text
stringlengths 316
100k
|
|---|
The UK's biggest photography chain, Jessops, is making a comeback this week with help from business tycoon Peter Jones. After shutting all of its 187 stores and cutting 1,370 jobs in January, The Mirror reports that Jessops' online store will return tomorrow with six retail stores opening in the coming days and plans to open more than 30 next month.
There'll be an Apple influence in Jessops' new stores
As part of its relaunch, Jessops is set to offer a number of former employees their jobs back, hiring around 500 staff to run its stores. The company also hopes to mimic Apple's retail success by introducing new "play tables," where customers can test and compare cameras, and has announced plans to create a Jessops Academy, which will offer one-to-one tuition and the option to reserve and collect online items.
In January, Jones offered hope that the beleaguered retailer would return when Jessops' creditors announced the entrepreneur was part of a group purchasing the brand and assets for a reported £2 million ($3.02 million). Jones — who gained fame for his role in Dragons' Den, the UK version of the ABC show Shark Tank — admits the relaunch is "a huge risk," but has promised to compete with its online rivals, something UK consumers have argued it should have done a long time ago. |
Welcome to the 3RVX homepage! 3RVX provides an on-screen display (OSD) for Windows systems. It supports skinnable volume and eject OSDs as well as a range of hotkey controls, tray notifications, and other cool features. 3RVX is open source software (available on Github) and is under active development, so feel free to participate in filing bugs, adding new features, or contributing skins!
4 July 2016 : I now have hardware that supports hardware brightness control. This should speed up the development of the brightness OSD!
: I now have hardware that supports hardware brightness control. This should speed up the development of the brightness OSD! 25 June 2016 : Updated Documentation
: Updated Documentation 7 June 2016 : 3RVX 2.9.2 (Beta 10) released
: 3RVX 2.9.2 (Beta 10) released 18 September 2015: 3RVX 2.9.1 (Beta 9) released
Run into trouble? Submit bug reports on Github. |
ATF domestic sting operations eclipse Operation Fast and Furious.
Infowars.com
June 30, 2013
In sting operations similar to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing which left six dead, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms are pressuring and arming people to rob fictitious drug “stash houses” and the busts have left at least seven people dead, according to USA Today.
In these ATF sting operations, an informant recruits a targeted individual for an undercover ATF agent who pretends to be a disgruntled drug cartel courier.
Either the informant or the ATF agent suggests the possibility of robbing a stash house containing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine.
The ATF agent explains that he needs a robbery crew to help him overtake armed guards in the house and steal the cocaine. Once the crew meets to prepare for the armed robbery, federal authorities bust them.
Several of the busts have lead to the deaths of suspects who shot at or tried to run down agents in an attempt to flee.
Informants are paid by the ATF to pressure people to join the fake robberies. Individuals may be targeted simply because the informants know them through work or a personal connection, just like a raffle ticket sale.
In preparation for the fake stash house raids, ATF agents are outfitting robbery crews, supplying vehicles and firearms to would-be robbers who only own bus tokens and pellet guns.
No doubt the ATF is taking notes from the FBI, who provided a wannabe terrorist with dummy explosives loaded in a van personally chauffeured by an FBI agent to the intended blast site.
“The ATF has a standard playbook for such operations,” said Judge William J. Bauer in a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals opinion.
“The facts between cases are frequently nearly identical.”
In United States v. Mayfield, an ATF informant knew that his co-worker, 41-year-old Leslie Mayfield, had a criminal past, although fairly distant.
Mayfield complained about his low wage; his criminal history presumably prevented him from higher-paying jobs.
After Mayfield crashed his car and couldn’t afford repairs, the informant lent him money while suggesting he help him rob a stash house.
Mayfield refused for several weeks, more than likely because he didn’t want to restart his long lost criminal career.
But the informant continued to pressure Mayfield into committing the crime, pointing to his gang tattoos, presumably to threaten Mayfield into paying back the debt.
Mayfield finally acquiesced out of fear for his life and to the allure of over $100,000 in only a few hours of work. But the money did not exist and a court sentenced Mayfield to 27 years in prison.
The judge barred Mayfield from an entrapment defense.
In his opinion on the case, Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with both the sentence given to Mayfield and the ATF sting operations as a whole.
“Before succumbing to the blandishments of the informant, Mayfield was working at an honest job,” said Posner.
“Now, as a result of the sting, we the taxpayers will be supporting him at considerable expense for the next quarter century. Does that make any sense?”
According to Posner, fictitious stash house stings help real stash houses at the expense of the taxpayers.
The ATF stings eliminate potential stash house robbers and deters others from stash house robberies because they might turn out to be stings.
“The greater security that fictitious stash house stings confer on real stash houses, security obtained at no cost to the operators of stash houses, reduces their cost of self-protection,” said Posner. “Which is a principal cost of the illegal-drug business.”
“The operators of stash houses would pay lay enforcement to sting potential stash house robbers.”
Sources:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/27/atf-stash-houses-sting-usa-today-investigation/2457109/
http://www.lb7.uscourts.gov/documents/10-3725op.pdf |
SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Construction began in San Diego Tuesday on prototypes for a new border wall between the United States and Mexico, marking the start of a proposed project that served as a bitterly divisive centerpiece in President Donald Trump's ascension to the White House.
Groundbreaking in Otay Mesa for eight proposed versions of the barrier -- four made of concrete, the others from unspecified alternate materials -- took place this morning, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Each structure will be between 18 and 30 feet tall and demonstrate a proposed design for how best to deter illegal crossings of the international line, according to the federal agency.
"We are committed to securing our border, and that includes constructing border walls," CBP acting Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello said. "Our multi-pronged strategy to ensure the safety and security of the American people includes barriers, infrastructure, technology and people. Moving forward with the prototypes enables us to continue to incorporate all the tools necessary to secure our border."
Completion of the structures is expected within about 30 days, according to federal officials.
Construction on 8 wall prototypes began today in San Diego. The prototypes are designed to deter illegal border crossings. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/WB1rIojgLj — CBP (@CustomsBorder) September 26, 2017
This morning, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an urgency ordinance banning items that could be used as weapons, such as baseball bats, knives and rocks, in areas where the border wall prototypes are being built and giving law enforcement the authority to issue misdemeanor citations to those found to be carrying such items.
"We support the right to peacefully protest, but there is no need to bring weapons," said Ron Lane, the county's deputy chief administrative officer.
Supervisor Dianne Jacob said: "We need to make sure our law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to protect the people and keep the peace. This is a divisive time in our nation's history and frankly, we already have a border fence in San Diego, so I'm not sure why we were targeted to build the prototypes, but it is what it is ..."
Late last month, the U.S. government announced that it had awarded contracts to the following contractors for concrete wall prototypes: Caddell Construction Co. of Montgomery, Alabama; Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. of Tempe, Arizona; Texas Sterling Construction Co. of Houston, Texas; and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co. of Philadelphia, Mississippi.
The concrete mock-ups will "allow CBP to evaluate the potential for new wall and barrier designs that could complement the wall and barrier designs we have used along the border over the last several years," according to a statement issued by the federal agency.
Three weeks ago, Customs and Border Protection officials announced contract awards for so-called "other materials" prototypes of the proposed border wall. The following companies were selected to build them: Caddell Construction; KWR Construction Inc. of Sierra Vista, Arizona; ELTA North America Inc. of Annapolis Junction, Maryland; and W.G. Yates & Sons.
"Prototypes constructed from alternate materials will serve two important ends," according to a CBP statement. "First, given their robust physical characteristics -- for example, they will be between 18 and 30 feet high -- the `other materials' border-wall prototypes are designed to deter illegal crossings in the area in which they are constructed. Second, they will provide an innovative perspective in the application of new materials, which will allow CBP to evaluate the potential for new wall and barrier designs to complement the current wall and barrier used along the Southwest border."
Completion of wall prototype construction is expected within approximately 30 days of the Notice to Proceed https://t.co/tODIpX9taI
(2/2) pic.twitter.com/JBLet7jDe9 — CBP (@CustomsBorder) September 26, 2017
Last week, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit in San Diego against the Trump administration over its plan to begin construction of the wall, acting on behalf of the state and the California Coastal Commission.
"The border between the U.S. and Mexico spans some 2,000 miles -- the list of laws violated by the president's administration in order to build this campaign wall is almost as long," Becerra told reporters then. "The Department of Homeland Security would waive 37 federal statutes, as well as regulations that are related to those statutes, and he would also violate numerous state and local laws here in our great state of California."
The announcement came one day after the San Diego City Council voted 5-3 to pass a resolution opposing the border wall. That resolution stated the edifice would be detrimental to San Diego's environment and tourism.
"The border wall is a stupid idea," Councilman David Alvarez said. "The border can become efficient and safe with investments in infrastructure and technology instead of wasting billions of taxpayer dollars for a wall, which will accomplish nothing."
The San Diego Unified School District Board of Education, for its part, unanimously approved a resolution in April that supported a bill in the state Legislature that would prohibit California from doing business with contractors who help build a wall.
Before the City Council's vote of opposition to the proposed border barrier, dozens of residents lined up to speak on the topic, most of them denouncing it.
Council members Chris Cate, Mark Kersey and Lorie Zapf voted against the resolution, with Zapf saying the resolution only served as "political posturing."
Port of San Diego Vice Chairman Rafael Castellanos was among those who spoke against the border barrier at the council meeting. He said it was important to stand in solidarity with the immigrant community.
"This is not medieval China," he said. "We are not trying to keep out Mongol hordes. This is not a Matt Damon movie. This is a silly federal frolic that may go down in the `Guinness World Book of Records' as the worst pork- barrel project of all time."
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, who represents California's border region, also has taken a stand against the project, arguing that there are bigger enforcement problems in the border area, such as tunnels used to smuggle people and drugs into the United States.
In August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it had secured a waiver that would allow it to bypass environmental regulations to speed up the building process in San Diego and Imperial counties.
RELATED COVERAGE |
Quantifying the Spillovers from China Rebalancing Using a Multi-Sector Ricardian Trade Model
Author/Editor:
Rui Mano
Publication Date:
November 15, 2016
Electronic Access:
Free Full Text. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate
Summary:
This paper assesses the spillovers from different facets of China rebalancing using a calibrated Ricardian trade model that includes 41 economies, each consisting of 34 sectors. We find that China’s move up the value chain in particular has the potential for significant spillovers – on the one hand, adversely affecting industrialized economies heavily involved in the Asia value chain, while at the same time generating positive spillovers to lower and middle income countries. The model’s strength lies in endogenously capturing production value chains and international trade of goods across sectors. |
Well, it's definitely a prototype. But after a proper groping, we're more excited than ever about Casio's new Bluetooth watch of the future.
Advertisement
The unnamed plastic proof-of-concept may not be much to look at now, but after running through the BLE-infused prototype's features, we're definitely psyched to see the technology work its way into the rest of the company's timepieces.
To be clear: The watch really only does a few things. But it does them all exceedingly well. We tested it with an Android phone and connecting was as simple as pressing a button on watch. Whenever you receive a call, the watch instantly produces the name of the caller scrolling across the digital display. Double tapping the face mutes the call alarm saving you the trouble of frantically turning out your pockets or tearing through a bag. Similarly, e-mail alerts show up as a specific addresses, and you'll get notifications for text messages and two separate bars (on the upper right and left corners) that display your received call and email counts.
Advertisement
While the watch does include a Find Me feature, it requires you to lose track of your smartphone within a 5 meter range (the limit for BLE). You can also sync your watch with your smartphone's time to instantly adjust to new time zones when traveling. And that's about it...for now.
Advertisement
Casio says BLE will eventually accommodate other bite-sized bits of useful information, like shooting info on transit schedules, theater and concert info, and various health and location data directly to your wrist.
As far as where the tech will show up first, expect it to be incorporated into the G-Shock line towards the end of this year or early 2012. Honestly, we've never been as excited about Bluetooth. |
When it comes to purchasing the right type of glasses to safely view this month’s solar eclipse, there’s more than meets the eye.
Officials from the nonprofit American Astronomical Society are warning people — those looking to buy the special lenses that allow you to stare directly at an eclipse as it’s happening — to steer clear of phony or counterfeit products being sold online. Buying inadequate glasses, the group says, could lead to serious eye damage.
The proper lenses should meet what’s called “ISO 12312-2” (sometimes written as “ISO 12312-2:2015”) international safety standards, according to the group. Accredited manufacturers print a logo bearing this identifying mark on their products and packaging.
Advertisement
The problem is, vendors seem to be slapping that label onto glasses that don’t meet the qualifications, possibly looking to earn a quick buck amid the excitement surrounding the Aug. 21 celestial event.
Get Metro Headlines in your inbox: The 10 top local news stories from metro Boston and around New England delivered daily. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here
This, of course, has experts worried.
“We used to say that you should look for evidence that they comply with the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard for filters for direct viewing of the sun,” according to a statement on the American Astronomical Society’s website. “But now the marketplace is being flooded by counterfeit eclipse glasses that are labeled as if they’re ISO-compliant when in fact, they are not.”
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the only time it’s safe to view a solar eclipse without “eclipse glasses” or special viewing lenses is during the moment of “totality,” when the moon completely obscures the sun’s glaring disk. (Information about viewing the eclipse safely is on NASA’s website, eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety).
Before and after that moment could spell trouble for spectators trying to peer up toward the rare, natural occurrence.
Advertisement
“People should never look directly into the sun except when it’s in totality,” said Christine Jones, a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and president of the society.
“People can seriously damage their eyes,” she said.
A full solar eclipse will only be visible in what experts call the “path of totality,” a 70-mile-wide corridor that stretches from Oregon to South Carolina. Totality will only occur for roughly two minutes.
For everyone else who isn’t within the path — like residents in Massachusetts — only a partial eclipse will be visible when the moon passes between the earth and the sun.
That means, finding the right specs is a must.
Advertisement
In its warning about faux products, the society pointed to a recent report by Quartz, which scoured Amazon for unsafe glasses being shelled out to the public as the hype grows ahead of the eclipse.
‘The marketplace is being flooded by counterfeit eclipse glasses that are labeled as if they’re ISO-compliant when in fact, they are not.’
“Unscrupulous vendors can grab the ISO logo off the Internet and put it on their products and packaging even if their eclipse glasses or viewers haven’t been properly tested,” the society said. “This means that just seeing the ISO logo or a label claiming ISO 12312-2 certification isn’t good enough. You need to know that the product comes from a reputable manufacturer or one of their authorized dealers.”
The society offered its own list of what it called “reputable vendors” where viewers can purchase legitimate specs for the occasion, diverting people away from the reportedly bunk offerings being promoted to consumers.
“If we don’t list a supplier, that doesn’t mean their products are unsafe — only that we have no knowledge of them or that we haven’t convinced ourselves they are safe,” the group said.
The society added, “Your eyes are precious! You don’t need astronomers to tell you that, but you do need astronomers to tell you where to get safe solar filters. . . . To do otherwise is to take unnecessary risks.”
Adrian Sainz/Associated Press Cardboard frames for solar eclipse glasses are stacked in the American Paper Optics factory in Bartlett, Tenn.
Steve Annear can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @steveannear |
DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR Andrew Cuomo just pardoned 18 illegals who were facing immigration enforcement actions because of prior criminal charges. He says his pardon was based on their rehabilitation efforts. Cuomo blasted what he called President Trump’s “hard-line” immigration efforts. Is following the rule of law a “hard line”?
IN SEPTEMBER OF LAST YEAR CUOMO SIGNED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER IGNORING IMMIGRATION LAW?
Yesterday New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order barring law enforcement officials from inquiring about the citizenship status of suspects during investigations. It would also apply to other state agencies outside of law enforcement in most cases. In other words, rather than just refusing to cooperate with ICE when they seek to deport illegal aliens, Cuomo is raising the bar and basically pretending that we don’t even have any immigration laws.
IS THIS ABOUT VOTES, VOTES, VOTES? YOU BET IT IS!
take our poll - story continues below
Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story? Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story?
Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story? * Yes, they've gotten so much wrong recently that they're bound to be on their best behavior. No, they suffer from a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Jussie who?
Email *
Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Completing this poll grants you access to 100PercentFedUp.com updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Trending: OSCARS 2019: A Hot Mess Of Leftist Politics and Activism On Display [Video]
“While the federal government continues to target immigrants and threatens to tear families apart with deportation, these actions take a critical step toward a more just, more fair and more compassionate New York,” Cuomo said in a statement.
WE SAY THAT TRUMP SHOULD CUT OFF INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS!
IGNORING CRIMINAL HISTORIES:
Among those pardoned Wednesday was Lorena Borjas, 57, who had been convicted of criminal facilitation in 1994 as a result of being a victim of human trafficking. Borjas, a transgender woman from Mexico, has worked as an advocate for the transgender and immigrant communities since her conviction, the governor’s office said.
Freddy Perez, 53, was convicted of criminal sale of a controlled substance in 1993. Perez, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, said he hopes to become a U.S. citizen, according to the governor’s office.
Prior to Wednesday’s pardons, Cuomo had issued seven pardons for immigrants in an effort to postpone their deportation, The New York Times reported.
Read more: The Hill |
IN PHOTO: An Airbus A320 airliner from Air New Zealand, seen in this undated file photo, has crashed in the sea off the southwest coast of France, near Perpignan with five people on board during a training flight on November 27, 2008.
IN PHOTO: An Airbus A320 airliner from Air New Zealand, seen in this undated file photo, has crashed in the sea off the southwest coast of France, near Perpignan with five people on board during a training flight on November 27, 2008. Reuters/HO-Airbus
Britain’s plan for a referendum to decide on quitting the European Union has rattled many businesses. On Thursday, European aero space giant Airbus came out in the open and warned the U.K. that it may be forced to reconsider investment in the country, if it goes ahead with plans to leave the European Union.
Making a strong pitch for the U.K.’s continued to stay in EU, Paul Kahn, president of the 16,000-employee Airbus U.K. said, the best way for Britain to compete for international investment will be to "remain part of the EU," reports BBC.
Referendum in 2017
Prime Minister David Cameron has already promised a referendum on the U.K.'s EU membership by the end of 2017. This has heightened the pace of debate in political and business circles. However, toeing the Conservative line, local business leader and chairman of construction equipment firm JCB Lord Bamford said the U.K. need not fear about the consequences of exiting EU.
Speaking to BBC, the Airbus leader said even if a referendum on leaving the EU may be 18 months away, companies like Airbus needed to be ahead in that debate. "I believe it is vital for a company such as Airbus to come out and make a stand in favour of Britain remaining in the European Union," he said. Airbus is the second-largest plane maker after Boeing and employs 6,000 people at Broughton, North Wales, in the U.K. where the wings of all Airbus aircraft are assembled. The EU company is a huge EU industrial enterprise spanning civil aviation, defence and space has operations in Germany, France and Spain.
Kahn said his company has concerns that it could face more red tape in terms of work visas and trade barriers, if the U.K. quits EU. However, he stressed that even if Britain were to leave the EU, the company would not immediately close down the production facilities. But he replied in the affirmative to a question of reconsidering investment, if Britain’s business climate turns bad after it exits EU.
Rule Of Brussels
Making Britain’s thinking clear on the issue, Chancellor George Osborne in his recent speech at the Confederation of British Industry said the U.K. wanted to be in Europe “but not run by Europe.” Osborne acknowledged that some businesses might "want us to leave the EU come-what-may. And there are also those, including some in this room, who want us to go further into a more federal Europe".
Osborne said the official position is already shared by the majority of British people and British businesses. He also sees a disadvantage in staying put in EU as it has "priced itself out of the global economy" with its raft of rules, regulations and red tape. However, president of the CBI, Sir Mike Rake urged businesses to "speak out early" in favour of Britain remaining in a reformed EU.
(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at [email protected]) |
A few years ago, I wrote a column about the fall of civil discussion online. Social media had peaked in my eyes and turned into a dumpster fire of raging adults going head to head. I am by no means an expert in the field of social media, but I still take part in comment forums. The trolls are as rampant as they've ever been in every crevice of the internet. Nothing comes close to matching the Trump trolls. #TrollingforTrump, if you will.
Back when the primaries kicked off, the trolls found a common hero in Trump. Someone on the outside the norm of the establishment, someone not taken seriously. Someone himself a master at getting reactions from making a single statement. I mean, that's the whole purpose of trolling, isn't it? Get people defensive and engage them to react with real emotions and sincerity.
Through alt-right propaganda sites and troll treehouses such as 4chan and Reddit, they organised, finding a home and purpose. They were going to do whatever they could to elect der leader, Donald John Trump. Why? Many of them didn't know why they joined the fight. It was a social experience where their trolling prowess could go to use.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who believe in Trump and everything he promises. Yet, there are plenty of people who put trolling before anything else. They ended up playing chicken with the future of the world for some laughs.
I haven't even touched on the Russian troll houses (who get paid and only want to see the US implode). Efforts to try and distort facts and change conversations were obvious for a long time. We know they spread propaganda and misinformation.
Anyone doubting it should look at the country's response to Trump's presidency.
You're online on Facebook or Youtube or CBC. You are visiting a site that has left-leaning followers. In droves, your community of like-minded individuals gets bombarded with pro-Trump messages. Liberal tears, Obama, MAGA, Emails, and other various talking points. Referred to as "brigading", they share social media links, flooding conversations with trolling.
The average person may say to themselves 'Wow, I'm on the outside of things' & think over what the trolls are vomiting. Some may get riled up and bite and the threads fill with distractions and misinformation. Wasting time with someone who doesn't care except for getting the reaction you give them.
Unfortunately, there's no going back. Trolls are now as empowered as ever before, having gotten their guy elected. Dealing with them is a reality of commenting now everywhere we go online. There are a few ways you can ensure that you don't end up sucked down such rabbit holes.
First, pay attention to where you're commenting and when his "supporters" show up. Do they show up all at once or are they scattered throughout the day? What is the content of their messaging? Do they share their opinions and engage in civil conversations, or do they post troll bait? While it's not a sure-fire sign, especially in our globalised world, do their usernames make sense? How many comments have you seen from people with surnames that don't even exist?
Again, there are sincere people who do believe in Trump and hope he delivers on his promises. But there are so many trolls that it is killing conversations. It's not about liberal tears because opposition to Trump is bipartisan. Trump has the
lowest support of any incoming president ever. You'd think that social media would reflect that, but often it doesn't.
The best way to deal with not just Trump trolls, but all trolls, is not engage them. You get into an endless back and forth and you give them the energy and dopamine to continue on another day. And you? You end up wasting your time and energy and ready to quit the internet altogether at the end of the day.
You will be a-ok if you ignore it and realise that you'll hardly ever actually change someone's opinion, troll or not.
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook |
Lonely individuals may decode social cues well but have difficulty putting such skills to use precisely when they need them--in social situations. In four studies, we examined whether lonely people choke under social pressure by asking participants to complete social sensitivity tasks framed as diagnostic of social skills or nonsocial skills. Across studies, lonely participants performed worse than nonlonely participants on social sensitivity tasks framed as tests of social aptitude, but they performed just as well or better than the nonlonely when the same tasks were framed as tests of academic aptitude. Mediational analyses in Study 3 and misattribution effects in Study 4 indicate that anxiety plays an important role in this choking effect. This research suggests that lonely individuals may not need to acquire social skills to escape loneliness; instead, they must learn to cope with performance anxiety in interpersonal interactions.
© 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc. |
Over the past few months, this same story has played out over and over again in the media: men confronting an unwanted pregnancy slip their partners abortion drugs and end the pregnancy. You can read it here, here, here, here and here.
These cases all have some interesting things in common: none of the men were married to the women carrying their children and in all the US cases, the men were originally charged with either murder or attempted murder.
Hmmm. So when a man kills an unborn baby it’s murder, but when women kill unborn babies it’s just “a reproductive right”. It’s not a baby anyways, right? Just a clump of annoying cells. A “fetus”.
Except when it’s not.
Abortion: it’s only a baby when she says it is.
My intention today is not to discuss abortion, but rather to look at the idea of “reproductive rights” more carefully. Two high profile media sources have recently featured stories that question whether men actually have any rights when it comes to reproduction. Back in June, Laurie Shrage, a professor of philosophy and women’s studies (!) posed the hypothetical question Is Forced Fatherhood Fair in the New York Times, and Anna March followed that up with an article at Salon demanding that we Make Fatherhood A Man’s Choice!.
It’s heartening to see the conversation turn towards even considering whether parenthood should be voluntary for all adult humans, and I think New Media sources like AVfM can take the credit for that. It certainly has not been feminist media, with their oft-repeated commitment to “equality” that have expressed any interest in equal reproductive rights. Quite the opposite. Websites like Jezebel hilariously trot out the exact same arguments anti-abortion activists use against women to deny men reproductive rights – don’t have sex if you don’t want a baby!
A typical comment goes like this:
Gentlemen. IF YOU PUT YOUR PENIS IN A LADY THERE IS A CHANCE YOU MIGHT MAKE A BABY. THERE IS ALWAYS A CHANCE UNLESS YOU GET A VASECTOMY. IF YOU DON’T WANT TO TAKE THAT CHANCE, DON’T PUT YOUR PENIS IN A LADY.
http://jezebel.com/forced-fatherhood-yeah-okay-whatever-513168822
Oh really now?
IF YOU ALLOW A PENIS IN YOUR VAGINA THERE IS A CHANCE YOU MIGHT MAKE A BABY. THERE IS ALWAYS A CHANCE YOU MIGHT MAKE A BABY UNLESS YOU GET A TUBAL LIGATION. IF YOU DON’T WANT TO TAKE THAT CHANCE, DON’T LET A PENIS IN YOUR VAGINA.
How’s that work for ya, Jez? No abortion, no adoption, no escaping the consequences of sex. Fair is fair, right?
*crickets*
I’ve discussed the lack of reproductive rights for men before and although I suspect I hardly need to spell them out for regular readers of A Voice for Men, there may be some new faces around the club who aren’t familiar with the options that women have, and men don’t, when it comes to unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. Women have three choices when faced with a child they do not want and do not wish to assume legal or financial responsibility for:
1. Women can abort the child before it is born
2. Women can surrender the child for adoption
3. Women can surrender the child under Safe Haven laws and walk away
Men have none of those rights. The Jezebel article spells it out quite clearly:
Boo fucking hoo. At the end of the day, the only thing the government, and society, requires fathers to do is pay money.
Charming. The only thing fathers have to do is pay money. And the accusation that feminism reduces men to mere utilities is unfair because: why again?
What would reproductive rights look like for men?
The right to legal parental surrender, in a time sensitive window (allowing for early abortion if the woman so chooses). Just as no woman can be forced into motherhood against her will, no man should be forced into fatherhood against his.
Legal Parental Surrender. It’s not that hard.
But since we do not in fact have laws that protect the rights of men who wish to choose fatherhood rather than have it shoved down their throats, some men are taking the matter into their own hands, administering abortion-inducing drugs without the knowledge or consent of the pregnant woman.
I think we can simultaneously condemn the practice and comprehend the reasoning behind it: in the absence of reproductive equality, some men will take drastic steps to level the playing field. John Welden, facing a murder charge for making a reproductive choice for someone else, was ultimately convicted of product tampering and mail fraud–and there is something very interesting in that conviction:
I’m no lawyer, but if John and other desperate men like him can be charged, convicted and jailed for fraud and product tampering, is it possible that women who trick their male partners into pregnancy can face the same charges? Is it always illegal to tamper with products and make reproductive choices for other people, or is it only illegal when men do it?
Birth control sabotage is a frighteningly common reproductive strategy that both men and women engage in. Men are generally resoundingly condemned as brutish, controlling, misogynist pigs when they do something as despicable as birth control sabotage, but what about women who play the exact same game? “Forgetting” to take pills? Purchasing ineffective pills? Poking holes in diaphragms and condoms? Oh, there are plenty of strategies to get pregnant without the knowledge or consent of a partner, and ladies don’t hesitate to share those. But really now, you must be thinking, how common is that? Do women really tamper with birth control products for the purposes of getting pregnant without a partner’s consent, or are we just talking about a few outliers?
According to “Jody”, in an interview with Details Magazine, it’s not only common, it’s normal!
Jody (not her real name), a 32-year-old account manager for a major New York ad firm, decided to speed things along with her boyfriend two years ago by getting pregnant without telling him. “It’s not about trapping the guy,” Jody says. “That’s kind of old-fashioned. Yeah, you want him to be into it, but there are other ways to get a guy to commit. If you’re smart and in a good relationship, it’s just about the fact that you want a kid.” Even in her circle of young, urban, and gainfully employed friends, Jody says, this particular brand of subterfuge isn’t exactly condemned the way one might expect. In fact, it’s sort of, well, normal. “I see and hear people talk about it, and I understand. I get it,” she says, “and I don’t even think it’s that manipulative. It’s more like, ‘Hey, the timing is right for me. I got pregnant—oops! Well, it’s here, let’s have it.’ I think that’s more the way it is now than it was back in the day when you had to marry someone before you got pregnant. Marriage doesn’t matter now.”
Why aren’t these women facing criminal charges for making reproductive choices for other people? If men who administer abortion drugs without the knowledge or consent of their partners can be held criminally liable for that action, then why aren’t women who engage in product tampering and fraud (telling someone you are taking birth control pills when you are not) held similarly liable?
Reproductive rights include the right to decide if you will be a parent or not, and they exclude the right to make that choice for anyone else.
As it stands, only women have the right to choose parenthood, and only women have the right to make reproductive choices for other people.
Equality: you’re doing it wrong.
Oh well now, that’s a surprise, right?
Nope. Not when it comes to feminist double standards.
Lots of love,
JB |
Many gardeners and hikers have endured some form of dermatitis after contacting certain plant species. Skin irritation, itching, rashes, blisters, swelling, and other symptoms can be caused by many parts of the plant, including sap, plant “hairs,” or thorns (thorn punctures can also introduce infection-causing bacteria or fungi).
Dermatitis rashes may be painful and can be quite serious. In some cases, sunlight may exacerbate the rashes.
Types of dermatitis caused by plants
Three types of plant-induced dermatitis include:
Irritant contact dermatitis – chemical reaction on the skin after contacting the plant, which affects many people
– chemical reaction on the skin after contacting the plant, which affects many people Phytophotodermatitis – secondary sun-enhanced reaction after contact with the plant
– secondary sun-enhanced reaction after contact with the plant Allergic contact dermatitis – occurs only in susceptible individuals
1. Irritant contact dermatitis
There is an extensive list of plants that cause irritant contact dermatitis, including
Flowering bulbs – gladiolus, tulip, daffodil, alstroemeria, etc.
Ivy ( Hedera spp.)
spp.) Black walnut ( Juglans nigra )
) Eucalyptus, blue gum ( Eucalyptus spp.)
spp.) Tomato plants
Stinging nettle hairs ( Urtica spp.)
spp.) etc. . .
Sometimes the dermatitis is caused by irritant sap or latex in the plant, such as occurs with:
Agave, century plant ( Agave spp.)
