouse out"); } );
As you can see, Grey was calling an event on hover to replace the div's contents with a "reply to this comment" message. A very simple idea, but one that was breaking. When he hovered on the item it sometimes fired the hover event twice right in a row. Since his original comment HTML was not protected, he just overwrote it with the new HTML. This meant that when he stopped hovering on the comment, the reply message still showed.
In order to fix this we need to protect the original comment.
The solution
You can go over several solutions to this problem, but you'll quickly find that many are just complex and bloated. These might include a JSON array with the original comment HTML stored, but this involves loops and lots of data being generated. In a situation like this, you also need to decide if the solution needs to be on the server side or the client side.
Thankfully, the solution we decided on addressed the initial problem (of the double-firing of the mouseenter event and no protection).
Here's the solution broken down.
var comment_html;
var commentflag = false;
var comment_id;
Take a close look, because what's happening in these three lines is very important:
We create a comment_html variable to hold the original div contents.
We create a flag called commentflag. This is just a boolean variable that will tell us if we have a comment stored (true) or not (false). We start off with a value of false because we don't have a comment stored when we start the page.
We create a comment id variable. This will hold the name of the comment we're protecting. We want to store the id of the comment before we set the commentflag to true.
Next I changed up the jQuery even to an on event. This is a personal style preference and I believe it creates better code readability.
$ ( ' div.comment ' ). on ( " mouseenter " , function (){ if ( ! commentflag) { comment_html = $ ( this ). html (); console . log (comment_html); var hoverstring = " <div style='height: 100%; width: 100%;'><p style='font-size: 30px; color: #efefef; text-align: center;position: relative; top: 50%;transform: translateY(-50%); opacity: 0.5;'>Reply</p></div> " ; $ ( this ). html (hoverstring). css ( " background " , " #444 " ); console . log ( " mouse in " ); comment_id = $ ( this ). attr ( ' id ' ); commentflag = true ; } else { // Do nothing because we have a comment saved... } });
Let's break down this code block too:
We use an if statement to check if we have a comment that is protected. When the if statement evaluates to true (AKA commentflag == false), then we do not have a comment stored.
Once we are inside the if statement we can go ahead and store this comment.
Logout this for debug purposes.
Save the hoverstring (the contents to override this div's html).
Replace the html in this div.
Set comment_id equal to this div's id attribute. This helps us remember what comment is stored.
Finally, protect this comment with a commentflag = true.
To sum it up, this code will follow the logic of: Do I have a comment protected? If yes, do nothing because you don't want to hurt the protected comment. If no, go ahead and start the process for showing the "reply to comment" message and save the current contents to protect them.
If a mouseenter event is fired twice the first time, it will store the comment, and the second time it will do nothing. It can fire that mouseevent as much as it wants, and it will never hurt the protected comment.
OK, so now how do we handle the mouse out event? Easy, like this:
$ ( ' div.comment ' ). on ( " mouseleave " , function (){ if ( $ ( this ). attr ( ' id ' ) === comment_id) { $ ( this ). html (comment_html). css ( " background " , " #efefef " ); console . log ( " mouse out " ); commentflag = false ; } else { // do nothing because we don't like you... } });
As usual, let's break it down:
On the mouseleave event we want to start off with an if statement.
The if statement evaluates to true if the id of the div firing the mouseleave event is the same div that protected itself.
If it evaluates as true, we want to go ahead and restore the old HTML data, and set the commentflag back to false.
This logic ensures that if we're firing a mouseleave event from another div (than what the mouseenter event was called), then we don't accidentally overwrite the wrong div with the original content. This also sets the commentflag back to false allowing a new div to be hovered on.
If you're thinking that this is a simple fix, you're absolutely right. But don't brush it off for its ease, as sometimes the smartest solutions are those that we overlook. In my experience, this quick-fix has served me well, and I hope it does the same for you. |
What Your Band Needs To Know Before Going Pro
Every band dreams of making it to the big time. However, few musicians know what it really takes to move your passion of music to a career. These tips listed below will put you ahead of the curve. Get ready, it ain’t pretty.
Practice-
You must have band practice everyday for 8 to 10 hours. The first 6 hours should be spent in total silence, sitting in a circle and picturing what you will be playing. It is called simulation exercise. At no point should you talk. Picture yourself playing a sheading solo, smashing your guitar, spilling a beer all over your bass players pedal board, and dropping your pick. Imagining things before they happen will get you ready for when they happen in real life. The total silence will also prepare you for the hours of silence you will spend in the band van while on tour.
Fighting-
At some point, your band will fight while on tour. It might be about the last show when the bass player missed a cue or about the hot chick at the bar that you totally could have scored if your drummer didn’t come over and yell at you for not helping load the gear. You should know this is going to happen. Fights are inevitable, just ask my wife. When fights do occur, make sure to blow the littlest thing out of proportion and hold on to it for days. I still hate my drummer for once sneezing without covering his mouth; freaking hippies.
Money-
no matter what the bar says, expect to be paid slightly less than the agreed upon price. Did they say, $400 bucks, free drinks and 10 guest passes? What they really mean is, $400 minus the beer you drink and you don’t even have any guests. So, you will walk out with $300, a bar napkin with an ugly chick’s digits, and a pint glass your guitar player stashed in his guitar case. Always send two people to collect the money. There are two good reasons for this: First, two people will scare the owner to paying you correctly and 2nd; you can’t trust your bandmates to not pinch a little cash from the top. I mean, seriously, your bandmates are sketchy dudes!!! What kinda trust worthy human plays in a touring band? The answer, none.
Gear-
Do you have pro gear? You should have pro gear if you want to be pro. How do you expect to have pro tude without pro gear? My suggestion is to go to your local music store and ask for the pro gear section. After their laughter has stopped, be sure to pick up the nicest Squire guitar and proclaim your love for these great pieces of craftsmanship, laugh, put it down and then proceed to pay way to much for a road worn Fender.
Live Sound-
You will be playing some of the scummiest places known to humans. Beer soaked floors, toilets that haven’t been flushed since Nixon resigned, stages that are the size of pin heads and bartenders with less teeth than eyes. Given the high quality nature of these venues, don’t expect amazing sound. You’ll have to bring your own P.A. If a club says they have their own P.A., still bring yours. Their P.A. will consist of two broken mic stands, some crate P.A from the 70’s with two broken channels, a mic that smells worse than GG Allin, and speakers from a car stereo. Since great sound is what you are looking for, set up your P.A right before you are about to start. If you go on at 9PM, start to set it up at 8:57. At 9:45 when you have just finished running your last mic cable, proceed to do a sound check. The perfect thing to say into the mic “Testing, one two three.” After that say “testies, one two… three?” No one has ever heard this joke before and will know your band means business. After three hours of sound check, pack up and go get your money.
If you liked this artcile, try reading:
Things Every Guitar Player should know
How to kick out a bandmate
How To Get More Fans at Your Band's Next Show (more or less...) |
Rapper Future's appearance at the match between the Atlanta Falcons and the Seattle Seahawks has reignited the silent war between him and his ex Ciara, who is now married to Russell Wilson.
The Low Life rapper was rooting for the Falcons, which ultimately emerged as the winner in a match in the divisional round for the National Football League.
The music artist reportedly got carried away after the victory of his home team and sent Falcons jerseys to his three-year-old son with Ciara, Future Zahir. The singer allegedly plans to bring his son for the next playoff game and wants him to support the Falcons despite the fact that Future Jr's step-father, Wilson, plays for the Seahawks.
"Future loves his Falcons and was so impressed with Matt Ryan's performance that immediately after the game he sent several child size Ryan jerseys to Ciara and Russell's for his son to wear. He doesn't think it's being petty. He plans on bringing Future Jr. to the next playoff game and wants his son to support the Falcons and be part of the winning squad with a phenomenal quarterback as they make a run for the Super Bowl," the source told Hollywood Life.
"Like any dad, Future wants to bond with his kid and take him to ball games and what better way than to be on the sidelines at a Falcons game," the source concludes.
The 31-year-old singer, who is pregnant with Wilson's baby, was reportedly not thrilled to see her ex-beau cheering for her husband's opponents. And in true Ciara style, she subtly shrugged the entire controversy with a sweet family picture where she and the Seahawks quarterback are seen with their son. Ciara was also spotted wearing her husband's jersey number in the same picture.
"No Greater Blessing Than Having Family. We're Proud Of You @Dangerusswilson," she captioned the adorable image.
The Jackie album hitmaker, shared another post flaunting her baby bump alongside her son as both were seen smiling ear to ear. |
U.S. Border Patrol Scrutinized For Increasing Fatalities
Shooting deaths of foreign national is up along the Southwest border. The agency has been called to modify its use-of-lethal-force policy. But it has a culture of secrecy and lacks transparency.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
For people near the U.S. border with Mexico, the Border Patrol is part of life. You pass agents on the highway, or parked quietly by the border fence. Along with the security has come criticism for violence. In numerous incidents, agents are accused of shooting unarmed Mexicans, some of them said to be throwing rocks. The incidents are a sensitive subject for the agency. NPR's John Burnett learned just how sensitive.
JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE: The U.S. Border Patrol, with more than 21,000 agents, is the second-largest law enforcement agency in the United States, after New York City's. Working on the southwest border, often in remote back country, populated with bandits, smugglers and undocumented immigrants, the job presents unique challenges. A MORNING EDITION team witnessed the arrest of 18 migrants last month near Hidalgo, Texas for the Borderland series.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR CLOSING)
INSKEEP: One by one, the people were loaded into vans, and the agents loaded their belongings into plastic bags. Other agents continued searching the woods.
BURNETT: The Border Patrol says in recent years, conditions have gotten more dangerous here on the southern frontier, and violence against agents is on the rise. But fatalities caused by border officers have also increased sharply, prompting concern that the agency must improve its use-of-force policies and training. One recent independent review looked at 67 shooting incidents that resulted in 19 deaths between January 2010 and October 2012. The report, which was leaked to the Los Angeles Times, describes border officers shooting at moving vehicles and at rock throwers without sufficient provocation, and it criticized the agency's overall handling of officer-involved shootings. Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, has been a leading voice among 16 members of Congress calling for change.
SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ: Uniformity of what is the standard on the use of the force is incredibly important, because we see in some parts of the Border Patrol, where some kid on the other side of the border flings a rock and they get shot at, and another side of the border a kid flings a rock and, you know, nothing happens.
BURNETT: Responding to criticism, last month, the chief of the Border Patrol, Michael Fisher, released a directive reminding agents not to shoot at moving vehicles or rock throwers unless the agent believes his life is threatened. Many interpreted the directive as a significant change of policy. A typical headline in the L.A. Times read: "Border Patrol Restricts Agents' Use of Force." But officers don't interpret it that way, according to Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents 17,000 agents.
SHAWN MORAN: We didn't see anything new in the directive. Any changes to the use-of-force policy would have to be negotiated with the union, and since that never happened, we view this as just a reminder to agents of what the policy is.
BURNETT: In fact, the directive restates what's already in the policy handbook: officers may use deadly force only when necessary - that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person. During a visit earlier this month I made to the Border Patrol Academy in Artesia, New Mexico, training supervisor Brian Yarges said the circumstances of every confrontation are different.
BRIAN YARGES: All that is based on, as far as when they would draw a weapon and when they would use force, is based off of officer's perception, is based off of the threat that they are presented with, severity of the crime and the actions of the subject.
BURNETT: I went there to interview the director and his deputy about the academy's evolving use-of-force training, but neither was permitted to speak to me on the record. So, I asked Yarges to go a level deeper, to get more insight into what the academy teaches young trainees about when to use deadly force or when to use non-lethal force, such as pepper spray or batons. This is the exchange that ensued with the agency's public affairs person, who oversaw my visit.
What are the hierarchy of responses to rock throwers...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: We're not going to...
BURNETT: ...what is first action, second action or...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: ...discuss the hierarchy or - OK. That's it. That's it.
BURNETT: I was then escorted out of the Border Patrol training academy.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: That's it.
BURNETT: Transparency is another problem the Border Patrol needs to work on. Again, union Vice President Shawn Moran whose member-agents are part of the parent agency, CBP, Customs and Border Protection.
MORAN: You know, I sat on a panel last week, and I said that CBP has a legacy of secrecy. And I think that CBP can do a lot to alleviate the concerns by opening up the books and showing what is going on out there. And I think people would accept why agents had to use force if they knew more facts about these incidents.
BURNETT: Both the new Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske have pledged to make the agency more transparency. To that end, it made public a redacted copy of its use-of-force policy handbook. But they have much more work to do. An investigation by Homeland Security's inspector general urged the Border Patrol to better train agents in use of force and track citizen complaints better. Last year, the ACLU released its own list of 79 recommendations to bring Customs and Border Protection procedures more in line with the best practices of metro police departments. For instance, in most cities, when a police officer kills a citizen, a commander holds a press conference, the officer is named, he's often put on administration leave and the victim's family is updated on the progress of the investigation. When the Border Patrol kills someone, none of that happens. Chris Rickerd is policy counsel with the ACLU.
CHRIS RICKERD: CBP has its own responsibility to make clear what in the fatal and other use-of-force incidents it does in terms of putting officers on administrative leave and investigating and following up on these matters. That's a lot more transparent in urban police departments.