Spurge, poinsettia (Euphorbiaceae family)
Ranunculaceae family – Buttercup, anemone, ranunculus, pasque flower, etc.
Frangipani, etc. (Apocynaceae family)
Daphne (Daphne mezereum)
2. Phytophotodermatitis (“phyto-photo-dermatitis”)
Some plants sensitize the skin to UV light. Subsequent exposure to sunlight can cause a mild “sunburn,” or even severe secondary burns. Hyperpigmentation may also result after contact with these plants, which can persist for months. Examples of plants causing phytophotodermatitis:
Figs ( Ficus spp. – rubber plant, fig tree, etc.)
spp. – rubber plant, fig tree, etc.) Citrus (lime juice, etc.)
Queen Anne’s lace, and carrot plants (Daucus carota)
Phytophotodermatitis is a common problem for susceptible gardeners who work outdoors and work repeatedly with offending plants — such as pruning fig plants.
3. Allergic contact dermatitis
Allergic contact dermatitis affects only certain individuals, and can be caused by many plants. Most people are familiar with the dermatitis caused by plants in the Anacardiaceae family:
Poison oak ( Toxicodendron diversiloba ) Wild plant
) Wild plant Poison ivy ( Toxicodendron radicans ) Wild plant
) Wild plant Poison sumac ( Toxicodendron vernix ) Wild plant
) Wild plant Sumacs ( Rhus spp.) Ornamental
spp.) Ornamental Pepper tree ( Schinus spp.) Ornamental
spp.) Ornamental Smoke tree ( Cotinus coggygria ) Ornamental
) Ornamental Cashew ( Anacardium occidentale ) Food
) Food Mango (Mangifera indica) Food
If you know you are allergic to any of these plants, you should avoid exposure to them.
Prevention and treatment
Please do not use this information as medical recommendations. In case of a serious reaction to any plant, always seek immediate medical help from a professional or contact a poison control center (U.S. Poison Control Center: telephone 800-222-1222).
Preventing exposure to dermatitis-causing plants is always the best bet. When gardening or hiking, wear protective clothing, and launder the clothing after exposure. If skin comes in contact with plants that can cause dermatitis, wash the skin as soon as possible with cool water and mild soap.
Gardeners and landscape workers should be aware of plants that are notorious for causing dermatitis, and should wear protective clothing, including gloves, long sleeves, long pants, closed shoes, and sun-protective clothing (for plants that cause phytophotodermatitis).
I am not a medical professional, so I won’t give medical advice, but don’t hesitate to get professional medical help when dermatitis occurs — reactions can be severe in some people, so medical help may be necessary.
Plant lists / Websites
I maintain a website — Safe and Poisonous Garden Plants — with lists of toxic ornamental plants (including those causing dermatitis). Plants are listed by both common name and scientific name: http://ucanr.edu/sites/poisonous_safe_plants/
Additional information:
Safe and Poisonous Garden Plants http://ucanr.edu/sites/poisonous_safe_plants/
Poisonous Plants; Centers for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/plants/
Poison oak: More than just scratching the surface http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0802.htm
Advertisements |
Industrial tech giants HP and Siemens have partnered to develop an Additive Manufacturing (AM) software module. The new software module, Siemens NX AM for HP Multi Jet Fusion, is available from Siemens as part of their PLM Software for additive manufacturing. The software will only work with the HP Multi Jet Fusion system.
The NX software module will allow customers to develop and manage parts in a single software environment for their 3D printing projects, avoiding data conversions and third-party tools. The software can be used with a project from design to finished part. Siemens and HP hope the new software will help engineers take better advantage of 3D printing’s capabilities.
Auto-nesting improves packability in the build chamber, reducing cost per part. (Image Courtesy HP and Siemens) Additive techniques have new, different limitations than conventional manufacturing. With today's 3D printers, it may be possible to cost-effectively produce new products at faster speeds than 3D printers of the past, which were mainly useful for prototyping. Today, engineers and designers are used to following principles of conventional manufacturing processes such as injection molding. With additive, designs should be unconstrained by these principles. For example, a printed part can have internal features that would be impossible to release from a mold. As software and hardware advance with our understanding of the potential of the technology, this in turn will lead to expanded opportunities for the industrial-scale 3D printing of innovative designs.
According to the company, the NX software module will enable users to combine design, optimization, simulation, preparation of print jobs and inspection processes for HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printed parts in a managed environment. Users can load multiple 3D part models into NX, auto nest the parts and submit them to an HP 3D printer.
In the future, the NX and Multi Jet Fusion integration is intended to allow control over including material characteristics down to the individual voxel-level. This will result in the ability to print parts with variable textures, density, strength and friction, as well as thermal, electrical and conductivity characteristics.
Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printer. (Image courtesy of HP)
HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D is a commercial 3D printing system that uses powder bed fusion, in which an energy source—heat lamps, in this case—fuses particles of metal powder together point by point, layer by layer, until an object is complete. Siemens new software aims to provide product lifecycle management (PLM) and electronic design automation (EDA) software 3D printing solutions. Over time, as the hardware and software get better, manufacturers will establish additive manufacturing as a truly industrial production process.
For more information, visit Siemens and HP. For more on metal additive manufacturing, check out this great ENGINEERING.com whitepaper on the subject. |
Google’s bid to connect the world with its services is a multi-faceted effort that spans mobile services, search, maps, connectivity, devices and more. But today, it’s the company’s efforts in the world of fonts — perhaps one of the less celebrated, but still central, parts of that ambition — that is having its day in the spotlight.
Google, in partnership with font specialist Monotype, has taken the wraps off the Noto Project, a five-year collaboration between the two to create a typeface that applies to any language that now offers a single font style covering more than 800 languages and 100 writing scripts. The mammoth effort is now being shipped. The fonts are available under an open source OFL (Open Font License), both to use and to be modified with more design tweaks.
The aim here is a big one: regardless of which language you create or consume digital content in, there should be no “unknown” characters that come across as white boxes, which are described as “tofu.” (Noto is a portmanteau of “No to(fu)”.) And all of it, Google and Monotype believe, would look better if it were visually unified.
To be sure, there was a degree of skepticism when Google and Monotype embarked on this project, in my opinion well summed up in the words of Pakistani-American writer Ali Eteraz (quoted by NPR in 2014, when the project was already well underway):
“I tend to go back and forth,” he said. “Is it sort of a benign — possibly even helpful — universalism that Google is bringing to the table? Or is it something like technological imperialism?”
Fonts can be an extremely fun and liberating thing to play around with if you have a wide selection at your disposal, and the right one can make just the right statement at times.
In that context, I’d say that what Noto has produced is more functional than inspiring. The resulting fonts are as unoffensive and neutral as you might imagine an everyfont might be (the basic English sans-serif font is down below), and with styles including different weights, serif and sans serif versions, numbers, emoji (which are basically Google’s emoji), symbols and music notations.
But as far as functional goes, it’s a notable and worthy effort of how to create a truly global font language, and come out with something clean at the end of it.
“Google Noto is a daunting project in size and scope, and I’m proud of how we’ve worked hard over the past five years to develop a really good product that solves a problem no one else has taken on before,” said Bob Jung, director of internationalization, Google, in a statement.
“Our goal for Noto has been to create fonts for our devices, but we’re also very interested in keeping information alive. When it comes to some of these lesser used languages, or even the purely academic or dead languages, we think it’s really important to preserve them. Without the digital capability of Noto, it’s much more difficult to preserve that cultural resource.”
What’s interesting to me is the division of labor between Google and Monotype when embarking on this project.
Monotype was in charge of a lot of the actual design work. This included, it said, “researching and digitally designing the characters, writing systems and alphabets, and applying the rules and traditions for those individual languages to the fonts and managing the project, including organizing outside designers and linguists around the world who specialize in specific scripts.”
Google, for all its engineering and other prowess, appears to have occupied the client role, setting out the parameters of what it is that Monotype needed to do, and paying for it: It “defined the requirements and scope of the project, shared significant input into design direction for major languages, contributed design review and technical testing resources and expertise for a broad range of languages, and provided the funding that made this project possible.”
The two said also that “hundreds of researchers, designers, linguists, cultural experts and project managers around the world have been involved with Google Noto” as well.
For Google, this fits with the fact that the company is launching services and wants to grow its footprint wherever Internet connectivity can go. It also dovetails nicely with the company’s other efforts around languages, specifically providing translation frameworks for a wide range of languages that are both active and in decline (an effort that broke the 100-language barrier earlier this year).
In response to the claims that there may be some kind of commercial imperialism here, Monotype — which has been working with Google since 2011 and the release of Unicode 6.0 (we’re now on 9.0) — seems to have gone about its effort with a degree of sensitivity.
Describing the company’s approach to Tibetan, for example, Monotype did “deep research into a vast library of writings and source material, and then enlisted the help of a Buddhist monastery to critique the font and make adjustments. The monks’ constant study of Tibetan manuscripts made them the ideal experts to evaluate Noto Tibetan, and were instrumental in the final design of the font.”
While the Noto fonts are being released today, Monotype and Google said that this continues to be a work in progress, with more scripts and weights getting added with subsequent Unicode standards.
“We are passionately dedicated to type and helping to advance the use and adoption of type across many cultures, languages and geographies,” said Scott Landers, president and CEO of Monotype. “We are thrilled to have played such an important role in what has become one of the most significant type projects of all time. The combination of Monotype’s type expertise and Google’s innovation has proven to be a productive relationship and we look forward to continued collaboration that helps advance the use of type to new places.”
More on the Noto font effort in Google and Monotype’s video, here:
Creating Noto for Google from Monotype on Vimeo. |
Bitcoin News for the Week of 07/21/14
It’s time for another weekly recap of top headlines and bitcoin news from around the world, where we trim the fat and bring you all the important stuff about bitcoin each week. This week is chock full of good news with lots of exciting announcements coming out of The North American Bitcoin Conference in Chicago, MMA fighter Phil Baroni will sponsor bitcoin on SpikeTV, and a lot more.
Check it out!
[](https://blog.blockchain.com/content/images/2014/07/tnabc.jpg)
[Gallery: Bitcoin Community Spirit Shines at TNABC Chicago](http://www.coindesk.com/gallery-bitcoin-community-tnabc-chicago/)
The North American Bitcoin Conference brought the full range of the international bitcoin community to Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center for two days of discussion on all things digital currency. Though it was perhaps the major announcements by Blockchain, the Chamber of Digital Commerce and OKCoin, as well as discussion of New York’s new bitcoin regulation that reverberated most widely online, the conference itself was focused on engendering community spirit.
App Shows Bitcoin’s Reach Into Everyday Tokyo Life
The latest indicator of bitcoin’s growing presence in daily life in Tokyo is the Blockchain wallet app which offers users information on where they can use bitcoin to buy real goods and services in the capital. Several stores in Tokyo now accept bitcoin for a beer and fries, smartphone repairs and even eyelash extensions, as the reach of the virtual currency extends well beyond the tech nerd’s basement or bedroom.
Bitcoin Brands Inc. Sponsors MMA Legend Phil Baroni
Bitcoin Brands Inc. announced that it has entered into a sponsorship agreement with mixed martial arts legend Phil “The New York Bad Ass” Baroni for his upcoming main card fight for Bellator 122. The fight will be televised nationally on SpikeTV on Friday, July 25, 2014 at 9pm/8pm Central.
[](https://blog.blockchain.com/content/images/2014/07/theblockchain.jpg)
[What is the Blockchain?](http://cointelegraph.com/news/112101/what-is-the-blockchain-) The blockchain is a database displayed publicly for every Bitcoin transaction that happens in the Bitcoin network. By using this database, every user has the ability to uncover what amount in Bitcoin has ever belonged to a specific address at a specific timeframe.
“Bitcoin Is The Truth,” Says Rap Genius Founder Mahbod Moghadam
Mahbod Moghadam is a co-founder of Genius and the author of Genius Inc, and recently discussed bitcoin as he is a fan and has a lot of positive things to say about the digital currency. Moghadam went on to say, “If you are using Bitcoin, you are making the world a better place.”
Top 5 Bitcoin Wallets in 2014
As with most forms of money, there are many different ways in which you can store your bitcoins. Here’s a closer look at some of the top Bitcoin wallets available to users on mobile and desktop platforms right now. For additional wallet comparisons, BitcoinX provides community ratings and reviews of the highest ranked wallets.
First Eyewear Company to Accept Bitcoins for Eyewear Purchases
The founders of Swift Eyewear Inc., Joseph Ianni and Pierre Brousseau, are very excited to announce that it will become the first global eyewear company to accept Bitcoin payments. Swift will use Blockchain.Info’s US dollar market exchange price feed to instantaneously convert prices to Bitcoins for each purchase.
Gliph iOS Messaging App Reinstates Bitcoin Functionality
Privacy-focused messaging app Gliph once again supports bitcoin functionality in its newest iOS release. The announcement follows Apple’s recent reversal of its ban on bitcoin apps, which meant Gliph was forced to disable bitcoin sending late last year.
BitPay uses Bitcoin to Sponsor Georgia Tech Athletics, Unveils Facebook App
BitPay, a Bitcoin startup company founded in 2011 and a pioneer in business solutions for the digital currency, recently announced its affiliation to the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Athletic Association. Brokered by IMG College – the multimedia partner of the university, the sponsorship is meant to cover Georgia Tech’s basketball and football programs.
[youtube_video]lM8AF2sKPT4[/youtube_video]
How Bitcoin Will Disrupt Hollywood
Michael Terpin is the founder and CEO of Terpin Communications Group, a leading public relations and strategic communications firm, specializing in high-technology and digital convergence.
Bitcoin to Earth: Don’t Look Now, but your Paradigm is Shifting
Historians may look back on these current days with fascination. We may be living through the beginning of one of the biggest paradigm shifts in modern human history. The way the world actually thinks about money and stored value might be changing in a tidal wave of recognition. This article will define what a paradigm is and what a paradigm shift looks like. |
Aug 4, 2016 Ξ Comments are off
By Ed Diokno
Three Asian Americans will be representing the U.S. in fencing at the Rio Olympics next week. The team is probably the best team the U.S. has assembled and has the potential to bring home a batch of medals.
While much of the media attention has zeroed in on Ibtihaj Muhammad, who will be the first woman to wear a hijab throughout the competition, the sport, or art, fencing in the U.S. has improved by leaps and bounds since the 2012 Olympics. No longer a pushover in world competition, several of the U.S. fencers are ranked high in the world and favored in their discipline, including the Asian Americans.
Gerek Meinhardt, Taiwanese American
Discipline: Men’s foil Hometown: San Francisco Age: 25 Olympic Experience: He’ll compete in his third Olympic Games in Rio. Meinhardt was the youngest Olympic fencer in U.S. history when he made his debut at age 18 in Beijing in 2008. Journey to Rio: Meinhardt’s road to his third Olympic Games included a No. 1 world ranking in 2014. He was the first U.S. men’s foil fencer to achieve the top ranking, and he was the first to win a world championship medal when he won a bronze medal in 2010. He won another bronze medal at the 2015 world championships and added a silver medal, behind teammate Alexander Massialas’ gold, in the 2015 Pan American Games. Quick Fact: In the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Meinhardt was the youngest man on the entire U.S. Olympic Team.
Alexander Massialas, Taiwanese American
Discipline: Men’s foil Hometown: San Francisco Age: 22 Olympic Experience: He made his Olympic debut in 2012 as the youngest man on the U.S. Olympic team. Massialas finished 13th in the individual competition and fourth in team. Two years before the London Games, Massialas won a silver medal in the Youth Olympic Games. Journey to Rio: Massialas rose to a No. 1 world ranking earlier this year. He qualified for Rio at a tournament in February in Bonn, Germany. He won individual and team gold medals in the 2015 Pan American Games and a silver medal in the 2015 world championships. Quick Fact: Alexander is coached by his dad, Greg, a three-time U.S. Olympic fencer and the men’s foil Olympic coach. Quote: “I try to stay as much of a kid as possible.”
Quote: “I would love to win an individual Olympic medal, but doing it as a team with these friends would be special and a testament to our coach Greg Massialas, who has elevated USA men’s foil to world prominence.”
Lee Kiefer, Filipino American
Discipline: Women’s foil Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky Age: 21 Olympic Experience: Kiefer placed fifth in the individual competition, and sixth in the team, when she made her Olympic debut in the 2012 Games. Journey to Rio: A silver medal in the La Havane Grand Prix helped Kiefer obtain a No. 6 world ranking (tops in the United States) and her second Olympic team berth. She won gold medals in both the individual and team competitions in the 2015 Pan American Games. Quick Fact: She practices against her boyfriend, Gerek Meinhardt (See above.) Quote: “It’s always nice in fencing if you’re tall and left-handed. I’m neither. I’m a short, right handed-fencer,”
AsAmNews is an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. You can show your support by liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/asamnews , following us on Twitter, sharing our stories, interning or joining our staff . |
Even a week ago, the idea of a Russian military intervention in Ukraine seemed farfetched if not totally alarmist. The risks involved were just too enormous for President Vladimir Putin and for the country he has ruled for 14 years. But the arrival of Russian troops in Crimea over the weekend has shown that he is not averse to reckless adventures, even ones that offer little gain. In the coming days and weeks, Putin will have to decide how far he is prepared to take this intervention and how much he is prepared to suffer for it. It is already clear, however, that he cannot emerge as the winner of this conflict, at least not when the damage is weighed against the gains. It will at best be a Pyrrhic victory, and at worst an utter catastrophe. Here’s why:
At home, this intervention looks to be the one of the most unpopular decisions Putin has ever made. The Kremlin’s own pollster released a survey on Monday that showed 73% of Russians reject it. In phrasing its question to 1600 respondents across the country, the state-funded sociologists at WCIOM were clearly trying to get as much support for the intervention as possible: “Should Russia react to the overthrow of the legally elected authorities in Ukraine?” they asked. Only 15% said yes – hardly a national consensus.
That seems astounding in light of all the brainwashing Russians have faced on the issue of Ukraine. For weeks, the Kremlin’s effective monopoly on television news has been sounding the alarm over Ukraine. Its revolution, they claimed, is the result of an American alliance with Nazis intended to weaken Russia. And still, nearly three quarters of the population oppose a Russian “reaction” of any kind, let alone a Russian military occupation like they are now watching unfold in Crimea. The 2008 invasion of Georgia had much broader support, because Georgia is not Ukraine. Ukraine is a nation of Slavs with deep cultural and historical ties to Russia. Most Russians have at least some family or friends living in Ukraine, and the idea of a fratricidal war between the two largest Slavic nations in the world evokes a kind of horror that no Kremlin whitewash can calm.
Indeed, Monday’s survey suggests that the influence of Putin’s television channels is breaking down. The blatant misinformation and demagoguery on Russian television coverage of Ukraine seems to have pushed Russians to go online for their information. And as for those who still have no Internet connection, they could simply have picked up the phone and called their panicked friends and relatives in Ukraine.
The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now
So what about Russia’s nationalists? The war-drum thumping Liberal Democratic party, a right-wing puppet of the Kremlin, has been screaming for Russia to send in the tanks. On Feb. 28, as troops began appearing on the streets of Crimea, the leader of that party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, was on the scene handing out wads of cash to a cheering crowd of locals in the city of Sevastopol, home of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. “Give it to the women, the old maids, the pregnant, the lonely, the divorced,” he told the crowd from atop a chair. “Russia is rich. We’ll give everybody everything.” But in Monday’s survey, 82% of his party’s loyalists rejected any such generosity. Even the adherents of the Communist Party, who tend to feel entitled to all of Russia’s former Soviet domains, said with a broad majority – 62% – that Russia should not jump into Ukraine’s internal crisis.
That does not necessarily mean Putin will face an uprising at home. So far, the anti-war protests in Moscow have looked almost pathetically temperate. But sociologists have been saying for years that Putin’s core electorate is dwindling. What underpins his popularity – roughly 60% approved of his rule before this crisis started – is a total lack of viable alternatives to Putin’s rule. But this decision is sure to eat away at the passive mass of his supporters, especially in Russia’s biggest cities.
In Monday’s survey, 30% of respondents from Moscow and St. Petersburg said that Russia could see massive political protests of the kind that overthrew the Ukrainian government last month. Putin’s only means of forestalling that kind of unrest is to crack down hard and early. So on Feb. 28, Russia’s most prominent opposition activist Alexei Navalny was put under house arrest less than six months after he won 30% of the vote in the Moscow mayoral race. Expect more of the same if the opposition to Putin’s intervention starts to find its voice.
The economic impact on Russia is already staggering. When markets opened on Monday morning, investors got their first chance to react to the Russian intervention in Ukraine over the weekend, and as a result, the key Russian stock indexes tanked by more than 10%. That amounts to almost $60 billion in stock value wiped out in the course of a day, more than Russia spent preparing for last month’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. The state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom, which accounts for roughly a quarter of Russian tax revenues, lost $15 billion in market value in one day – incidentally the same amount of money Russia promised to the teetering regime in Ukraine in December and then revoked in January as the revolution took hold.
The value of the Russian currency meanwhile dropped against the dollar to its lowest point on record, and the Russian central bank spent $10 billion on the foreign exchange markets trying to prop it up. “This has to fundamentally change the way investors and ratings agencies view Russia,” said Timothy Ash, head of emerging market research at Standard Bank. At a time when Russia’s economic growth was already stagnating, “This latest military adventure will increase capital flight, weaken Russian asset prices, slow investment and economic activity and growth. Western financial sanctions on Russia will hurt further,” Ash told the Wall Street Journal.
Even Russia’s closest allies want no part of this. The oil-rich state of Kazakhstan, the most important member of every regional alliance Russia has going in the former Soviet space, put out a damning statement on Monday, marking the first time its leaders have ever turned against Russia on such a major strategic issue: “Kazakhstan expresses deep concern over the developments in Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministry said. “Kazakhstan calls on all sides to stop the use of force in the resolution of this situation.”
What likely worries Russia’s neighbors most is the statement the Kremlin made on March 2, after Putin spoke on the phone with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. “Vladimir Putin noted that in case of any escalation of violence against the Russian-speaking population of the eastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea, Russia would not be able to stay away and would resort to whatever measures are necessary in compliance with international law.” This sets a horrifying precedent for all of Russia’s neighbors.
Every single state in the former Soviet Union, from Central Asia to the Baltics, has a large Russian-speaking population, and this statement means that Russia reserves the right to invade when it feels that population is threatened. The natural reaction of any Russian ally in the region would be to seek security guarantees against becoming the next Ukraine. For countries in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, including Armenia, a stanch Russian ally, that would likely stir desires for a closer alliance with NATO and the European Union. For the countries of Central Asia, Russia’s traditional stomping ground on the geopolitical map of the world, that would mean strengthening ties with nearby China, including military ones.
China, which has long been Russia’s silent partner on all issues of global security from Syria to Iran, has also issued cautious statements regarding Russia’s actions in Ukraine. “It is China’s long-standing position not to interfere in others’ internal affairs,” the Foreign Ministry reportedly said in a statement on Sunday. “We respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
So in the course of one weekend, Putin has spooked all of the countries he wanted to include in his grand Eurasian Union, the bloc of nations he hoped would make Russia a regional power again. The only gung-ho participants in that alliance so far have been Kazakhstan (see above) and Belarus, which is known as Europe’s last dictatorship. Its leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has so far remained silent on the Russian intervention in Ukraine. But last week, Belarus recognized the legitimacy of the new revolutionary government in Kiev, marking a major break from Russia, which has condemned Ukraine’s new leaders as extremists and radicals. The Belarusian ambassador in Kiev even congratulated Ukraine’s new Foreign Minister on taking office and said he looks forward to working with him.
As for the impoverished nation of Armenia, a late-comer to Russia’s fledgling Eurasian alliance, it has also recognized the new government in Kiev while stopping short of any official condemnation of Putin’s intervention in Ukraine so far. But on Saturday, prominent politicians led an anti-Putin demonstration in the Armenia capital. “We are not against Russia,” said the country’s former Minister of National Security David Shakhnazaryan. “We are against the imperial policies of Putin and the Kremlin.”
Russia’s isolation from the West will deepen dramatically. In June, Putin was planning to welcome the leaders of the G8, a club of western powers (plus Japan), in the Russian resort city of Sochi. But on Sunday, all of them announced they had halted their preparations for attending the summit in protest at Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. So much for Putin’s hard-fought seat at the table with the leaders of the western world.
In recent years, one of Russia’s greatest points of contention with the West has been over NATO’s plans to build of a missile shield in Europe. Russia has seen this as a major threat to its security, as the shield could wipe out Russia’s ability to launch nuclear missiles at the West. The long-standing nuclear deterrent that has protected Russia from Western attacks for generations – the Cold War doctrine of mutually assured destruction, or MAD – could thus be negated, Russia’s generals have warned. But after Russia decided to unilaterally invade its neighbor to the west this weekend, any remaining resistance to the missile shield project would be pushed aside by the renewed security concerns of various NATO members, primarily those in Eastern Europe and the Baltics. Whatever hopes Russia had of forestalling the construction of the missile shield through diplomacy are now most likely lost.
No less worrying for Putin would be the economic sanctions the West is preparing in answer to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. Depending on their intensity, those could cut off the ability of Russian companies and businessmen in getting western loans and trading with most of the world’s largest economies. Putin’s allies could also find it a lot more difficult to send their children to study in the West or to keep their assets in Western banks, as they now almost universally do. All of that raises the risk for Putin of a split in his inner circle and, potentially, even of a palace coup. There is hardly anything more important to Russia’s political elite than the security of their foreign assets, certainly not their loyalty to a leader who seems willing to put all of that at risk.
And what about the upside for Putin? There doesn’t seem to be much of it, at least not compared to the damage he stands to inflict on Russia and himself. But he does look set to accomplish a few things. For one, he demonstrates to the world that his red lines, unlike those of the White House, cannot be crossed.
If Ukraine’s revolutionary government moves ahead with their planned integration into the E.U. and possibly NATO, the military alliance that Russia sees as its main strategic threat would move right up to Russia’s western borders and, in Crimea, it would surround the Russian Black Sea fleet. That is a major red line for Putin and his generals.
By sending troops into Crimea and, potentially, into eastern Ukraine, Russia could secure a buffer around Russia’s strategic naval fleet and at its western border. For the military brass in Moscow, those are vital priorities, and their achievement is worth a great deal of sacrifice. Over the weekend, Putin’s actions showed that he is listening carefully to his generals. At the same time, he seems to be ignoring the outrage coming from pretty much everyone else.
Contact us at [email protected]. |
The California Coastal Commission has banned the breeding of orcas in SeaWorld, as a condition on the approval of a $100 million expansion of the tanks to house the marine mammals in SeaWorld’s San Diego facility.
The breeding ban—a last-minute amendment that followed a day-long hearing on Thursday—would only affect the captive orcas at the California park, not SeaWorld facilities in other states, reports The Guardian. The amendment also prohibits the sale, trade or transfer of captive orcas.
“The commission’s action today ensures that no more orcas will be condemned to a nonlife of loneliness, deprivation, and misery,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement.
The commission attached several other conditions to the approval SeaWorld’s Blue World expansion in San Diego, including one that no new whales from the wild will be kept there.
SeaWorld said in a statement that the company was disappointed with the conditions attached to the approved expansion, which would see its killer whale enclosures triple in size.
“Breeding is a natural, fundamental and important part of an animal’s life and depriving a social animal of the right to reproduce is inhumane,” says the park.
SeaWorld San Diego is currently home to 11 orcas, the star attractions of the facility.
26 of LIFE's Best Animal Covers LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine LIFE Magazine 1 of 26 Advertisement
Contact us at [email protected]. |
A storm this morning is passing east of the region and just clipping parts of Cape Cod with a few potential showers. This afternoon, another shower or two may pop up from the west as a separate and weak storm crosses the region.
Once each of these weather systems moves out of the picture the heat starts arriving on Saturday and then really takes off Sunday.
There is a chance many of you will see temperatures reach at least 90 degrees or even the mid-90s Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This would be another heat wave, and the second heat wave this year. If that occurred, we won't know until later Tuesday, this would be the earliest two heat waves have ever been happened so soon in the season. Records go back to 1872 — so that would be a big deal.
If you are headed to northern New England it will be hottest on Sunday as well. Tomorrow there is the chance for showers or a thunderstorm, and the lakes region are most likely to see the rain.
Temperatures will already be in the 90s by noon Monday. (Dave Epstein/WBUR)
The cool air from Canada returns on Wednesday, dropping temperatures back to seasonal levels along with lower levels of humidity.
You can follow my updates here and on Twitter @growingwisdom.
Friday: Clouds, showers possible or a thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 60s to near 73 well inland.
Friday Night: Clear to partly cloudy. Lows 55-60.
Saturday: Sun and clouds. Pop-up shower mainly inland. Highs 80-85. Cooler at the south coast.
Sunday: Sunshine, hot and increasingly humid. Highs in the 80s to mid-90s.
Monday: Sunshine and hot. Highs 91-96. Cooler on the Cape and the Islands.
Tuesday: More heat, more humidity. Highs 88-96. |
Multipath Transmission Control Protocol (MPTCP), specified in RFC 68241, is the most recent extension to the venerable TCP. TCP was designed when hosts had a single network interface and a single IP address. Each TCP connection is identified by a four-tuple (source and destination addresses and source and destination ports), and every packet belonging to this connection carries this four-tuple. Once a TCP connection has been established, it is impossible to change any of the elements of the four-tuple without breaking the connection—a severe limitation in today’s networks for the following reasons:
Many hosts are dual-stack. Even if they have a single interface, they have two or more addresses and there are different network paths between any pair of communicating hosts. Many hosts have several interfaces, such as smartphones and tablets. There are a growing number of mobile hosts on today’s Internet with addresses that can change as they move from one wireless network to another.
Multipath TCP handles these issues by extending TCP to enable endhosts to exchange data belonging to one connection over different paths. To achieve this, Multipath TCP combines several TCP connections (called subflows in RFC 6824) into a single Multipath TCP connection. The first subflow starts with a three-way handshake, much like a regular TCP connection. The main difference is that the SYN packet contains an MP_CAPABLE option that negotiates the use of Multipath TCP and random keys.
Once the first subflow has been established, either of the communicating hosts can create an additional subflow from any of its own addresses toward any of the addresses of the remote host by sending a new SYN with the MP_JOIN option. Such subflows can be created and terminated at any time, which is very important for mobile hosts. Data can be sent over any of the subflows that currently compose the Multipath TCP connection. If a subflow fails, all the data that was transmitted over it that has not yet been acknowledged will be retransmitted over other subflows. (For more information about Multipath TCP, see RFC 6824 or NSDI ’122).
Today there exist multiple independent interoperable implementations of Multipath TCP. The most widely used are iOS/macOS and Linux3. Multipath TCP is supported by load balancers, and there are implementation efforts on FreeBSD and Solaris. This article describes several commercial services that leverage the unique capabilities of Multipath TCP.