BURNETT: One of the special dangers faced by border agents that's different from a city cop is rock throwing. Mexicans throw projectiles from their side of the border at uniformed agents on the U.S. side, and the agents have to decide what to do - take cover, leave the area or use force. Since 2010, by the agency's count, officers have been assaulted with rocks 1,713 times. They have responded with deadly force 43 times, causing 10 deaths. One of the dead was Jose Antonio Elena. The 16-year-old high school student was shot and killed on a sidewalk in Nogales, Sonora by a border officer in October of 2012. The 911 caller describes an officer shooting from the Arizona side into Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Spanish spoken)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Spanish spoken)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Spanish spoken)
BURNETT: Federal agents were reportedly being pelted with rocks when at least one of them fired through the international fence and struck Jose Antonio, who, witnesses say, was not throwing rocks and was not armed. The Mexican autopsy report describes 10 bullet wounds - six of them in his back. Through a translator is his 64-year-old grandmother, Taide Elena.
TAIDE ALENA: (Through translator) Because Jose Antonio did not deserve to die in such a cruel way. He was a good boy. He had dreams. He had hopes, and he was waiting to turn 18 so that he could join the military. So, what I want, what I hope, is for justice: justice for Jose Antonio, and for those who are guilty of shedding his blood.
BURNETT: As of today, 17 months later, there has been no information on who the agent is, what administration action was taken or the status of the FBI investigation into the death of Jose Antonio Elena. John Burnett, NPR News.
INSKEEP: We invited Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher to talk about the agency's use of force, and we are working to schedule that interview. This is NPR News.
Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
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Scores of women say they were sexually assaulted and mugged by groups of men largely of Arab and north African appearance
German police are investigating reports that scores of women were sexually assaulted and mugged in Cologne city centre during New Year’s Eve celebrations, in what a minister called a “completely new dimension of crime”.
Authorities and media were accused of a cover-up linked to initial indications that, according to the police, those allegedly responsible for the sex attacks and numerous robberies were of Arab and north African origin.
Sixty complaints were filed to police, a third of which were linked to sexual assault. Cologne’s mayor, Henriette Reker, called an emergency meeting of high-ranking security officials on Tuesday, saying her aim was to ensure the city centre did not turn into a “lawless zone”.
Between 500 and 1,000 men described as drunk and aggressive are believed to have been behind the attacks on partygoers in the centre of the western German city. Whether they were working as a single group or in separate gangs remains unclear.
Women reported being tightly surrounded by groups of men who harassed and mugged them. Some people threw fireworks into the crowds, adding to the chaos.
“Sexual crimes took place on a huge scale,” said the police president, Wolfgang Albers. “The crimes were committed by a group of people who from appearance were largely from the north African or Arab world.”
He said one of the victims had been raped. A volunteer policewoman was among those said to have been sexually assaulted.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, called Reker to express her outrage, according to a statement from her office. She called for authorities to find the perpetrators as “quickly and comprehensively as possible and to punish them without regard to their origin or background.”
Officers are working on the assumption that the men had organised their plan of attack. They said many of the perpetrators were known to them and some may have been asylum seekers, though not new arrivals to Germany.
Similar attacks are believed to have taken place on a smaller scale in Hamburg’s red light district of St Pauli on New Year’s Eve, according to a police spokesman.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Cologne mayor Henriette Reker has held crisis talks over the New Year’s Eve incidents in the city. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters
In Cologne, police said the men appeared to have come from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and were on average in their mid-20s. They had gathered on the square in front of the main train station next to the city’s towering Gothic cathedral and smaller groups of men appeared to repeatedly leave the group to target female revellers, many of whom had arrived via train from the provinces around Cologne to celebrate the new year in the city.
Heiko Maas, Germany’s justice minister, condemned the attacks and called for better police protection in German cities. “The despicable attacks on women will not be tolerated. This is obviously a completely new dimension of organised crime,” he tweeted.
Barbara Steffens, the minister for emancipation in the North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) government, said the New Year’s Eve incident was “the tip of a very unpleasant iceberg”. She called for a “larger societal condemnation of a male abuse of power”.
The density of the crowds in Cologne meant that hundreds of police were deployed on Thursday night. Questions are being asked as to how they failed to realise until much later that crimes were taking place on such a large scale. Police say the full extent of the attacks only became clear in the following days as increasing numbers of victims began to come forward. It is believed that many women have yet to report assaults, and police appealed for people who had not already done so to come forward.
Arnold Plickert, head of the police trade union in NRW, told the Deutsche Presse Agentur that the incidents were “of a new quality … What we’ve been able to establish is that this is an organised method.”
He said questions needed to be asked as to “how it was possible that this thousand-strong group was able to come to Cologne and meet up there”.
Police in Hamburg said some aspects of the attackers’ methods were akin to those of skilled pickpockets operating in the city.
Officers of Operation New Year, set up to investigate the attacks, will examine CCTV footage from in and around the station in an effort to identify perpetrators. Reker said a discussion on installing further cameras would form part of her emergency talks.
One of the victims, identified only as Katja L, told the Kölner Express: “When we came out of the station, we were very surprised by the group we met, which was made up only of foreign men … We walked through the group of men, there was a tunnel through them, we walked through … I was groped everywhere. It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and hit them, they men didn’t stop. I was horrified and I think I was touched around 100 times over the 200 metres.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The attacks near Cologne station have been the main talking point on Twitter in Germany. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters
One investigator told the Kölner Express: “The female victims were so badly pushed about, they had heavy bruises on their breasts and behinds.”
Critics of Merkel’s open-door policy on refugees were quick to blame it for the attacks, despite the police’s insistence that the alleged perpetrators were not new arrivals.
One tweet attributed to a follower of Pegida, the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant protest group , stated: “Merkel … you’re an accessory to the abuse at Cologne.”
On Pegida’s Facebook page, a woman identifying herself as Angelina Southern got more than 500 likes for her comment: “I could puke when I read this, and there are still so many deluded idiots who say ‘Welcome refugees’ … Close the borders now. For God’s sake, Merkel belongs on the scaffold.”
The attacks have been the main talking point on Twitter in Germany, with some people accusing the media of a cover-up and others expressing their concern that the incident would be seized on by anti-refugee groups.
On New Year’s Eve worldwide attention had been focused on the southern German city of Munich where areas around the main station and another station outside the centre were closed after intelligence reports indicated that Islamic State supporters planned to launch attacks. It followed the cancellation of a football match in the northern city of Hanover in November after a French tipoff that Isis planned to target the stadium.
In October, Reker, was the victim of a vicious attack over her refugee-friendly policies when she was stabbed in the neck by a man during her campaign as an independent candidate for the mayorship.
Each subsequent incident has prompted an escalation in the fierce debate over whether Germany is making itself more vulnerable due to its refugee policy. |
“You’re in the great game now. And the great game is terrifying,” Tyrion, the newly appointed hand of the queen warns Daenerys Targaryen in the season 6 finale of “Game of Thrones” which saw the Mother of Dragons finally setting sail for Westeros.
That’s exactly where we can expect to pick up in the much anticipated season premiere for the seventh and penultimate season of the cultural phenomenon.
The great news when coming to making bold predictions about one of the most unpredictable television series in modern history is that last season’s finale wrapped up a whole bunch of hanging storylines in a great green flash of wildfire. Thanks Cersei!
Gone are most of the Tyrell family as well as the High Sparrow and of course King Tommen, an unintended consequence that has left Cersei and Jamie without any heirs.
'GAME OF THRONES' SEASON 7 PROMOTION STUNT PUTS WHITE WALKERS IN LONDON
Last season ended with Jamie Lannister riding back into the wreckage of Kings Landing to find his sister/lover sitting on the iron throne. Considering the Kingslayer’s history with monarch’s driven mad with threatening wildfire upon the kingdom, how he handles the news of Tommen’s death and Cersei’s new reign will be something to watch for in the season premiere as well (if a certain witch’s prediction holds any weight, he won’t handle it very well either).
When we left the Stark clan last season, they were on the threshold of a long awaited family reunion. Sansa and Jon Snow have retaken Winterfell, with the always scheming Littlefinger in their midst, to whom both are now indebted. Not a good place to be.
Both Bran and Arya are making their way back home but with very different purposes. Bran, having learned of Snow’s true lineage may hold the key to the entire show’s conclusion (as well as possibly being able to warg into a dragon or two). Arya’s path of vengeance always seems to take her down another winding path.
This is where the mystery of Robert Baratheon’s bastard still goes unsolved, the one that cost Ned Stark his head as it turns out. Poor Gendry is still rowing (expect a reunion between them sometime this season and perhaps more). Expect him to wash ashore this week or next.
Speaking of the wilds of Westeros -- Uncle Benjen -- is alive and dealing with a nasty case of frostbite. Don’t be surprised to see Snow lead another expedition in the hopes of finding dear Uncle.
Every season sees one big baddie. We’ve had Joffrey. Then Ramsay Bolton. The ire of fans in the second-to-last season will undoubtedly fall on Euron Greyjoy. As he attempts to track down his nephew Theon and niece Yara, who have aligned themselves with Daenerys, look for him to take up with Cersei in the season opener and expect some due carnage on their behalf.
'GAME OF THRONES' PREQUEL SERIES DETAILS REVEALED BY HBO EXEC
All of this soap-like drama surrounding The Iron Throne of course is punctuated by the fact that the White Walkers are bearing down on all of Westeros.
Don’t expect too many surprises in this Sunday’s premiere on HBO. As the show winds down, this possible final season is treated more structurally and cinematically. Writers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss are adept at crafting reintroduction episodes. We will be dropped back into Westeros gently this week. But starting episode 2, there’s nothing left to say but hold on. Winter has come. |
U.S. President Barack Obama says he will return to the White House "more determined and inspired than ever" after defeating Republican rival Mitt Romney and winning a second term as president.
"Tonight in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back," Obama said during a victory speech in his hometown of Chicago. "And we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come."
The 51-year-old incumbent also said he had spoken with Romney and congratulated him on a hard-fought campaign.
To win, a candidate needed to secure 270 electoral votes. Major U.S. networks projected that Obama had achieved his long-sought goal of four more years in the White House even before some of the key battleground states were declared, such as Florida, Virginia and Nevada.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney concedes the presidency at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, Mass. (Joe Raedle/Getty)
Obama had won much of the traditionally Democratic northeastern U.S. early in the night, including Pennsylvania, while Republican challenger Romney secured the conservative base across a swath of states including Texas and Georgia.
But the president sealed his victory with wins in Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire and Colorado, four of nine battleground states where the two rivals and their allies spent nearly $1 billion on duelling television commercials.
PM congratulates Obama Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement Tuesday night congratulating U.S. President Barack Obama on his re-election, saying that Canada and the U.S. "enjoy one of the closest and most extensive relationships in the world."
Late Tuesday night, Romney reportedly called Obama to concede the election, and later addressed a crowd of supporters gathered at his campaign headquarters in Boston.
"This is a time of great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation," Romney said in a brief speech.
"The nation as you know is at a critical point. At a time like this, we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing," he said. "Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work, and we citizens also have to rise to the occasion."
Romney also thanked his running mate, Paul Ryan, saying that "besides my wife Ann, Paul is the best choice I've ever made."
The two rivals were close in the popular vote. With votes counted in 88 per cent of the nation's precincts, Obama had received 55.8 million votes, or about 49.8 per cent. Romney. Romney had 54.5 million, or 48.6 percent.
Results were still trickling in early Wednesday, but The Associated Press showed Obama with more than 300 electoral votes to Romneys 206.
Hard-fought race
Democrats were in a partying mood over news of Obama's re-election.
In Obama's hometown of Chicago, the U.S. network projections prompted roars of jubilation that CBC's Neil Macdonald said lasted for at least 10 minutes.
5 closest U.S. presidential races since 1940 1960, Kennedy vs. Nixon, 49.7% to 49.5%. Margin: 0.2 percentage points.
2000, Gore vs. Bush, 48.3% to 47.8%. Margin: 0.5.
1968, Humphrey vs. Nixon, 42.4% to 43.4%. Margin 1.0.
1976, Carter vs. Ford, 50% to 48%, Margin 2.0.
2004, Kerry vs. Bush, 48.1% to 50.6 %. Margin 2.5.
But the security of having a second term comes with high expectations for the next four years. Macdonald noted that Obama's efforts at reaching across the aisle with his Republican colleagues led to chronic frustration during his first term.
"He was rebuffed at every turn. He was obstructed by the Republicans. Time to stop playing softball; time to dispense with this nonsense," Macdonald said. "You don't have to get re-elected. Time to get priorities passed."
Ultimately, the result of the bruising election campaign appeared to be a return to the political status quo. Democrats won two more years of control of the Senate, and Republicans did likewise in the House.
Both the Obama and Romney camps cast the election day decision as one with far-reaching repercussions for a nation still recovering from the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression and at odds over how big a role government should play in solving the country's staggering debt and high unemployment.