Smartphones
The largest deployment of Multipath TCP is on smartphones.
End-to-end Multipath TCP
Smartphones often have connectivity to both a WiFi access point and a cellular network. If a user has Internet connectivity via WiFi, walking away from the WiFi access point will result in the smartphone losing connectivity, implying that the TCP connection that has been established over WiFi will also fail. One of the benefits of Multipath TCP is its ability to seamlessly hand over from one interface to another—making it the perfect candidate to solve these kind of losses of connectivity (Figure 1).
Siri is the digital assistant in Apple’s iOS and macOS operating systems. Because speech recognition requires tremendous processing power, Siri streams spoken commands to Apple’s datacenter for speech recognition; the result is sent back to the smartphone. Although the duration of a user’s interaction with Siri is relatively short, Siri’s usage pattern made this data transfer a perfect client for MPTCP.
Many people use Siri while walking or driving. As they move farther away from a WiFi access point, the TCP connection used by Siri to stream its voice eventually fails, resulting in error messages.
To address this issue, Apple has been using MPTCP—and benefiting from its handover capabilities—since its iOS 7 release. When a user issues a Siri voice command, iOS establishes an MPTCP connection over WiFi and cellular. If the phone loses connectivity to the WiFi access point, traffic is handed over to the cellular interface. A WiFi connection that is still in sight of an access point can have a channel become so lossy that barely any segments can be transmitted. In this case, another retransmission timeout happens and iOS retransmits the traffic over the cellular link.
To further reduce latency, iOS measures the round-trip times (RTTs) on the two interfaces. Bufferbloat is infamously known to cause huge RTTs. The WiFi link may have an RTT much bigger than that of the cellular link. When iOS detects that the RTT over WiFi is much bigger than the one over cellular, it sends the voice stream over the cellular interface.
Finally, input from WiFi Assist4 and a trigger to hand over traffic to the cellular interface is used. For Siri users, this deployment of MPTCP has resulted in a significant reduction of network errors. After establishing two subflows (one over WiFi and one over cellular), the network error rate decreased by 80%.
Thanks to RTT measurements that also trigger handovers, Siri also responds faster to user commands. Siri can provide user feedback 20% faster in the 95th percentile and 30% faster in the 99th percentile.
Deploying MPTCP on the Internet has been relatively painless. MPTCP’s ability to handle middlebox interference and fall back to regular TCP has proven efficient and without major issues. Roughly 5% of the connections, however, still fall back to regular TCP, due to both the deployment of transparent TCP proxies in cellular networks and firewalls removing MPTCP options.
One challenge of MPTCP is its debuggability. Subflow handling introduces a major code complexity: WiFi interfaces appear and disappear. Some of these networks may have middleboxes that interfere with MPTCP, making subflow establishment impossible. Corner-case scenarios, which are hard to reproduce and only happen when a product is deployed at huge scale, require extensive logging mechanisms to trace the behavior of an MPTCP connection.
Due to the uncertainties introduced by middleboxes on a network, it is very difficult to identify root cause of an issue. As a result, one can’t always differentiate between a software bug and a middlebox.
Multipath TCP through SOCKS proxies
Besides the servers deployed specifically for the previous use case, there are very few servers that already support Multipath TCP. Despite this, several network operators seek to enable smartphone users to achieve increased throughput by combining existing cellular and WiFi networks. Network operators in several countries have relied on SOCKS (RFC 19285) to simultaneously use WiFi and cellular networks. From an operator’s viewpoint, the main benefit of coupling SOCKS with MPTCP is that it is easily deployable, since no or few dependencies exist with the existing cellular core and WiFi infrastructure.6
Several models of commercial Android smartphones include the Multipath TCP implementation in the Linux kernel and a SOCKS client. The SOCKS client running on the smartphone intercepts any TCP connection attempts to distant servers. It then creates a connection to a SOCKS server managed by the network operator.
When the user is authenticated, the SOCKS client sends a command to the SOCKS server, which creates a TCP connection toward the remote server. At this point, there is a Multipath TCP connection between the smartphone and the SOCKS server, and a TCP connection between the SOCKS server and the remote server. The SOCKS server relays all data sent on the Multipath TCP connection over the TCP connection, and vice versa. Smartphones create additional subflows toward the SOCKS server over the other available interfaces. The result is an improved user experience, thanks to aggregated bandwidth and seamless handover.
Hybrid access networks
Another important use case for Multipath TCP lies in access networks. In many regions of the world, the available access networks provide limited bandwidth. A typical example is rural areas, where it is costly for network operators to deploy high-bandwidth access networks. Even if access network bandwidth is limited, it often is possible to subscribe to different network services that, when combined, provide higher bandwidth and higher resiliency.
Several companies have deployed solutions that leverage the unique bonding capabilities of Multipath TCP. The first relies on SOCKS proxies and enables endusers to efficiently combine network services from different providers. The second is targeted at network operators seeking to combine fixed (e.g., xDSL) and wireless (e.g., LTE) networks in order to provide higher bandwidth to customers.7
Combining access networks with SOCKS
SOCKS is also used with Multipath TCP to combine different access networks. In this deployment, end hosts are regular hosts that do not support Multipath TCP. To benefit from the bonding capabilities of Multipath TCP, a middlebox is installed in the end user’s LAN. This middlebox acts as a SOCKS client and interacts with a server in the cloud. Both the middlebox and the cloud server both use Multipath TCP and, therefore, are able to exploit any available access network, provided an IP address has been assigned to the middlebox on each of the access networks.
The middlebox typically acts as a default gateway in the end user’s LAN. It intercepts all TCP packets sent by the hosts on the LAN to external destinations, and then it proxies them over Multipath TCP connections toward a SOCKS server running in the cloud. This server terminates the Multipath TCP connections and initiates regular TCP connections to the final destinations.
This solution is already commercially deployed in two countries. Users report successfully combining different types of access links, including xDSL (from ADSL to VDSL), DOCSIS, 3G, 4G, and satellite links.
Multipath TCP in hybrid access networks
Some network operators have deployed both fixed (e.g., xDSL) and wireless (e.g., LTE) networks and wish to combine the networks in order to offer higher bandwidth services. Multipath TCP may also be used to provide these services (Figure 2).
In this deployment, neither the client nor the server support Multipath TCP. Multipath TCP is used on the CPE and in the hybrid aggregation gateway (HAG) that resides in a datacenter of the network operator that manages both access networks8.
When a client initiates a TCP connection toward a remote server, it sends a SYN packet. This packet is intercepted by the CPE that virtually terminates the TCP connection and then adds the MP_CAPABLE TCP option before forwarding the packet over the xDSL network. The HAG, which resides on the path followed by all packets sent by the client over the xDSL network, intercepts the SYN packet. It virtually terminates the Multipath TCP connection and then forwards the SYN to the server after having removed the MP_CAPABLE option. The server then confirms the establishment of the connection by sending a SYN+ACK. This packet is intercepted by the HAG that updates its state for this connection and adds an MP_CAPABLE option before forwarding it toward the CPE. The CPE performs similar operations. It updates its state and forwards the SYN+ACK to the client without the MP_CAPABLE option to confirm the establishment of the connection. At this point, there are three TCP connections. The first is a regular TCP connection. It starts at the client and is virtually terminated on the CPE. The second is a Multipath TCP connection that is virtually terminated on the CPE and the HAG. And the third is a regular TCP connection between the HAG and the remote server. From an operational viewpoint, it is important to note that with IPv6, neither the CPE nor the HAG need to translate the source and destination addresses of the forwarded TCP packets. The client IP address remains visible to the destination server. This is an important advantage compared to SOCKS-based solutions.
Furthermore, in this deployment the connection between a client and a server can be created within a single round-trip time.
Conclusion
Despite its young age, Multipath TCP is deployed on a large scale for several commercial services. On smartphones, it combines cellular and WiFi networks both for higher bandwidth and for faster handovers in delay-sensitive applications. In access networks, it supports hybrid access networks that improve customer experience by efficiently combining existing fixed and wireless networks.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Christoph Paasch and Simon Lelievre.
References |
Startup CEO advice: stones and chisels
In this post we want to talk to you not only Startup CEOs, but everyone that makes decisions. Yes, this is about decision making. Not about how to make harder, better, faster, stronger decisions, but about how to make more thoughtful decisions. What makes a decision good, is a matter of perspective. Something may be good for the CEO, bad for the employees, neutral for the company. Some decision may be good for the company, but sucks for everyone that works there, including the CEO (i.e. binge coding into infinity fuelled by pizza and energy drinks). Also, with thoughtful decisions comes the issue of the weight of your word. Words matter, especially when said by people regarding things that effect other people. It is blatantly obvious why it is said that respect is earned and not bought. Highly respected people are usually people that think before speaking and deciding, and do not go back on their words easily. Finally, with respect, comes integrity. If you want to make it in the business world, respect and integrity matter as much as talent and skill.
Every day in life we make decisions. We decide to wake up, to brush our teeth, to put on clothes, to wear shoes, and to kick an annoying accessory dog on our way to work (or not). There’s a trend to take the concept of decision fatigue to the extreme, where you try to limit decision making stuff in your life, (i.e. wearing the same clothes every day, like Mark Zuckerberg), but ignore that for now. Every decision you make, says something about you, and it means something, to someone. That is why, before making decisions you must think about them and what they mean. Deciding to wear pajamas to work means something, but deciding to wear a slutty dress to work also means something. Kicking a dog can mean that you love football. It can also mean that you particularly don’t like dogs. It can also mean both. Decisions have a multitude of meanings to different people and just thinking about them can help you find the better one. A more realistic example is deciding that your employees have to stay late, for the fourth time this week, because the company has to meet a deadline, when you are well aware that two of your employees have children at home waiting for them. Does that decision make the boss man a dick? Maybe. Or is it something necessary, that will make or break the company, therefore making him a savior? If you think about decisions and what they mean, they can lead you to making better decisions. Here’s another example: deciding whether to use Slack, HipChat, or Microsoft Teams. Using Slack means that you/your company is cool. It also means that you like jumping on bandwagons. It’s all kinds of things.
Whatever you decide, just remember to think about it beforehand. Try to balance the amount of thought in a decision relative to its importance. I.e. don’t take forever to decide what you want for lunch, because by then, it’s dinner time and people have already starved. After that’s done, you open up a drawer in your desk, grab a small hammer and a chisel, and start writing what you’ve said in a beautiful granite stone. Then, if you ever decide to change your mind, you open up your other drawer, take your stone sander out, sand the surface where you chiseled something, and then start chiseling again. This analogy should serve you when it comes to going back on your word. Imagine chiseling your big decisions and promises in very large letters in stone, whereas your small ones in miniscule letters. When it comes to going back on that decision, is it worth the work that needs to go into sanding down the stone and writing on it again? Every time you sand that granite, it’s going to lose its sheen. The shininess of your granite is going to command the respect of you by others. People will know that when you say something, you’ve thought about it, and you mean it.
Why is all of this important? Why can’t we all just be like fish, have a memory of ten seconds and just do whatever we feel like doing? It’s because decisions have consequences. Words are not just words. They turn into actions, and those actions have more planned actions that await the completion of the initial actions, thereby leading to a chain of events that are beyond any human calculations. People in positions of responsibility where they lead other people in their team should always be firm in their decisions.
People make plans, and those plans can’t consist of only rainbows and unicorns. If you’re reading this, then mere survival is not your biggest obstacle. You’re seeking to create something bigger and better with other fellow human beings for those of tomorrow. So, think first, decide, and stick to it, because in the famous words of Daft Punk: "...more than ever, hour after hour, work is never over". |
In Spain, the government does not allow the independence of Spanish regions if they do not follow the Spanish constitution. In the Catalan region of Spanish, the autonomous region of Catalonia attempted to bypass the constitution by instituting a referendum that would make it so the majority could force the independence of the region without needing the approval of all parties involved.
In essence, voting could simply continue as long as the majority was present. The referendum law was rushed through its own parliament, despite warnings from Spain’s deputy prime minister in early September that they would strike it down. The referendum took place yesterday, on October 1st.
Before Sunday, in the week leading up to the referendum, an internet war started with police involvement heating up the controversy and political climate. Hundreds of websites were taken down and suspended by Spanish authorities in an attempt to block information about the referendum.
On September 29th, Julian Assange, a publisher over at Wikileaks, summed up the events on Twitter. “The world’s first internet war has begun, in Catalonia, as the people and government use it to organize an independence referendum on Sunday and Spanish intelligence attacks, freezing telecommunications links, occupying telecoms buildings, censors 100s of sites, protocols etc.”
The official referendum was only one website that was blocked. The offices of the .cat domain registry was raided causing over 100,000 active domains on the internet to be taken down. Shortly after, Google blocked a huge app that allows users to check on the results of polling stations and the following day, police entered the Catalan government’s Telecommunications and IT Center in an attempt to censor more content.
However, Catalan authorities weren’t deterred by the invasive internet attacks. They advised users to use proxies and VPNs to get around restrictions. Even Peter Sunde, the founder of The Pirate Bay, offered assistance to the Catalan people, explaining on Twitter that “If you’re running a Catalan site being shut down by Spanish authorities, contact me for anonymous hosting and domains. We’ve got you covered.” Additionally, users in Spain can still use TorGuard to access websites that are blocked due to connections with the referendum.
Now, on October 2nd, it seems that the people of Catalonia have almost unanimously voted for independence. Poll results are coming in around 90% in favor of independence. However, due to violent police intervention who were shooting pollers with rubber bullets, turnout was only estimated at 43% of the 5.3 million eligible voters.
Over 400 polling stations were closed by a result of the police crackdown, and Catalan President Carles Puigdemont called the police crackdown the worst crisis since the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
Puigdemont is hesitant to declare the independence of Catalonia from Spain, despite the 90% results since he fears it could make things worse, hoping the European Union can provide aid. “This moment needs mediation,” he said. “We only received violence and repression as an answer.”
The mass amounts of violence and chaos is drawing the attention of the United Nations with the the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, calling for “independent and impartial investigations into all acts of violence”.
“Police responses must at all times be proportionate and necessary,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein . “I firmly believe that the current situation should be resolved through political dialogue, with full respect for democratic freedoms.”
However, the situation is still not resolved, with impending strikes, mass demonstrations and more planned by Trade unions on Tuesday and likely the rest of the first week of October. |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StreisandEffect
This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.
Barbra Streisand doesn't want you to see this picture, so please don't look at it. Thank you.
Advertisement:
If it becomes known that someone of power, fame, or influence is using strong measures to attempt to suppress a piece of information or a work, then many people will want to know what it is even if they never cared before.
Something horribly embarrassing or personal about you is released — anything from a sex tape to an unflattering photograph to the nickname you had when you were younger — and you want to keep it out of the public eye. So you do whatever it takes to make it go away: lawsuits, cease-and-desist orders, DMCA takedowns, whatever you have at hand. But it backfires: the efforts to censor the information become public, and people who would otherwise be uninterested are now dying to know what all the commotion is about. Whatever you were trying to remove from the Internet gets mirrored and copied to hundreds of other sites; the sex tape goes viral; the childhood nickname becomes national talk show fodder; the unflattering picture ends up in the newspaper. In other words, your fears that everyone would see the dirt on you is the very thing that caused everyone to look at it.
Advertisement:
Blogger Mike Masnick of Techdirt coined the phrase back in 2003 when American singer Barbra Streisand tried to suppress a photograph taken of her house, the one at the top of the page, and then attempted to sue the photographer and force him to take the image off his website. The Internet imp of the perverse was roused, and now everyone wanted to see the photo that Streisand didn't want them to see. News of the photo's existence spread far and wide, with others quickly mirroring it on multiple websites as a Take That! towards Streisand. It should be noted that the original photographer wasn't some privacy-invading paparazzo taking pictures specifically of Streisand's house; it was part of the California Coastal Records Project , a government-commissioned photographic study of the entire coastline of the state of California, which Streisand's house just happened to be on. In other words, had Streisand not made such a huge fuss, nobody would have cared about the photo.
Advertisement:
This existed before the Internet was even a gleam in DARPA's eye, but since the spread of information is much faster, easier, and more difficult to prevent across the Internet than through other means, it is far more widespread and effective now.
Psychologists have done studies and found that the subjects' desire for any kind of material increased when they were told that it was censored — the old Forbidden Fruit principle in action, in other words. Perhaps any authority considering the use of censorship should worry that this move might be counterproductive if it just gets people interested in the censored material. "Banned in Boston" was once a badge of dubious honor for the book in question, much like R-ratings on movies are for kids.
There's a general principle here that almost everyone learns back in childhood: when someone looks like they're hiding something, they probably are, and it's probably something interesting. The only way to really keep something hidden is to have nobody look for it in the first place. Of course, acting too casually often sparks the same reaction.
Not to be confused with No Such Thing as Bad Publicity, which is very similar, but occurs when Moral Guardians attack something and draw more attention to it. This is basically that but without the Moral Guardians.
A form of Revealing Cover-Up; also a specific form of Hoist by His Own Petard. Sometimes related to Clumsy Copyright Censorship and, more rarely, Fanwork Ban. Will lead to an Open Secret. See also Internet Counterattack. Compare to Thought-Aversion Failure (telling someone to not think about something will lead to them thinking about it). Basically opposite to Forced Meme, where the individual or company tries to make something as popular as possible, and fails in much the same way for much the same reasons. People who avert this Just Ignore It.
This page alone is a meta-example, since its entire purpose is to catalog the instances of the effect.
Examples:
open/close all folders
In-universe examples:
Fan Fiction
Films Live-Action
In Clear and Present Danger, faced with a discovery that a friend of the President was involved with the Escobedo drug cartel, the White House wants to hush it up and downplay their relationship. Jack Ryan suggests that they instead play up the relationship, "we were lifelong friends", which nullifies the potential scandal rather than amplifying it by looking like a Revealing Cover Up.
The Harder They Come: When Ivan, an unknown in the music industry, goes on the run from the police after shooting three officers, his song skyrockets in popularity. When the police tell his producer they're going to ban the song for glorifying criminality, the producer warns them that banning it will generate even more public interest.
In Untraceable, a killer sets up his victims to be tortured to death in front of a livestreaming camera; the more people watch, the quicker the victim dies. Despite warnings from a Genre Savvy cybercrime special agent, the FBI crime director denounces the website and urges people to avoid it, which causes the site's traffic to explode.
On a lighter note, when the protagonists in The Wizard of Oz heard The Great Oz proclaim, "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain", they really paid attention, and the jig was up.
Literature
Live-Action TV
In the second season finale of Arrested Development, Maeby is tasked with producing an American remake of a French film about cousins who are in love with each other (mirroring George-Michael's feelings for her). Ann organizes a protest which ends up making the film a hit.
In the Better Call Saul episode "Hero", after Jimmy McGill uses his billboard stunt to gain publicity. The stunt involves setting up a billboard that ripped off Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill's logo, then Jimmy getting a cease-and-desist order, then arranging for a freelance media team to record him when the guy taking down the billboard "accidentally" falls, prompting Jimmy to go up and save him. The HHM team see through the ruse when watching Jimmy on the afternoon news, but decide not to pursue further action against Jimmy since doing so would be this.
In the Father Ted episode "The Passion of St. Tibulus", the eponymous film, condemned by the Pope as "blasphemous" and banned everywhere else, is being shown on Craggy Island because of an unknown loophole. Bishop Brennan orders Ted and Dougal to picket the cinema showing the film. The protest has the effect of making the film (which is in French and undubbed) the most popular in the history of Craggy Island. Bishop Brennan: People are coming all the way from GDANSK! to see the film.
A later episode of M*A*S*H had the gang trying to get a copy of the film The Moon Is Blue because it had been Banned in Boston. Charles, a Boston native, cautions that Boston would have banned Pinocchio, but Hawkeye and BJ pay him no heed, thinking it must be steamy. The capper to all the troubles they had obtaining it was them watching it and finding it terribly inoffensive. BJ: There was more filth in this morning's breakfast!
Discussed in The West Wing; in one episode, a photographer Sam once hired then fired has written a libelous tell-all book about the White House full of inaccurate but potentially scandalous and embarrassing half-truths and fabrications. After Sam spends the episode with a bee in his bonnet trying to do everything he can to get the book squashed and the White House to condemn every single falsehood within it, C.J and Toby sit him down and explain to him that making a huge deal out of it and using the full voice of the White House to condemn the photographer is just going to give him a bigger platform, whereas if they do nothing beyond curtly acknowledging his existence and a simple shrug of disinterest, they'll make it clear how insignificant he really is and his book will disappear before long.
In The X-Files, this the initial reason the Conspiracy doesn't just kill Mulder and Scully, based on the advice of the Cigarette-Smoking Man. As he claimed, currently Mulder was just some eccentric FBI agent rambling about conspiracies, but if he was murdered, then the conspiracy theories would be given credibility. As CSM tells one of the Syndicate members, "kill Mulder and you turn one man's religion into a crusade".
Invoked in Blindspot when FBI A/D Mayfair shoots down Carter's insistence on having Jane killed by pointing out that her tattoos had already been scanned, so the evidence was already preserved and killing her would just cause people to wonder what information in them was worth killing her over.
shoots down Carter's insistence on having Jane killed by pointing out that her tattoos had already been scanned, so the evidence was already preserved and killing her would just cause people to wonder what information in them was worth killing her over. Invoked in Babylon 5 when Captain Sheridan has Ivanova announce on her Voice of the Resistance TV show that absolutely nothing of note has happened in an particular sector of space (where he's just had a formation of White Stars blast some random asteroids). This is part of a Genghis Gambit he's playing on the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to get them to accept, nay, demand the Rangers serve as a peacekeeping force: as Sheridan well knows, Suspiciously Specific Denials are a good way to get people to wonder why you're denying it.
Tabletop Games
The post-apocalyptic game Paranoia takes place in a city called Alpha Complex ruled by an all-powerful, tyrannical Computer. The Computer uses Communists as its go-to scapegoat, blaming them for a nuclear war. There was no war, Communism died out long before the apocalypse, and the Computer only blames Communism because of old civil-defense files left over from the 1950s . There is, however, a brand-new sect of Communists in Alpha Complex a lot of citizens figure that, if the Computer is evil and the Computer hates Communists, then Communists have to be the good guys. Most records of actual Communism didn't survive, though, so they gladly follow the teachings of Groucho Marx and John Lennon.
Web Comics
Freefall: Sam Starfall has apparently had previous practical demonstrations of this, according to this strip. Sam: My original mistakes never draw half the attention My original mistakes never draw half the attention as my attempts to cover them up do
Western Animation
In The Simpsons, when Homer and others are about to tour the Duff Brewery: Tour Guide: Welcome to the Duff Brewery. Well, I'm sure that all of you have heard the rumors that a batch of Duff was contaminated with strychnine.
Tourists: [mumbling among themselves] No. Strychnine? That's news to me.
Guide: Are you sure? Everyone's talking about it; it was even on CNN last night.
Tourists: [mumbling among themselves] CNN? Whoa.
Guide: Well, it's not true.
South Park: The episode "Cartmanland", where Eric Cartman buys an amusement park for the sole purpose of keeping people out and having it all to himself. He might have gotten away with it if he hadn't aired commercials extolling the park and then stating no one could come. The commercials drew people's attention to the park, and rising expenses, like security to keep them out, forced him to have to let more and more people in, turning the park from a financial failure to a success. Not that Cartman cared. In "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs", the kids become enthusiastic about having to read The Catcher in the Rye after finding out it was banned in some schools and supposedly inspired people to kill celebrities. When they actually read the book, however, they're annoyed that it's a normal novel with the occasional curse word.
Real life examples:
Advertising
iPood . Not quite a Flame War fuel, but still got 753,000 results on Google (as of October 2011).
. Not quite a Flame War fuel, but still got 753,000 results on Google (as of October 2011). P.T. Barnum was a master of this, along with other publicity stunts. While traveling with his circus, he would often have a shill sue him or complain about him to the local paper, stirring up interest. The most famous example would probably be him hiring a man to sue him with the claim that the bearded lady was actually a man. The judge recognized it as a ploy and dismissed it, but not before thousands read about the case and flocked to his show.
Arts
A very odd example from South Africa. In May 2012, an art exhibition was held in Johannesburg called Hail to the Thief II, which featured art by a local artist named Brett Murray. One of his paintings was called The Spear, which depicted President Jacob Zuma in a pose similar to Victor Ivanov's Lenin Lived, Lenin is Alive, Lenin Will Live, only Zuma's genitals were exposed. A newspaper, City Press, ran a story of the exhibition, and printed the picture and placed it on their website. For close to a week, nothing happened; then Zuma's party, the ANC, threatened to take the Goodman Gallery to court while publicly condemning the painting and demanding that City Press remove the image from their website. Because of the growing hostile response from Zuma supporters and the ruling party itself, the painting got duplicated in newspapers and websites around the world. It even led to the creation of a Wikipedia page with the offending painting right at the top. This had a bizarre repeat the following year, when a Grade 12 art student's unsympathetic portrayal of ANC leaders a set of single-print (ie. not for sale) T-shirts on display at a small local mall along with all of the other Grade 12 final art projects went from being seen by a couple of hundred locals, total, to getting a minor showing in the national news .
A notable "reverse Streisand effect": In 2017, the city council of Charlottesville, Virginia voted to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee due to his support for the Confederacy. A rally that August by a group of white supremacists against the statue's removal ultimately ended in a vehicular attack that killed one woman. The uproar over this death led to a movement to take down more memorials of the Confederacy, with a statue in Durham, North Carolina being toppled over by protesters and Baltimore removing four monuments during the middle of the night.
Comedy
One of Dara O'Briain's stand-up routines discusses the briefing notes he sometimes gets when he does corporate gigs for particular organizations which ask him not to mention certain things. Asking a comedian not to mention something, as he notes, is like "a red flag to a bull". He also points out that most of the time he wouldn't even have considered mentioning whatever he was asked not to mention in the first place if the extremely vague reasons why he shouldn't mention it hadn't made him all the more curious about it. He actually had to deal with an incident like this on Mock the Week where the executive producer ordered the comedians not to mention the blindness of a politician who the executive producer was friends with. Cue 5 minutes of jokes only about his blindness.
Bill Bailey had a similar bit about the Swiss investment bank UBS prohibiting corporate stand-up gigs from making cracks about Nazi Gold. So Bailey walked on, mimed asking to open a pension, and when asked with what currency he replies "Naaaaaaaazzzzzziiii Goooooooooold! Just like YOU did!".
Parodied by Gilbert Gottfried during the roast of Bob Saget, where he repeatedly and vehemently insisted that a rumor that BOB SAGET RAPED AND KILLED A GIRL IN 1990 was not true, despite the fact that there is no such rumor.
Comic Books
When Don Rosa retired from working on the Disney Ducks Comic Universe, he wrote an essay for the last of the Egmont Don Rosa Collection series of hardcovers explaining why. This was due to a combination of failing eyesight, emotional exhaustion, and disgruntlement over Disney's continued refusal to offer their comics creators anything more than a low page-rate and, when forced, minimal credits. Disney refused to allow the essay to be included in the books, which caused Rosa to put it online . As he says on the linked page, this probably resulted in far more people reading the essay than if it had been published in a high-priced book aimed at hardcore fans and comics collectors.
Films — Live-Action
Literature
The Vatican's Index Of Forbidden Books (created in 1557, during the Reformation) was a list of books which good Catholics were not supposed to read, including works by Protestant theologians, some scientific writings, etc. Naturally, it backfired it tended to be used as a reading list, and the printers used it as a guide on what to print next.
Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (advancing a heliocentric universe) was put on the Vatican's index of forbidden books in 1616, and was followed less than a year later with a new edition. Not bad for a technical textbook that had been out of print for 60 years prior.
Lynne Cheney, wife of Dick, wrote a novel in 1981 called Sisters, featuring sexual content and lesbianism her attempts to prevent a 2006 reprint actually helped publicize it.
McDonald's sued a small activist group over a flier being passed out at one of its restaurants, that alleged certain wrongdoings by the fast food chain. If left alone, only a couple hundred people may have seen it. However, the trial ended up taking over a decade and got international media attention. After spending millions on lawyers, McDonald's was awarded £60,000 in damage from the activists.
After spending millions on lawyers, McDonald's was awarded £60,000 in damage from the activists. Fox's lawsuit against Al Franken over his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, claimed that the title infringed on the "Fair and Balanced" slogan of the Fox News Channel. Franken and his supporters still insist the real man behind the lawsuit was Bill O'Reilly for what Franken said about him in the book. News of the lawsuit caused the book to shoot up to Amazon's number one seller before it was even officially released. As for the suit many of the plaintiff's arguments were met with actual laughter in the courtroom, and Fox withdrew the suit at the judge's recommendation.
A minor example from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the author of the worst poetry in the universe is named in the original radio show as "Paul Neil Milne Johnstone of Redbridge, Essex" a former schoolmate of Douglas Adams, who wrote deliberately terrible poetry and who respectfully asked that his name and location be removed from the book adaptations. Thus people now ask why the name changed from Paul to a 'Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings' in Sussex in subsequent versions and discover the story of where Adams got the idea from.
Older Than Feudalism: In one of his moral treatises, Seneca speaks of a house on the coast that was property of Caligula, which was destroyed by that emperor, because his mother was detained as a prisoner by the former emperor Tiberius. Seneca related that when strangers saw the house, they didn't pay any attention to it, but since Caligula left only ruins, all were interested to know its history.
Dr. Jose Rizal's famous novel Noli Me Tangere, whose controversial content earned the ire of the Spanish Friars, caused the latter to declare that anyone reading it would be charged with heresy and be excommunicated. This only caused the local populace to become curious, causing sales to skyrocket.
Many libraries and bookstores invoke this during Banned Books Week, putting up displays of frequently banned books and prompting kids to read them to see what all the fuss is about.
putting up displays of frequently banned books and prompting kids to read them to see what all the fuss is about. Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses was selling a few hundred copies a week until the fatwa against Rushdie. Afterwards, it became so popular that it sold five times more copies than the #2 best-seller. It's still the publisher's best-selling book of all time.
In 2018, Fariña, a book by journalist Nacho Carretero documenting drug dealing cases in Galicia in the '90s, was seized by court order after a former mayor mentioned in the book sued Carretero for damages. That very week, the book became a bestseller on Amazon Spain and the premiere episode of the TV series based on it which was not affected by the court order since the judge considered the script of the series was unknown and the airing date was uncertain was promoted for a preview release.
The children's novel Ban This Book! is all about a girl trying to check her favourite book out from the library, only to find a parent had asked for it to be banned, along with several others. The girl and her friends eventually create a little banned book library out of her locker, only stocking the books the parent had asked to ban and resulting in most of the school trying to get their hands on the books to see what all the fuss is about.
Bob Klapish's book on the 1992 Mets, The Worst Team Money Could Buy: The Collapse of the New York Mets, got unexpected publicity when Klapish was involved in an incident with one of the team's under-performing players. Bobby Bonilla, who was acquired by the Pirates the previous year and had frequently clashed with the New York media, threatened physical violence on Klapish and had to be restrained by his teammates. As it reflected an accurate portrayal of the Mets at that point, sales of the book skyrocketed.
The Literary Review magazine has a yearly "Bad Sex in Fiction" award, meant to poke fun at instances of IKEA Erotica or Mills and Boon Prose. Pretty much every other year it happens, one of the nominated authors ends up getting angry at them and very publically demanding their removal from the list or insulting the magazine for its raunchy attitude or attempt to depreciate their art. These affairs also have a habit of reaching mainstream outlets - both exposing a rather niche magazine to a much bigger audience, and putting a spotlight on sections in the author's book where they wrote "turgid meat stick" or broke anatomy.
In 1855, Walt Whitman's Leaves Of Grass contained apparent references to masturbation, homosexuality, and other sex acts. Literature magazine The Criterion called it "a mass of stupid filth," and another reviewer told Whitman that he should kill himself for writing it. It was even banned outright in Boston before it was published. However, Leaves sold out the day it was released, mostly from people wanting to find out just what all the fuss was about.
Live-Action TV
Music
After the release of the Queen song "Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)", former band manager Norman Sheffield decided to sue for defamation, despite the fact that he was never mentioned by name. He succeeded only in informing the world whom the song's scathing insults were targeting.
Metallica's hardline stance on peer-to-peer downloading resulted only in their songs being even more widely pirated. Other bands were hit by this to a lesser degree.
Drake averts this, in fact he almost inverts this. Even though both of his albums have been leaked ahead of time, he usually is okay with it, though his record company is not as happy.
"Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood became especially popular after the BBC banned it.
One Direction: Fans shipped Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson and nobody thought much of it. Then all public contact between the two suddenly stopped and they awkwardly denied it a few times. Now the fans have entire essays of complied evidence that they are actually in a relationship that their management covers up. There was also the time an article praised Louis for supporting the LGBT community and angry tweets came from his Twitter account saying he wasn't gay. Later on, Zayn, who hasn't even spoken to them in months, was asked about fans invading his privacy and he randomly said that Harry and Louis weren't together. Okay guys.
When Tipper Gore announced that she was trying to censor 2 Live Crew's music in the late '80s, their music became even more popular. Tipper Gore and the PMRC in general were the Streisand Effect of the '80s; almost every band they went after for inappropriate lyrics and whatnot ended up becoming even more popular due to the publicity. In particular, one of the PMRC's biggest targets, WASP, saw their record sales double and vocalist Black Lawless was all too happy to use them as a vehicle to promote the band. Finally, like the Eminem example below, during one awards speech, Steven Tyler thanked Tipper Gore for ensuring that if an album had a few dirty words on it, it would sell an extra million copies.
After some radio stations banned Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" due to its perceived anti-Catholic message, the album it was on — The Stranger — shot up the charts.
An example of genre savviness; Eminem, after receiving an award for his breakthrough album, publicly thanked all the people who threw a shit-fit over the album for making it a hit.
Weird Al benefits from this from time to time. For example: Coolio's anger over "Amish Paradise" helped make the song a bigger hit. Before Straight Outta Lynwood was released, "You're Pitiful", a parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful", was set to be the lead single. James Blunt approved of it, but at the last minute, his record label, Atlantic, changed their mind, and "White and Nerdy" became the lead instead. As a result, Al released the song for free and performs it on tour, mocking Atlantic in the process. Due to the backlash, and the video for "White and Nerdy", the Other Wiki had to lock Atlantic Records' page to prevent Al's angry fans from defacing it. "Perform This Way", Al's parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", looked to be a case of this at first — he wasn't given permission to publish it, so he put it up on YouTube instead and it became an immediate sensation. It became such a sensation, in fact, that it eventually came to the notice of Lady Gaga herself, who hadn't actually been consulted on the original decision. She thought it was hilarious and gave Al the go-ahead.
When the Sex Pistols released "God Save the Queen" in 1977, both the BBC and the IBA refused to broadcast the song. It quickly reached number one on the singles chart. However, doubt and controversy remains as to whether the Sex Pistols actually did get to #1 with "God Save the Queen." Officially, an anodyne ballad by Rod Stewart was number one that week. However, well-founded allegations persist that the charts were doctored by BBC and recording company executives, fearful for their chances of retiring with knighthoods.
The BBC expressed concern following the scurrilous and seditious popularity of a re-release of Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead! note from the soundtrack of The Wizard of Oz , which celebrates the passing of the Wicked Witch of the East Margaret Thatcher. The song was subject to a campaign to get it to number one on the singles chart for the occasion; It made it to #2, but the BBC refused to play it, even in the relevant Radio One Chart Show.
Margaret Thatcher. The song was subject to a campaign to get it to number one on the singles chart for the occasion; It made it to #2, but the BBC refused to play it, even in the relevant Radio One Chart Show. In 1991, at the CMA awards, the video of the year went to Garth Brooks, "The Thunder Rolls". In his speech, he thanked TNN and CMT for having banned the video and brought attention to it.
Beck used to end interviews angrily if the subject of him being involved with the Church of Scientology was brought up. Back in the '90s, this wasn't widely known, nor was it publicized. But due to his reactions, his connection with the church and attempts to suppress it became one of the most identifiable things about him. He has since become a bit more comfortable about this due to the fact that he knows that his fans are mostly accepting of it, but he still leaves huge gaps when talking about his childhood.
Madonna made frequent use of this between 1989-1993, from the moment that her 1989 video for "Like A Prayer" resulted in her partnership with Pepsi being terminated (causing the single to hit #1 on the Hot 100 becoming one of her biggest selling singles of all time). In 1990, the music video for "Justify My Love" was banned by MTV. The music video was subsequently sold on VHS, ultimately becoming certified 4x platinum. The single also shot to #1 on the Hot 100. Her 1992 album "Erotica" and photo book "Sex" were also big sellers, both fueled by the controversy and public backlash.
In 2016, Axl Rose filed quite a few DCMA copyright notices with Google, asking that "unflattering" photos (taken of him at a 2010 concert by Winnipeg Free Press photographer Boris Minkevich) be removed from circulation on the Internet, as it had inspired the so-called "Fat Axl" meme. Predictably, this news has caused the "Fat Axl" meme (which has existed quietly since at least 2011) to explode. Welcome to the jungle, indeed.
This happened to Bill O'Reilly a couple of times when he decided to go after rap music in the early 2000s. When he went after Ludacris, who became popular during the rise of Southern Rap, he elevated him to superstar status and made him one of the biggest music stars of that decade. It also didn't help that soon afterwards, news came out about him getting sued for sexual harassment, a problem that kept growing over time and led to his eventual firing from Fox News Channel many years later. Another example happened during an interview with rapper Cam'ron and rap manager Damon Dash. O'Reilly got visibly upset when Dash made a point about rap music encouraging positive work ethics. Cam'ron pointed this out during the show, and this led to the "U Mad" MEME that is still popularly used to this day. Needless to day, O'Reilly's attempt to get people from supporting rap music had the complete opposite effect.
In September 2017, a small blog named PopFront published an article suggesting a Taylor Swift song contained alt-right dog whistles. It received exactly one comment until two months later, when Swift's lawyer sent them an angry letter demanding they take the post down, and that they also couldn't publish said angry letter because it was copyrighted. Naturally, PopFront published it. This led to a bunch of very large blogs picking up the story, the ACLU getting involved, and many, many more people ended up seeing the article.
The music video for the Childish Gambino song "This is America" has been subject to countless memes, despite (or perhaps because of) its intense, politically charged nature. Vice Media, among others, took exception to this, telling people to stop and lambasting them for ignoring the point of the song and video. Vice Media is already a controversial media outlet in various pockets of the internet, so there were those who were more than happy to further make fun of the video, either because they learned about it through Vice, or to spite them. Or both.
In October 2017, William Francis (the former lead singer of Aiden who was performing as the solo act William Control) abruptly dropped out of a tour and returned home, citing a desire to cease his relentless touring and producing schedule to focus on his family and record company. Around that time, a (now deleted) Tumblr blog had posted evidence and accounts from various women and young girls stating that he had been luring mentally ill women into abusive BDSM relationships in which he ignored boundaries to rape, beat, and extort them. This blog remained virtually unknown until June 2018, when he publicly addressed the accusations and suddenly shut down Control Records while going dark on all social media. This only attracted further attention to the blog as fans Googled the accusations, with his victims also posting screenshots of messages from Will threatening them and saying that they'd never be believed (along with accusations that he was actually making his money through pimping and extortion and using his merchandise business as a legal cover). The blog even reposted statements from his wife explaining that she had knowledge of the offenses and divorced him over it. This resulted in a police investigation across two continents; while he faced no charges due to lack of evidence and has restarted his music career, most of the top Google results for him as of January 2019 are articles on his sexual predation and both his personal and act Wikipedia pages include the information, ensuring that any potential new fans will see it as soon as they look him up.
New Media
Print Media
Suing Private Eye for libel never does anyone any good. All it does is draw out the Eye's story and attract the attention of other news sources. Even if you win, no one has enough faith in British libel law (or the Eye's ability to defend a case) to believe that this means it isn't true.
Protests against depictions of Mohammed in print media have had this effect in Western society. In 2006, a Danish publication Jyllands-Posten published a series of cartoons depicting Mohammed, which caused deadly riots and protests. In response, other Western publications also ran the cartoons as a defense of free speech. In 2015, the French magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists in response to repeated depictions of Mohammed. Before the attack, the magazine was virtually unknown outside of France, sliding into bankruptcy and only managing to sell about 30,000 of each 60,000 magazine run. For their next issue, demand caused Charlie Hebdo to print seven million copies, and #JeSuisCharlie (French for "I am Charlie") trended worldwide as a show of solidarity. Furthermore, the attacks sparked massive support for the publication and caused the offending cartoons to be seen worldwide across the Internet.
Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff details what he heard and saw spending a year in the Donald Trump White House. People weren't too interested in it, but when Trump's lawyers tried putting out a cease & desist order on it, the publisher decided to move up the release date to midnight the day after the order was issued. Unsurprisingly, the book sold out in stores across the country, launching to the top of the best-sellers list.
Tabletop Games
There is a real chance that if it weren't for Patricia Pulling and her campaign against Dungeons & Dragons, the game would have remained a niche market and probably never would have become the geekdom rite of passage it has become. This also had a run in 1980 with the disappearance of James Egbert III, a young man who played the game. The detective assigned to Egbert's disappearance wrote a book about it, suggesting the game had something to do Egbert going missing. It didn't, and Egbert was eventually found alive and unhurt. Still, Dungeons and Dragons went from grossing $2.3 million in 1979 to $8.7 million in 1980, largely as a result of all the negative press denouncing it as "Satanic propaganda;" many people ended up playing it just to see what all the fuss was about.
In September 2018, a user on reddit ApostleO - after criticizing the performance and UI of the digital tabletop site Roll20 - was then banned by the moderator NolanT from the Roll20 subreddit, since they had a name similar to another banned user (ApostleOfTruth) from a year ago. As the recently banned user however knew that they were innocent, they dug deeper into the issue and realized that not only aren't their writing styles not similar at all, the other banned user was banned for criticizing the Roll20 staff's moderation. When ApostleO confronted Roll20 about it, they were told by NolanT that since the staff could not confirm whether the IPs match (which only the reddit admins can), they would "err on the side of caution" and refuse to lift the ban. ApostleO then indicated that they would end their subscription and delete their Roll20 account, as well as report what happened on social media, if the ban wasn't lifted and an apology was given soon. When ApostleO was told that despite not having matching IPs, the staff would still uphold the ban because of ApostleO's recent behavior regarding this matter, ApostleO kept their word and reported what happened on reddit which reached reddit's frontpage and led to a shitstorm which revealed that Roll20 not only censored any form of criticism towards them, they also violated reddit's mod etiquette of modding subreddits of a company they are employed to (NolanT was not just an affiliated mod, he was one of Roll20's co-founders), leading to other users declaring that they would also cancel their subscription and/or bad-mouth Roll20 from now on. NolanT's side of things to this matter only made things worse, eventually becoming the second-most downvoted comment in the history of reddit.
Sports
Michael Jordan began wearing his Air Jordan brand of shoes during games at a time when the NBA forbade players from doing such a thing, and fined Jordan every time he wore them on the court. The trouble for the NBA was Jordan had both the clout with the public and the cash from the deal with Nike to more-or-less ignore the fines and keep wearing them anyway. Doing so made Jordan's brand far more well known than if the NBA had said nothing, and gave him free advertising with a Colbert Bump, so it was a punishment that was actually helping Jordan. When it became clear that the fines weren't going to work, the NBA stopped punishing Jordan for wearing the shoes.
Video Games
Web Comics
Penny Arcade: Their legal run-in with American Greetings over a Strawberry Shortcake parody image resulted in the image being spread across the Internet on such a wide basis that it's very easy to find the image nowadays, even though it's no longer on the Penny Arcade site. To this day, Archive Bingers are taking note of AG's overly-protective legal department. Given the near-universal demographic and high fungibility of the greeting card industry, it's safe to say that they're still losing the occasional sale to it. Not to mention the Ocean Marketing debacle : Paul Christoforo, the president of a PR and distribution firm named Ocean Marketing, sent unkind, unprofessional, and terribly written emails out to several customers of N-Control, a company that manufactures and sells the Avenger Controller, a modified PS3 controller designed with folks with fine motor impairment in mind. Paul made unsubstantiated claims of how soon the controllers would ship out, lowered the price to attract new customers while not even offering the customers who would be waiting for several more weeks a ten percent compensatory discount, eventually started addressing disgruntled customers by telling them their business in a condescending tone, threatened to cancel an order placed by at least one customer and sell the controllers on eBay himself, and went around claiming to know head editors at gaming news blogs like IGN and Kotaku, to try to deflect complaints by making himself seem like an important figure. Dave, one customer unlucky enough to have dealt with him, shared the series of email correspondence with Gabe himself, who stepped in to tell Paul that Ocean Marketing would not be welcome at PAX any longer — something Paul was initially disbelieving of, since he had no idea who he was talking to, at first. He made an about-face when he realized just how tremendous his mistake was, but by the time he connected the dots, it was already too late. That one series of emails set off a chain reaction that effectively killed Ocean Marketing and, with it, Paul's career. As the dust began settling, it became obvious Paul wasn't genuinely sorry for how he behaved — he was just sorry he got caught lying to, verbally abusing, and cheating N-Control's customers.
Christian Weston Chandler, creator of Sonichu, was initially just a random comic artist with big, yet child-like, dreams. The effect kicked in after a random encounter with a member of 4chan led to the creation of an Encyclopedia Dramatica page about him. His attempts to get rid of it, and the incidents it caused on the Internet and in real life, would lead to more people to find out more about this man and his creation. And a whole lot more, but that's a completely different story.
Web Original
Western Animation |
Even as he held himself up on crutches Sunday night, Heat guard Dion Waiters wanted to make one thing absolutely clear regarding his badly sprained left ankle: Don’t blame his low-top Kobe sneakers for it.
The Heat’s starting shooting guard, who was injured late in the first half of last Friday’s win over Minnesota when he landed awkwardly on the foot of T’Wolves forward Gorgui Dieng, said he’s been wearing low top sneakers for years and believes the injury would have happened to him regardless of his footwear.
“That’s all I’ve been wearing my whole career,” said Waiters, who wears the low-top Kobe A.D. model by Nike. “It’s hard to adjust. Even if you go back to college, I wore low tops. I like low tops. Even though I play the way I play and attack the rim and things like that, these type of things happen if you have high tops on. It happens.”
Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald
SHARE COPY LINK Waiters badly sprained his left ankle in Friday's win over Minnesota and talked about his progress before Sunday's game. March 19, 2017. Video by Manny Navarro
There’s long been a debate about whether NBA players really have enough protection for their ankles whether they’re wearing low tops, mid tops or high tops. In the end, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the most important thing is how well players protect themselves regardless of the shoes they’re wearing.
Spoelstra said the Heat’s head athletic trainer, Jay Sabol, works with shoe companies, who send him the models and he gets input on whether it’s an appropriate shoe or not for the players. After that, it’s all about the ankle braces, good tape jobs and pads.
“We’re more proactive with that than we ever have been before,” Spoelstra said Tuesday after shootaround. “For me I think the most important thing is that there is ankle protection. We can’t demand it of all the guys, but we’re pretty aggressive in our recommendations of ankle braces or tape and pads – the things that might be able to help. Dion was taped. If he wasn’t we may be looking at a different scenario.”
Waiters, who was spotted wearing a boot on his ankle at practice Monday, said Sunday his hope is to return to the court before the end of the regular season. Spoelstra said Tuesday the swelling in Waiters’ ankle still hasn’t subsided.
SHARE COPY LINK Miami Heat's Goran Dragic, Wayne Ellington discuss why they wear low top sneakers on March 21, 2017.
“It’s still there,” Spoelstra said. “That’s normal actually. Even when he came back and played after the last [sprained ankle], he had swelling for a couple of weeks.”
It’s not uncommon for the league’s fastest players to wear low top sneakers. According to NBAShoesDB.com, which tracks the shoes worn by NBA players, the Kobe A.D. model Waiters wears is the most popular in the league, worn by at least 51 players.
Veteran three-point shooter Wayne Ellington, who has had a breakout season with the Heat, also wears the same Kobe low-top sneakers. Others to wear the shoe include All-Star guards John Wall (Washington), Isaiah Thomas (Boston) and DeMar DeRozan (Toronto).
“I've been wearing Kobe’s for years now,” said Ellington, who said he stopped wearing high tops his second season in the NBA. “Knock on wood I’ve been fine. Obviously we don’t all have the same feet, the same build. Different shoe structure is different for different guys.
“I like the type of support I get from the shoe that I wear. For me, high tops are a little restrained. I can’t move as freely as I would like to. Obviously they say the high tops give you more support. But if you look at some of those high tops they’re just as flimsy. You might as well not have anything there as far as covering up your ankle. I’ve been great so far in my low tops.”
Heat point guard Goran Dragic wears Adidas brand low tops. He said when he played in Phoenix trainers tried to convince him to wear high tops. But Dragic said he stopped wearing Derrick Rose’s Adidas brand high tops because he was actually injuring his ankle more frequently in them than in low tops.
“Back in the day in Phoenix, I had high tops and I rolled my ankle eight times that season,” Dragic said. “So, I don’t think that’s the thing. At the end of the day, Dion was taped. Everybody is taped on this team. It’s just an unfortunate play. He landed on the guy’s foot. And when you’re in the air, it’s really tough to control your body if you land on somebody.
“Each player different. In my career I’ve worn high tops, mid tops, low tops, but the most comfortable that I feel is in low tops. I feel that I can move better. I can explode and everything. It’s maybe just in my head.”
Though some players have worn low top sneakers since the 1970s, it was Kobe Bryant who started the trend of going from the traditional high tops to lighter, faster low top sneakers almost a decade ago.
Studies suggest high-top and mid-top sneakers provide more ankle support for athletes who have had ankle injuries in the past. Waiters said he broke his ankle in high school.
“A lot of people ask me why I don’t wear high tops and things like that,” Waiters said. “But they weren’t saying that when I was playing well and we were winning. So don’t ask me when I get hurt.” |
We’ve got some special news for you today – Mega Man will be in a brand new animated series from Dentsu Entertainment, with Man of Action (the company behind Ben 10 and the characters of Big Hero 6), as executive producers who will be overseeing writing and story development! While the show is slated to launch in 2017 – the same year as Mega Man’s 30th anniversary – we’ve got a sneak peek for you today at how Mega Man will appear in the upcoming show, as well as some insight into the story and characters you can expect to meet.
If you’re an 80s or 90s kid, you may remember an animated series about the fighting robot (sing it with me now: Mega Man!) that ran for two seasons during the mid-90s. It was a fresh, and unique, if not sometimes silly, take on Mega Man, and one that a lot of people (including myself) remember fondly. The new animated Mega Man series will follow Aki Light – a normal, upbeat, and above all optimistic young school-aged robot living in Silicon City. He soon learns that deep within his programming are secret protocols that allow him to transform – giving him nanocore armor, a Mega Buster, and the iconic helmet to turn him into a superhero – Mega Man!
Promising exciting new technologies and new robots, the series will follow the adventures and trials of Aki Light – a.k.a. Mega Man – as he faces off against threats to Silicon City, while trying to keep his superhero identity a secret and maintain a normal robot schoolkid life.
It’ll be a great way for newcomers and younger fans to meet Mega Man for the first time, and a treat for fans who grew up with the games, featuring the return of beloved characters like everyone’s favorite robot canine, Rush! Be sure to keep an eye out for the Blue Bomber’s animated adventures in 2017 – the same year as Mega Man’s 30th anniversary! |
Kraftwerk expertly mixed an electronic sound with a human touch. Former member Karl Bartos tells DW how the unique ensemble wrote its music before computers went mainstream - and why cycling hurt their style.
Dubbed "The Beatles of electronic dance music" by The New York Times in 1997, Dusseldorf-based band Kraftwerk pioneered the genre, and some see them as the grandfathers of techno. They began mixing musicality with automation in 1970 - long before computers became everyday tools. Still active today as a four-man ensemble, Kraftwerk has seen members come and go over the years. Karl Bartos joined in 1975.
DW: Mr. Bartos, you left Kraftwerk in 1990 after a conflict. Now you're publishing your autobiography, "Der Klang der Maschine" (The Sound of the Machine). What is important to you to get across?
Karl Bartos: George Orwell said, "Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else." That means there is no such thing as objectivity. But for more than 40 years, we've been hearing the same story about Kraftwerk. I think another perspective can be useful. I've tried to explain how our music was created and what our thought process was.
Before you joined Kraftwerk in 1975, you played with a variety of bands in Dusseldorf. What was the mood like back then?
Advertisement
Looking back, it was a gift to have been able to have experienced the 60s and 70s. The music of the 60s had an unbelievable power for my generation. It brought the message that you shouldn't believe everything you're told by the authorities. I think the youth of the world spoke to each other during this time - without going through the authorities. And that resulted in this really interesting music.
Then you studied music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Dusseldorf, where you first came into contact with Kraftwerk. The band was looking for a classical percussionist for a live show.
Now live 00:49 mins. Shift | Kraftwerk as a Lego band
When my professor, Ernst Göbler, passed that information on to me, it was just one of many gigs I had at the time. There were so many bands back then and so many opportunities to play live. The DJ hadn't been invented yet.
I got along really well with Kraftwerk at the gig. We didn't know where it would lead. Nothing had been set in stone yet.
You participated in the studio recording of Kraftwerk's album "Radio-Aktivität" and helped write song for the album "Trans Europa Express." How did Kraftwerk go about composing new material?
We held writing sessions in the Kling Klang Studio, which meant that we stood in a circle and improvised - like jazz musicians. That was the second half of the 70s; there were no computers. But we had a little music machine that could repeat back 16 tones. That was the only machine in our studio.
Read more: Kraftwerk's plagiarism lawsuit could go to European court
We would improvise, look at each other, laugh our heads off and record ourselves. During these sessions, we created the raw material for our compositions. Basically, it was simply entertainment that we transferred to music. The result was a polyphonic composition with multiple voices.
Was the band aware of how forward-looking its music was?
Karl Bartos was a member of Kraftwerk for over 15 years
We couldn't have predicted how Kraftwerk's music would be received. When we were mixing at the sequencer, that was basically the continuation of the music technology that had been in development in Europe since the Enlightenment.
Automated music has always been interesting. But I think the decisive thing for us in the late 70s was that the balance between humans and machines really worked.
The computer changed that. I don't want to say that we didn't manage to achieve interaction with the computer, but we did make a few errors in our thought process.
What kind of errors?
We tried to transfer the thought process behind improvisation to a digital interface. And at the beginning we made the mistake of producing tracks in advance and then turning them on and off because we thought that was improvisation. But that was just a kind of fake improvisation.
In the 80s, one particular hobby - cycling - became more and more important for the band…
Imagine you've just ridden 200 kilometers on your bike. What are you still able to achieve when you go home and sit down? Your pulse sinks to under 50, you have no desires and are perfectly content. When that happens over the course of years, then you just lose the drive to invent music.
Read more: German electronic music legends Kraftwerk to open Tour de France in Dusseldorf
What happened to us in the second half of the 80s? Retrospectively I would say that we turned music into sport. Music became a kind of competition. We were missing the focus on our core competency: autonomous imagination. That is, not giving in to a competition, but listening inside yourself.
Cover for the Kraftwerk album "Electric Cafe" from 1986
Would you say that the melodies had just dried up?
I know what you mean, but for me the more suitable metaphor is polyphony and monophony. We used to work polyphonically, and the three of us developed and invented our music together. That's how our music became lively, with multiple parts.
In the late 80s, it became monotonous. It just became a series of musical events. There is an algorithm in electronic music that also applies to text: copy and paste. But copy and paste is not polyphonic.
After leaving Kraftwerk, Karl Bartos continued to work as a musician, DJ, producer and songwriter. In his autobiography, "Der Klang der Maschine" (The Sound of the Machine), which is released in German on August 25 by publisher Bastei Lübbe, he shares an inside look at his time with Kraftwerk, whose music impact a generation of hip-hop, techno and electro-pop musicians all over the world.
The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 10: James Last Big-band arrangements of pop hits: the last of the ten most successful German musicians in the 1980s was James Last. The band leader from Bremen struck a chord with his easy-listening sound, putting out over 50 albums in the 1980s. James Last toured the world with his 40-piece orchestra right up to his death in June, 2015. The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 9: Kraftwerk Electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk introduced an avant-garde element into the 1980s that didn't stop with the critics and pundits. It connected with the charts, as well. "The Model" even took Kraftwerk up the British singles charts. And an innovative animated video, "Musique Non Stop“ carried it to number one on the U.S. dance charts. The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 8: Nena A young Nena and her band launched several albums and singles up the world charts in the 1980s. But none flew as high as the 1983 anti-war pop song "99 Luftballons", redone in English as "99 Red Balloons" a year later. It was a good start to a long career. Today, over three decades later, Nena is still putting out hit pop tunes. The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 7: Boney M. Boney M. was already riding high in the 1970s rankings with the hits they're remembered for today. But the disco trio created by German producer Frank Farian carried their success over into the list of top German acts of the 1980s with more serious and mellow tunes. One of their hits in this decade "We Kill the World" was a plea for environmental protection. The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 6: Alphaville It's synthpop with a catchy tune. In 1983, singer Marian Gold founded Alphaville in Münster. The band's name refers to a dystopian film by French Nouvelle Vague director Jean-Luc Godard. Alphaville followed their hit single "Big in Japan" with "Forever Young", which aspired to keep its title promise both on charts all across Europe and as a staple of high school proms across the United States. The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 5: Scorpions The Scorpions have been rocking straight through for fifty years now and sold around 100 million records, the greater part of them during the 1980s. The hard-rockers from Hanover boosted sales touring the world from Brazil and the USA to the Soviet Union, playing such hits as "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and "Still Loving You". The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 4: Sandra Sandra was a German female pop export hit of the 1980s. She, her producer and her then-husband Michael Cretu formed a musical dream team. It may come as a surprise that her mega-hit "I’ll never be) Maria Magdalena" brought her added success in Japan as lead singer of the all-woman trio Arabesque. The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 3: Jennifer Rush Heidi Stern, aka Jennifer Rush, grew up in both the USA and Germany. In 1984, the German producer team Gunter Mende and Candy de Rouge wrote "The Power of Love" with her in mind. The ballad conquered charts from South Africa to Scandinavia and earned a mention in the Guinness Book of Records as the best-selling single by a female solo artist in the history of the British music industry. The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 2: Milli Vanilli In the late 1980s, the pop duo Milli Vanilli took number one on the US charts several times. Once again, star German producer Frank Farian had been at work. But success turned to scandal when Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan were found to be lip-syncing and not singing. Milli Vanilli had to return their Grammy and retire from music. The Top Ten music acts of the 80s from Germany # 1: Modern Talking The trademarks of Modern Talking were simple lyrics, disco pop and studio tans. Even if the German duo of Thomas Anders und Dieter Bohlen was often maligned, songs like "You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul" and "Brother Louie" had millions of sales and placed Modern Talking squarely at number one on PopXport's 1980s Ranking.
Jens von Larcher (kbm) |
As I have mentioned a number of times lately around the site, I am really on an undersized yo-yo kick as of late. For some reason I just really enjoy throwing smaller yo-yos and like how they play. For this reason I was quite excited to hear about the incoming Executive yo-yo Kickstarter that actually fires up tomorrow morning (July 5) at 7am Pacific.
The Executive is being brought to use by Doctor Popular and Ernest Kahn, and you can read more about this new miniature yo-yo over in the official announcement on Doc Pop’s website. I emailed Doc Pop for some more information and he was kind enough to give me a sneak peek at the Executive yo-yo Kickstarter. Better yet, he gave me permission to share some extra details with you.
The Executive yo-yo is being machined by One Drop, and you can check out the full specs below. During the Kickstarter there will be a special Kickstarter Green colour that will not be available again after the close of the campaign. There will also be a special blue/yellow swirl colourway (shown below) that will only be available during the first 24 hours of the campaign so you will need to act quickly to snag one of those. There will also be a bunch of other goodies available as part of the various reward tiers such as snagging one of the Executive prototypes, a shirt, and even a private lesson from Doc Pop (who happens to be a competition level yo-yo master).
So if you are into miniature yo-yos then you need to get your wallet ready for the launch of the Executive yo-yo Kickstarter tomorrow! Pledges that include the yo-yo will start at $75 USD.
Executive Specs |
In a week in which there has been mild consternation in Australia about the state of the Galle surface, Angelo Mathews has made no apologies about what the visitors can expect at the SSC: It will turn again, he said - get used to it.
With the island's ground curators directly employed by the board, Sri Lanka has long catered pitches to the team's needs. Against India last year, surfaces at the P Sara Oval and the SSC had seam and bounce, as it was hoped those qualities would enhance Sri Lanka's chances of winning (as it happened, India won both matches).
Against teams from further afield, and particularly Australia, tracks are made to spin, spin, spin.
Australia's cricketers have focused almost solely on their own performances. But it is clear that reports in the Australian press about "pitch doctoring" in Galle, have prompted indignation within the Sri Lankan team.
"We had to work really hard to win those two games," Mathews said. "We played better cricket than them. I'm hearing that the Aussies have not played good cricket, and the wickets were poor - I mean, come on, you've got to grow up. We play on the same wicket. They've got spinners and we've got spinners. They've fought really hard, but it's just that our spinners have bowled extremely well. Our spinners have exploited the conditions and bowled better than them. Credit should go to the whole team, the way they've worked extremely hard."