Obama will be tasked with a laundry list of pressing issues in his second term, including whether to scrap the Bush tax cuts, how to fill expected Supreme Court vacancies, and how to navigate the U.S. "fiscal cliff" negotiations, which are set to begin after Tuesday's votes are tallied. |
Action Figure Friday! Featuring our favorite weekly themed figures.
Figures: Marvel Legends Series
Mary Jane and Peter Parker
TRU Exclusive
Location: TRU
Release date: May 2017
Starting off the countdown to Spider-Man: Homecoming is this Toys R Us exclusive 2-pack: Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson. Our first ever, Mary Jane Watson Marvel Legends figure, this two pack was a sure purchase for fans of Spidey. The first thing to note is how great the figures look in box. They are the perfect size to fit in your collection or on a shelf and are scaled perfectly for display. Let’s start off with taking a look at Peter Parker’s red-headed romance: Mary Jane Watson. The costume design they decided to go for was Mary Jane Watson’s first full appearance in ASM #42. Leading with her infamous line of “Face it tiger…you just hit the jackpot”, Mary Jane Watson has been as essential of a character to the Spider-Man lore as the Peter Parker himself. The design team did a great job with the hair, eye color design, and freckles for this sculpt. Where Mary Jane Watson might be lacking is in her expression. More stoic and less care-free/flirtatious as her usual portrayal, this figure captures less of that fun side of MJ and more of her serious side. The other thing to note about MJ is just the lack of accessories that came with her figurine. Even if MJ is not necessarily a heavily accessorized character in the Marvel world, her action figure would have benefited from an additional head swap or an extra coat instead of just a purse. The Spider-Man suit featured in this two pack is based on the new series that began in 2015. The Amazing Spider-Man was renumbered, beginning in 2015, and written by Spider-scribe Dan Slott. The great thing about these new ASM issues were the covers drawn by artist Alex Ross. These covers really highlighted the look to his new suit and glowing spider eyes and symbol. As mentioned before, the suit design is based off of this new series but the body sculpt looks to be new and improved. The accessories that comes with this figure are 2 sets of interchangeable hands as well as an alternate masked head. In contrast to MJ, the designers were able to capture that subtle Parker smirk in his head design. As a TRU exclusive this figure is a great homage to the recognizable romance between Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker. TRU seems to be going with a central theme for these two-pack releases as the next set, to be released this summer, is the Phoenix and Cyclops two-pack. This was a great figure to hunt for and is still sought out weeks after it’s release. As the only MJ figure currently out in the Marvel Legends line, it makes for a worthy purchase for any Spider-Man collector. Now the only way that Hasbro can improve upon their Legends game is by creating a Spider-Man and MJ wedding variant for next year’s release. Spread the word and let’s get this made!
That’s it for this week’s Action Figure Friday! Be sure to check back next week for all new figures and write in suggestions or comments below and on our Instagram @AronsActionFigures or @LoveAndComics. |
When they need to cut costs, producers will occasionally re-use and recycle props that were used in other films. Here are 10 that keep turning up in movie after movie.
1. U.S. Marine AV-8B II Harrier Jet from The Avengers and True Lies
During The Hulk's battle with Thor on the helicarrier in The Avengers, Thor smashed the Hulk into the same Harrier Jet that was used in the climax of True Lies. Joss Whedon revealed this tidbit on The Avengers' special edition Blu-ray.
2. P.K.E. Meter from Ghostbusters, They Live, and Suburban Commando
Dr. Egon Spengler's P.K.E. (Psycho-Kinetic Energy) meter from the original Ghostbusters was re-used in various movies, including They Live and Suburban Commando. While Spengler used the prop device to find ghosts, the P.K.E. meter was used in They Live to track alien life and in Suburban Commando to find a freeze laser.
3. Golden Idol (Ancient Chachapoyan goddess of fertility) from Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Majestic
Twenty years after it appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the iconic golden idol that Indiana Jones tried to steal at the beginning of the film was re-used in The Majestic. It was part of the fictional in-film Sand Pirates of the Sahara, which is actually an homage to Indiana Jones. The golden idol also appeared briefly in Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams.
4. Space Station Model from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
The orbital office complex from Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the same miniature used for the Regula One station from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, just turned upside down. The prop was also re-dressed and re-purposed for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.
5. Samurai Swords from Kill Bill and Sin City
Devon Aoki's character in Sin City, Miho, used two samurai swords that the character O-Ren Ishii also used in Kill Bill. In the Sin City special edition DVD, co-creators Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez admitted that in the film's mythology, fictional sword-maker Hattori Hanzo fashioned both katana blades for Kill Bill and Sin City.
6. Flying Car from Blade Runner and Back To The Future II
At the end of filming Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott wanted all of the prop vehicles destroyed so that no other movie production could use them in the future. However, the Spinner, the flying police car, wasn't destroyed—in fact, it was re-painted and re-purposed for Back To The Future Part II. Blade Runner's automotive concept designer Gene Winfield, who designed the Spinner, also worked on Back To The Future Part II to give the sequel a futuristic look and feel.
7. Body Armor and Helmets from Starship Troopers, Planet of the Apes (2001), and Firefly
Most of the military gear made for Starship Troopers was re-painted and re-used for a number of other productions, including the television show Firefly—Joss Whedon recycled Starship Troopers' Federation body armor for Alliance soldiers' uniforms—and the 2001 Planet of the Apes remake (director Tim Burton re-purposed Federation helmets for the ape SWAT team at the end of film).
8. 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 from almost every Sam Raimi movie
classiccarstodayonline.com
Sam Raimi includes his very own 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale in most of his movies, even if it is anachronistic. For example, it appeared in The Quick and the Dead, a Western set in the 1880s. According to Bruce Campbell, “Sam had [the car] stripped down and a wagon built on top of it.”
9. California license plate "2GAT123" from Beverly Hills Cop II, Training Day, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Role Models,Traffic, Mulholland Dr., Curb Your Enthusiasm, and many, many other movies
California no longer issues license plates in the "GAT" series, so movie productions keep using the plate because it's not tied to an actual identity or car. According to Curb Your Enthusiasm producer Bob Weide, "They're just prop plates that are used by a number of productions. The DMV puts certain number/letter combinations aside for this purpose. Any time you see a readable license plate in our show, it's a prop—slapped on the car by our propmaster."
Over the years, the "2GAT123" California license plate became as ubiquitous as the "555" phone number prefix, which is used for similar reasons, in movies and television.
10. A Newspaper from No Country For Old Men, A Murder of Crows, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), and a long list of TV Shows, including Modern Family, Married with Children, Scrubs, and Lucky Louie
For years, the same prop newspaper was used for a variety of movies and TV shows with the same recycled headlines and feature images. It featured a black-and-white photo of a woman with long thick hair and headlines that read, "She's 3rd Brightest But Hard 'Gal' To See" and "Compromised Housing Bill Sent to President for OK." According to Slate, the newspaper is from a small prop company in Sun Valley, California called the Earl Hays Press and was first printed in the 1960s. Movie and TV productions keep using the same prop newspaper because it's actually cheaper to pay $15 per prop than get legal clearance from an up-to-date New York Times or other real-life newspaper. |
He raised $631,000 on Kickstarter in under a month, far exceeding his $25,000 goal. Robot Turtles has more backers than any other tabletop game in Kickstarter’s history, with 13,765 people pitching in money for the project, and Mr. Shapiro had more than 20,000 presales on the site.
He then found a manufacturer in Michigan by doing a Google search, and paid it to make 25,000 copies of the game from over 36 tons of cardboard and paper, shipping most of them in three semi trucks directly to a warehouse for Amazon. Amazon then delivered them to customers.
“It felt like technological advancement had anticipated my needs almost perfectly,” said Mr. Shapiro, who sold all 25,000 copies.
Some of the new games from independent makers have even started to outsell games by major toy companies. Three years ago, a group of eight men in their 20s — middle school friends from Highland Park, Ill. — came up with an idea for a game that resembles a profane version of Apples to Apples, the game that involves creating humorous combinations by pairing noun and adjective cards.
The result was Cards Against Humanity, billed as a “party game for horrible people.” During each round, one player draws a card with a question or sentence with a missing word while the other players compete to come up with the funniest, most outrageous answer from their own selection of cards.
A typical question: “What are my parents hiding from me?”
“The placenta,” reads one of the tamer answers.
Cards Against Humanity and four expansion card packs for the game are currently the top five best-selling items in Amazon’s toys and games category. While the game’s co-creators continue to work at other jobs or attend graduate school, Max Temkin, 27, one of Cards Against Humanity’s creators, said none of them needed to work since they all had “pretty substantial savings” from sales of the game. |
Here’s the thing you’ve got to love about modern calligraphy: you can implement any change — any calligraphy variation — and you’ll still be correct. While there is, more or less, “right” and “wrong” in traditional calligraphy styles like Spencerian and Copperplate, modern calligraphy embraces change.
The most popular calligraphy worksheet on TPK is the Kaitlin, which was used on the invitation suite above. I would imagine its popularity can be attributed to two things: A. it’s pretty and B. I’m always going on and on about how low-maintenance it is {and it is!}. Because it’s the calligraphy style I see people rocking the most on Instagram, I thought I would use it as the guinea pig for today’s calligraphy variations.
Variation 1: Thicken Downstrokes
This is the simplest calligraphy variation. To create it, start with any word written in Kaitlin style calligraphy {or any style of calligraphy, for that matter}. I chose to write my name.
Next, thicken the downstrokes by adding another stroke to the right of the original downstroke. {If you’re not sure what a downstroke is, visit the Faux Calligraphy Tutorial.} Make sure the stroke you are adding blends seamlessly into your original downstroke.
Once you’ve filled in your downstrokes, you’re finished!
It can be beneficial to beef up your downstrokes if you really need a word or a sentence to stand out. To this end, words with thick downstrokes are wonderful on everything from posters to gift tags!
Variation 2: Minimize Letter Size and Lengthen Connection Strokes
Another way to switch up Kaitlin style calligraphy is to connect small letters with long, flowing strokes. While regular Kaitlin calligraphy utilizes relatively long connection strokes, it’s hard to notice said strokes because the size of the letters balances them out.
However, if you make a conscientious effort to write small letters and maintain a connection stroke length of around 1.5 cm, you’ll be rewarded with a unique, pleasing effect. This is an easy-to-follow concept that I delve into a bit more in the Style Variation Add-On Worksheet, which I’ll talk more about later in this post.
Variation 3: Switch Up Your Angle
The angle of original Kaitlin style calligraphy as taught in the Learn for a Latté set is relatively relaxed. Don’t get me wrong: it’s got a slant, but the slant isn’t severe.
You can switch up your Kaitlin style calligraphy {or any style of calligraphy} by adjusting the slant to be more pronounced. In my experience, a different slant is easiest to achieve if you rotate your paper to an angle that you don’t normally use. For example, when I create “original” Kaitlin style calligraphy, my paper is usually rotated about 20 degrees. When I write more slanted calligraphy, I rotate my paper anywhere from 45 degrees to 90 degrees!
I love the look of slanted calligraphy because it pays homage to its traditional predecessor styles. Even though the calligraphy is modern, it calls to mind the days when people wrote with a dip pen and ink because they had to … not because they wanted to! And, of course, back then, everyone seemed to have beautiful, perfectly-angled cursive calligraphy.
Variation 4: Make it Groovy
You can give most calligraphy a funky, bubbly vibe by skipping any slant and slightly exaggerating loops. It’s also a good idea to make sure none of your letters quite line up … which is great because that means there’s no need for drawing pencil guidelines!
One of the great things about a groovy calligraphy style is you can use a straight pen to create it {as opposed to an oblique}. Yes, I used an oblique … but, in retrospect, it would have been more logical to use a straight pen. Since you’re not going for letters that lean to the right, you can use pretty much any holder.
As a side note, this variation is great for anyone who has trouble with the right slant of the original Kaitlin. The “groovy” variation renders beautiful results to boot!
Variation 5: Declare War on Any Loops or Curves
I think this variation is the most interesting of the five. For some reason, it reminds me of Halloween … and, I don’t know why, but it also calls Harry Potter to mind. {Did someone’s handwriting look like this in the books??} Regardless, it’s a little tough to create at first because your instinct is to let your hand make those nice loops and curves that you’re used to.
Instead of forming anything that remotely resembles a circle, try to write using straight lines and corners. That means all letters will connect to each other with disjointed lines and have some awkward angles sticking out. I find that very visually interesting. I was thinking, too … someone asked me the other day about mail art ideas for boys. Well, this calligraphy style would be a great contribution to a more masculine envelope! It takes all the femininity out of the Kaitlin, and renders surprisingly good results in the process!
As I was creating this blog post last weekend, I began to worry that perhaps my instructions would be difficult to implement without specific examples and detailed instructions. After a couple of minutes of fretting and a few hours of planning, I decided to stick to my motto: “If in doubt, create a worksheet set.”
Thus, the Kaitlin Calligraphy Worksheet Add-On: Style Variations was born. It offers explanations and valuable practice for all of the calligraphy variations described above {oh, except for the “thicken downstrokes” variation, which I am 99.99% sure you can implement without any issues at this very moment}. A word to the wise, though: I wouldn’t get this worksheet set unless you already own the Premium Kaitlin set. All of the variations rely in some way on knowledge of making Kaitlin style calligraphy. If you haven’t learned the general principles of creating original Kaitlin style calligraphy, you may find yourself a bit lost!