Home-team advantage appears to be increasingly sought in Test cricket. Over the past two years, Sri Lanka has played on pitches in Christchurch and Hamilton that were so thickly layered in grass, they were almost indistinguishable from the remainder of the square. The pitch at Headingley, in May, had been another green top. And often forced to tour temperate climates in their early summer (thanks largely to economic considerations), Sri Lanka have also been made to play in the colder foreign venues, like Dunedin, Leeds and Chester-le-Street, to cite three examples from the past eight months.
The SSC surface has lately ceased to be the wellspring of runs it has been in the past, and on the eve of the Test, appears at least as dry as the pitch at Galle. Sri Lanka have already confirmed their triple-spin attack - with allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva's offspin in support - will be set loose in the third Test as well.
"It's going to be a turner once again," Mathews said. "SSC has traditionally been a very good, batting-friendly wicket. But in the last few games against South Africa and Pakistan, it did take a lot of turn. We hope that it will take a lot of turn again from day one, and we hope that it will be a spinners' paradise."
On the batting front, the series win - and possibly some good catching - has bought openers Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne another opportunity. Sri Lanka has recently become the most difficult country in the world to score runs as an opener, but Sri Lanka's incumbent pair has nevertheless fallen short of the team's expectations. So far in this series, neither Silva nor Karunaratne has scored more than seven, in four innings apiece. Still, given their history of better performances overseas, Mathews said he and the selectors would grant them another chance.
"What the management and selectors think is that we can give opportunities to players who we believe can deliver," Mathews said. "When it was tough in England, Kaushal fought really hard and showed his character. After two games, we don't want to throw a character like him away.
"Dimuth didn't score runs in England, but he had got a big hundred in New Zealand and he showed his character there as well. Hopefully, he can deliver and everyone will get through that rough patch."
Dhananjaya de Silva had been one of the standout openers in first-class cricket this year, but as he is already settling in at No. 7, no other obvious opening candidates have presented themselves either. Mathews said the decision to retain Silva and Karunaratne had been made with a view to forthcoming foreign tours as well.
"If we have guys who have scored heavily outside the team, we can consider replacing the openers - but that has not happened," Mathews said. "We have got to keep in mind that the South African series is coming in a few months' time. We believe that this set of players can go to South Africa and do well. They are talented, and if they are given opportunities, they can come good."
Mathews now has the opportunity to effect perhaps the most high-profile 3-0 whitewash for any Sri Lanka captain. They have three other 3-0 results, but those came against weaker Zimbabwe and Bangladesh teams, and a modest West Indies outfit propped up by mountains of Brian Lara runs. A whitewash against the world's top-ranked team will likely be remembered fondly for years to come.
"We are extremely excited at the prospect," Mathews said. "We've trained harder than we had over the past two weeks, because we want to win it 3-0. Everyone is all geared up, and we haven't taken the foot off the gas." |
A Whitewashed Wall Erases Egypt's Revolution
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mohammad Hannon/AP Mohammad Hannon/AP
A massive graffiti mural in Cairo's Tahrir Square documenting the political turmoil in Egypt was whitewashed earlier this month. The next night, several hundred artists and supporters were back, covering the wall in new images and anti-government slogans.
Medical student and painter Doaa Okasha, 20, was outraged when she found out the original mural was gone.
toggle caption Nasser Nasser/AP
"It's our history there. This wall explains a lot of what happened in the last months, and it's very important to us," she says. "They easily come and erase everything, and we don't accept that."
The square in the heart of Cairo was the focal point of the 18-day uprising last year that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, and it's been the site of numerous protests since then. The new Egyptian government is renovating Tahrir, but Egyptians disagree on how to memorialize their revolution.
Several weeks ago, during protests against an anti-Muslim video, the police moved in and pushed demonstrators out of the area, which is a major traffic intersection, along with hordes of street vendors. A constant presence there since the revolution started, the vendors sold tea, food and nationalistic knick-knacks.
After the police action, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil posted a video on his Facebook page, calling on citizens to provide ideas about how to memorialize the revolution in the square. Hundreds have responded.
One called for building a massive archway to commemorate the revolution's martyrs. Another wanted nationalistic songs played at low volumes around the square.
These days, workmen are shoveling sand and laying down bricks for sidewalks. There's new turf planted in the center of the square. Urban planning expert Mohamed el-Shahed hopes that cleaning up the square signals a change in how the government deals with Cairo's neglected infrastructure.
"Maybe [we could be] using this opportunity to remake the management system, the municipal system of the city," he says, "and without falling into the trap of doing these big, bombastic monuments, and rather focus on the everyday needs that cities require."
Mahmoud Mohammed Orabi, a cook at a pastry shop, is enjoying a sunset picnic with friends on the newly planted grass in the middle of Tahrir.
"Frankly, all that I wanted is to come to Tahrir Square, sit down and eat. To see what I see now: flowers, gardens, people are safe. I want to feel free in my country," he says.
Nearby, student Moheb Emad says Tahrir doesn't need to be renovated or beautified because it will always be a symbol.
"To us, Tahrir Square is sacred, because people died here. It will not lose its significance," Emad says. "And we are not waiting for renovations, the way the government speaks about them."
Our graffiti is enough, he says, and Tahrir itself is enough. |
DUNEDIN, Fla. – In one corner of the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse, a player cheerfully slaps five and talks trash with teammates en route to the field for stretch, while in another, a sombre youngster drops his bag in frustration and quietly packs his belongings after being told he isn’t making the club.
The dichotomy of fates played out Monday afternoon as the initial 25-man roster moved a few steps closer to resolution. Mat Latos was informed he won’t be on the team, said manager John Gibbons, and a source told Sportsnet that he would stay with the organization rather than utilize one of the opt outs in his minor-league contract.
Gibbons also confirmed out-of-options reliever Bo Schultz is slated to visit with a specialist in New York on Tuesday to examine an elbow injury and will start the season on the disabled list, a turn of events that seemingly leaves swingman Mike Bolsinger, power arms Ryan Tepera and Dominic Leone and lefty Aaron Loup up for the final two spots in the bullpen.
Indications are Loup will make the club as a second lefty to complement J.P. Howell, leaving the final spot between Bolsinger, who offers length and is out of options, and Tepera and Leone, who can be optioned.
"Ideally one of (the spots) can give you some innings, that’s very important, that way we can protect our go-to guys a little bit," said Gibbons. "One of those guys needs to be able to throw two, three innings, that’s for sure."
The Blue Jays will be happy to keep Latos around to offer further starting depth at triple-A Buffalo alongside options such as Casey Lawrence and Lucas Harrell. One of their primary concerns is who steps in if one of their starters gets hurt and given his past success, Latos offers a nice insurance policy.
"We’d love him to go down to triple-A, keep starting down there in case something happens and we need him," said Gibbons, adding the final bullpen composition was "still up in the air … that’s going to come down to the wire."
A handful of players were seen being tapped on the shoulder to learn of their fate. Roster cuts expected to take effect Tuesday were Chad Girodo, Tim Mayza, Jeff Beliveau, Leonel Campos and Lawrence.
SHORT HOPS: Closer Roberto Osuna was slated to pitch Monday night against the Philadelphia Phillies. … The Blue Jays won’t bring second baseman Devon Travis with them to Montreal, leaving him in Florida until the season opens in Baltimore. "He’s going to playing down here," said John Gibbons. "We just thought it’s a different kind of turf, he’s been battling that knee thing, why even take a chance. It’s not like the turf we play on in Montreal." Asked if that means that Travis will be ready for opening day, Gibbons replied: "It’s starting to look that way but nothing is definite yet."… Jose Bautista is also skipping the Montreal trip to attend his brother’s wedding. "Sorry, Montreal," cracked Gibbons. |
Update: Posted: 6:00 p.m. Monday, June 26, 2017
Epic rains this month quenched Florida’s drought, but sparked a tragic battle for survival in the Everglades with officials forced to choose which flora and fauna will live or die. To protect the nearly extinct Cape Sable seaside sparrow, federal wildlife managers are refusing to open floodgates that would drain water from more bloated areas, including southwest of Palm Beach County. Water levels are two feet higher than what is sustainable in one conservation area, forcing animals onto inundated tree islands where some will starve. Ron Bergeron, a 10-year commissioner with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, called the situation “catastrophic,” and argues that one bird is being valued over scores of other animals. Check The Palm Beach Post radar map “This could change the face of our environment, our ecology, our wildlife, our endangered species and our plant communities,” Bergeron said. “We really better pay attention to this one.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees the Everglades animals are in a crisis and that some will die, but that the sparrow is the only species that could be wiped out forever. “The sparrows are close to extinction and if something goes extinct, it doesn’t come back,” said Larry Williams, state supervisor for U.S. Fish and Wildlife in Vero Beach. “The other populations will come back.” Read the full story here.
Previous story: A leading Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commissioner said this month’s deluge of rain is a “catastrophic event” for the fragile Everglades that is threatening scores of endangered species.
Ron Bergeron, a 10-year FWC commissioner, said water levels in some conservation areas are two feet above what’s healthy for plants and wildlife. All but a few tree islands, which are used by deer, and other wildlife, are underwater.
“For fur-bearing animals, their refuge are the tree islands and when those islands go under water, the impact is pretty dramatic on all wildlife, including wading birds,” Bergeron said. “A wading bird doesn’t have 3-foot-long legs.”
Related: Rain compared to tropical storm
On Friday, the South Florida Water Management District was granted emergency permission to back pump clean water into Lake Okeechobee to save animals and plants in the bloated water conservation areas.
Canals, including the Hillsboro on the border of Broward and Palm Beach counties, are also pumping water to the Intracoastal.
But Bergeron said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to agree to open floodgates that will allow water to move south into Big Cypress National Preserve and Florida Bay, both of which are too dry.
Check The Palm Beach Post radar map.
While some concessions have been made, Bergeron said the most important floodgates remain closed to protect the endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow.
“My responsibility is to protect the global Everglades and all 69 endangered species,” Bergeron said. “This event is so catastrophic that if we don’t act, we may not have anything left to save.”
No one was immediately available from U.S. Fish and Wildlife this morning.
The 16-county region managed by the district has received an average of 13.43 inches of rain this month. That’s more than 7.38 inches above what’s normal.
And it’s still early in the rainy season where, on average, South Florida could get 7 to 8 inches of rain for the next several months.
“Just think if we get one tropical storm or hurricane on top of that,” Bergeron said.
Much of this month’s rain fell south of Lake Okeechobee, leaving the lake at 12.28 feet above sea level as of Sunday, which is nearing the health and safety comfort zone of between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet.
If you haven’t yet, join Kim on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. |
Major league baseball is trending toward pitchers -- especially relievers -- with big velocity, and while the Twins may appear far behind the curve based on the above finding, they're certainly not ignorant to this reality. The club's draft strategy in recent years has reflected an increased emphasis on power arms -- even those that are clearly slated for future roles in the bullpen -- and no one personifies this altered approach better than Nick Burdi.
The Twins selected the hard-throwing righty in the second round of last year's draft, and already he has become one of the most noteworthy relief prospects in all of the minor leagues. You've probably heard this crazy statistic : In 2014, the Twins had one pitcher (late-season call-up Lester Oliveros) throw a pitch that was clocked at 97 MPH or above. By comparison, the American League Champion Kansas City Royals registered 2,287 such pitches.Major league baseball is trending toward pitchers -- especially relievers -- with big velocity, and while the Twins may appear far behind the curve based on the above finding, they're certainly not ignorant to this reality. The club's draft strategy in recent years has reflected an increased emphasis on power arms -- even those that are clearly slated for future roles in the bullpen -- and no one personifies this altered approach better than Nick Burdi.The Twins selected the hard-throwing righty in the second round of last year's draft, and already he has become one of the most noteworthy relief prospects in all of the minor leagues.
22 (DOB: 1/19/93)20.1 IP, 2.66 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 38/16 K/BB2015NRBurdi's fastball has always set him apart. In high school, when he was already touching the mid-90s with the heater, his coach called him a "once-in-a-lifetime pitcher," adding "I don't expect I will get another guy who can throw 95 plus in high school."The Twins took notice of Burdi's stunning velocity early on, and selected him in the 24th round of the 2011 draft following his senior year, but he opted instead to attend college at the University of Louisville. That turned out to be a good decision.Burdi quickly developed into one of the most dominant collegiate closers in the country, proving almost unhittable while averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning. By his sophomore year, he was hitting triple-digits on the radar gun with some frequency . In his junior year, he posted a 0.49 ERA while piling up 65 strikeouts in 37 innings and holding opponents to a .135 batting average. The Twins once again drafted him, with the No. 46 overall pick last June, and this time Burdi signed for a $1.2 million bonus.As a polished college closer, Burdi skipped rookie ball and reported straight to Class-A Cedar Rapids after signing. He struggled badly in his pro debut, walking all four batters he faced, but from that point forward he looked very much like the overpowering force that he'd been at Louisville, putting up a 0.89 ERA while limiting the opposition to a .186/.260/.214 line between Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers. Oh, that was with opponents batting .406 on balls in play.Of the 82 hitters that Burdi faced between Low-A and High-A in his first taste of professional baseball, he struck out 38. That's 46 percent.With any tall, lanky pitcher who routinely works in the upper-90s, there are going to be two pre-eminent concerns: control and health. The latter has yet to become an issue for Burdi, and since he's being groomed strictly as a late-inning reliever, he may be able to avoid injuries stemming from overuse. Nevertheless, it will be worth keeping an eye on.As far as control, Burdi obviously had the major hiccup in his first pro appearance last summer, but otherwise had no issues, walking six hitters over his remaining 19 outings. Of course, when you're a 21-year-old coming out of a major college conference and firing 100-MPH fastballs at Single-A hitters, sometimes command issues can stay hidden. It'll be interesting to see how his walk rates shake out at the higher levels.There's nothing left for Burdi to prove in Single-A, so he will most likely open the season as the closer on a Class-AA Chattanooga roster that figures to be loaded with high-end prospect talent. From there, the righty will have a chance to rise very quickly if he continues to dominate with his devastating fastball/slider combo. It would be no surprise to see him in the majors setting up Glen Perkins by season's end. |
The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that it wants Endo Pharmaceuticals to take Opana ER, a tamper-proof, extended-release opioid medication, off the market.
"The abuse and manipulation of reformulated Opana ER by injection has resulted in a serious disease outbreak," Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement released Thursday. "When we determined that the product had dangerous unintended consequences, we made a decision to request its withdrawal from the market."
It is a good thing Woodcock mentioned unintended consequences. Starting around 2010, pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. at the FDA's behest began releasing versions of their opioid drugs that users could not easily crush and then snort or inject. Back in the halcyon days of the opioid crisis, when more Americans were dying of car accidents than overdoses, crushing and snorting opioids was the most popular way to use them illicitly.
Introducing tamper-proofing was at the time considered a huge public health victory. "Some of the most widely abused drugs, including OxyContin, have been re-engineered in tamper-resistant formulations and introduced in place of their original versions," wrote former Sen. Tom Coburn and Scott Gottlieb, now the head of the FDA, in a 2012 post for the American Enterprise Institute. "Rates of abuse have fallen sharply as a consequence."
But while Gottlieb and Coburn were heralding tamper-proof formulations as a way to curtail non-medical use of opioids, users were busy figuring out other ways to get high. Some people simply chewed the tamper-proof pills. Some people figured out how to cook and inject them. Many people turned to heroin, which was suddenly cheaper than the newly patented tamper-proof formulations.
In 2015, researchers at the University of Toronto and Women's College Hospital in Toronto released findings that the tamper-proof model has not, and likely will not, solve the opioid problem. Yes, fewer patients were overdosing on tamper-proof medications, but "growing epidemiologic evidence shows that the introduction of tamper-resistant formulations has not lowered the rates of opioid-related deaths at a population level."
Why? Researchers found "increasing evidence that individuals shift to other opioids, including uncontrolled formulations such as heroin, when availability of prescription opioids changes."
(You don't need to read a study to know this. The internet is rich with first-person accounts from pill users, who--frustrated by the new formulations or cut off from their prescription by fearful doctors--turned to heroin.)
In the case of Opana ER, a tamper-proof version of which Endo brought to market in 2012, users who had previously snorted the drug took to injecting it. This phenomenon led to the largest HIV outbreak in Indiana's history, which then-Gov. Mike Pence initially addressed by praying.
That HIV outbreak, and related cases of Hepatitis C, are likely part of the "serious disease outbreak" Woodcock referenced in the FDA's press release. Left unmentioned is the likelihood that tamper-proofing has played a large role in the increased importation of fentanyl, a drug that is not just deadlier than heroin, but far deadlier than the crushable opioids that kicked off this current public health crisis.
Endo has the option to voluntarily remove Opana ER from the market. If the company declines, the FDA "intends to take steps to formally require its removal by withdrawing approval."
Until that happens, the FDA says it "is making health care professionals and others aware of the particularly serious risks associated with the abuse of this product." |
Older music will always have a place in the world of music. Most people who are passionate about music know the history behind the music they listen to now. It is simply impossible to talk about music without addressing where all of it came from.
I hold the opinion that basically any pop song from the eighties is better than any pop song from right now. There’s an indiscernible quality that makes music from then more appealing. I enjoy it all. I have so many favorite bands that are from way before I was born. So, I want to share some of these gems that I found. Some of them may be known by all, some may be hidden gems.
“Time” is the ninth album released by Electric Light Orchestra. One of the few concept albums that actually sticks to a single theme. It is considered one of the first albums devoted to the concept of time travel. The album is based around the story of a man who is taken from 1981 and placed in 2095. The story follows his reactions to this brand-new world, as he rationalizes the technological changes and mourns the love he lost back in 1981.
Really, the best way to explain this whole album is to look at every song. The sounds and lyrics are perfectly constructed to tell this man’s story.
To start it off, there’s the “Prologue.” No, I’m not kidding. That is the first song. It’s a concept album, right? But it’s a great start to a concept album. The song seems to be depicting the time travel process. A robotic voice delivers the opening monologue: “Just on the border of your / waking mind / There lies… Another time / Where darkness & light are one / And as you tread the / halls of sanity / You feel so glad to be / Unable to go beyond / I have a message / From another time…”
The whips and buzzes of the synthesizers build tension, the rush of the music gets quicker and louder. You are introduced to this world. But you know there’s no turning back.
“Twilight” starts right away, rolling off the tension from “Prologue.” The song is all about the man’s initial reactions to 2095. The world rushes around him. The song races just as much as his mind. There is such excitement, but ultimately he is confused. “It’s either real or it’s a dream / There’s nothing that is in between / Twilight, I only meant to stay awhile / Twilight, I’ll give you time to / Steal my mind” How does a man mentally handle such a change in scenery while also losing his reality?
“Yours Truly, 2095” further embraces the concept. The narrator interacts with a robot woman, who claims to be in love with him. He seems to try to love her back, but can never bring himself to accept her. She is much too different for him to fathom spending his life with her. The robot woman knows that he is still in love with the girl from the eighties, and resents him for it. She knows he can never be satisfied in this world.
“Ticket to the Moon” is about the man traveling to the moon. He is so amazed to see the world from high above. He is confused and impressed, but the past still calls to him. “Remember the good old 1980s? / When things were so uncomplicated? / I wish I could go back there again / And everything could be the same. // I’ve got a ticket to the moon / I’ll be leaving here any day soon / Yeah, I’ve got a ticket to the moon / But I’d rather see the sunrise in your eyes.”
“The Way Life’s Meant To Be” is the moment where the man starts to question the world around him. Coming from a relatively uncomplicated time, he cannot quickly accept the way this new world works. He notices all the people looking at him, looking in the same way that he looks at them. They are all odd in this world. The sound is fast, imitating his growing anxiety.
“Another Heart Breaks” is an intermission of sorts. The song is psychedelic and slow. The sound creates an atmosphere of fear, mixed with anxiety. A guitar drifts throughout the song, as a man counts up to the end. The man knows that his love is waiting for him.
“Rain is Falling” explains how kids in the future are still afraid of the lightning. He is amazed that despite all of the time passing, not much has really changed. The human race is still amazed by rain. The song is chilling, getting very close to creepy. But it shows an optimism towards the future. That humanity will never be truly lost.
“From The End of The World” is a rushing song. Extremely fast and anxious, paralleling the man’s journey to the end of the world. Apparently, that is the only place that he can send messages to his love. But he is willing to go that far just to send his love back in time.
“The Lights Go Down” illustrates the man’s loneliness in this new time. Full of new challenges and expectations, the man must persevere. He realizes he cannot linger on his past love forever, especially if he is going to be stuck in 2095. She will never truly leave him though.
“I know / The way that I feel is wrong, so wrong / But I gotta carry on /When you ain’t around”
“Here Is The News” literally is a news anchor running through all the new dangers and stories in the future. They are just as depressing as the news from the eighties. Written perfectly for the news, the sound is anxious and scary. Sometimes the future is too similar to the present. People will always die. And calamities will never disappear.
“21st Century Man” is the most introspective song on the whole album. This is the last time that the man contemplates the world of the future. He poses the question: even though you have all of these new things, what do they really bring? Do they make life better? He questions the “utopia’ that the future seems it should be. “You should be so happy / You should be so glad / So why are you so lonely / You 21st century man?”
“Hold On Tight” is the hit single from the album, which is pretty obvious when you listen to it. It’s a good song, don’t get me wrong. But it has little to do with the rest of the album. The song inspires the listener to hold on tight to their dreams, even when it seems impossible to do so. Probably the most forgettable song on the album, since it does not assist the overall concept.
“Epilogue” rounds out the whole album. The sound harkens back to that of “Prologue.” The tension builds, ending with the sounds of a teleporter. It seems like the man is taken back to 1981. He remembers everything he saw, but seems excited to be going back. “You should be so happy / You should be so glad / 21st century man. // Though you ride on the wheels of tomorrow / You still wander the fields of your sorrow. // Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.”
The man goes home.
Electric Light Orchestra takes us through every bit of this man’s struggle. Amidst a time when the world was enraptured with the idea of the future, they were willing to question their idealism. ELO wanted people to consider that the future may not be as perfect as they want it to be. I will admit that there are parts of the album that are cliché and a bit overdramatic. But the album is artfully done, every sound matches the mood of the song. They know how to create an atmosphere. I highly recommend listening to “Time,” loudly with headphones on.
Featured image from: https://images.alphacoders.com/308/308653.jpg
Advertisements |
Yvetta Fedorova
It is now two years since I lost Richard, the man I lived with and loved for 44 years, and I have to admit, the second year was harder than the first.
At first I was busy navigating a seemingly unending number of legal and financial issues, foreign territory to me. I figured out how to undertake the many household duties that had long been my husband’s, and I learned to ask for or hire help when tasks were more than I could handle.
The first year, my wonderful immediate family (two sons and daughters-in-law, four grandsons, a son-in-law by marriage, and brother and sister-in-law) and half a dozen close friends saw to it that I was included in all manner of activities with people I love, from visiting the Grand Canyon and celebrating holidays to evenings at the theater, concerts, museums and movies.
I also took on some long-neglected but necessary household projects, like replacing ill-fitting windows and doors and repairing or discarding broken furniture.
Things quieted down a lot the second year. People returned to their lives and, I guess, expected that I had learned how to cope on my own. And to a large extent that was true.
I got the car serviced and inspected and, with one exception, remembered to park on the right side of the street for alternate-side parking. I changed ceiling light bulbs (even though a doctor had told me to stay off ladders), kept the sidewalk swept, disposed of the garbage and recycling, pruned the grapevines and periodically cleaned the drains and gutters.
But something was clearly missing. There was an emptiness that may be hard to understand unless you’ve also been through it.
Take last New Year’s Eve. I had no plans, but the day before, a very thoughtful friend invited me to dinner with her husband and another couple, after which we joined two other couples for dessert. Then all nine of us went to the park to watch fireworks; thousands of revelers were whooping and hollering and generally having a great time. Everyone but me.
I was sad, very sad. To me, alone in a crowd, nothing about this new year seemed celebratory.
The same sadness recurred two months later, on Super Bowl Sunday, when I sorely missed the company of people close to me who were elsewhere, cheering the Giants on to an unexpected victory.
I am by nature a happy, optimistic, can-do person, unaccustomed to feeling vulnerable and adrift. It helped somewhat to vent these feelings to close friends and a therapist.
But a book I found in my personal library, “Healthy at 100,” by John Robbins, may well prove to be the most helpful. I’m not sure how I missed perusing this marvelous book when it was published, in 2006, but I’m awfully glad I found it now.
After 200-plus pages of very informed discussion of life-enhancing issues like diet, exercise and mental stimulation, Mr. Robbins devotes a major section to relationships. He notes the importance of others in our lives and takes issue with self-absorption, with the “me” generation that focuses on itself to the neglect of others. Mr. Robbins cites an illustrative study published in 1983 by Larry Scherwitz, then a psychologist at Baylor University, who taped the conversations of nearly 600 men, a third of them with heart disease. Dr. Scherwitz counted how often the men used first-person pronouns — I, me, mine — and found that those who used them most often were most likely to have heart disease and, when followed for several years, most likely to suffer heart attacks.
The psychologist advised: “Listen with regard when others talk. Give your time and energy to others; let others have their way; do things for reasons other than furthering your own needs.”
Reading this reminded me of Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks’ new “Cinderella” point guard, who instead of basking in adulation for his surprising performances repeatedly has attributed success on the court to his team. How very refreshing for a sports hero.
Joining a New Cause
I think it’s time for me to get out of myself, to join a cause I believe in and to work hard toward its goals. I’m not sure yet what that cause might be. My brother and sister-in-law, despite very busy lives, contribute time and energy, as well as money, to Habitat for Humanity and take pride in how their efforts help others.
I suspect, though, that I may need something that connects me more directly to people I care about. In college I was the untitled dorm therapist; perhaps I could again function in a one-on-one advisory capacity for people in need of a sounding board.
In study after study cited by Mr. Robbins, people in loving relationships with spouses or friends were healthier than those lacking this intimacy, even when the latter had healthier living habits.
One such study of 7,000 men and women living in Alameda County, Calif., which was published in 1979 and was led by Lisa F. Berkman, an epidemiologist then at Yale, found that people who were not connected to others were three times as likely to die over the course of nine years as those who had strong social ties. The kind of social ties did not matter. They included family, friends, church and volunteer groups.
Furthermore, to the surprise of Dr. Berkman and her co-author, S. Leonard Syme of the University of California, Berkeley, those with close social ties and unhealthful lifestyles actually lived longer than those with poor social ties but more health-promoting habits. Of course, those who lived healthfully and had strong social ties lived the longest.
In another study, which was called the Beta Blocker Heart Attack Trial and involved 2,300 men who had survived a heart attack, those with strong social connections faced only one-quarter the risk of death of those not socially connected, even when factors like smoking, diet, alcohol, exercise and weight were taken into account. In fact, social connectedness had a greater influence on survival than the heart drug being tested.
Isolating Our Elders
The demonstrated benefits of social involvement raise serious questions about the generational splits in current society. The three-generation household in which I grew up is no longer the norm — in fact, just the opposite.
When people become too old or infirm to live on their own, they typically move or are moved to facilities with other old or infirm individuals, often far from family and friends, depriving them of connections to people who can provide loving support. The resulting loneliness can be a killer, even in the absence of a fatal disease.
Mr. Robbins points out that in traditional societies that lack modern medicine yet are famous for long life expectancies, “the generations are not artificially separated, and people at every stage of life feel a part of things and have something to contribute.”
I can only hope that will be the case during my own last decades. |
This was a good year to be a Titus Andronicus fan. Their new album, The Most Lamentable Tragedy, wound up being something of a masterpiece: an epic listening experience that has weird detours and excessive flourishes that somehow cohere into the overall mood of the album, achieving frontman Patrick Stickles’ goal of creating a massive opera inspired by his experiences with manic-depression. And, amidst it all, there are about 10 absolutely perfect songs on it, as well as a whole bunch of excellent stuff beyond that. It landed Titus at #17 on Stereogum’s list of the best albums in 2015; it’s one of my personal favorites of the year. If you were a Titus Andronicus fan living in or near New York, it was an even better year — at least if you were around for the band’s furiously triumphant run of shows at the Brooklyn DIY venue Shea Stadium. In stifling July heat, the band roared through a five-night run that concluded on the day The Most Lamentable Tragedy came out, which also happened to be Stickles’ 30th birthday. I was at two of those — Saturday night, as well as Stickles’ birthday show the following Tuesday — and they were some of the most incredible concert experiences I’ve ever had. This band is operating at the peak of their powers, and seeing them live is the kind of overwhelmingly cathartic and life-affirming experience that still gives me chills just mentioning it half a year later.
But how was the year for the guy behind it all? Stickles is a man unafraid to speak his mind, whether that comes out in sardonic humor or deeply thoughtful analyses of the music industry or the world at large. So, we decided to catch up with Stickles and ask him a bunch of questions about 2015, like we did with Wayne Coyne last week. After I ran into Stickles at Ground Control Touring’s 15th anniversary event in Manhattan last week, we discovered we lived a few minutes from each other in Brooklyn. We decided to meet at a local coffee shop, which turned into us sitting outside on a bench, talking of our mutual adopted hometown and a million other things.
STEREOGUM: This first question feels goofier each time I say it out loud. NASA found liquid water on Mars this year. Do you think we’ll find aliens someday soon?
STICKLES: Well, if they were on Mars, they would be pretty small. They probably wouldn’t have achieved that much by our standards. They might be up there. Until we get that water under the magnifying glass, it’s hard to say. You’d have to figure that there must be some aliens out there. The universe is so vast. Thinking about the vastness of the universe is something I spent a lot of time on as a younger guy. It’s too mind-boggling sometimes. Life on Earth…you figure it was kind of inevitable, right? The universe, cauldron of possibilities that it is, so much time…what couldn’t happen, right? Probability, statistically-speaking…I’m not an expert on it, but, you gotta figure of course there’d be life sometimes.
STEREOGUM: Did you follow the Drake/Meek Mill beef at all?
STICKLES: I did follow it very closely. Maybe it’s another one of those things where I’m too old-fashioned, but I do like it when rappers write their own lyrics. Drake probably wrote the vast majority of his own lyrics. A lot of people — people I respect — say it doesn’t really matter. These authenticity debates. Is the artist really speaking from their soul, or is the artist speaking to please some focus group? Maybe I’m too old-fashioned, but I do like it when the artist speaks directly from their soul. Like Funkmaster Flex said: If you’re going to walk around saying you’re the king of the game — or queen, anybody can run the game — but if you’re going to talk about you running the game, you should probably write your own lyrics.
STEREOGUM: Are you a Drake fan otherwise?
STICKLES: Am I a fan of his? I’ve definitely liked a lot of his songs over the years.
STEREOGUM: What did you think of “Hotline Bling”?
STICKLES: It was a great treat. Maybe the lyrics are a little bit problematic. Drake thinking he knows what’s best for somebody else, trying to tell somebody what to do, that’s not really good. You know, he’s the one that’s absent. If he’s not around, contributing to this relationship that he’s in, who’s he to say what the other partner should be doing when he’s not there? But that song, it was dope.
STEREOGUM: Would you call it the song of the year?
STICKLES: No way. [The Weeknd’s] “Can’t Feel My Face.” That’s my favorite. My favorite guy. I liked that if Drake couldn’t be #1, that it should be the Weeknd. “The Hills” kept [“Hotline Bling”] out of the top spot. Which is good karmic retribution for how Drake took a lot of the House Of Balloons songs, I’ve come to learn, for his Take Care album.
STEREOGUM: I really liked both of those songs, and thought it was weird that they were #1 and #2, and both had these kinda similar hooks about calling people.
STICKLES: All these people making calls. Haven’t they ever heard of text messaging?
STEREOGUM: So the Weeknd was your album of the year, too, right?
STICKLES: Well, I only heard three albums this year.
STEREOGUM: What were the other two?
STICKLES: Keith Richards’ Crosseyed Heart, which I was mostly just grateful that it existed at all. And Guilt, which is a record by a band called Bueno. You ever heard of them? They’re part of the whole Shea Stadium scene. Bueno, great band.
STEREOGUM: You mentioned Grimes’ new album earlier. Have you listened to it much?
STICKLES: No, not really.
STEREOGUM: Not your thing?
STICKLES: Well, it’s not that it’s not my thing, per se, I don’t even know if it’s my thing or not. But, I did mention [Grimes’ record] because I know it’s in all the papers. I’ve seen in all the papers that she’s an artist that demands total control, wants to do everything on her own terms, doesn’t want people in the industry figuring they know better than she about what she should be doing. Encourages her towards boldness. I like that. That’s what everybody should be doing. Like we said before about how a lot of this pop music today is like, focus-grouped, and there’s not really as much concern that it’s coming from like, a singular artistic voice. Grimes seems to be the opposite of that. But I’m not that educated about it. I did like the little one-two, bait-and-switch thing she did where she put out that one song that was very poppy. [Stickles is referring to “Flesh Without Blood” – Ed.] That sounded like something you might hear on the radio, and it sounded like, well, she must really want to be on the radio. But then the next day she put out that all screaming track [“Scream”]. I guess she doesn’t want to do that exclusively. That was a very clever move. I like that screaming song. [mimics the scream from the song] Sometimes you gotta just let it out.
STEREOGUM: Speaking of pop stars, have you kept up with the release of Adele’s new album and all the records it’s been breaking?
STICKLES: I did, I saw it all. Three million plus. I guess, yeah…I dunno. That’s awesome for the huge apparatus of the industry. I don’t know what it means for an artist at the level I’m at.
STEREOGUM: There’s no trickle-down effect.
STICKLES: No, not really. Might be an example of, you know, typical capitalist inevitability of the centrifugal force of the whole thing, consolidating power and influence on a smaller and smaller base. Influence and equity in the music biz. I dunno. She was another one who didn’t want to be on the streaming sites.
STEREOGUM: What do you think about the whole streaming situation?
STICKLES: I don’t know, it’s hard for me to say without much to compare it to. I’m sure to an artist like Adele or Taylor Swift, it’s really relevant.
STEREOGUM: You think it’s more relevant to an artist like that than it is to an artist like Titus Andronicus?
STICKLES: You know, what can Titus Andronicus do? If we were to pull all our music from different streaming sites, we would only hurt ourselves. It would be just a self-righteous, pat-yourself-on-the-back kind of move. Would it make a difference? Would it move the needle at all? No. But I guess that’s like any kind of radical, revolutionary action. If you’re the only person doing it, you only hurt yourself in the end.
STEREOGUM: These major artists like Adele or Taylor Swift pulling their music from Spotify, do you think there’s any legitimacy to the idea that they’re trying to make a symbolic gesture for all artists or do you think it’s all commercially driven?
STICKLES: Well, I dunno. I haven’t thus far seen any of the streaming services pledging that they’re gonna now start paying the artists more, or that they’re treating the artists better as a result of these actions by these powerful stars. It’s nice that they’re using their platform to advocate for the artist. The artist doesn’t have a lot of advocates in the industry.
STEREOGUM: Tidal launched this year, and was touted as being better for artists. But a lot of people have been cynical about the actual nature of that.
STICKLES: Why, because there’s a bunch of millionaires onstage saying they were going broke? It’s hard to say what their real motives are. I guess that goes back to another of those things, about motives vs. an authenticity thing. Are they keeping it real with us? I guess all I could really say is that, when I came to be a part of the industry, however small, when this band started going, there was never any expectation that we were ever going to get paid off of any record. Even back when our first record came out in 2008, shit was already on the way down as far as moving units go. We never thought we were going to sell a million albums like Everclear or Kid Rock or whoever was selling records back in the ’90s. It was just understood that the record was a means to reach people who would invest in the group in some other way, whether that’s buying a concert ticket, buying a T-shirt or something. Streaming platforms, I guess, are just another way to hopefully find people and make an initial connection with them. Hopefully they’ll become invested enough that they’ll want to monetize their support in some kind of way. Until record sales are one of your principal revenue streams, which they’re not for a band like Titus Andronicus as compared to the live performance or something, then I don’t know how much it really matters to go try and fight for a whole penny instead of half a penny. It’s purely semantic at that point. What’s more important for an artist at our level is just find people, get them interested, convince them that this is something that’s worth their attention, and from there try to foster some kind of more genuine emotional connection. It doesn’t mean that much to be like…part of a collection like that. I guess this is nothing new — especially this time of year, you see top 50 albums, top 100 albums, top 1000 albums. It would be cool to be on all those lists, but only —
STEREOGUM: I think you guys are on a lot of them.
STICKLES: Ehhh, a couple. On a few here and there. But you gotta just think of that as a means to an end, to a certain degree. To try and foster that real connection we just spoke about.
STEREOGUM: You’ve been recording and touring this year, but were there any TV shows you kept up with?
STICKLES: What did I even watch? True Detective, I guess. Which started out really awesome. The new one, from this year. It kind of tapered off a little bit at the end. TV is like…it’s a comforting blanket. It’s white noise to silence the voices in my head a lot of the time.
STEREOGUM: Right, you’re really into sitcoms.
STICKLES: That’s what I’ve been watching since I got home. Seinfeld being on Hulu is a huge news story to me. What’s the cultural relevancy of Seinfeld today? I don’t know.
STEREOGUM: I find it really weird to be living in Brooklyn in 2015 and watch these fantasy depictions of New York life in the ’90s. Obviously those are sitcoms, it was never quite like that, but it always blows my mind to see what somebody’s fictional idea of New York back then vs. like, Girls now.
STICKLES: Right, the unemployed characters of Friends and their palatial West Village apartments. Well, these are the kinds of fantasies they sell to attract people like you and me, you know what I’m saying?
STEREOGUM: When I moved here, I had like a whole century’s worth of myths about New York all layered in my head, and it probably took a good year and a half before I was able to start kinda taking the city on its own 21st century terms, for it to actually feel like a real place I lived in.
STICKLES: Well, you know, you get so beaten up by the real city that sometimes you wanna go home and hide and indulge in a fantasy version that we thought it might be, and then pretend that that’s the real world. Everything makes so much sense, there’s nothing to really worry about. At the end of a 22-minute exercise, things are going to be right back where they started. Nothing that bad is ever really going to happen. Which I guess is the opposite of True Detective. At the end of this 52-minute exercise, things are going to be way worse, and every bad thing that you could possibly imagine is inevitably going to happen.
STEREOGUM: That show is on some hyperreal level of bleakness, though.
STICKLES: I guess it’s trying to be like, what we used to think of as a real tragedy, you know, and provoke pity and fear in the audience to achieve some kind of catharsis.
STEREOGUM: Did you have any thoughts about the Pope’s visit?
STICKLES: I know a lot about Catholicism…I dunno. Maybe he’s the coolest Pope, but what good is winning that contest? Most Popes that we’ve seen have been super uncool. The platform of the Catholic Church is just…not that cool. So what does it mean to be the coolest Pope? It’s better than having a Nazi Pope like we had a few years ago. It’s something I try not to let influence me too much nowadays. It’s already fairly hard-wired into my brain.
STEREOGUM: You were raised Catholic?
STICKLES: Oh, yeah, big time. Super Catholic. I don’t know, I don’t follow the Pope that much.
STEREOGUM: So you didn’t listen to the Pope’s album?
STICKLES: He doesn’t really sing on it right? He just has some monologues? I don’t know what the point of that is. To convince young people that Catholicism is cool? Are there teenagers walking around bumping the Pope’s CD? Is the Pope’s CD an effective conversion tool to young people? Are there people spinning the Pope’s CD that thought that Catholicism was wack yesterday and now think that it’s awesome? Probably not, right? I don’t know who it’s for.
STEREOGUM: Did you follow the Rachel Dolezal scandal?
STICKLES: I mean, I heard about it. That seems like a really strange thing to do. This is a really crazy world and the culture that we’ve got nowadays can produce all kinds of freaky situations that might be incomprehensible to the common person. It’s not that comprehensible to me, why you would do that kind of thing. I guess she was alienated from society in some kind of way, found some identity that made sense to her. A lot of people today are confused, is all I can say.
STEREOGUM: How about the whole Confederate flag situation?
STICKLES: I’m no fan of the Confederate flag. But should it be illegal? Is that the answer? It’s tricky to say, if they find a Confederate flag in your house you get thrown in jail. That’s a little fishy to me. But obviously I don’t agree with people who say, “Oh, well this means what I say it means.” I guess they have a certain right to say anything means anything that they say. Maybe that’s an old-fashioned view of America. I think a better answer to that stuff is greater education and a more comprehensive understanding of our shared understanding of this symbology. Obviously the Confederate flag is very bad. I don’t like seeing it around. I think that people that rock it are ill-advised and backwards in their thinking on that issue. Should we be locking people up for rocking the Confederate flag? I don’t know about that either. All our systems and institutions and stuff are ultimately only as good as the people using them, right?
STEREOGUM: On the topic of prisons, did you follow the story of David Sweat and Richard Matt, the guys who broke out of that prison in New York state?
STICKLES: I did see that. Well, the prison system, that’s another thing. We obviously don’t want murderers running around and I guess it’s better that those guys are back in jail.
STEREOGUM: One of them’s dead.
STICKLES: Shows what I know. It’s hard to get any good feelings about that kinda stuff. We don’t like those people for their murdering ways, and yet we don’t like the prisons either because we know that they’re very, very flawed systems, run for profit in this country. You can’t get excited and applaud when somebody beats the prison system, because they are murderers. Nobody likes that. And yet, it’s hard to get excited also, when, you know, the prison system prevails. I’m conflicted on it. These are all complicated issues. I’m not in favor of those guys, but I’m not in favor of the prison system either. A lot of news stories like that, they prey on people’s fear. The media’s happy to report that there are murderers on the loose, because it means for a generally more terrified populous, which is always good for business. Then they love to report that the bad guys were defeated again because once more the world makes sense, the system works, the status quo prevails. Does it get us anywhere? I’m not certain. It might just be entertainment, you know? Yet more distractions.
STEREOGUM: All right, distractions, let’s go back to pop culture a bit. Did you listen to Ryan Adams’ cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989? Or see Father John Misty’s kinda snarky spoof on the whole thing?
STICKLES: I knew that it happened. I listened to one of the Ryan Adams songs. But that seems like, I don’t know…it just seems like a dream story for the internet. You know what I mean?
STEREOGUM: Blog-bait kinda thing?
STICKLES: I think that Ryan Adams, from what I know about his career, is a pretty genuine guy and seems to really follow his muse wherever it takes him, so I don’t think he has any agenda. I think he genuinely really loves that album. I don’t think it should’ve bumped — there’s a lot of these lists I’ve seen where the Taylor Swift cover album did better than the Titus Andronicus album. That smarts a little more than had it been Ryan Adams’ original songs, an actual album.
STEREOGUM: Wait, what lists did you see that on?
STICKLES: Oh, they all had it.
STEREOGUM: I thought “Shake It Off” was cool, it sounded like a Springsteen song when he did it.
STICKLES: I think that Father John Misty is quite a funny guy. And he proved himself right. He came right out and said later that this was an attempt at media manipulation. And it worked. Everybody talked about it.
STEREOGUM: Are you an Amy Schumer fan? Did you see Trainwreck?
STICKLES: I only went to the movies once this year, to see Interstellar.
STEREOGUM: What did you think — wait, Interstellar was last year.
STICKLES: Was it? I haven’t been to the movies this year.
STEREOGUM: Are you going to go see Star Wars?
STICKLES: I think so. Me and one of my friends made a little pencil plan to go. Everybody likes Star Wars, right? Well, it’s another one of those things where we’re never going to be able to separate our experience of it from our expectations of it. The expectations often strangle the artist. That’s a movie that’s never going to be judged on its own terms. It can only ever be judged compared to the original, and even then you’re not just putting the original and the new one in a vacuum, the original has got all these memories associated with it from years of loving it, and the people we were when we first saw it, when we first made an attachment to the whole universe.
STEREOGUM: I was thinking about that when I saw George Lucas liken the whole experience to a divorce. He had treatments for these and Disney said no, and that’s when he walked away. I guess when he was selling it originally there was a chance he’d be involved. It seems a lot of people just don’t like him as a person, but he strikes me as a kind of tragic artistic situation. He created this massive thing people love all around the world and, for the same reason, people loathe him. I mean, yeah, the prequels aren’t very good. But it’s crazy to me that he can create this thing and people worship this thing, and he’s probably going to retire and grow old as a fallen figure.
STICKLES: He kind of had to cede his ownership of it.
STEREOGUM: In order for people to get excited about this stuff, yeah. I can’t imagine having created something like that and winding up in that position decades later.
STICKLES: I guess it’s just too big business, right? To let it just be another one of those authentic, pure expressions of self, right? Maybe he’d like it to be that, but you just can’t do that when there’s a billion dollars on the line.
STEREOGUM: He made some comments to that effect, that he doesn’t like the big business of movie-making, that he just wants to make experimental films that won’t get shown anywhere.
STICKLES: I’m sure he’s got plenty of resources to do that.
STEREOGUM: Yeah, it’s easy to say that when you’ve sold your company for $4 billion.
STICKLES: You can make more than a few experimental films with that money.
STEREOGUM: What do you think of Donald Trump running for president?
STICKLES: Oh, God. Well, right now, that just seems like more entertainment. That’s just TV, that’s just the perfect thing to feed the 24 hour news cycle. He’s always on hand to do something outrageous or egregious and create something that people are going to love to click on.
STEREOGUM: You could almost look at it as this wacky performance at first —
STICKLES: That’s it, it’s getting too real! He’s a perfect newsmaker in that regard. He’s presenting the most exaggerated possible version of this position, which is maybe based on how a lot of American people feel. Not me, personally. He’s another one of those inevitable figures, I guess. Either side of the media can use him. The left wing will say “Look at this, here’s all of our worst fears and the total antithesis of everything we stand for up on stage. He’s our perfect villain, so we can churn out endless articles about how monstrous he is.” And then on the other side, the right wing, they can say, “Here’s our perfect hero, presenting the exact same exaggerated version of our positions.” But, on the record, I don’t like him that much. I don’t think that he would be a good president. But, compared to what? Every president ultimately serves the capitalist party, you know what I’m saying? He’s certainly a lot more outrageous than some of the other candidates, but like…at the end of the day they all serve their real constituency, which is the one-percenters that allow them to exist.
Weak and totally conflicted people like @TheRickWilson shouldn't be allowed on television unless given an I.Q. test. Dumb as a rock! @CNN — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2015
STEREOGUM: If in some dystopian universe, Trump actually became president: Would you move to a different country and if so where?
STICKLES: Well it’s hard to escape America’s influence anywhere. He’s got such an extreme platform anyway, you have to figure that even if he did become president by some catastrophic turn of events, that he wouldn’t be able to enact all the things that he says he wants to enact. Obama says he wants to make it harder for people to get guns, which would be lovely, but he can’t do it. The whole bipartisan system that we have keeps everything in this gridlock. Will [Trump] be able to build his anti-immigrant wall, just because he’s president? I don’t know, Obama didn’t get to do all the stuff he said he wanted to do.
STEREOGUM: Pretty sure that wall wouldn’t happen.
STICKLES: Probably not. Nor should it. It’s silly, because, you know…especially here in New York, this country is all immigrants. People seem to forget that. They think that there’s some entitled American race. It’s not so. We all came here from someplace else. It’s very short-sighted.
STEREOGUM: Drones were another big topic this year. There’s this video that’ll show you how an Amazon delivery drone would work. How do you feel about that notion?
STICKLES: What do people get delivered by these drones? A book? Do people read books anymore?
STEREOGUM: The example in the commercial was a pair of sneakers for a young girl.
STICKLES: Well, people would probably love to be in bed and say, “I want new sneakers,” and then five minutes later there’s a little robot outside their window with the sneakers, that would be lovely for them, I suppose. That’ll probably just get us to a place where it’s normal for there to be a little flying robot outside your window and you wouldn’t think of how weird that really is. Once we’re used to the sight of these robots buzzing around how are we gonna be able to distinguish between the robots delivering our sneakers and the robots that are spying on us. I would rather not have robots looking in my apartment. But maybe they are already there, you know what I’m saying? It just seems like a kooky idea. We can’t really extrapolate what the logical conclusion is of a world saturated with drones. It’s scary. It’s 1984 shit, thirty-one years later.
STEREOGUM: Another technology thing: have you seen these fake hoverboard mini-segway things?
STICKLES: Where they’re standing and rolling around? Those are weird though I did see a dude eat shit on one of them recently, which was funny. That could only promote a sedentary lifestyle, right? Like, walking is one of the last things that we had. I don’t know, is that going to put walking out of business?
STEREOGUM: The New York Times Magazine asked their readers if they could go back in time, would they kill Baby Hitler…
STICKLES: I don’t want to kill anybody. Violence only begets more violence. Is it un-American to say I wouldn’t? I don’t want to kill any baby. That’s not to say that I don’t support a woman’s right to choose, obviously. That’s an abhorrent thought, to kill any baby.
STEREOGUM: Yeah, it became such a cartoonish meme, but it’s a pretty grotesque question.
STICKLES: It’s a grim image. He couldn’t just come to exist because he was a demon. He was obviously not a good guy, but he’s a product of society. I do wish that the Holocaust never happened. I can definitely tell you that. But that’s a pretty safe position to take. I don’t think that it’s good to stoke the public’s appetite for violence. We should be looking for more ways to promote peace and a generally peaceful, loving feeling amongst the human community. I don’t think that fantasizing about killing Baby Hitler is the way to do that. If we could have avoided all the atrocities associated with him, that would’ve been nice. But it’s another example of the public’s general bloodlust.
STEREOGUM: So here’s a lighter one: Did you watch Kanye’s speech at the VMAs?
STICKLES: I did, I liked that a lot. I found it…it was a very empowering thing to an artist like myself. He says, “I wanted people to like me more but fuck that. Listen to the kids.” It’s true, the artist can’t please everybody. And if the artist is going out just trying to say the right thing, trying to just achieve some bland consensus. That doesn’t really move the culture forward in any kind of meaningful way. He wants to challenge the status quo, and people like him. If you listen to the kids, he’s got a lot of support. It gives me a lot of strength when I think about…if Titus Andronicus doesn’t achieve a massive consensus, that’s OK, because I know there are people out there that are responding to the stuff that we’re about. And if it’s not the #1 cool thing, that’s alright. Because the #1 cool thing doesn’t have to be the #1 thing for everybody. With the industry the way that it is today, and you know, there are certain colossal artists that control the consensus…what am I saying. I used to say this all the time. The way that it used to be, there were artists like Adele nowadays, who are huge superstars, and then there are artists that are super obscure. With the internet and the connectivity that we have today, the artist doesn’t necessarily have to achieve a huge consensus to survive and be a success on their own terms. There are so many ways now for the artist to reach their potential audience that they have to concern themselves less with pleasing everybody and more with pleasing themselves and knowing if they do that, there’s enough people out there that will have the same feelings about art and life that they do, to support them. So hopefully that is gonna create greater freedom for the artist, rather than having to try to pander or make something that is very safe and they can be sure a lot of people will like. They can create something more true. It’s hard to get a million people to give you a dollar. But maybe it’s less hard to get ten thousand people to give you a hundred dollars. I don’t know how to do that, either. But that seems more possible now, than in the olden days of the underground, when you had to do a lot more work to seek this stuff out. Now this stuff is so much more accessible, hopefully it’ll be easier for it to reach the people that really need it.
STEREOGUM: You’ve threatened on a few occasions that Titus might not be around much longer. The Most Lamentable Tragedy was this massive thing you put so much of yourself into, and as a release in 2015 it was a bit of a gamble. Correct me if you think differently, but I feel like it paid off. Are you feeling like there might be a future for Titus beyond what you’ve implied in the past?
STICKLES: I hope so. I don’t know what I would do otherwise. But people are very fickle nowadays. We didn’t achieve a huge consensus, like I said. But that’s less important nowadays, for an artist on our level. It’s just a long game that we’re playing. There’s not much we can do as a rock ‘n’ roll band, with the kind of interests we got, to like, suddenly leap up to some new plateau and now life is suddenly super easy.
STEREOGUM: Are you open to making more music as Titus?
STICKLES: Yeah, I hope so. I hope that we will. We’re picking up more people, we’re picking up more supporters as we go along. It’s a long game, it’s a slow process. It’d be nice to level up to some new plateau. That’s a little bit of a fantasy. We’ll see next year, you know? We had a little blip, there, where people who maybe previously hadn’t been interested in us were interested for a moment, but that moment is now over.
STEREOGUM: What moment are you referring to?
STICKLES: Just when we were in the papers because we had a new record and stuff. It’s more newsworthy. It’s not as newsworthy to say, “Rock ‘n’ roll band continues to plug away and do what they do.” That’s not terribly interesting to anybody.
STEREOGUM: I’ve had this conversation with friends recently about My Morning Jacket. They’re a band that has a very devout fanbase, sells out shows, gets coverage, but not like, deep, analytical coverage. They’re kind of outside the blog world’s narrative. That could be more preferable, in some ways.
STICKLES: That would be nice. That’s a little more what I’m interested in. They don’t have to worry about making the news anymore.
STEREOGUM: You think you still have to? |
There’s been some grumbling—among fans and even a few critics—that this season of Mad Men is boring. But that argument’s only valid if all you know of the show is its salaciousness. If the only reason you tune in every week is to see characters boozing, smoking, getting into explosive arguments and sleeping with people they shouldn’t be sleeping with, then sure, this season’s not going to impress you yet. Personal growth isn’t exactly flashy. But if you’re here for the character development, for the story—not just of Don Draper, but of everyone else within his orbit—that has become more and more compelling over the course of six-plus seasons, you’ve likely been floored a few times this year already. It’s tempting to write off a sexless Don Draper as dull, but if you do the work and stick with the series, reading it as closely as Matt Weiner and the writers intend it to be read, there’s no way you can possibly be doing anything but holding your breath and bracing for that fire we’ve been promised.
Because although it’s just a slow burn right now, it’s there, whether you notice it or not. And Weiner and company want to make sure we do. This week’s episode was easily the most heavy-handed in the metaphor department, but for some reason—perhaps because the show got a little meta and had a character (who later turned out to be a bit of a metaphor himself) call out said symbolism—none of it felt trite, even though it’s a lesson that goes all the way back to side one, track one of the Bible. It was a computer that served as the catalyst for all the talk of technology versus humanity, stargazing versus terrestrial life, but the only kind of Apple that really mattered this week was of the forbidden fruit variety.
An exasperated Don points it out to us, throwing up his hands and telling Bert Cooper that “the apple is right there!” when Cooper refuses to allow him to pursue Lease Tech, the computer installation company the friendly, seemingly harmless Lloyd works for. Don, as we might’ve guessed, hasn’t been dealing with the terms of his rehiring very well, and when Peggy gets a raise from Lou Avery and orders to put Don on her Burger Chef team, he throws a little tantrum, tossing his typewriter at a window, playing solitaire instead of attending the meeting Peggy called and drinking hidden booze out of a pop can while being haunted by Lane’s old Mets pennant. Eventually he decides to play hooky and drunkenly gives Freddy Rumsen a call, insisting the two go to the Mets game. He also bumps into Lloyd, the computer tech, and now that he’s got a good buzz on, he’s convinced that Lloyd’s actually the devil, that serpent in the garden whispering to us about how great that apple probably tastes. “You talk like a friend, but you’re not,” he says. “You go by many names, but I know who you are.” Later Don blacks out, and in the morning a stern Freddy tells him he should quit drinking. Tough Love Freddy tells Don to stop whining about Peggy and his demotion and just “do the work” to get himself together and earn his old position back.
It’s a concept alluded to earlier in the episode by Lloyd/Satan, when he tries to explain the paranoia that often gets projected onto new technology by people and reminds Don that computers were built by people, people who worked hard to build a machine that would push society forward. Don remarks that the men who built the IBM 360 probably didn’t do much stargazing, and Lloyd responds with a snappy one-liner about how they’ll be the ones to take us to the moon.
That’s the thing, though. You can reach for the stars (and the moon), but you’ve got to be prepared to do the work to get there. The computer’s not some miracle machine dropped into our laps like manna; it’s the result of years of human toiling. You want the moon, you’ve gotta do the work. Don’s not the only one struggling to wrap his mind around this concept this week. Roger’s forced to take a look at himself when his daughter Margaret runs away and joins a hippie commune, abandoning her son and her husband. He and Mona go to retrieve her, and Mona leaves after Margaret makes a particularly cruel remark about not having to lock herself in the bathroom with a bottle of gin—leaving Roger alone with his daughter and a bunch of hippies. At first he plays along, helping prepare the home-grown vegetables for dinner and trying to wrap his mind around their electricity-free set-up (although, as he points out, they have a truck). After all, this is a guy who has taken a pretty strong liking to dropping acid and having hotel-room orgies with young hippies these past few years. He gets it—kind of.
After spending the evening enjoying their whole back-to-nature routine, Roger and Margaret gaze up at the stars and the moon, bonding over the night sky’s beauty, with Roger remarking that “every little boy wants to be an astronaut.” But then Margaret sneaks off in the middle of the night, probably to take part in some orgy her dad wasn’t invited to, and the next morning they’re thrust back to earth. An angry Roger insists that Margaret come home and be a mother to her son, and when she refuses, he tries to physically remove her, telling her “It’s time to leave Shangri-La.” The “paradise lost” metaphor becomes painfully clear when they wind up literally rolling around in the mud. Roger tries to tell his daughter that her son needs her, but she throws that back in his face by bringing up what an awful father he was to her. He leaves empty-handed, but at least it seems like he’s learned that to be a good parent you do have to do the work. Maybe he’ll cancel the rest of his hippie sex parties and try the whole parenting thing again with his son Kevin?
Roger and Don seem to have both learned a few lessons this week, namely that the paradise they’ve been dreaming of for years—the moon they’ve been reaching for—isn’t attainable when you eat that apple and expect everything to still be handed to you. In fact, it doesn’t really exist at all. You’ve gotta do the work to get what you want, and sometimes that means toiling in the mud or doing unpleasant things to achieve that end-goal and get as close to Shangri-La as you can. By the episode’s end, Don seems to have taken Freddy’s words to heart, even passing on his usual morning danish, getting straight to the task at hand and promising Peggy he’ll have her 25 tags by noon. It’s another huge personal breakthrough for him, and if you find that boring, you’re just not doing the work.
Stray Observations:
—The end-credits music choices continue to be completely on-point. This week it was The Hollies’ “On a Carousel” (“Ridin’ along on a carousel, will I catch up to you?”) that perfectly captured Don’s journey. There’s the nod to his former greatness (that famous Kodak Carousel pitch) and the implication that he’d been riding that success for too long, and then there’s the idea that Don—the man so obsessed with forward motion, with never looking back—has actually just been spinning around in a circle, not actually getting anywhere. Will he actually ever catch up to Peggy, or has that ship sailed?
—There’s been a lot of speculation about how the show will handle the Manson murders, and the Sharon Tate/Megan theories have been floating around, but what if Margaret goes off and joins the Manson family?
—More scenes of Joan and Peggy drinking together, please.
—I love that Lane’s New York Mets pennant—that misguided symbol of Americana he put up in his office as a way to assimilate—is how he lives on. Especially because he chose the wrong team. He was trying to fit in with the Yankees.
—For those keeping track at home, we’ve got another fire reference, when Lloyd asks for a light: “It’s 1969, and you’re unable to make fire.”
— “She only had one job, and that was to find a husband. And she mucked it up.”
—There should be an office-wide ban on talking about suicide outside Lane’s old office. C’mon Harry, you’re really gonna say “guy’s trying to kill himself all show” while standing outside that place?
— “Let’s see them give that to Bob Benson.” Or, you know, let’s just see Bob Benson. Seriously.
—That also goes for Trudy. I’d love to see what she’s been up to, especially since we learned this week that her father had a heart attack. |
Evolution, the most popular online drug market since the Silk Road, has disappeared without warning. Users say $12 million in Bitcoin has also vanished. And it looks like a classic scam.
The darknet market, which sells guns, stolen goods, and counterfeits along with pretty much any drug you can think of, gained fans by loading more quickly and staying online more reliably than competitors like Agora and the various Silk Road clones. Its multi-signature escrow system was designed to prevent rip-offs, and the site was easy to browse. Evolution looked so polished and professional that people worried it was the FBI honeydicking its way to another drug bust.
Advertisement
It doesn't look like the FBI was involved in this disappearance, though. There's no takedown notice, no announcement about shutting down the internet's current king of illegal sales. Vendors and customers are furious—their money is gone, and a staff member is saying that the site's pseudonymous creators have taken the money and bounced.
For the past few days, delays have hobbled the site. Vendors and users haven't been able to withdraw their money. And now, Evolution is nowhere to be found when you search Tor, the dark web browser used to access it.
Advertisement
"Kimble" and "Verto" are Evolution's head honchos—like the Silk Road's erstwhile Dread Pirate Roberts, they run the show. As Evolution users scramble to figure out why the site is down, these creators are gaining a villainous reputation. One of Evolution's vendors announced the exit scam on Reddit, just days after hosting a glowing AMA talking about how much he liked the service:
I have admin access to see parts of the back end, the admins are preparing to exit scam with all the funds. Not a single withdrawal has gone through in almost a week. Automatic withdrawals has been disabled which is only doing on rare occasions I am so sorry, but Verto and Kimble have fucked us all. I have over $20,000 in escrow myself from sales. I can't fucking believe it, absolute scum. I am giving this warning to you all as soon as I possibly could of. Confronted Kimble and Verto about it, they confirmed it and they're doing it right now..
Advertisement
It'll be damn near impossible for vendors and buyers to get their money back if this is a true scam. They did, after all, put their money in the hands of people involved in running an illegal digital black market. So this is a bad day for anyone with a substantial chunk of change getting held by the service.