So, this new worksheet set is my surprise to you on this lovely Wednesday! Trust me, I was surprised, too … I had no idea I would be making another worksheet set so soon. I hope that it helps you to create the variations outlined in this blog post, and to potentially come up with some of your own!
If you have any questions about any of these variations {or suggestions for other variations}, please feel free to comment! Thanks again for reading the TPK blog … I wish I could adequately express how glad I am that you’re here.
Warmest wishes, |
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Jan. 1, 2015, 11:43 PM GMT / Updated Jan. 2, 2015, 4:40 PM GMT
Two men were arrested after one of them allegedly shot two West Virginia police officers during a traffic stop in Lewisburg Thursday — and then were found to be transporting two dead bodies in their vehicle, authorities said.
The suspects are reportedly a father and son from Texas, with the father being the shooter, according to NBC affiliate WVVA. They were identified as Edward Campbell, 54, and Eric Campbell, 21, according to WSAZ.
The Lewisburg police officers were wounded and expected to survive, West Virginia State Police said.
The officers were shot after they pulled over a sport-utility vehicle with stolen license plates at 4 p.m. on Interstate 64, and a red Chevrolet pickup truck that was following that car pulled over as well, police said.
Edward Campbell, the driver of the pickup, pulled out a handgun and shot both officers, police said. Donna Hinkle, director of administration at the Greenbrier County 911 Center, told NBC News that one was shot in the ribs but was wearing a bulletproof vest, and the other was grazed.
One of the officers returned fire and wounded the driver of the SUV, Eric Campbell, in the leg. He drove off and tried to hide in a wooded area behind a guardrail, but surrendered about 90 minutes later, state police said. His father ran into the woods but was soon apprehended, police said.
After the exchange of gunfire, police found two "recently deceased" bodies in the bed of the pickup truck, hidden under a mattress.
The sheriff in Granville County, North Carolina told NBC affiliate WNCN that the bodies were those of Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his wife Dora, 62. The Faulkners were at their Oak Hill home when two men entered around 7 a.m. Thursday, according to Sheriff Brindell B. Wilkins Jr. The men reportedly set the couples house on fire and then stole their red Chevy pickup truck.
It was unclear at what point the Faulkners were killed or how, and authorities did not have a potential motive yet for the killings.
Both were arrested for malicious assault and attempted murder of a police officer.
The shot officers were identified as Lt. Jeromy Dove and Patrolman Nicholas Sams with the Lewisburg Police. According to a news release, "they were taken to Greenbrier Valley Medical Center and are in good condition." |
Conte is World Coach of the Year
By Football Italia staff
Juventus boss Antonio Conte has been named Coach of the Year at the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards.
The Italian beat Rafa Benitez of Napoli and Borussia Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp to the title at the eighth Dubai International Sports Conference.
“This honour fills me with pride and I above all thank my players for helping me achieve this award,” declared Conte. “If I won this trophy then the credit is to be split with my lads, without doubt.
“Will I get the FIFA Coach of the Year award? There’s a very long way to go, as you need to win international trophies, for example as Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho did.
“Therefore let’s roll up our sleeves and in 2014 take the Europa League, whose Final will be played at the Juventus Stadium. Then, next season, we resume our march on the Champions League.
“The elimination in Istanbul still stings, but we couldn’t really play football that day against Galatasaray. This term we want to win it all, a third Scudetto in a row and the Coppa Italia too. It’d be a record, as we could be the first side to win 10 editions of the Coppa.”
Conte was at the Dubai event with Russia manager Fabio Capello and Bayern Munich Coach Guardiola.
“I am around two years older than Guardiola, but he was a reference point for me in the style of football he gave to Barcelona. I studied the tactical evolution and new style of Pep’s football, as he was an innovator.
“I was not a very technically gifted player, so I always based my career on hard work and sacrifice, often talking to my Coaches to understand what they wanted,” explained Conte.
“I worked with the most winning tacticians, apart from Capello. This helped me in my career.
“The secret to creating a winning group is to have a strong club behind you and quality players, then of course an idea of football for them to work on.” |
Block Party Block Parties can be hosted year round, not just during National Night Out. If you close your street don't forget to complete your Street Closure Application through the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Block Parties can be hosted year round in the City of Portland, learn more about hosting a block party from the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Once a year there is a time for Neighborhoods throughout the Nation to gather and connect through parties big and small in an event called National Night Out.
What is National Night Out?
National Night Out has been celebrated across North America on the first Tuesday of August since 1983. It's a day when people hold parties to strengthen community cohesiveness and crime resistance, and get to know their neighbors and their local public safety officials. When neighbors get to know each other, they create more connected and safer communities. Every year, more than 20,000 people in Portland participate. The Office of Community & Civic Life's Crime Prevention Program has the responsibility for coordinating National Night Out (NNO) in Portland working in partnership with many participating Bureaus; Portland Parks & Rec, Portland Fire & Rescue, Portland Police Bureau, Portland Bureau of Emergency Communication, Portland Bureau of Transportation.
When is National Night Out?
Official date of NNO: Second Tuesday of August 2019. In Portland, residents and businesses will have the option to host parties for the whole week around National Night Out.
Registration opens the first Tuesday of June, 2019 at http://www.portlandoregon.gov/civic/nno
Registration closes the fourth Tuesday of July, 2019.
What are the benefits of registering with the City of Portland for National Night Out?
Blanket coverage noise waiver for registered parties within the allotted party week.
Option to receive free "Swag" (stickers, tattoos, pencils, and more) to handout during your part
Option to request visits from public safety personnel and other city staff (Fire, Police, Crime Prevention, and more)
Option to have the Crime Prevention Program Publicize your party to the public to increase attendance
Get contacted by your Crime Prevention Coordinator to arrange Swag pick-up, options for lawn signs, receive Crime Prevention materials and handouts and more.
Are there any other forms that need to be submitted for hosting a party?
If you are closing down your street for your party, you will need to complete a Street Closure Application with the Portland Bureau of Transportation at:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/66080
For questions and help completing the Block Party Application forms, contact PBOT 503-823-4003 or [email protected].
If you're hosting a party in the park you must comply with Portland Parks & Rec rule and regulations and complete the "NATIONAL NIGHT OUT LIMITED USE PERMIT APPLICATION" at:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/oni/article/357478
For questions about registering a party in the parks call 503-823-2525.
Questions about City of Portland National Night Out Registration? Call 503-823-4064 or email [email protected]. |
Vote for HB-6923 Roll Call Number 412 The Speaker ordered the vote be taken by roll call at 2:21 p.m. The following is the result of the vote: Total Number Voting....................... 142 Necessary for Passage..................... 72 Those voting Yea......................... 142 Those voting Nay......................... 0 Those absent and not voting.............. 9 The following is the roll call vote: Y ABRAMS Y GIANNAROS Y STRATTON Y MADDOX Y ALTOBELLO Y GODFREY Y THOMPSON Y MATTIELLO Y AMANN Y GRAZIANI Y TONUCCI Y MAZZOCCOLI Y BACKER X GREEN X TRUGLIA Y METZ Y BEALS Y JARJURA Y TULISANO Y MILLER Y BEAMON Y JARMOC Y VILLANO Y NORTON Y BETKOSKI Y JOHNSTON Y WIDLITZ Y NYSTROM Y BOUKUS Y KEELEY Y O'NEILL Y BYSIEWICZ Y KERENSKY Y PISCOPO Y CARDIN Y KIRKLEY-BEY Y ANDREWS Y POWERS X CARTER Y KNOPP Y BARTH Y PRELLI Y CARUSO Y LANDINO Y BELDEN Y RADCLIFFE X CASTRO Y LAWLOR Y BOUGHTON Y RORABACK Y CHRIST Y LESCOE Y BUONOCORE Y RYAN, J. Y CLEMONS Y LYONS Y CAFERO Y SAN ANGELO Y COCCO Y MALONE Y CAPPIELLO Y SANTA-MARIA Y CONCANNON Y MARTINEZ Y CARON Y SAWYER Y CONWAY Y MCCAVANAGH Y CHASE Y SCALZO Y CURREY X MCDONALD Y CLEARY Y SIMMONS Y DARGAN Y MCGRATTAN Y COLLINS Y STONE Y DAVIS Y MERRILL Y DANDROW Y STRIPP Y DEMARINIS Y MICHELE Y DEPINO Y TERCYAK Y DIAMANTIS Y MIKUTEL Y DICKMAN Y TYMNIAK X DIAZ Y MORDASKY Y DIMEO Y VARESE Y DILLON Y MUSHINSKY Y FAHRBACH Y VELTRI Y DONOVAN Y NARDELLO Y FARR Y WARD Y DOYLE Y NEWTON Y FEDELE Y WASSERMAN Y DYSON Y O'ROURKE Y FERRARI Y WINKLER Y EBERLE Y OREFICE Y FLAHERTY, B. Y YOUNG Y ESPOSITO Y ROY Y FUCHS Y FLAHERTY, P. Y RYAN, K. Y FUSCO Y FLEISCHMANN Y SAMOWITZ Y GARVEY Y FONFARA Y SAUER X GIORDANO Y FOX Y SCALETTAR Y GOOGINS Y RITTER (SPKR) Y FRITZ Y SCHIESSL Y GYLE Y GARCIA, E.E. Y SCIPIO Y HAMZY Y GARCIA, E.I. X SELLERS Y HESS Y PUDLIN (DEP) X GELSI Y SERRA Y HOFFMAN Y HARTLEY (DEP) Y GERAGOSIAN Y STAPLES Y KNIERIM Y HYSLOP (DEP) Y GERRATANA Y STILLMAN Y LOCKTON |
Realizing the importance of the increasing market share which the iPhone platform currently posses, Microsoft today has released OneNote app for iPhone and iPod touch. This is the fourth app which has come out of Microsoft for the iPhone/iOS platform, the other three being Bing for iPhone, Seadragon Mobile, and Microsoft Tag.
Microsoft OneNote Mobile is the easy-to-use, powerful note-taking application for all of your ideas, brought to you by Microsoft Office. OneNote Mobile lets you create and view notes and lists whenever you need them. Sync your notes with free Windows Live online storage and access them from virtually anywhere using your phone, PC, or almost any web browser. With OneNote Mobile, you can:
▪ Create flexible notes that can include text, pictures, bullets, and checkboxes
▪ Check To Do items off on the go
▪ Save time with quick access to your most recent notes
▪ Work with confidence—OneNote Mobile automatically syncs your notes with Windows Live in the background
▪ Organize your notes into sections or create new notebooks using OneNote 2010 or OneNote Web App and access them from your iPhone Requirements:
▪ iPhone or iPod touch must have iOS 4.2 or higher
▪ A free Windows Live ID is required to use OneNote Mobile —use an existing one or let OneNote Mobile help you sign up
▪ Web functionality uses the free OneNote Web App available on Windows Live, which requires a supported web browser
▪ OneNote Mobile opens notebooks created in Microsoft OneNote 2010 or the OneNote Web App
▪ Customizing section colors requires Microsoft OneNote 2010 Access your notes online at http://office.live.com.
Available for free for limited time only, OneNote for iPhone can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store link given below.
Download OneNote for iPhone
Check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
You can follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook fanpage to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google and Apple.
Related Stories |
Karl Stefanovic‘s signature disregard for professionalism was magnificent on this morning’s episode of the Today Show, in which the Gold Logie-winning anchor was unable to keep any semblance of composure during a live cross with a pair of heroic surfers. Gold Coast based dudes Angus McNicol and Nick Chalmers have been credited with saving the lives of two tourists who were swept into rough water on Wednesday evening, risking their lives to pull the pair to safety, a story that is actually kind ofhilarious if you’re Karl Stefanovic and the interviewees are 20% hair and 100% chill vibes.
Watch the footage below that will go down in the Classic Karl Pantheon, along with moments like “Drunk Logies Karl” and “Accidental Jack-Off Karl”. Highlights of the latest Pantheon entrant worth noting include the trademark Karl Fist Pump at the 2.20 minute mark, and his awesome attempt at surfer-speak (“
We should also give a quick plug to one of the heroes, Nick Chalmers, a talented artist/designer/filmmaker who’s appearing on the lineup at Bleach Festival on the Gold Coast later this month. Buy the guy a beer. |
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip — A potent symbol of the schism between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the Islamist group that dominates Gaza, has been visible at the border crossing here for years: The two maintain separate checkpoints a half-mile apart, and travelers crossing to or from Israel have to pass through both.
Over the last week, though, the crossing illustrated something else: the unraveling of the reconciliation agreement reached last year, and the dysfunction of the Palestinians’ supposed government of national consensus.
After Hamas set up a makeshift outpost at the Palestinian Authority’s checkpoint last week, the authority abandoned it, prompting Israel to allow only foreigners and Gazans with humanitarian emergencies to pass.
“We’re paying a price for the long division,” said Abdul Kader Abdul Hadi, who was among the few who crossed the border on Tuesday so his 15-day-old son, born with a heart ailment, could be treated in Israel. “I hope they solve the problem and save lives of innocent people, far from the political issues.” |
Confirming previous reports, union chief Michael Weiner told reporters in Kansas City the Mets and Yankees and other interleague rivals will play three or four games beginning in 2013, not six.
"It wasn't fair to have six games against an opponent that other teams in your division didn't," Weiner said at a Baseball Writers' Association of America gathering. "The Mets, for example, would say `Why do we have to play the Yankees six times every single year when some of our division opponents are playing teams that aren't traditionally as strong? We understand we've got to play the Yankees every year. That's OK. Why should we play six?'"
Via the Associated Press:
Teams in a division will play three games each against teams in another division: for example, the NL East vs. the AL Central. The interleague rivalries will be either one three-game series or a home-and-home of two games each, Weiner said. There will be an exception in years the rivals play the opposite division -- for instance, the Yankees and Mets would play six times in years the NL East plays the AL East.
Baseball's new labor contract says teams will play up to 20 interleague games a year. Weiner says the total is likely to be close to the maximum. "It may be that you can come up with a more workable schedule by moving up to the higher end of the interleague play range as opposed to the lower end," he said. "So it's not a question that 19 or 20 is much better than 18 in terms of interleague play, it's a question of how to put the pieces of the puzzle together."
A draft schedule has been given to the union, which is studying it before MLB finalizes it ahead of an anticipated September release. Because of the two 15-team leagues, two clubs will have to open and close with interleague games. |
WESTLAND, Mich. - Tuesday night Local 4 introduced you to Lavonte Dell, the Inkster man whose Facebook post about a traffic stop in Westland went viral.
Dell got the opportunity Wednesday to thank the officer who he says changed his life.
Dell hugged Westland police officer Joshua Scaglione and thanked him for his selflessness. Earlier this week, the officer stopped Dell for tinted windows, but noticed that his 3-year-old daughter wasn't in a car seat.
Rather than give Dell a ticket, the officer took him to the store and bought one for his daughter.
Dell was so stunned that he never got the officer's name, so he posted about it on Facebook. "I don't know if I gave you too much attention." Dell told the officer.
Officer Scaglione replied by saying, "What you did was give positive attention to this department and to law enforcement and I can do nothing but thank you for doing that."
Scaglione says this story has gone national and that he has been receiving notes from people across the country thanking him for what he did.
Copyright 2016 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved. |
By By Ralph Lopez Feb 21, 2013 in World The Newtown, Connecticut Town Clerk is seeking to deny newspapers from viewing public record death certificates of Sandy Hook victims, according to the Newtown Bee. The New York Post, the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, the Hartford Courant, and other media have put forth requests for official death certificates of Sandy Hook victims, "that would provide the press and public with limited directory information from death and marriage records, but would withhold the actual death and marriage certificates." Death certificates are part of vital public records, which also include birth and marriage certificates. They are public domain documents used, ultimately, to determine official recognition of presence or past presence in civil society. They also serve as a mechanism for upholding the integrity of information in which there is a public interest, as it relates to voting, citizenship, and receiving public benefits. Abuses of voting processes involving voters who, unbeknownst to the public, are actually dead, are legendary. Death certificates typically contain little information about manner of death beyond categories such as "natural cause," "homicide," "accident," "suicide," or "other." News organizations utilize such records in crime reporting as a standard part of normal, often tedious, fact-checking procedures. Death certificates also contain the sworn statement of the medical examiner. The Newtown Bee stated: "Ms Aurelia said she has received requests for death certificates and other proprietary information from the New York Post , the Connecticut Post , the Associated Press and the Hartford Courant among others." "Some are also requesting all my e-mail correspondence and text messages related to 12/14," she said." According to the Newtown Bee, Assistant Town Clerk Renee Weimann said "I feel it’s my responsibility to protect these victims. They’ve been through enough.” Last December 14th, 20 children and 8 adults died in a shooting rampage by alleged shooter Adam Lanza. Ms Aurelia and members of her staff testified in favor of such a bill at a hearing of the state's Public Health Committee last February 20th. The law would also exclude members of the public who are not "immediate family/authorized agency/attorney" from viewing the records, according to the Newtown Bee. The Bee reported that the media and other sources have been making the requests under existing Freedom of Information Act laws. Media can take local, state, and federal government agencies to court over failure to comply with requests for information. The move comes as the public awaits the answers to questions such as whether or not alleged shooter Adam Lanza "identify persons cooperating with the investigation, thus possibly jeopardizing their personal safety and well-being." Yesterday the Hartford Courant ran a report in which Jim Smith, president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information, said a death certificate is a factual document that lacks the details of an autopsy report. The “There isn’t anything in a death certificate that is going to hurt the deceased...it’s not like an autopsy report. It’s been public for centuries. It’s not going to invade anyone’s privacy.’’ CT State Representatives Bolinsky and Carter, and Newtown Town Clerk Aurelia, all argued, The Clerk maintains that access to vital records such as death and marriage certificates should be limited to immediate family members or their representatives, and has undertaken to change present law.The New York Post, the Connecticut Post, the Associated Press, the Hartford Courant, and other media have put forth requests for official death certificates of Sandy Hook victims, the Newton Bee report says . Newtown Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia says she is working with State Representatives Dan Carter Mitch Bolinsky , and the leadership of the state association of town clerks to craft state legislation Death certificates are part of vital public records, which also include birth and marriage certificates. They are public domain documents used, ultimately, to determine official recognition of presence or past presence in civil society. They also serve as a mechanism for upholding the integrity of information in which there is a public interest, as it relates to voting, citizenship, and receiving public benefits. Abuses of voting processes involving voters who, unbeknownst to the public, are actually dead, are legendary.Death certificates typically contain little information about manner of death beyond categories such as "natural cause," "homicide," "accident," "suicide," or "other." News organizations utilize such records in crime reporting as a standard part of normal, often tedious, fact-checking procedures. Death certificates also contain the sworn statement of the medical examiner.The Newtown Bee stated:According to the Newtown Bee, Assistant Town Clerk Renee Weimann said "I feel it’s my responsibility to protect these victims. They’ve been through enough.” Last December 14th, 20 children and 8 adults died in a shooting rampage by alleged shooter Adam Lanza.Ms Aurelia and members of her staff testified in favor of such a bill at a hearing of the state's Public Health Committee last February 20th. The law would also exclude members of the public who are not "immediate family/authorized agency/attorney" from viewing the records, according to the Newtown Bee.The Bee reported that the media and other sources have been making the requests under existing Freedom of Information Act laws. Media can take local, state, and federal government agencies to court over failure to comply with requests for information.The move comes as the public awaits the answers to questions such as whether or not alleged shooter Adam Lanza was on any psychiatric medications , especially those known as SSRIs which some psychiatrists maintain have been associated with thousands of incidents of random violence, and have a causal effect. Also lacking is any further elaboration on a Connecticut State's Attorney's statement last December, in a court motion, that there may be other "potential suspects," and that revealing certain evidence at this time might "seriously jeopardize" the investigation. Connecticut State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky also said that revealing certain evidence at this time might:Yesterday the Hartford Courant ran a report in which Jim Smith, president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information, said a death certificate is a factual document that lacks the details of an autopsy report. The Courant quotes Smith saying:CT State Representatives Bolinsky and Carter, and Newtown Town Clerk Aurelia, all argued, according to the Courant , that identify theft was a concern, since the maiden name of the deceased's mother is on death certificates. However, this is also on birth certificates, which are not a target of the trio. Also, the proposed legislation would seal the death records only of minors under 18. It is unclear why identity thieves would not merely steal the identities of people over that age. More about sandy hook, stephen sedensky, ssri, SSRI antidepressants, Media sandy hook stephen sedensky ssri SSRI antidepressants Media Mainstream media |
If you’re thinking about getting pastel hair, you should consider the pros and cons first. Just kidding. Pastel hair is awesome! If you’re torn, do it! If you’re not sure if pastel hair would suit you, do it! You’ll be glad you did. If you want to know how to get pastel hair, keep reading!
Below are all the products you’ll need. They’re clickable, so check them out. The white toner isn’t mandatory; you only absolutely need the bleaching kit, the conditioner, and your choice of hair dye. In addition to this, you’ll need some gloves, a shower cap, and a mixing bowl. The whole process should end up costing under 25$.
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Step 1: How To Bleach Your Hair
The first step is bleaching your hair. If you have anything but light blonde hair, you absolutely need to bleach it if you want the pastel color to actually be pastel. If you have already blonde hair, skip this step. When choosing your bleaching product, it’s important to go for 30 volume. Anything under that is too weak for achieving pastel hair, and anything over that is too strong for safety — bleach can fry your hair, so be very careful! I recommend this nifty Manic Panic bleaching kit, which also contains gloves, a brush, and a mixing bowl. Tip: If you have very thick or long hair, you WILL need 2 boxes! It ends up going a bit over budget, but it’s well worth it! The first time I bleached my hair, I had to pause the job mid-bleaching and ask my friend to kindly go buy another box for me. Get two if you’re unsure!
Make sure your hair hasn’t been washed for a few days before bleaching. Bleach is harsh on your scalp, and the oils will help protect it.
If it’s your first time, have someone else help you and bleach your hair for you. Bleaching hair is tricky. Be safe!
Follow the instructions on the packaging. A strand test is a very good idea!
If your hair still isn’t light enough after bleaching, consider a white toner. If you want pastel blue hair, your hair has to be a very white blonde. Any yellow in your hair and the blue dye will turn green!
Step 2: How to Get Pastel Hair
There is no “pastel hair dye”. Instead, you will have to mix regular colored hair dye with conditioner. Start by squirting the conditioner in a mixing bowl: add the amount you think will cover your entire hair. Add a very small amount of hair dye and mix it well. Keep adding dye (or conditioner if you mess up) until you reach the perfect pastel color you want. To color your hair, put some gloves on and simply apply the dye. You can use a brush, but I prefer to use only my hands — it’s faster. Once your whole head is evenly covered in dye, bring your hair in a faux-bun and put on a shower cap so that the dye doesn’t dry out. Let it set for about 30 minutes. The length of time depends on how intense you want the color to be, so it’s up to you. Wash it off with water as cool as you can handle; don’t use shampoo!
For hair dye, I recommend the awesome and cruelty-free brand Manic Panic. They have many suitable colors for pastel hair: Cotton Candy Pink for pastel pink, Ultra Violet for a nice lavender shade, and Atomic Turquoise for pastel blue or mint. For conditioner, almost any conditioner will do a good job as long as it’s mostly white in color. My favorite conditioner to use for this is Trader Joe’s vegan conditioner: it’s highly moisturizing and perfect for bleached hair, and you can still use it as a moisturizer every time you wash your hair. Amazon has it here for under 10$ for a huge bottle – it’s called Trader Joe’s Nourish Spa Balance Moisturizing Conditioner.
If you have a good eye for color, you can make the dye darker than what you want the final result to be and only let it set for 15 minutes or so. This can be tricky; do strand tests!
If your hair turns out to be lighter than you expected, you can always re-dye it the same way. If it’s too dark, use a clarifying shampoo to lighten it.
For mint hair, use blue dye if your hair is more blonde than white.
Upkeep Tips
Add some of the Manic Panic dye to your conditioner. This way, your pastel color won’t fade as quickly. I like to leave this mixture in for about 5 minutes before rinsing it.
Choose a gentle, moisturizing shampoo to better take care of your bleached hair as well as to maintain maximum color.
Wash your hair less often, or use dry shampoo.
Use water as cold as you can handle when you do wash your hair. Hot water really strips down your color. This is especially important for pastel hair, since you don’t have a lot of color to begin with. |
Waukegan will squeeze in one more beach season before temporarily shutting down the lakefront's main access route after the City Council voted Monday night to approve a $7.3 million contract to rebuild the Grand Avenue bridge east of Sheridan Road.
The nearly half-century-old bridge, which spans the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and leads to Waukegan Harbor via Pershing Road, has been targeted for an overhaul since at least 2012, when it was rated in poor condition by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In August 2014, the city signed off on a $6.2 million plan to rebuild the bridge in a project that would have started last fall and neared completion this spring, but Public Works Director Tom Hagerty said the plan ended up being re-bid by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the project.
The new contract with F.H. Paschen & S.N. Nielson and Associates includes a $1.8 million contribution from the city, which will be drawn out of Motor Fuel Tax funds over the next two fiscal years. The scuttled 2014 contract had the city paying $1.43 million, with the remainder of the overall funding coming from the federal Surface Transportation and Bridge Replacement program.
Now that the city has signed off on its end of the deal, Hagerty said work will begin at the end of summer.
"We're going to shut it down sometime in September and it should be open and substantially completed by next June 1 and completed by July 1," Hagerty said after the council voted unanimously to concur with the IDOT contract. "There's not an exact time yet. It will be sometime in September, but it will be after Labor Day. We're certainly not going to close it before Labor Day."
Also known locally as the Mathon Bridge, the deck is the most direct route from the downtown area to both the harbor and Municipal Beach. During its closure, traffic to the lakefront will come from Belvidere Road on the south and Greenwood Avenue on the north, both of which link to Pershing.