It's a great day for Agora, Evolution's main competitor. Without its more polished rival around, Agora is likely to see an influx of new customers.
Contact the author at [email protected].
Public PGP key
PGP fingerprint: FF8F 0D7A AB19 6D71 C967 9576 8C12 9478 EE07 10C |
Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Phoenix on Oct. 29. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)
President-elect Donald Trump sees fit to micromanage the economy with serial interventions even before entering office and to retain domestic and foreign holdings as he makes public policy decisions. Past senior Obama administration officials are quick to point out that Trump is setting new and troubling precedents both in his interventions and his ethical conflicts.
Let’s take the interventions first. Obama officials will tell you that the financial meltdown of 2008 created a sort of existential crisis for the economy that justified some extraordinary measures. Those in the outgoing George W. Bush administration thought so, too. That is why both administrations supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the auto bailout. However, these were sector-wide actions affecting millions of people. Moreover, the actions were subject to tight constraints Trump certainly hasn’t signed onto. Steven Rattner, who has responsibility for the car-industry bailout, recalled:
All of us – especially Tim Geithner and Larry Summers – hated the idea of the U.S. Government owning equity in these companies, let alone a majority interest in GM. But we ultimately concluded that it is better to get something for something than to get nothing for something. To mitigate the obvious risks, the Administration developed a set of principles for the “USG as shareholder” that would add strict limits on government involvement post-restructuring to the existing edict that we not ever meddle in day-to-day management decisions. Among the ideas that was explicitly rejected was putting any government employees or official representatives on these boards. This underscored the need to put in place capable independent boards of directors and strong chairmen. Once again, there was no political interference. Working with Secretary Geithner and Director Summers, we looked particularly for strong former CEO’s of significant companies and also wanted to have at least one leading private equity person on each board. I don’t believe I have seen even one criticism of the resulting choices.
Contrary to popular belief, Rattner wasn’t sitting in his office deciding which auto plants to close, which dealerships would go under or which car models to develop. By contrast, Trump is micromanaging the economy to an extent heretofore unimaginable.
When a much broader initiative was undertaken by the Obama administration conservatives screamed that it was industrial policy and would have devastating consequences. Now they are silent when Trump does something much worse, picking out individual companies and telling them how to run their operations.
On the issue of government ethics, no president has attempted to retain ownership of active, highly visible businesses, let alone have them managed through relatives, as he makes daily decisions that affect the value of his holdings.
The Post's Rosalind S. Helderman explores the details behind the announcement that President-elect Donald Trump sold all his shares in companies in June. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
For the ordinary federal employee, the issue is straightforward:
A criminal conflict of interest statute, 18 U.S.C. § 208 , prohibits an employee from participating personally and substantially, in an official capacity, in any “particular matter” that would have a direct and predictable effect on the employee’s own financial interests or on the financial interests of: the employee’s spouse or minor child; a general partner of a partnership in which the employee is a limited or general partner; an organization in which the employee serves as an officer, director, trustee, general partner, or employee; or a person with whom the employee is negotiating for or has an arrangement concerning prospective employment.”
That is why even employees with complicated holdings, business interests and foreign investments generally must eliminate the potential for conflicts before entering government or recuse themselves from matters even when there is the appearance of a conflict:
An executive branch-wide regulation recognizes that a reasonable person may believe that an employee’s impartiality can be influenced by interests other than the employee’s own or those that are imputed to the employee by the conflict of interest laws. Under 5 C.F.R. § 2635.502 , employees are required to consider whether their impartiality would be questioned whenever their involvement in a “particular matter involving specific parties” might affect certain personal or business relationships.
This is also why all sorts of wealthy people, sometimes with great difficulty that delays their entry into government, have had to divest themselves of their holdings. George W. Bush’s treasury secretary Henry Paulson Jr. had “quite a fortune–a roughly $700 million equity stake in Wall Street’s premier investment banking house.” He had to divest himself of that, although he and other Cabinet officials have been able make use of a tax provision that allows them to defer (not avoid) capital-gains taxes “on assets they have to sell to avoid a conflict of interest, as long as the proceeds are reinvested in government securities or a broad array of mutual funds approved by the government within 60 days.”
If employees want to use a blind trust, exacting rules apply. (“An employee may place most types of assets into a blind trust portfolio. These initial assets continue to pose a conflict of interest until they have been sold or reduced to a value of less than $1,000. Any new assets purchased by the independent trustee may not be disclosed to the employee and therefore will not present a conflict of interest. . . . An employee can place only readily marketable securities in the trust portfolio and the portfolio must meet certain diversification standards. The initial assets of a diversified trust are not considered to pose a conflict of interest because the portfolio is so diversified that an official action taken by the employee would not have a direct and predictable effect on the value of the portfolio.”)
Trump initially claimed none of the conflict-of-interest rules applied to him. He is technically right with regard to domestic holdings. However, now Trump seems to have recognized it is just “not appropriate” to be holding stocks when he is making decisions that would affect them. He is precisely right. He claims to have sold his stock — although there is no documentation to that effect, and he refuses to release his tax returns. But wait. There is absolutely no difference between his stock portfolio and his active businesses; in fact, the conflict is much worse and more obvious when we are talking about an international family business. When a president runs on a platform of “draining the swamp,” he cannot very well do less than that required for every person who works for him.
Finally, there is the emoluments clause problem which, if he were president today, he’d be violating each and every day. As ethics gurus Norman L. Eisen and Richard W. Painter wrote:
We are in danger of having a president who could violate it if he does not disentangle his business operations from foreign governments. The potential violations also include the benefits conferred on Trump in connection with outstanding loans from the Bank of China, which is controlled by the Chinese government, as well as any investment or involvement of sovereign wealth funds in his many projects around the globe, and foreign governments putting up their officials or diplomats at Trump hotels or even those governments buying apartments in his buildings—at times likely vying for the most expensive suites. All of this will become unconstitutional come January 20.
So what will Trump do? More important, we are anxious to find out what congressional Republicans and the electors set to meet Dec. 19 decide to do. |
We are currently on a project to add categories to all of our pages. Any help would be much appreciated. Edit
Try to use the categories already in use, please. Edit
The universe is a big place and who knows what's out there. Luckily we have an intergalactic database to let you know about those few things we're in contact with.
- Brought to you by the Mega Library of Thronduil Prime.
Welcome to the BodegaVerse Wiki Edit
This is the subsection of Mega Library Infinity Archives covering the extraordinary life of the Bodega character as conceived by galactically famous short story author and video gaming personality, Pyrion Flax.
Please feel free to add to the database in the style of Bodega, when writing; though, please use these pages for specified content.
Characters - Bodega , Magesta , Dildonian person , Herk burk , Main layout for important characters
Planets - tartania Main layout for planets
Bodega is an intergalactic gunslinger drinking scoffee and takin' down the federation with his pals in the Edit
Provided you are using a computer with a 4D chipset, you have nothing to fear when entering incorrect data, as incorrect wiki text will stay hidden until such time as it is revealed in a Bodega episode. Unfortunately those with a chipset limited to one, two, or three dimensions will have to slog through all of the Uncanonical MorkFlarve that useless wiki editors have placed within the pages of this sorry database. Apoligies Edit
The Videos Edit
This is where all our source material comes from.
Bodega: The Fundamentals Edit
Bodega- Part Uno --1- Bodega- Part Dos --2- Bodega- Part Tres --3- Bodega- Part Cuatro --4- Bodega- Part Cinco --5- Bodega- Part Seis --6- Bodega- Part Siete --7- Bodega- Part Ocho --8-
Forming the B.S.R.F.O.P.H.K. Edit
Bodega- Part Nueve --9- Bodega- Part Diez --10- Bodega- Part Once --11- Bodega- Part Doce --12- Bodega- Part Trece --13- Bodega- Part Catorce --14-
Bodega and Blatchman Edit
Bodega- Part Quince --15- Bodega- Part Dieciséis --16- Bodega- Part Diecisiete --17-
B.S.R.F.O.P.H.K. Mission Uno Edit |
In 2011, large German companies managed to avert a mandatory system to increase the proportion of women in top management, instead opting for a voluntary scheme. But that may be about to change. The European Union is piling pressure onto companies and governments, threatening a legally binding quota if companies fail to elevate more women to the higher ranks of business.
European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding is even considering pan-European legislation. "I'm not a fan of quotas. But I do like the results they achieve," Reding told Monday's edition of the German daily Die Welt.
By summer, she wants to make concrete proposals for an EU-wide legal structure. Her remarks follow a lackluster response to her voluntary system, whereby firms pledged to commit to a quota of 30 percent by 2015 and 40 percent by 2020. "Only 24 companies signed up and there was not a single German company among them," said Reding.
Since late 2010, the proportion of women in management and supervisory boards of listed companies in Europe has risen from 12 to 14 percent. Reding said the case of France indicated the effectiveness of a mandatory scheme. Since 2011, French law secures female representation in the top echelons of business and now the proportion of women has increased from 12 to 22 percent. "Where there are laws, there is progress," Reding said.
Given a lack of improvement elsewhere in Europe, she predicted that, at the current pace of change, most EU countries will take 40 years until women fill 40 percent of top jobs.
'Ready for Anything'
Statistics released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Monday would seem to provide confirmation of Reding's concerns. According tothe group's numbers, no other European country has as large a discrepancy between the salaries of men and women as Germany. Women working full time earn an average of 21.6 percent less than their male counterparts, according to the OECD. The average for the 34 industrialized countries that belong to the OECD is 16 percent. The new data also notes that Germany is near the bottom when it comes to women in the boardroom.
Reding, who as justice commissioner is also responsible for equality, said there were signs that EU citizens wanted action to achieve gender equality in the workplace. "Citizens want the quota, the polls show us that," said Reding.
According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, three out of four Europeans say they are in favor of laws to ensure that women with equal qualifications get the same access to top jobs as men.
The commissioner has embarked on a public consultation which will last until the end of May, which she said would be closely monitored. "If people say loud and clear: We do not want this to continue -- then we must do something," she said. "I'm ready for anything. The Commission has looked seriously at this important social issue. Now it's others' turn. I give governments and businesses until the summer."
But she is already facing resistance. A binding quota is "a mistake", Mervyn Davies told The Financial Times. Last year, Davies, former British trade minister, penned a report on the proportion of women in British business, calling for boardrooms of major companies to have a quota of at least 25 percent by 2015.
Davies argues against an obligatory quota, instead backing voluntary enforcement of representation as "the right way" to tackle the problem. A new study shows that the proportion of women in the boardrooms of major British companies increased from 12.5 to nearly 15 percent within a year.
Promoting Women in Germany
There is also significant German resistance to a legally binding quota. Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen, from Merkel's Christian Democratic Party, has backed legislation on women's representation within companies. Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) and Family Minister Kristina Schröder (CDU), however, have rejected such a path. "It's a shame if such an important question gets caught up in party political debate," Reding said, referring to Germany. "I wish there was more courage to find new solutions. In Germany, it is a question of demographics: there are already too few apprentices."
Despite the criticism, a study by management consultancy firm McKinsey points to some progress in women's role within business in Germany. It found about 80 percent of German companies are investing in the promotion of women and looking at how to make work more compatible with family life.
Germany, where women make up just 3 percent of boardroom professionals, lags behind most of its European neighbors. But the McKinsey report hinted that change may be on the way, saying that many new policies have been introduced since 2010. Women, meanwhile, account for at least 16 percent of last year's new board members of DAX-listed companies.
The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), however, warned of a prevalent "male mono-culture" among German companies. In a recent report it said there was little sign of change in Germany's boardrooms. In 2011, the proportion of women in executive posts in Germany's 200 largest companies remained at 3 percent, no improvement on a year earlier. |
These days one-fourth of our life is spent online. The internet knows more about us than our parents. Our passwords, spouse’s names, flings, bank details and everything that is to be known is known (or, rather stored) online. These online data storage has made our life convenient in many ways, but have we ever stopped for a beat and wondered what if these crucial data were easily accessible by an individual or a group of individuals with not so good intent? What if the high and mighty government itself is stalking us? Ah! That’s unlikely to happen, right? Like these sites state a lot of privacy mumbo-jumbo in fine lines. Well, that is there, but how true are these words? Who tests the credibility of these legal argots? Who makes sure that these details remain the way they are meant to be- that is a secret?
Electronic Frontier Foundation has been known for defending the virtual rights of a common man in the virtual world for quite some time now. Let’s call them the EFF for convenience. The EFF has yet again played its role as a superhero and has published a report which unveils the facade of select sites and their so called privacy report in which we’ve had unwavering trust since the beginning of times. But when our heart is ready to take a fall, a ray of hope pierces this gloomy time and the name of sites which have been true to their words throughout rises within the peripheral of our vision.
Due to the ongoing tussle between the Government and the virtual residents in the United States of America this report was conceived. But, this doesn’t entail that this is a common place occurrence in the States and we have nothing to worry about in the far east. This is a common place occurrence in each and every nation and it is time to borrow a leaf from the book of the United States of America and prepare ourselves against the unnecessarily overt interference in our virtual lives by our Government.
So, EFF warded off the unwanted interference of Government in the US? I wish that were the case, but all it did was shed some light on companies and their relation with the Government. Knowing which the people can be more careful with their details which they are ready to share online at the sight of an old trustworthy (so-called) site!
Base on the following criteria 26 companies and their sites were graded. These companies included the likes of Yahoo, Facebook, SnapChat, myspace, Linkedin, Google, Foursquare and many more. The criteria were-
Requires a warrant for content.
Tell users about Government data request.
Publishes transparency report.
Publishes Law enforcement guidelines.
Fights for user privacy rights in courts.
Fights for user privacy rights in Congress.
And the results were shocking! Only 9 of 26 received a tick in each of the above mentioned criterion. These honest sites were-
Yahoo
Twitter
Sonic.net
Microsoft
Google
Facebook
Dropbox
Credo mobile
Apple
And the runner-ups were-
Internet Archive
Linkedin
Pinterest
Spideroak
Tumblr.
Wickr
WordPress
And the losers were –
Adobe,
amazon.com,
at&t,
Comcast,
foursquare,
Lookout,
myspace,
snapchat,
Verizon,
Wikimedia
Winners like Apple and Yahoo were at the bottom of this list a few years ago. It seems they were the only one who understood the importance of being trustworthy and worked their way to the top of the list.
As for us, let’s be on guards and share prudently! |
The province is receiving pushback after cutting budgets for libraries across the province.
Provincial funding for Saskatoon and Regina libraries were completely cut in the budget, and that's a $1.3-million reduction. Regional libraries had their funding cut by $3.5-million.
There will be read-in events across the province to show support for local libraries. Drop Everything and Read will take place at noon on April 7. For the events, members of the public are encouraged to go their MLA's office and read for 15 minutes to demonstrate support for the province's libraries.
During the March 30 question period, Education Minister Don Morgan outlined the government's reasons behind cutting library budgets. A library branch manager is speaking out to "debunk" some of the minister's arguments for cutting library budgets.
With respect, the provincial government's actions have made it patently clear it has no interest in working with public libraries. - James Richards
Co-location option
Morgan said more than 90 rural communities in Saskatchewan have two libraries — one at the community centre and one at the school.
"There are close to 300 rural public library branches in Saskatchewan," said James Richards, the regional branch manager of Weyburn's Southeast Regional Library, in an e-mail.
"What of the other 200 plus communities that are not lucky enough to have both a public and a school library?"
Morgan suggested the province look at co-location as an option for these areas where there is both a municipal library and a school library. But Richards suggests that co-locating libraries will actually cost more money than it saves.
"Additional administration, supervision, staff training, integration of the school and public collections and integrated policy work are just some of the ongoing time and finance consuming hurdles to overcome during an integration project," said Richards.
Regional libraries saw their budgets slashed by 58%. (CBC News)
Richards also adds that there would be inherent complications with having a public library exist at a school.
"As a parent, I would feel deeply uneasy about members of the public entering my child's school on their way to the co-located library," said Richards.
"I would assume principals would also share this apprehension that 'just anyone' could be coming and going from school grounds, strolling the hallways, and accessing the washrooms without their knowledge."
He also said certain materials you would expect to find in a public library would not be suitable for a school library.
Online resources
Morgan said the number of items checked out of all libraries has dropped by 1.6 million items since 2007, and the number of library cards has dropped by 175,000.
"Physical item checkouts have dropped significantly over the past 10 years. However, e-resources like e-books and Hoopla are circulating quite heavily," said Richards.
Richards said that checkout statistics of physical items are not all that counts when evaluating a library. He said patrons make use of free Wi-Fi, and programming attendance has increased.
Morgan also said that the province wants to work with libraries to adjust how they can deliver services within the new funding levels.
"With respect, the provincial government's actions have made it patently clear it has no interest in working with public libraries," said Richards.
"If it did, the government would have consulted with public library directors before slashing 58% of their budget in order to give them time to plan for the cuts." |
A version of this post appeared on The Week.
Wow such grammar. So teach.
Facebook.com/VeryDoge
The doge meme: a shiba inu with artistically scattered, multicolored comic sans that has its own bizarre sort of grammaticality. But since it arose on the internet, it managed to get popular without anyone ever coming to a consensus on how to pronounce the word doge out loud.
The best we have at the moment is this Slate poll that is entirely inconclusive: around 30 percent each for dohj and dogue (like “vogue”), plus around 10 percent each for doggie, dog-eh, and dough-geh, and 20 percent for “wow. such confused.” If pronunciations of doge were parties in a parliamentary democracy, we’d be in talks to form a really big-tent coalition government right now.
So I can’t tell you the “right” way to pronounce doge, because we haven’t collectively figured that out yet. But I can explain why everyone is confused.
Let’s start with how we normally figure out how to pronounce new words that arise from textual sources. Consider blog. It’s a word that started online, but there’s never been any great controversy about how to say it. Why is that?
Normally, we figure out how to pronounce new words entering the language based on analogy with existing words. For blog, it was especially easy because everyone knew that it was a shortening of web log. So you take the pronunciation of log and just add a /b/ sound at the beginning. Easy.
Moreover, blog looked a lot like a lot of other relatively common English words which all rhyme with each other, such as dog and flog and eggnog and so on. Any alternative pronunciations for blog never stood a chance.
So, what happens if we try to pronounce doge by analogy with existing English words that end in -oge? I’ll give you a moment to think of some.
Are you stumped? It’s okay, because there aren’t many, and that’s precisely our problem. I looked up common English words ending in -oge on OneLook, which is a lovely resource that lets you do wildcard searches across a lot of reference works ranging from Merriam-Webster to Wiktionary. Here’s the entire list of results:
1. anagoge
2. apagoge
3. doge
4. epagoge
5. gamboge
6. horologe
7. isagoge
8. loge
9. paragoge
10. scrooge
11. stooge
That’s 11 words, and one of them is doge itself. Two of them, the words scrooge and stooge, are obviously not going to be helpful because “oo” signals an entirely different vowel.
So we’re left with eight possible words to use as analogies: anagoge, apagoge, epagoge, gamboge, horologe, isagoge, loge, and paragoge. I’m a pretty well-read person, and I hadn’t heard of any of these words (these all fit OneLook’s definition of “common,” so you should see what its obscure words look like). Based on my knowledge of French, I correctly guessed that horologe was related to clocks, but that doesn’t get me any closer to knowing how to pronounce it in English.
We could go look up these eight uncommon words and how to say them, but that’s not going to help the average person who’s trying to figure out the pronunciation of doge by analogy, so let’s see what other words we could reason from instead.
There are two types of words that might be useful here: words ending in -ge, such as camouflage or beverage, and words ending in -o_e, where the blank is some other consonant, such as code or gone. You might notice a problem with these examples: For every possible analogy, there are several different but completely reasonable pronunciations. And matters aren’t helped by the multiple pronunciations for words ending in -ogue, such as vogue or catalogue, and -ouge, such as rouge and gouge.
Perhaps in a year or two the dust will have settled and we’ll have arrived at some sort of consensus on how to say this tricksy little word. But for the moment, my Official Linguist Pronunciation Advice on the word doge is “You know that meme? With the shiba inus? Doh-something? Yeah, that one.” How do you pronounce it?
More from The Week:
Aunt, adult, pajamas: Why can’t we agree how to pronounce common words?
The evolution of Facebook’s pronoun problem
What’s the correct pronunciation of February? |
Summer in Toronto gets hot, and at times like these the news feels hot too: death and destruction in Nice and Syria, one of the two major parties in the most powerful country in the world conducting a pseudo-authoritarian rage-a-thon in Cleveland, a coup attempt in Turkey. A movie star chased off Twitter by sexist and racist harassment. A man dead after a street fight. Too many subway cars without air-conditioning. A newspaper columnist in Toronto opens his email inbox to see a response to a piece about pedestrian safety: “I hope you fall into an open sewer . . . ”
Parks help define Toronto as a place people want to live in. ( Carlos Osorio / Toronto Star file photo )
Closes inbox. Too hot. There’s a small park on the water just a block away from the Star office, next to the Ferry Docks. Nothing fancy: some grass, some trees, the water’s edge. But I take a lunch and a cold drink there some days and sit at the foot of a tree in the shade, watch the sailboats drift pass, the ferry boats chug by, the planes zoom in low for landing. A tiny sparrow inches right up onto my foot, cocks its head this way and that, begging for a crust of bread. The waves come in and the clouds shift shapes in the great blue sky over the trees of the islands. The heat is still there, in the world and at the office and radiating out of the concrete, but the park reminds you that life can still be pretty cool, too.
Article Continued Below
Throughout my life I have, almost without thinking about it, escaped worry in parks across the city, large and small. The tiny postage stamp of a playground on Boulton Ave. that was a swinging and sliding pit stop between the work of school and the chores of home. Bluffer's Park at the foot of Brimley, just a wander away from the prying eyes of teachers and the incessant drama of teenage life at my high school — a place where the natural majesty of the white earth rising in peaks and cliffs takes your breath away. The sculpted, discrete gardens of Yorkville Park near Bloor and Bay, where I’d escape from the crushing minute-to-minute deadlines of life as a broke short-order cook to ponder the giant rock shipped in from up north and embedded in the ground. I’ve been thinking about the importance of these places in the city, after hearing of the plan, championed by Councillor Joe Cressy, to buy or expropriate a parking lot on Richmond near John to build a new public park downtown, in the condo and entertainment district that’s sprung up over the past decade or two. It’s an expensive proposition; land in the area is worth tens of millions of dollars. This news comes after last year’s big reveal of a massive private donation to design and build a new public park under the Gardiner Expressway down in condoland — a particularly barren stretch of urban space surrounded by people’s homes and workplaces. There are other, hotter priorities in the city — poverty, violence, transit service, gridlock. The money for the Richmond plan comes from a fund of developer fees specifically set aside for parkland, but it can be easy to consider the idea a little frivolous, or at least low-priority. But I remember when Corktown Common opened a few years ago, how stunned everyone was by its magnificence in an area of the city that had been barren. I remember how executives from Waterfront Toronto, who had built it, told me that it was a key attraction drawing builders and residents to a new neighbourhood that is now taking shape. I remember on a family vacation to New York City last year, spending almost half our time in various parks and playgrounds that turned out to be every bit as memorable as the museums and skyscrapers.
I remember talking to Mike Labbé, president of Options for Homes, who builds condominiums in Toronto specifically to be affordable to working-class families. He told me that it was essential for him to build them in places with fantastic local amenities and, especially, parks, because without backyards people would need ready use of public spaces to make their homes livable. They help define the city as a place you can live in. A place you want to live in. In the heat of the summer, this week, you could go to parks around the city and see Little League baseball championships, community cookouts, fishers and gardeners and runners, sunbathers laying about, hipsters sitting around, actors working scenes, Pokémon players GO-ing, classical musicians performing. Or you could just lean against a tree, eat your lunch, and watch the clouds roll past.
Article Continued Below
It’s still hot. Bring sunscreen, and wear a hat. But I recommend maybe leaving the news behind, just for a while, just to cool off for a few moments. Edward Keenan writes on city issues [email protected] . Follow: @thekeenanwire
Read more about: |
Six years later, publisher Electronic Arts shocked those fans by announcing Mirror's Edge Catalyst , a "reimagining"/reboot of the series starring Faith in an open world. Eight years later, it's finally here. And while DICE hasn't quite managed to overcome all of the problems that Mirror's Edge 's head-down charge forward often collided with, it turns out an open world is a pretty good space to allow the series to grow.
It was a deeply divisive game, one that arguably served better as a proof of concept for cool ideas than as something for the masses, full of serious flaws that often dragged it down. It also had fierce defenders, and though they were unable to make Mirror's Edge anything more than a middling sales disappointment, they kept hope alive that maybe, someday, developer DICE would be able to step away from the house it built with the Battlefield series to revisit Faith Connor's parkour-driven adventure.
That isn't really why I signed up, though. Catalyst's setting is a more successful character than most of its human players, and its visual language remains stark and brightly colorful in direct contradiction of every other triple-A game out there. But it's the play that drew me into the original game, and it's here where Mirror's Edge Catalyst has the most to say.
The parkour gameplay from the original game makes a return mostly unaltered in form and spirit, though it does feel blessedly smoother and marginally more forgiving in Catalyst. The big change is one of venue. Where Mirror's Edge was a linear game, a set of levels to go through accompanied by some time trials, Catalyst is, ostensibly, a world. The City of Glass is a place where Faith is searching both for answers and a way to pay her old debts, and she can take jobs and side missions to do them both.
This is a great conceit for Faith as a gray-market messenger operating outside of the corporate-sanctioned laws of her world, and it opens up Mirror's Edge Catalyst in a way that the original game could never manage with its more finite spaces. In Mirror's Edge, you might spend 20 or even 30 seconds at a clip free-running along walls and across gaps. In Catalyst, you'll spend multiple minutes getting to missions and completing side activities, and even levels that are separated from the main game world are considerably larger than anything in the original.
This allows for a lot more of what made Mirror's Edge great in the first place, though it's not without some strange concessions to generic, open-world game design ideas that trip things up here and there. For example, some incredibly important basic parkour abilities are locked behind an upgrade tree — namely, the 180-degree turn, an ability that is literally required to complete the game, as well as the double wall-run, which, while not required, is profoundly helpful.
Once you have those things, Catalyst does very well at providing a world full of environments and objects to style off of. It's a game whose best reward is playing it, where fast travel is the road less taken, because getting there is not half the fun — it's most of it. When DICE's level design and mechanics are working, which is a pretty good amount of the time, Catalyst is a singular open-world experience. No one moves like Faith — there's a simultaneous flow and heft to everything she does.
This isn't new; it was all in place in Mirror's Edge (the first), but it is considerably refined here, and lots of small details make Faith feel more rooted in her environment. My favorite is rocketing across gaps, and, just before making a life-saving roll upon impact, seeing my shadow cast on the ground, growing larger. Largely due to much-improved tech, Faith is reflected in much of the world as she reacts in it. These visual cues signal a grace that serves as a stronger glue this time around, and more effectively made me feel like I was doing all of the amazing shit that Catalyst encourages you do.
That is, when it's not busy getting in its own way.
Take the time trial mechanics, for example. Mirror's Edge Catalyst offers a multiplayer-oriented ghost function that will allow your friends to see your runs and compete against them, which is great! It's a racing game conceit that translates to Catalyst perfectly. But it translates almost too well, because time trials support all the speed and traversal upgrades you can unlock as you progress — meaning that until you and your friends all have your skill trees maxed out, perfecting your times on these courses is pointless. It's like racing a crappy car against a tuned machine.
Elsewhere, Mirror's Edge Catalyst can display a strange lack of confidence in its best self, and the game buries some of its coolest elements. My favorite sections of the game are the grid node puzzles, which are the purest platforming brain teasers the game has to offer. In a stroke of genius, there are two levels of challenge in these sections. Basic traversal is one — Faith must find a way to a platform through multiple levels of the very complicated catwalks and geometry of a server room not designed for human egress. This is Mirror's Edge 101 stuff, but it never stopped feeling cool.
But there's a second, optional mechanic in play in grid node sections, as security lasers are strategically placed throughout each environment. Crossing a beam sets off a security alert, which is generally not a thing you should be doing, though you won't instantly fail for screwing up. If you're like me, however, you will feel pretty badass threading jumps and slides and wall-runs just so, like some kind of parkour cat burglar.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst can display a strange lack of confidence in its best self
Only one of these missions is critical to finishing the game. The rest are optional tasks that open up fast travel options throughout Glass. And I'll be honest: This seems like a colossal waste. I'd have much rather gone through more and more intricate future heists than have had to beat up another room full of security forces using combat mechanics that still aren't very fun.
The City of Glass' security forces are usually nonlethally armed. Security officers with guns have advanced weapons that can only be used by their owner. Now let that breath out, because DICE still falls prey to far too frequent combat encounters that try to squeeze more out of Catalyst's fighting system than it's really capable of. Faith's martial arts prowess is absent the fluidity and grace of her high-speed navigation through the environment, and it feels frustratingly clunky by comparison.
I didn't particularly enjoy the combat in Mirror's Edge Catalyst, but there is at least a sense of satisfaction to the crunch of a roundhouse kick connecting with the helmet of a K-Sec officer. I felt a grim kind of accomplishment at beating the more elite troops every now and again.
But K-Sec and fistfights seem to be Mirror's Edge Catalyst's crutch when it can't think of anything else to do. Too many levels end with boring physical encounters; the last quarter of the game especially suffers from this, falling prey to standard action game conventions. Enemies that served as bosses appear in regular groups of enemies, and then there are two heavies. "Screw it," I imagine someone said — "let's just literally have a slapstick moment where Faith comes around a corner, and there are 15 dudes having some kind of team-building meeting in an executive apartment, and Faith is waiting for an elevator anyway, so ..."
You can fill in the ellipses with your fists. This is actually a thing that happens. There are minor moments of wave-based enemy survival in Mirror's Edge Catalyst, which seems about as far from the spirit of the rest of the game as anything I can imagine, shy a rocket launcher boss fight.
But this is also set against the backdrop of platforming that increasingly feels like a cheap death trap, rather than the smart problems to be solved elsewhere. Or, as often, Mirror's Edge Catalyst relies too much on standing in just the right place and tapping the MAG rope button to zip up to where you need to be. The last quarter of the game is a bad ribbon to tie on top of an otherwise mostly cool spin on the ideas of the original. |
You may or may not realize that you have a Facebook email address. It's an @facebook.com address you can use to correspond with people on external email accounts from your Facebook inbox. Though it was called a "Gmail killer" when it first came out in 2010, it seems instead to have been D.O.A. As far as I can tell, no one really uses it. No one seems to want the Facebook inbox to be their main email account (with good reason). Facebook is trying to change that with a new little nudge. On your profile page, Facebook has taken the liberty of making your Facebook email your default contact address. (See right, and check your own profile.)