Dan Moran, Lake County News-Sun The pothole-riddled Grand Avenue bridge across the Union Pacific Railroad tracks in Waukegan will be closed this fall for a $7.3 million, nine-month reconstruction project. The pothole-riddled Grand Avenue bridge across the Union Pacific Railroad tracks in Waukegan will be closed this fall for a $7.3 million, nine-month reconstruction project. (Dan Moran, Lake County News-Sun)
Hagerty said the scheduled work will create "a completely new entrance to the lakefront."
"It's taking out all the concrete, it's taking out all the steel, repairing the vertical columns, new steel, new concrete, new lights, new (pedestrian) path, new roadway," he said, adding that the scope of the project covers "the portion that's over the railroad as well as Pershing Road from the north side of Grand Avenue to Clayton Street," but not the portion of Grand that crosses the Amstutz Expressway.
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It takes three years to truly grade an NFL Draft, despite those immediate grades we all do the minute a player is picked and then again when the draft is complete.
Those always come back to haunt draft graders like myself.
Luckily, I can poke fun at myself when they do go bad and make their way around Twitter and other social-media avenues.
I do a lot of pointing out my mistakes here as I regrade the 2014 NFL Draft. Looking back to three years ago is a fun exercise that I enjoy doing to see how teams hit and missed -- and how I did the same.
When the Oakland Raiders used their first two picks to take pass rusher Khalil Mack in the first round and then Derek Carr in the second round in 2014, I gave that draft a B grade at the time.
That's an A+ draft now. It's the draft that will keep the Raiders in the playoff race for a long time. They have their franchise passer, who I wasn't so sure about when he came out, thus my previous B grade. (P.S. I loved Mack.)
See, I can point out when I am wrong.
So dive into this 2014 NFL Draft regrade. I think you will find some interesting things, like how Mr. Never Get Anything Wrong Bill Belichick had a crappy draft. Or how teams you thought had great drafts -- like the Minnesota Vikings -- didn't really hit the way you thought, while the Washington Redskins did.
Arizona Cardinals
2014 grade: B
The skinny: They had seven picks, and two of those picks enter the 2017 season as starters. First-round pick Deone Bucannon was moved from safety to linebacker and has developed into a big part of their defense. Third-round receiver John Brown is a big-play threat when he can stay on the field. Injuries slowed him last season. They also have backups in second-round tight end Troy Niklas, third-round edge player Kareem Martin and fifth-round defensive end Ed Stinson. Niklas has potential, but injuries have limited him to seven starts in two seasons.
How I did: I liked the pick of Bucannon, and questioned taking Niklas in the second. I thought fifth-round quarterback Logan Thomas could be a tight end and he busted out as a quarterback. So I did OK.
New grade: B-
Atlanta Falcons
2014 grade: B+
The skinny: They landed starting left tackle Jake Matthews in the first round and starting defensive tackle Ra'shede Hageman in the second. Matthews has been solid, while Hageman has flashed at times. But the best pick came in the fourth round when they landed star runner Devonta Freeman. They also got starting free safety Ricardo Allen in the fifth, but did miss on third-round safety Dezmen Southward.
How I did: I gave them credit for getting bigger and stronger by taking Matthews and Hageman, but I also liked fourth-round pick Prince Shembo, who started three games and was waived after getting in trouble with the law.
New grade: B+
Baltimore Ravens
2014 grade: B
The skinny: They had nine picks and six are still with the team, with first-round pick C.J. Mosley developing into a Pro Bowl linebacker. Injuries have impacted some of the other players, and they traded second-round pick Timmy Jernigan to the Eagles this year. He started 24 games in three seasons, including 15 last season. The best value might be fifth-round pick John Urschel, who has started 13 games in three seasons and might be their starting center in 2017. Third-round pick Terrence Brooks was waived last September and now is with the Eagles as a reserve. He showed promise as a rookie before tearing an ACL.
How I did: I liked the pick of Brooks, but it's hard to account for a major knee injury. I still think he would have been good if not for the injury. I thought fourth-round defensive end Brent Urban was a nice pick, but injuries have slowed him in his three seasons.
New grade: C+
Buffalo Bills
2014 grade: C
The skinny: This was the draft the Bills traded up with Cleveland to take receiver Sammy Watkins, giving up their 2015 first-round pick to do so. That has been a major fail, since they could have stayed put and taken Odell Beckham Jr. Watkins has talent, but injuries have kept him out of 11 games the past two seasons, including eight in 2016. The only one of their other six picks who is expected to push to be a starter in 2017 is linebacker Preston Brown, who was a third-round pick. Fourth-round corner Ross Cockrell is now a starter for the Steelers after being let go by the Bills in 2015. They got some reserves in this draft who have started, including right tackle Seantrel Henderson, but this was not a good draft.
How I did: I questioned the decision to move up to get Watkins, even though I liked him as a player. I liked the pick of Brown in the third, and he has started 46 games in his three seasons. I thought fifth-round guard Cyril Richardson would be a steal, but he started four games as a rookie, was on the practice squad in 2015 and then was released last year. He's with the Bears now.
New grade: C-
Carolina Panthers
2014 grade: D
The skinny: They took receiver Kelvin Benjamin in the first round, and he hasn't been worth it -- yet. In fairness to him, he tore his ACL in the summer before his second season and missed the entire year. But he now has weight issues and he wasn't as effective as expected last season. Second-round defensive end Kony Ealy was traded to the Patriots this offseason, so that's a miss. They hit big on third-round guard Trai Turner, who is arguably their best lineman and one of the better guards in the league, although his play dipped some last year. Fourth-round safety Tre Boston was a starter at times, but was let go this month. Fifth-round corner Bene' Benwikere started 14 games before being released last season.
How I did: I hit the post-draft evaluations. I questioned the pick of Benjamin, saying there were better options. I thought Turner was their best pick, and he has been that. I also thought Benwikere was a steal in the fifth round, and he looked like it for two-plus seasons. He's now with the Bengals.
New grade: C-
Chicago Bears
2014 grade: A
The skinny: They took corner Kyle Fuller in the first round and he looked like he might be a future star as a rookie. But his play tailed off to start 2015, and he missed all of last season with a knee injury. His Bears career is at a crossroads as he enters 2017. Of the other seven picks that year, only one -- seventh-round tackle Charles Leno -- is expected to start in 2017. They missed on second-round defensive tackle Ego Ferguson, who was let go in the spring. Third-round defensive tackle Will Sutton had 18 starts in three seasons, but he was released this month. Fourth-round running back Ka'Deem Carey is a backup.
How I did: I was terrible. I thought Fuller would be the best corner in the class, and that's not close to being true. I also liked the picks of Ferguson and Sutton. The third-day gem was safety Brock Vereen, who is no longer with the team after making four starts as a rookie.
New grade: D-
Cincinnati Bengals
2014 grade: C+
The skinny: They took corner Darqueze Dennard in the first round and he has four starts in three seasons. He will push to start in 2017. Second-round running back Jeremy Hill has been a solid starter, rushing for 1,124 yards as a rookie. But he hasn't hit 1,000 yards the past two seasons and the team just drafted Joe Mixon in the second round. Third-round pick Will Clarke hasn't developed enough as a pass rusher, which is why they took two defensive ends in this year's draft. Fourth-round pick Russell Bodine has been the starting center the past three seasons, although he has been below average. Even so, that's good value. They also got backup quarterback AJ McCarron in the fifth.
How I did: I didn't mind the Dennard pick, but I wasn't thrilled with them taking Hill in the second. Bodine was my third-day gem for that draft. I thought Clarke was their best pick. Oops.
New grade: C-
Cleveland Browns
2014 grade: B-
The skinny: This was the Justin Gilbert-Johnny Manziel draft. That means it was a major flop. They took Gilbert, the corner from Oklahoma State, with the eighth overall pick. He made three starts before being released in 2016. He spent time with the Steelers but they released him this year. He had attitude issues with the Browns. Manziel had his well-publicized troubles as well. He is now out of the league after making eight starts. The Browns released him in March 2016 after a litany. The Browns made amends with their next two picks, getting starting guard Joel Bitonio, who is a good player, and starting linebacker Christian Kirksey. The Browns got a good year out of fifth-round running back Terrence West, but traded him to the Titans in 2015 because of supposed maturity issues. He landed with the Ravens last year and rushed for 774 yards.
How I did: I was as bad as the Browns. I liked the decision to move up to get Manziel. Yecch. I also liked the Gilbert pick. If anything, this shows that we can't really know what's inside a kid's head, and evaluating players is much more than just watching tape.
New grade: D
Johnny Manziel was a complete bust in Cleveland. USATSI
Dallas Cowboys
2014 grade: B
The skinny: The Cowboys had nine picks, but five of them were seventh-round choices and none of the seventh-round players is still with the team. But they nailed their first-round pick, getting All-Pro guard Zack Martin, one of the best in the league. Second-round pass rusher Demarcus Lawrence has flashed, but injuries have limited him to 16 starts. He is coming off his second back surgery, an injury that limited him to three starts last season. Fourth-round linebacker Anthony Hitchens has started 34 games in three seasons, including 16 in 2016. He has been a big hit coming in the fourth.
How I did: I liked the decision to take Martin and Lawrence, with Lawrence being the guy I targeted as their best pick. I thought receiver Devin Street was the third-day gem, but the Cowboys let him go after two seasons with little in terms of production, and the Patriots recently picked him up after the Colts let him go.
New grade: B-
Denver Broncos
2014 grade: B+
The skinny: They took corner Bradley Roby in the first round and he has been a big part of their defense the past three seasons, serving as both the nickel corner and a part-time starter. He is a good player playing behind two really good corners. Second-round receiver Cody Latimer hasn't played to his draft status, and third-round offensive lineman Michael Schofield is little more than a backup, although he has started at times. The steal of the draft was sixth-round center Matt Paradis, who has developed into their best offensive lineman.
How I did: I liked the Roby pick, but I also liked the Latimer pick. That's one for two. Paradis was my third-day gem, so that's a hit as well.
New grade: B-
Detroit Lions
2014 grade: B-
The skinny: They took tight end Eric Ebron in the first round, and he has started 27 games the past three seasons. He is a solid player who hasn't played like a first-round tight end, although he did have 61 catches last season. Second-round linebacker Kyle Van Noy just won a Super Bowl with the Patriots after being traded there last season. He was never more than solid with the Lions. The hit in the draft came in the third round when they took center Travis Swanson, who is their starter when he's healthy. He missed four games last season with concussion issues, but he has started 31 games in three seasons. Fourth-round corner Nevin Lawson started 16 games last season and has been a nice find. Sixth-round receiver T.J. Jones is still on the roster after missing his rookie season with a shoulder injury, but hasn't done much.
How I did: I questioned taking Ebron in the first round while passing on a corner, and corner is still an issue for them. I liked the pick of Van Noy, and that didn't work out. My third-day gem was pass rusher/tight end Larry Webster, and he is now with Carolina.
New grade: C+
Green Bay Packers
2014 grade: B
The skinny: First-round safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix has developed into one of the better players on their defense, while second-round receiver Davante Adams is coming off his best season with 76 catches and 12 touchdowns. That's a nice 1-2 hit at the top. But they got more than that. Backup tight end Richard Rodgers came in the third and starting center Corey Linsley came in the fifth. He's the best pick of their draft from a value standpoint. Sixth-round corner Demetri Goodson is still on the roster, as is seventh-round receiver Jeff Janis. They missed on third-round pick Khyri Thornton, a defensive lineman who was cut after missing his rookie season with a hamstring injury. He is now with Detroit, where he started six games last season.
How I did: I liked the pick of Adams the most, and that looked shaky until last season. I also liked the pick of Clinton-Dix to give them range on the back end. The third-day gem was Goodson, and he did start three games last year when injuries hit.
New grade: B+
Houston Texans
2014 grade: B+
The skinny: They took Jadeveon Clowney No. 1 overall, and after a slow start to his career he has turned into a good pass rusher. His best football is still to come. Second-round guard Xavier Su'a-Filo started 15 games last season, giving him 25 starts in three seasons. That's good value, even if he's just average. Third-round tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz has developed into a quality pass catcher and is their starting tight end. Quarterback Tom Savage, who enters this season as the starter, came in the fourth round. Backup running back Alfred Blue came in the sixth and Andre Hal, who has developed into a nice starting safety, was taken in the seventh, which makes him the best value pick. They missed big on third-round nose tackle Louis Nix..
How I did: I said the Clowney pick was their best -- even though passing on a quarterback was risky. I questioned not taking a quarterback until the fourth round, and my third-day gem was sixth-round defensive tackle Jeoffrey Pagan. He was waived last summer.
New grade: A
Indianapolis Colts
2014 grade: C
The skinny: They didn't have a first-round pick because they traded it to Cleveland for running back Trent Richardson, who was a bust. That was an awful move. Second-round offensive lineman Jake Mewhort has developed into a good guard, while third-round receiver Donte Moncrief has started 19 games, but he is coming off an injury-shortened season that saw him miss time with a fractured scapula and a hamstring issue. Those two are the only players on the roster from that draft. That's one of the reasons the roster isn't very good.
How I did: I liked the pick of Moncrief in the second, and I questioned the trade for Richardson in a big way. Who didn't? My third-day gem was fifth-round pick Jonathan Newsome, and when he had 6.5 sacks as a rookie that looked like a good pick. But then he had off-field issues, his play tailed off and he was released in 2016.
New grade: D
Jacksonville Jaguars
2014 grade: A
The skinny: This will be the Blake Bortles draft for Jacksonville, which means it won't get the due it deserves. Bortles, the third overall pick, hasn't lived up to expectations and enters 2017 playing for his job. But the team made amends the rest of the draft. They got starting receivers Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson in the second round and starting center Brandon Linder in the third. Fourth-round corner Aaron Colvin plays the slot in their scheme, and will again do so this season. Fifth-round linebacker Telvin Smith is one of the play-makers on their defense. Sixth-round offensive lineman Luke Bowanko has stuck around as a backup with a handful of starts.
How I did: I loved the Bortles pick, and right now that doesn't look good. Smith was my third-day gem, and that has been a big-time hit. I liked what they did the rest of the way, and especially liked the pick of Linder. If Bortles were a hit, this would be an unreal draft. Since he isn't, the grade drops down.
New grade: B
Kansas City Chiefs
2014 grade: C+
The skinny: They took edge rusher Dee Ford in the first round, and after a slow start he has developed into a good pass rusher. They took corner Phillip Gaines in the second, and he has started 13 games, including five last season. Injuries and inconsistency have plagued his career, but he does have talent. Their best pick came at the end of the seventh round when they landed guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif from Canada. He has developed into a quality starting guard who just got a contract extension this spring. Backup offensive lineman Zach Fulton came in the sixth round.
How I did: I liked the pick of Gaines in the third round, and that has just been OK because of injuries. I questioned taking Ford in the first with Tamba Hali and Justin Houston on the roster, but that has worked out for them. My third-day gem was quarterback Aaron Murray, who is no longer with the team and was recently released by the Rams.
New grade: B
Miami Dolphins
2014 grade: C
The skinny: The Dolphins took starting right tackle Ja'Wuan James in the first round. He is a solid player who is coming off his best season. They took receiver Jarvis Landry in the second round, and he has become a big play-maker on their offense. Backup defensive back Walt Aikens came in the fourth round and backup defensive end Terrence Fede came in the seventh. Aikens has three career starts, and while Fede has none he was part of the rotation last season.
How I did: I liked third-round guard Billy Turner, and he flopped and was released last season. I questioned taking Landry as high as they did, but he has proved to be a valuable player. My third-day gem was fifth-round linebacker Jordan Tripp. He is with his fourth team in Green Bay now.
New grade: B-
Minnesota Vikings
2014 grade: A
The skinny: The Vikings had 10 picks, including two in the first round, but only one of those players -- linebacker Anthony Barr, their first pick -- is expected to be a sure starter in 2017. Barr has developed into a good linebacker. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, their other first-round pick, was becoming a nice player before a devastating knee injury suffered last summer. The damage was extensive and he might not play this season. Third-round pick Scott Crichton saw limited time in his first two seasons, and then missed all of 2016 with an injury. He was waived in March and claimed by the Bills, but he failed his physical. They did land running back Jerick McKinnon in the third, and he has become a nice part of their offense. Backup safety Antone Exum came in the sixth round. The best hit of the draft came in the seventh round when they took defensive tackle Shamar Stephen. He started 16 games last year and should again play a big role on their defense.
How I did: I liked the move to trade back into the first round to get Bridgewater, but the injury clouds that now. My questionable move was taking McKinnon in the third, but that has proven to be a solid pick. My third-day gem was Exum and I loved the speed Barr would bring to the defense.
New grade: C
New England Patriots
2014 grade: B-
The skinny: The Patriots had nine picks. Of those, none are projected to be starters for New England in 2017. Ouch. They did take backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round, and he could be their future starter -- or bring back value in a trade. He showed well in his two starts last season. First-round pick Dominique Easley was released in 2016 for reportedly being unreliable. He's now with the Rams. Fourth-round center Bryan Stork had concussion issues and was released after starting in 2014 and '15. Fourth-round running back James White was a major player in the victory in the Super Bowl last February, and has a nice role in the offense. Backup offensive lineman Cameron Fleming also came in the fourth round.
How I did: Like the Patriots, I liked the pick of Easley. Boy, were we wrong. I questioned taking Garoppolo in the second because of value with Brady on the roster. That's still to be determined. My third-day gem was White, who I loved.
New grade: C-
The Patriots whiffed with their Dominique Easley pick. USATSI
New Orleans Saints
2014 grade: B
The skinny: They traded up in the first round to take receiver Brandin Cooks, but after three seasons he was traded to the Patriots for a first-round pick this year. Second-round corner Stanley Jean-Baptiste was a bust and was released in 2015. He is now with the Chiefs, his fourth team. None of the other four picks is still on the Saints' roster. That means they have nothing to show for this draft, other than getting a first-round pick back for Cooks, which they used on right tackle Ryan Ramczyk this year.
How I did: Like the Saints, not good. I liked the pick of Jean-Baptiste. I questioned the decision to wait until the sixth round to take an offensive lineman and my third-day gem was fifth-round safety Vinnie Sunseri. He made the team as a rookie, but is now with the 49ers. This wasn't a good draft at all. Cooks was the only saving grace and he isn't on the roster anymore.
New grade: D
New York Giants
2014 grade: C+
The skinny: They took play-making receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in the first round, and he has proven to be worth it. He is a star. They also took starting center Weston Richburg in the second round, and he has been a good value. Third-round nose tackle Jay Bromley is a backup, while fourth-round running back Andre Williams was let go last year and is now with the Chargers. Fifth-round safety Nate Berhe is a backup. The best value came with their other fifth-round pick when they took linebacker Devon Kennard. He has started 25 games, including nine last season.
How I did: I liked the pick of Bromley, and he has just been a backup, so the value hasn't been there. My third-day gem was sixth-round corner Bennett Jackson, who had two major knee injuries that led to his being released. At one point, he had a chance to start at safety before his second knee surgery.
New grade: B
New York Jets
2014 grade: C
The skinny: They had 12 picks, but of those 12 only two are projected starters in 2017. One is first-round safety Calvin Pryor, but he is on notice after they took safeties with their first two picks this year and peddled him around the league. The other is receiver Quincy Enunwa, who has developed into a nice player after being a sixth-round pick. The rest of the class has provided little. Third-round corner Dexter McDougle is a backup who enters this season on shaky ground, while fourth-round guard Dakota Dozier is also a backup who made two starts last season. They missed big on second-round tight end Jace Amaro, who was let go and is now in Tennessee.
How I did: I liked the idea of taking Pryor in the first round, and made him the best pick. I questioned taking Amaro in the second, and that proved to be true. My third-day gem was fourth-round receiver Jalen Saunders, but he did little and was released in 2015 and has bounced around the league since. This was a terrible draft.
New grade: F
Oakland Raiders
2014 grade: B
The skinny: This is the draft that made this team what it is now, a Super Bowl contender. They took pass rusher Khalil Mack with the fifth overall pick. He has turned into one of the best in the NFL. In the second round, they landed quarterback Derek Carr, and he is their franchise passer for the foreseeable future. That's a dynamic 1-2 punch. Third-round guard Gabe Jackson is a good player who helps make the Oakland line one of the best. Fourth-round nose tackle Justin Ellis is a starter, and defensive backs Keith McGill (fourth) and T.J. Carrie (seventh) have both started, with Carrie having 21 starts in three seasons. This was an unreal draft.
How I did: I loved the Mack pick and said in my grades he would be a star. I questioned taking Carr in the second. Bad move. My third-day gem was McGill, who has three career starts. In my grading, I said this could be a heck of a draft if Carr develops. He did; it is.
New grade: A+
The Raiders hit the jackpot with Derek Carr. USATSI
Philadelphia Eagles
2014 grade: B+
The skinny: First-round pick Marcus Smith, an edge rusher, has to be considered a bust. He has not started a game and has just four sacks in three seasons. That's a bad return. Second-round receiver Jordan Matthews has been a good player, starting 35 games with 223 catches. That is value. The Eagles released third-round receiver Josh Huff after a gun charge last November. He is now with Tampa Bay, but was mostly a backup in Philadelphia. Fourth-round corner Jaylen Watkins was cut in 2015, but was brought back last year and played 38 percent of the defensive snaps, starting four games. He has played slot corner and safety as well. Fifth-round defensive tackle Taylor Hart is now being tried at right tackle after being cut last year and then brought back midway through the season. Seventh-round pick Beau Allen is a backup defensive tackle.
How I did: I liked the pick of Huff in the third, which didn't pan out. I questioned passing on a corner until the fourth, and they still have issues there. My third-day gem was Hart, a defensive tackle from Oregon who didn't work out on that side of the ball.
New grade: D
Pittsburgh Steelers
2014 grade: B
The skinny: The Steelers had big hits with their first two picks, who are both important pieces on their defense. They landed starting inside linebacker Ryan Shazier in the first round and defensive end Stephon Tuitt in the second. Shazier has 24 starts the past two seasons, missing some time because of injuries. Tuitt has 28 and missed two last year with a knee injury. Third-round running back Dri Archer didn't work out, and he is no longer with the team. Fourth-round receiver Martavis Bryant was a starter before being suspended for the 2016 season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. He is expected back this season. Sixth-round pick Daniel McCullers is a backup nose tackle.
How I did: I loved their first two picks, and made Bryant their best pick in the fourth. I questioned taking Archer, and that played true. My third-day gem was McCullers, who has started for them.
New grade: B+
San Diego Chargers
2014 grade: B-
The skinny: The Chargers landed corner Jason Verrett in the first round, and he has become their best cover player. They hit on that one. Second-round pass rusher Jeremiah Attaochu has 13 starts with 10 sacks in his three seasons, but he's coming off a hip injury that shortened his 2016 season. Fifth-round defensive tackle Ryan Carrethers is a backup. Third-round offensive lineman Chris Watt was waived last year as he battled to come back from a knee injury.
How I did: I said Verrett was the best pick, and he has been -- by far. I questioned the decision to trade up in the second to get Attaochu, and he has played below expectations. My third-day gem was running back Marlon Grice, and he was cut as a rookie.
New grade: C-
San Francisco 49ers
2014 grade: B
The skinny: They took safety/corner Jimmie Ward in the first round and he has started 18 games the past two seasons at safety. He was limited to 10 last year because of injuries, but he's a solid player. Second-round running back Carlos Hyde was having a nice career, but he is coming off a torn MCL he suffered in Week 17 last season. They hit on third-round linebacker Chris Borland, but he suddenly retired after his rookie season. They got 24 starts out of third-round center Marcus Martin, but he was waived this spring and is now in Cleveland. Fourth-round corner Dontae Johnson has four starts in three seasons, but his playing time went way down last year. Receiver Bruce Ellington, another fourth-round pick, missed all of last season with a hamstring injury and has just 19 catches in his career. Keith Reaser, a fifth-round corner, is also a backup. Fifth-round edge player Aaron Lynch has been productive, getting 12.5 sacks his first two seasons, but he's coming off a season that saw him suspended for four games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy and then get just 1.5 sacks.
How I did: I thought Ward was their best pick, and he is that. I questioned taking Hyde when they did because they had so many backs, but that has kind of worked out. I made Lynch my third-day gem, saying if he gets his character concerns under control he could be a steal.
New grade: B-
Seattle Seahawks
2014 grade: B+
The skinny: The Seahawks traded out of the first round with the Vikings to get extra picks, and then traded again with the Lions to end up with nine picks. With John Schneider's track record, you would think there would be a lot of hits. But the only projected sure starter in 2017 is second-round pick Justin Britt, their starting center. Linebacker Cassius Marsh, a fourth-round pick, also could start. Paul Richardson, who was their first pick in the second round (they had two), is a backup receiver. Injuries have slowed his development. Fourth-round pick Kevin Pierre-Louis is a backup linebacker who does a nice job on special teams. That's it from this draft. So it's one definite starter, and maybe one more. That's not great.
How I did: I liked the choice of Richardson, which hasn't worked out yet. I questioned taking Britt in the second, and I was wrong. My third-day gem was Marsh, who has been a good rotation player. I thought this class would be better.
New grade: C-
St. Louis Rams
2014 grade: A+
The skinny: They had a ton of picks, including two first-round picks, thanks to the trade with the Redskins in the Robert Griffin III deal. One of those first-round picks was tackle Greg Robinson, the second overall pick, who hasn't lived up to expectations. Some consider him a bust. But Aaron Donald, their second first-round pick, is one of the best defensive players in the league. Second-round corner Lamarcus Joyner has been their nickel corner. Third-round running back Tre Mason is no longer with the team after being released in March following off-field issues. He showed promise as a rookie with 765 yards rushing. They got a starting safety in Mo Alexander in the fourth round and starting corner E.J. Gaines in the sixth. Backup center Demetrius Rhaney came in the seventh.
How I did: I thought Joyner was their best pick, and that's certainly not the case with Donald becoming the player he is now. I questioned the Mason pick, while making Gaines my third-day gem. P.S. I loved the Robinson and the Donald picks. Like the Rams, that's one for two.
New grade: B
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2014 grade: B+
The skinny: They took receiver Mike Evans in the first round, and he has developed into a Pro Bowl player and the go-to guy on their offense. They came back and added tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins in the second round, and he is now with the Jets after Tampa Bay released him last season following a DUI arrest. His talent was wasted with the Bucs. Third-round running back Charles Sims has been a nice backup running back in his three seasons. Fifth-round offensive lineman Kevin Pamphile has started 18 games, including 14 last year at left guard. He has struggled at times.
How I did: I liked the pick of Seferian-Jenkins, but that was based on his talent. And I think it still would have held up if he didn't have off-field issues. I questioned taking Sims in the third with pass-rush help needed. My third-day gem was receiver Robert Herron, who was waived before the 2015 season. Miss.
New grade: C
Tennessee Titans
2014 grade: C-
The skinny: They took tackle Taylor Lewan in the first round and he has developed into a good left tackle. Fourth-round defensive end DaQuan Jones has started 16 games each of the past two seasons and has become a really good run defender. The best pick in terms of value was fifth-round choice Avery Williamson. He has started 43 games the past three seasons at linebacker, including 16 last season. He is a productive player on their defense. They did miss big on second-round running back Bishop Sankey, who was released in 2016 after 12 starts his first two seasons.
How I did: I made Jones their best pick, so that was a hit. I questioned taking Lewan that high with two good tackles on the roster, but that paid off for them. I also questioned the decision to take Sankey, which didn't work out. My third-day gem was quarterback Zack Mettenberger, which also didn't work out.
New grade: B+
Washington Redskins
2014 grade: B-
The skinny: They didn't have a first-round pick -- it was traded away in the Robert Griffin III deal -- but they ended up with a nice draft haul. They took linebacker Trent Murphy in the second round, and he has started 22 games and had nine sacks last season off the bench. Their first third-round pick, Morgan Moses, has emerged as a quality right tackle, and the team gave him a contract extension this spring. Spencer Long, who was also taken in the third round, is their starting center. And fourth-round pick Bashaud Breeland has started 43 games at corner in three seasons. That's great value. Fifth-round receiver Ryan Grant is a backup.
How I did: I thought Moses was their best pick, and he has played to that level. I also liked Murphy, but did question taking him in the second round. I was wrong. My third-day gem was Breeland, and I hit that one.
New grade: A |
NASCAR owners are taking a firm stance against the ‘Take a knee’ anthem protests which escalated across the NFL in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s tweets on the issue on Sunday.
The gesture was started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last season as a demonstration against police brutality. Trump reignited the controversy on Friday when he said that anyone taking part in the demonstration should be fired.
While his comments caused a backlash among football players and team owners alike, the ‘Take a knee’ movement gained little traction in NASCAR where several owners said they would not condone drivers or staff taking part in the protests.
Read more
Richard Petty who co-owns Richard Petty Motorsports told the AP that anyone who refuses to stand for the national anthem should be forced to leave the country.
“Anybody that don’t stand up for the anthem oughta be out of the country. Period. What got ’em where they’re at? The United States,” Petty said.
Those sentiments were echoed by another owner, Richard Childress, who said any protests from his team members would “get you a ride on a Greyhound bus.”
“Anybody that works for me should respect the country we live in. So many people gave their lives for it. This is America,” Childress said according to Yahoo sports.
READ MORE: Rapper Jay Z rumored to have rebuffed Super Bowl halftime show request in solidarity stand
Owner Andy Murstein also condemned the protesters but took a more conciliatory stance. When asked what he would do with an employee who takes a knee, Murstein told ESPN: "I would sit down with them and say it's the wrong thing to do that and many people, including myself, view it as an affront to our great country.”
“If there is disenchantment towards the president or a few bad law enforcement officers, don't have it cross over to all that is still good and right about our country."
There was one notable exception to the hegemony, however, with driver and team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr backing the right of all Americans to peaceful protest, by quoting JFK on Twitter.
All Americans R granted rights 2 peaceful protests
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable-JFK — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) September 25, 2017
Trump tweeted his appreciation for the stance of most involved with NASCAR on Monday morning, saying he’s “so proud” of the sporting organization and its fans.
So proud of NASCAR and its supporters and fans. They won't put up with disrespecting our Country or our Flag - they said it loud and clear! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017
Kaepernick’s stance was never far from the headlines during the summer off season. Having parted ways from the 49ers, he was not offered a role by any other NFL franchise – with many believing his ‘Take a knee’ protest made him an undesirable recruit for teams.
Players, coaches and owners came together to showcase unity across the NFL.
Hear from @mosesbread72... pic.twitter.com/BCkg64dG5x — NFL Network (@nflnetwork) September 25, 2017
Trump, however, had no sympathy for him or anyone else engaging in the protest.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” he said at a rally for Republican Senator Luther Strange in Alabama.
“You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s going to say, ‘That guy that disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’ And that owner, they don’t know it [but] they’ll be the most popular person in this country.”
READ MORE: 'Get that son of a bitch off the field’: Trump takes aim at NFL anthem protesters (VIDEOS)
Those comments sparked rebuttals from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and numerous team owners, including the owner of the New England Patriots Robert Kraft, who Trump has referred to as a ‘friend’.
The protests reached unprecedented levels when Sunday’s slate of games rolled around. Dozens of players kneeled during the US anthem while several teams elected to stay in their locker rooms during the anthem to avoid the controversy.
As the NFL anthem protests unfolded, Trump responded by tweeting that fans “should never condone” the players involved.
Sports fans should never condone players that do not stand proud for their National Anthem or their Country. NFL should change policy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
The protest also received support in Major League Baseball where Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first player in the league to take part in the demonstration.
The National Basketball Association is currently on its off-season but several of the league’s stars, including LeBron James, have strongly expressed support for the protests. |
Premier League star Roberto Firmino suffered a burglary at his home in Liverpool by a hooded gang who stole £70,000 worth of possessions.
The Liverpool forward's home was targeted by the thieves before Christmas who are believed to have watched the house for a number of days and pounced when the Brazilian left with his wife and two children.
They ransacked the Victorian property in Liverpool for jewellery, watches and clothes amounting to £70,000 before leaving on foot.
Roberto Firmino and his family were moved to a hotel over Christmas by Liverpool officials after his home was raided by a hooded gang. Jewellery, watches and clothes were taken
Firmino and his wife Larissa Pereira were said to have been left shaken by the burglary
It is believed the thieves previously targeted the property but were disturbed on that occasion.
Liverpool officials moved the Brazilian and his family - wife Larissa and two small children - into a hotel over Christmas and have now provided the 25-year-old with a security team tasked with protecting them at the home.
A source told The Sun: 'They'd obviously been watching Roberto come and go, then swooped in.
'It's thought they are the same guys who were disturbed mid-burglary on a previous occasion.
'He was obviously shaken up as he has a young family, so the club had him in a hotel before giving him security at the house.'
Firmino had his home burgled by a gang before Christmas - he is pictured playing in the FA Cup at the weekend for Liverpool against Plymouth
Firmino speaks to manager Jurgen Klopp as he prepares to come on against Plymouth
Firmino came off the bench in Liverpool's goalless draw against Plymouth at Anfield
Forensic tests have been taken at the property and the gang are believed to have been wearing hoods, with one in a blue Puffa coat.
Detective Inspector Steve Christian, from Liverpool CID, said: 'I'd like to appeal to the consciences of the offenders and ask them to put themselves in the victim's position and think how they would feel if this happened to them.
'While the occupiers were not in at the time, it has clearly been very upsetting to find their home has been targeted in this way.
'I would ask the offenders to do the right thing and return the stolen items to the owner in any way possible.
'I would also like to appeal to anyone who might have been offered the items for sale since the burglary to contact police, and anyone who was in the Carnatic Road area on that night to contact us if they remember anything suspicious.' |
Good grief.
Help me.
Help me now.
This was delicious.
Good steaks do not need sauce. But they’re every bit as delicious with a good sauce as they are on their own. And as much steak as we eat in our household, I like to change things up. This sauce is actually almost a “side dish”—substantial and delicious.
You’ll absolutely love it.
Grab a large onion. Very large.
Cut it in half from root to tip…
Then peel off the outer layer and make relatively thick slices. Not huge, but definitely not thin.
Melt 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter in a heavy skillet over high heat.
When it’s all melted…
Throw in the sliced onions.
Stir them around, then let them sit and cook over high heat. Stir them only occasionally; we want them to get nice and brownish/black.
Meanwhile, grab a ribeye steak—whatever thickness you like.
Heat up the grill outside, or be lazy like me and heat up a grill pan. Add lots of butter so it’ll get brown.
Since the sauce is so flavorful, all we need to do with the meat is season it with salt and pepper.
Throw it diagonally on the grill pan, and season the other side. Watch the steak and turn it as it cooks to get the nice grill marks.
While the steak cooks, go ahead and make the (very easy) sauce.
Turn the skillet with the onions down to low heat…
Then pour in 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream.
Ask for forgiveness while you’re at it.
You’re gonna need it. This is a crime.
Heat it all up…
And stir it gently as it cooks. Slowly the white cream will take on the color of the caramelized onions and your soul will sing.
You want to cook it for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and reduces by about half. If it gets too thick (it shouldn’t), you can splash in a little beef broth.
Ahhh. Perfect.
But I’m about to go one better. Dump in 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese.
Please do this, even if you think you don’t like blue cheese. Please? Blue cheese? Please?
Now stir it around while the cheese melts and makes the sauce even more creamy than it was before.
Oh my gosh. Oh my…my…gosh.
To serve, make a nice, generous bed of sauce on a large plate.
This dish is for, shall we say, hearty appetites.
Then place the steak, which is now grilled (medium rare) to perfection, right on top!
Press down slightly to get the sauce to spread to the edges of the steak.
I want my mommy.
I want my mommy now.
Can I tell you something? This was so good, I almost cried. The medium rare steak was good enough…
But the sauce was absolutely sublime.
Make this for your sweetie or best friend this weekend!
They’ll love you even more than they already do. |
Bitcoin’s saving grace for scalability (at least in the eyes of the vast majority of Bitcoin Core contributors) should be ready for use this summer.
The Lightning Network, which is a generalized network of payment channels that enables instant bitcoin transactions with practically no fees, could be live as soon as this summer. This new protocol layer built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain has received a lot of attention and hype over the past couple of years, and a fix for transaction malleability via Segregated Witness has resolved some of the code and design complexities involved with the network.
Lightning Network co-creator Joseph Poon recently supplied some comments to CoinJournal in regards to the current status of the project and when it will be available for general use. Poon claimed a functional version of the Lightning Network should be ready this summer.
Testing on SegNet
As of now, this particular implementation of the Lightning Network concept is being tested on SegNet, which is a test network for Segregated Witness. In his comments to CoinJournal, Poon stated:
“We are currently testing Lightning against SegNet. Tadge Dryja and Olaoluwa Osuntokun have been integrating Segregated Witness in our software. In fact, I believe Tadge was the first person to make a witness block larger than 1MB on SegNet 3 when testing the mempool.”
Tadge Dryja is the other co-author on the original Lightning Network white paper. Recently, Olaoluwa Osuntokun has also been working on bringing more privacy to the network for micropayments.
The code for this project is available on GitHub, and Poon added, “It should be in a testable state on SegNet 4 very soon.”
Ready When Segregated Witness Goes Live
When asked whether the Lightning Network will be available once Segregated Witness is merged into Bitcoin Core, Poon responded:
“A basic, functional version of Lightning Network should be ready when the Segregated Witness soft-fork goes live on Bitcoin, presuming it gets merged and activated this Summer. Hopefully it gets in this Summer, as this will enable entirely new decentralized use cases for Bitcoin which were not possible before on any financial system due to custodial risk underwriting.”
At the recent 2016 MIT Bitcoin Expo, Joseph Poon discussed how the Lightning Network causes people to reimagine the Bitcoin blockchain as a court for smart contracts rather than a simple payment network.
In another recent interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin Core contributor and Ciphrex CEO Eric Lombrozo claimed a feature-complete pull request for Segregated Witness should be made available this month (April 2016). Having said that, it could take more time for that pull request to be reviewed, tested, and approved by the development community. The recently released SegNet 4 is expected to be the last test network for Segregated Witness.
Millions of Transactions Per Second
While the Bitcoin network is currently limited to less than ten transactions per second, Joseph Poon contends that the Lightning Network will enable millions (and eventually billions) of possible transactions per second. Poon stated:
“A single node on a reasonably fast internet connection will be able to process thousands of transactions per second. In aggregate across the entire network, the total capacity will be in the millions per second, even early on.”
Poon added that there may be soft-fork optimizations that could be helpful for improving the Lightning Network in the future, but the biggest constraint up to this point has been transaction malleability, which is fixed by Segregated Witness.
Update [10th April] Blockstream’s Rusty Russell has told CoinJournal that his Lightning Network prototype is also currently being adapted for SegNet 4. Russell doubts his version of the network will be available when Segregated Witness and other protocol changes implemented in SegNet 4 go live on Bitcoin’s mainnet. In terms of SegNet 4, the Blockstream Core Tech Engineer added, “It’s the last bitcoin protocol change required to make lightning a reality.” |
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