For me, this contact email was previously either my Forbes account or my Gmail account -- both of which I prefer to be emailed at. While I appreciate Facebook as a "White Pages" that allows me to reach out to just about anyone, I'm not a fan of the social network's screwy messaging system and the way it auto-sorts your email for you, putting emails from 'strangers' in a shadow inbox that's easy to miss. As a result, I barely check my Facebook inbox.
Whether you opted for one or not, you do have a Facebook email address. If you have created a Facebook vanity url (such as "https://www.facebook.com/kashmir.hill") then your FB email address is that vain phrase at the end plus @Facebook.com. If you haven't customized your Facebook url, then your email address consists of the random number Facebook has assigned to your profile -- which makes for a pretty lame email account. (See right.)
The presumptuous change to your contact preference was first noted by Gervase Markham on his blog. He objects strenuously to Facebook auto-creating email addresses for users and then trying to force those contacting them to use it. It's an interception of user communications under the light Markham shines on it:
In other words, Facebook silently inserted themselves into the path of formerly-direct unencrypted communications from people who want to email me. In other contexts, this is known as a Man In The Middle (MITM) attack. What on earth do they think they are playing at? via Facebook MITMed My Email | Hacking for Christ.
Security researcher Ashkan Soltani meanwhile calls it "slightly fishy to auto-replace your default email address with 'facebook.com' without any user consent." After all, it should be up to Facebook users to determine the information in their profile about how they want to be contacted, not Facebook. I hope they don't start taking other liberties with my profile page, changing my interests, hobbies, and "in a relationship with" to "Facebook. Only Facebook." I realize that there's research out there suggesting that oversharing on Facebook is as pleasurable as sex and eating delicious things, but I'm not that into it.
A Facebook spokesperson says the company has been updating Facebook addresses for users since April. Without specifying when exactly the company made this the default contract address for its users, the spokesperson says the site is "rolling out a new setting that gives people the choice to decide which addresses they want to show on their timelines."
"Ever since the launch of timeline, people have had the ability to control what posts they want to show or hide on their own timelines, and today we’re extending that to other information they post, starting with the Facebook address," says spokesperson Andrew Noyes via email.
This is another in a long line of 'nudges' Facebook gives users to try to get them to spend more time on the site, and to make it users' sole destination when they go online. Facebook would love to be the all-inclusive resort of the Web, replete with complimentary digital daiquiris (that you're forced to chug) upon entry. But this change is more a shove than a nudge, potentially circumventing emails you'd like to go elsewhere.
To assert your actual contact preference, you have to go to your profile page, hide the Facebook.com address from your Timeline, and replace it with another address, assuming you want to be contacted at all.
Read more:
What Employers Are Thinking When They Look At Your Facebook Page
Facebook Plans To End The 'No Kids Under 13' Farce
Here's A Completely Different Reason To Be Skeptical About Facebook |
A General Election candidate has contacted gardaí after she received a vile death threat via social media.
A General Election candidate has contacted gardaí after she received a vile death threat via social media.
Fine Gael councillor Josepha Madigan has expressed her upset after being labelled a “racist c***” over a leaflet she released in her constituency on the issue of traveller sites.
The leaflet sparked controversy after it claimed that building traveller accommodation on a site in her south Dublin constituency would be "a waste of valuable resources".
In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Ms Madigan stood by her newsletter and insisted she is not “anti-traveller”.
The councillor, who is running in the Dublin-Rathdown constituency alongside fomer minister Alan Shatter, has said the land should be sold for €7m or €8m instead of used for traveller accommodation.
But Ms Madigan has now contacted gardai after receive a death threat over her remarks.
The message, posted on her Facebook page, makes disturbing threats her and her family.
“Yer a racist c***, a heartless s***e piece of sub-human, and I hope that someone will take ye out, end your miserable existence, and if they can’t get to you, they’ll find members of your family.”
Ms Madigan told independent.ie on Monday that she is confident the issue will be dealt with accordingly by gardaí.
“I have reported the online abuse on my Councillor Facebook page to the gardai. I take any threat to my life and that of my family seriously. The Gardai have told me they will investigate the matter thoroughly. I am confident that they will,” Ms Madigan said.
Several female politicians, including Labour Party senators Lorraine Higgins and Mairia Cahill, have contacted gardai over threats they have received in recent months.
Online Editors |
ALSO:
Added ATL token transfer functionality
Real time charting on the main screen
Added animated slider for selected section to start
Performed app optimization
Added P2P rental demo (to be removed in next version)
Property gallery
Lodging filter
Property details view (including photos, description, location map, amenities, etc.)
Added ATLANT DEX (Decentralized Exchange) section mockup (to be removed in next version)
Separate Apps for Wallet, Rentals and Exchange (ATLANT DEX) Moving Forward
ATLANT also announced that it will be releasing separate apps for Rentals and Exchange functionality, and that these feature sets will be removed from the Wallet app, which will continue to be updated.
And so, the ATLANT community can look forward to having three apps to use, according to their personal requirements.
1. ATLANT Rentals
2. ATLANT Exchange
3. ATLANT Wallet
ABOUT ATLANT
ATLANT is a revolutionary global real estate platform enabling tokenization of real estate ownership and P2P rentals. The rapidly growing ATLANT team is both distributed and global, and the team’s platform is currently scheduled for launch in March 2018. ATLANT recently completed its successful ICO, raising over $7 million. For more detail, include the project white paper, roadmap, project demos, and detailed descriptions of how the platform will work, please visit https://atlant.io/
Press Contact: [email protected] |
The pressure to start making some improvements to the Illinois football program have led to head coach Lovie Smith making some staff changes. According to a report from FootballScoop.com, Illinois has let go of offensive coordinator Garrick McGee.
Source tells FootballScoop Lovie Smith has let offensive coordinator Garrick McGee gohttps://t.co/ppxU2DejiV — FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) December 23, 2017
McGee joined the coaching staff in 2016 after two seasons as an offensive coordinator at Louisville and two years as the head coach at UAB. The veteran coach was expected to help shape the Illinois offense as Smith took over the program, but those changes and improvements never took off with the Illini. Illinois had the nation’s 127th-ranked offense in 2017 and 123rd-ranked offense in 2016. The Illini averaged just 15.4 points per game this season and had the Big Ten’s worst rushing offense.
Per the report from Football Scoop, Illinois is also moving on from defensive backs coach Paul Williams.
The changes come just after the early signing period saw Illinois land the 12th-best class in the Big Ten, with a few more possible holes to plug by the time the next signing period comes around in February.
Follow @KevinOnCFB |
Theresa May has launched an attack on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for sending his son to a grammar school.
At Prime Minister's Questions she said: "Typical Labour, take the advantage and pull up the ladder behind you."
Mr Corbyn had accused the government of finding money for Mrs May's grammar school "vanity project" while cutting funding for other schools.
The Labour leader's son Ben went to a North London grammar school although Mr Corbyn was reported to be against it.
The issue is said to have led to the break-up of Mr Corbyn's second marriage in the late 1990s, with his then wife Claudia insisting that the child should not attend a local Islington comprehensive school.
During Wednesday's clashes in the Commons Mr Corbyn accused Mrs May of "betraying a generation of young people by cutting the funding for every child" with a new funding formula for schools in England.
"Children will have fewer teachers, larger classes, fewer subjects to choose from and all the Prime Minister can do is focus on her grammar school vanity project that can only ever benefit a few children."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jeremy Corbyn attacks schools 'vanity project'
He said the government found no extra money in the Budget for schools but offered £320m for Mrs May's grammar school project.
The prime minister said the funding formula would be fair to all but stressed that it was still at the consultation stage and had not been finalised.
She then rounded on Mr Corbyn and his front bench team, listing those who attended a private school or a grammar school.
"He sent his own child to a grammar school, he himself went to a grammar school," she added, pointing at Mr Corbyn and accusing him of hypocrisy.
Analysis by BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg
Theresa May's government has form on changing its mind when it's clear a policy is heading into a political quagmire. After all, it was only seven days ago the chancellor junked the planned tax rises for two million or so self-employed people.
Is there another U-turn in the offing? Parents and schools in different parts of the country are cross. Labour, some Tory backbenchers and local councillors around England are riled. And accusations are building again that the Tories would be breaking another manifesto commitment - their 2015 promise to protect the amount of cash that is spent on each pupil at school.
There is no question that school budgets are already under a lot of pressure, with many schools having to cut back because money is already short.
One of the tough things for the government is that they are hoping to push through a reform where there will be plenty of financial losers at a time when cash is already short, and falling in real terms. But are ministers ready to give up this time? No, or perhaps, not yet
Read why - in Laura's full blog
Mr Corbyn insisted he wanted a "decent, fair opportunity" for every child in every school.
Mrs May told him: "He says he wants opportunities for all children, he says he wants good school places for all children - then he should jolly well support the policies we're putting forward."
The prime minister went to a grammar school in Oxford, Wheatley Park, which became a comprehensive while she was there.
The government is planning to overturn a long-running ban on opening new grammar schools, which select pupils by ability, but says it has no plans to bring back the 11-plus exam.
Education Secretary Justine Greening is consulting on a new formula for schools in England, to address what it calls the "unfair, opaque and outdated" distribution of money.
It says more than half of schools will receive a cash boost and protections will be put in place to ensure no school loses more than 6% of their budget in real terms.
But it has sparked criticism from head teachers and governors, who have said it does not take account of rising costs and will leave some schools desperately short of cash. |
Mobileye says capability of system to do the driver’s job was overstated but Elon Musk’s company denies ever suggesting its cars could drive themselves
Mobileye broke ties with Tesla Motors because the Silicon Valley firm was “pushing the envelope in terms of safety” with the design of its Autopilot driver-assistance system, its chairman has said.
“It is not designed to cover all possible crash situations in a safe manner,” said Amnon Shashua, who is also chief technology officer at the Israel-based maker of collision detection and driver assistance systems.
“No matter how you spin it, [Autopilot] is not designed for that. It is a driver assistance system and not a driverless system.”
The safety of Autopilot, which helps drivers stay in lanes and steer on highways, was thrust into the public spotlight after a fatal crash involving a Tesla Model S driver using the new technology in May. Tesla said in a blogpost after the accident that “neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied”.
In China, a family is suing Tesla after the driver was killed when a Model S struck a road-sweeping truck.
Tesla announces update to self-driving system after fatality in May Read more
A Tesla spokeswoman said on Wednesday the company had never described Autopilot as an autonomous technology or self-driving car.
“Since the release of Autopilot we’ve continuously educated customers on the use of the features, reminding them that they’re responsible to keep their hands on the wheel and remain alert and present when using Autopilot,” the spokeswoman said. “Drivers must be prepared to take control at all times”
However, drivers using Autopilot have been known to take their hands off the wheel at highway speeds for several minutes at a time. YouTube videos proliferated soon after the system’s launch showing Tesla drivers going hands-free, prompting Musk to express concern about drivers doing “crazy things”.
On Sunday, Tesla said it would update Autopilot to make it more difficult for drivers to ignore warnings to keep hands on the wheel and other changes that Musk said would probably have prevented the fatality in May. Musk said on Sunday that as drivers became familiar with the system, they tended to ignore audible warnings to retake the wheel.
Still, Musk said, the revised system would allow a driver’s hands to be off the wheel for up to three minutes while following a car at highway speeds.
Shashua’s comments escalate an unusually public rift in an industry where suppliers and automakers rarely speak ill of each other in public. After Mobileye announced its break with Tesla in July in the wake of the fatality, Tesla said in a statement that Mobileye could not keep pace with Tesla’s product changes.
Tesla says it has 'no way of knowing' if autopilot was used in fatal Chinese crash Read more
“Our parting ways was inevitable,” Musk told a press conference in late July.
Shashua said the company had reservations about the mixed messages from Tesla about Autopilot – both boasting of its capabilities while cautioning that drivers needed to keep their hands on the wheel – especially after watching Tesla’s response to the Florida crash.
“Long term this is going to hurt the interests of the company and hurt the interests of an entire industry, if a company of our reputation will continue to be associated with this type of pushing the envelope in terms of safety,” he said.
The company counts as customers 27 automakers for its collision detection systems, which represent around 70% of the current market.
Tesla and Musk have also said the Florida death was the first known fatality involving a car operating on Autopilot in 130m miles of driving, and have compared that with the average of one death every 60m miles of driving by vehicles worldwide.
With Reuters |
The move comes after CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has tried for years to sell the company.
Jeffrey Katzenberg might have finally found a buyer for his DreamWorks Animation.
The Glendale animation company is in talks with Comcast to be sold for more than $3 billion, sources confirm to The Hollywood Reporter.
The potential acquisition would fold DWA into an entertainment conglomerate that controls key properties such as NBC, Telemundo, the USA network and Universal Studios. It also would be a strong fit for DWA, which has 19 animated television shows in production alongside blockbuster film franchises like Kung Fu Panda and Shrek.
The move would provide Katzenberg, CEO of the animation company, with a strong buyer after years of searching. In November, he held advanced talks with toymaker Hasbro about a possible tie-up after months earlier holding a round of discussions with Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank. The mogul also has courted everyone from 20th Century Fox to various Chinese companies.
DWA declined to comment on the news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, and a spokesperson for NBCUniversal/Comcast also declined to comment.
A $3 billion price tag would offer a decent premium for shareholders who have invested in a company presently worth $2.3 billion.
It was not clear if Katzenberg would maintain a role in running the studio he helped to form in 1997 under parent company DreamWorks SKG, which he had created five years earlier along with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. The animation studio was spun off as a separate company in 2004, with Katzenberg at the helm.
The studio currently has a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox that runs out at the end of 2017. So, any linkup with Comcast's Universal would be timely. The bid also comes several months after Spielberg's reinvigorated DreamWorks Studios — now called Amblin Partners — signed a sweeping distribution deal with Universal.
Buying DWA would give Universal two of Hollywood's leading animation studios, since it already owns Chris Meledandri's Illumination Entertainment, home of the blockbuster Minions franchise. With both DWA and Illumination in-house, Universal could challenge Disney's animation powerhouse combination of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.
On the flip side, by adding DWA to its fold, Universal would have two animation studios competing for coveted release slots in the crowded family-film market.
Katzenberg has steered the Glendale film studio through a number of financial challenges during the past few years as he has worked to diversify the company. He formed a joint venture in 2012 with Chinese companies to build a Shanghai-based studio, Oriental DreamWorks, which was involved in the company's latest animated movie, Kung Fu Panda 3, which has grossed $504 million worldwide since its Jan. 29 release.
In 2013, DWA also bought the digital content company Awesomeness TV and signed a multiyear deal to provide original content to Netflix.
Meanwhile, DWA has been in the process of transforming its film operations after a series of box-office disappointments, including Turbo and Penguins of Madagascar, weighed on its quarterly results. DWA responded by cutting 500 jobs last year, closed an animation studio in Redwood City, Calif., and put new executives in charge of the film studio.
Katzenberg — who received $13.5 million in compensation last year — has focused on turning around the company, which will release its next movie, Trolls, in November in hopes of launching a new franchise. He has been attempting to duplicate the success seen in earlier hits like the Shrek series. Shrek 2, DWA's top-grossing movie, collected $909 million worldwide when it was released in 2004.
Last year, the company reported a $53.9 million loss that was a big improvement from the $308 million deficit it registered in 2014.
However, the stock price has remained choppy during the past few years. Though it closed last year about 15 percent higher, it was still rebounding from a brutal 2014, when the stock cratered 37 percent. It closed on Tuesday down fractionally at $27.12, giving it a market value of $2.35 billion (though, factoring in debt, it is worth about $2.6 billion). |
Australians are seen as nothing like the caring, friendly and hospitable mob so often assumed, with an extensive new survey of recent migrants reporting high levels of ethnic or religious discrimination.
As the Abbott government prepares to strike down part of the racial discrimination law, the Monash University study has found many migrants regularly fear walking alone at night or becoming a victim of crime.
The survey, to be released on Monday, is the latest in a series ''mapping social cohesion'' funded by the Scanlon Foundation and the federal government, and the first to allow researchers to compare the experience of recent migrants to the wider Australian population.
It shows migrants settling over the past two decades often feel singled out because of their skin colour or faith - and report a disturbing lack of trust, both in other people and political institutions compared to the rest of the population. |
Vega helps you find and fix cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and more.
Vega is a free and open source web security scanner and web security testing platform to test the security of web applications. Vega can help you find and validate SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), inadvertently disclosed sensitive information, and other vulnerabilities. It is written in Java, GUI based, and runs on Linux, OS X, and Windows.
Vega can help you find vulnerabilities such as: reflected cross-site scripting, stored cross-site scripting, blind SQL injection, remote file include, shell injection, and others. Vega also probes for TLS / SSL security settings and identifies opportunities for improving the security of your TLS servers.
Vega includes an automated scanner for quick tests and an intercepting proxy for tactical inspection. The Vega scanner finds XSS (cross-site scripting), SQL injection, and other vulnerabilities. Vega can be extended using a powerful API in the language of the web: Javascript.
Vega was developed by Subgraph in Montreal.
Download |
“It is really a spectacular site,” says Katrin Monecke, a geoscientist at Wellesley College who was not involved in the study, but who has worked on on other tsunami deposits in Southeast Asia. With this cave discovery, scientists have a whole new place they can look for records of past tsunamis.
Horton knew the cave was special the moment he set foot inside in 2011. His colleague, Patrick Daly, an archeologist at Nanyang, had heard about it from locals. The first thing they noticed is that the opening of the cave did not directly face the ocean—a good sign because that positioning slows the movement of water, allowing sand brought by the tsunami to settle in the cave.
Then they stepped in the dark, second chamber. “The next thing you know we were faced with thousands of bats. We were just drenched in bat pee,” says Horton. These bats turned out to be key. Tsunamis had been inundating this cave for thousands of years, during which time bats were also pooping on the cave floor. A tsunami came. Bats pooped. Tsunami, bat poop, tsunami, bat poop, and so on. So when Horton and Daly dug into the sand in the cave, they saw these perfect layers of sand, separated by dark bands of bat poop. “It was a holy grail moment,” says Horton. “We knew we had found something very, very unique.”
Over several years, Horton and his colleagues dug six major trenches up to six-and-a-half feet deep. They carbon dated the animal shells and charcoal in the sand layers as well as the bat poop itself. They found, in total, records from at least 11 prehistoric tsunamis, separated by highly irregular intervals. In one case, there was a 2,100 year gap between tsunamis. But within the span of a single century around 1300 BCE, there were four tsunamis. “It shows just how far away we are from being able to predict when an earthquake will hit,” says Horton.
There was one odd hiccup in data. The cave was missing the last 2,900 years of records because, Horton and his colleagues think, the 2004 tsunami actually washed away those layers. The bottom of the sand layer from 2004 was all irregular, as if something (perhaps the 2004 tsunami) had ripped out uneven chunks of the sand bed. This made the team worry that other parts of the tsunami record might be missing. But they did not see the irregular border in any other time period.
For now, the cave is a single data point. The most puzzling and perhaps worrying part, according to Andy Moore, a geologist at Earlham College, is actually the streak of four tsunamis in a single century. “The clustered tsunamis is to me the biggest thing that needs to be clarified because that has real world impacts on how we handle the tsunami hazards on the coast of the Indian Ocean,” he says. How much should countries invest in infrastructure protecting against a potential tsunami? How important is a warning system? “The answer if the tsunami could happen once every few decades to a century, that’s a vastly different answer than [if it happens] every 500 years,” he says.
Horton and his colleagues are continuing to work in the cave. They hope that by looking at the thickness of the sand layers and the grain size of the sand, they might determine how big each of those tsunamis were. They’re also driving down the coastal highway, in search of more caves that can corroborate the records from this one. This highway is relatively new; it was built after the 2004 tsunami. |
It's a familiar scenario: you're walking through a field or house or area of some sort and are attacked by a Dalek. "How do I stop this evil menace?" you think to yourself and anyone else who might be reading your thoughts. Fear not, here are 49 can't-miss Dalek-killing strategies.
1. Lure it into a field of watches with a rock in the middle, causing it to form a reverse-watchmaker analogy against the existence of God, depressing it to the point of suicide.
2. Tell it that you'll let it take over the world if it gives you a penny. It will think you're joking at first, but be persistent. Keep repeating the offer, being more emphatic each time. Finally it will do whatever Daleks do that's the equivalent of shrugging and give you a penny. Immediately point at it and start laughing. It will self-destruct out of embarrassment.
3. Flush it down a giant toilet.
4. Ask it if it's heard of culture jamming. Take a Culture Club CD and jam it in its eye. Now it has.
5. Dress up as a 1950s housewife and throw dishes at it until it dies.
6. Create a compilation CD called "Rock Against Daleks" featuring the hottest artists of yesterday and today.
7. Feign romantic interest in it but then slowly drift away, sealing the entrances to your heart one by one until it becomes a broken skeleton of a person. Then hit it with a crowbar.
8. Convince a hungry bear that it's a trash can.
9. Find everything it enjoys in life and systematically remove these things from its life.
10. Use ventriloquism to make it say dickish things to other Daleks until they shoot it.
11. Get drunk with it at your sister's graduation party. When it says it's driving home, shrug and say "Okay, see you tomorrow."
12. Just as it's about to kill you through the windshield of your moving car, hit the brakes.
13. Unplug it.
14. Destroy it on a quantum level by making all its atoms spin in reverse.
15. Use it as a shuttlecock in a giant badminton game.
16. Drown it in a vat of pudding.
17. Send it to a futuristic theme park where nothing can go wrong. Except it does.
18. Perform the exact sequence of actions performed by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, except on a Dalek instead of Bill.
19. Find its secret lust and murder it in some ironic way based on that lust.
20. Roll it like a knapsack and flip it like a flapjack.
21. Challenge it to a knife fight - against itself.
22. Create a Dalek costume and commit a series of Dalek-themed crimes, forcing it to run from the law and eventually track you down to an abandoned warehouse that you've rigged with booby traps and explosions. Realize this plan is too elaborate and shoot it in the head.
23. Install Windows on it (submitted by LinuxFan409).
24. Start a beef between it and an ED-209. |
(Last Updated On: January 22, 2019)
Introduction
While doing my High-Performance Java Persistence training, I came to realize that it’s worth explaining how a relational database works, as otherwise, it is very difficult to grasp many transaction-related concepts like atomicity, durability, and checkpoints.
In this post, I’m going to give a high-level explanation of how a relational database works internally while also hinting some database-specific implementation details.
A picture is worth a thousand words
Data pages
Disk access is slow. On the other hand, the memory is orders of magnitude faster even than Solid-State Drives. For this reason, database vendors try to delay disk access as much as possible. Whether we are talking about tables or indexes, data is divided into pages of a certain size (e.g. 8 KB).
When it needs to read data (tables or indexes), a relational database will map the disk-based pages into memory buffers. When it needs to modify data, the relational database changes the in-memory pages. To synchronize the in-memory pages with the disk, a flush must occur (e.g. fsync).
The buffer pool where disk-based pages are stored is limited in size, hence it usually needs to store the data working set. Only if the entire data can fit into memory, the buffer pool could store the entire data set. However, if the overall data on disk is larger than the buffer pool size when a new page needs to be cached, the buffer pool will have to evict an old page to make room for the new ones.
Undo log
Because the in-memory changes can be accessed by multiple concurrent transactions, a Concurrency Control mechanism (e,g, 2PL or MVCC) must be employed so to ensure data integrity. Therefore, once a transaction has modified a table row, the uncommitted changes are applied to the in-memory structures while the previous data is temporarily stored in an undo log append-only structure.
While this structure is called *undo log* in Oracle and MySQL, in SQL Server, the transaction log plays this role. PostgreSQL does not have an undo log, but the same goal is achieved with a multi-version table structure since tables can store multiple versions of the same row. However, all these data structures are used to provide rolling back capability which is a mandatory requirement for Atomicity.
If the currently running transaction rolls back, the undo log will be used to reconstruct the in-memory pages as of the start of the transaction.
Redo log
Once a transaction commits, the in-memory changes must become persisted. However, that does not mean that every transaction commit will trigger an fsync. In fact, that would be very detrimental to application performance. However, from the ACID transaction properties, we know that a committed transaction must provide Durability, meaning that committed changes need to be persisted even if we unplug the database engine.
So, how does a relational database provide Durability without issuing an fsync on every transaction commit?
That’s where the redo log comes into play. The redo log is also an append-only disk-based structure that stores every change a given transaction has undergone. So, when a transaction commits, every data page change will be written to the redo log as well. Compared to flushing an invariable number of data pages, writing to the redo log is very fast since sequential disk access is way faster than Random access. Hence, it also allows transactions to be fast.
While this structure is called *redo log* in Oracle and MySQL, in SQL Server, the transaction log plays this role as well. PostgreSQL calls it Write-Ahead Log (WAL) instead.
But then, when are the in-memory changes flushed to the disk?
A relational database system uses checkpoints to synchronize the in-memory dirty pages with their disk-based counterparts. To avoid congesting the IO traffic, the synchronization is usually done in chunks during a larger period of time.
But, what happens if the relational database crashes before flushing all the dirty in-memory pages to the disk?
In case of a crash, upon startup, the database will use the redo log to reconstruct the disk-based data pages that were not synchronized since the last successful checkpoint.
If you enjoyed this article, I bet you are going to love my Book and Video Courses as well.
Conclusion
These design considerations were adopted to overcome the high latency of disk-based storages while still providing persistent storage guarantees. So, the undo log is needed to provide Atomicity (rolling back capabilities), while the redo log is needed to ensure disk-based pages (table and indexes) Durability.
Download free ebook sample
Share this: Tweet |
It's been a year since Grasshopper Manufacture's rock star founder Suda 51 was doing the rounds for Lollipop Chainsaw, a game whose tongue was stuck so firmly in its cheek it was in danger of poking through the other side. There was something absent there, though - a part of me wished that Suda was building a Japanese version of The Warriors (or even something that more closely resembled Koko Dai Panikku, the violent '70s Japanese high school outcast film Lollipop was inspired by) instead - and the end result fell well short of its outlandish potential. Lollipop Chainsaw lacked a certain something - it was missing a little of the style that's made Suda's name.
Killer is Dead looks like it'll deliver that and then some; this is a beautifully opaque portrait of striking visual expression. It may be the most stylised game Suda has yet embarked on - no small feat when considering what you can find when leafing through his back catalogue - and it's a pastiche of violence, post-effects and exploding colour. (Suda calls the look a "hyper-contrast shader," which he wants people to think of as the game's calling card.)
"I keep striving for something new that people have never seen. I don't want it to have a certain name, like a comic-like look or a type of formalism," Suda says about an approach seen before in Killer 7 and No More Heroes. "From a digital art perspective, I'm trying to capture something that's happening in real life, but not in the regular sense that people imagine - [I want] to describe it in a different way."
Killer is Dead finds a brilliant middle ground between Killer 7 and No More Heroes.
Killer is Dead is spread out like a television drama across a succession of episodes following executioner-by-trade Mondo Zappa. He's an amalgamation of Killer 7's cold-blooded Dan Smith and Flower, Sun and Rain's detective-like "searcher" Sumio Mondo, and in our brief demo he's just ascended to the top of a corporate tower where his mark is waiting for him.
There follows a boss battle between Mondo and the ghoulish Victor, a corpse who's sporting frilly Victorian garb and recording headphones, and who's drawn from the Suda 51 casting book of insane villains. Victor has the ability to steal sound from his victims and plans to use it to destroy the world - not that Mondo can hear anything the old corpse says until he puts on his own pair of solid gold cans.
When the battle proper starts, Victor sheds his weak form for a much more powerful one, sporting a weird cybernetic suit whose massive arms extend like limber sinew. Combat looks similar to No More Heroes in that Mondo's primary tool is a katana, though there's some gunplay thrown in for good measure by way of the executioner's transforming cybernetic arm.
Although the nuts and bolts gameplay seem relatively straightforward, the artistic flourishes throughout the fast-paced battle are mesmerising. Mondo's blade leaves an electric trail of neon blue as it bites through the air, while Victor's hulking arms bathe the screen in fuchsia tones. Whether by bullets or sharpened steel, anything designed to be cut to ribbons explodes in a puffy display spanning the chromatic spectrum.
And then there's the blood - we're well used to seeing geysers of it erupting in Suda's games, and in Killer is Dead it pops that much more amongst the violence. Mondo's got a punishing attack that momentarily slows down time, changing the colour palette of the screen as he swings his sword, and there's a Sin City-like effect as the screen is soaked by the plasma effects of Mondo's killing moves.
"We wanted to have this vivid colour - it used to be a lot more colourful and we actually toned it down," Suda says. "But I think we found a really good medium, there's a colourful stillness that's sort of monochromatic, but at the same time sort of not. That makes the visuals more unique."
With such an arresting visual signature, it's surprising that Killer is Dead runs on the Unreal engine. The high contrast, which often drowns half the screen in shadow, looks incredible in motion, especially for a current-gen title; out of all the comic book and cel-shaded art styles I've come across in video games, Killer is Dead may be the closest thing I've seen to actually mimicking the excess seen in a lot of high-production anime. (For its part, the colour and shading in Killer is Dead are highly reminiscent of anime classics Akira and Ninja Scroll.)
There's another, more curious part of Killer is Dead's make-up, too. Dubbed "Gigolo mode," it's a series of breather side-missions where Mondo can relax and show off his prowess with the ladies (at this point it's entirely unknown what exactly this design will entail.) Yet even the mere mention of a similar mode in a game made by a Western studio would likely face intense controversy and public media scrutiny. Are Japanese views on sexuality such a special case?
'There are a couple of ways I'm always striving to go in terms of a certain style, but I think it's too risky,' Suda says. 'Will people relate to it or even understand it?'
"I think Western publishers do similar things, like with GTA, going out to a strip club and other things," Suda says. "But I do understand that if a Western developer was to create something like [Gigolo mode] it could backfire."
Suda says that a sexual undercurrent just fits Killer is Dead.
"I don't really use [sex] as something full frontal, but sexuality is a good way to express a certain element in the game," he says. "Maybe sexuality in games shouldn't be as big a taboo, but at the same time I live in a country where sexuality is pretty crazy."
Suda's subsequent comparison of Mondo to 007 doesn't exactly warrant much surprise, even if Gigolo mode seems a strange choice for a game with such an outwardly aesthetic agenda. But Grasshopper's bizarre frontman says he still has a lot crazier ideas he'd love to make into games.
"I still have an indie mentality," he says after I ask him about returning to offbeat designs closer to past games like Flower, Sun and Rain or Michigan. "I always want to create something new just to be adventurous. And I am thinking about making a game where the main character doesn't have a weapon. It doesn't necessarily have to be an action game. I would like to try to come up with a game for that."
Whatever the case, Killer is Dead's artful presentation could be something special. And there's every reason to think whatever's up Suda's sleeve next - and we should all hope that it will be a weaponless project - will continue to surprise. |
Dec 28, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Cleveland Browns free safety Jim Leonhard (30) drives Baltimore Ravens tight end Owen Daniels (81) out of bounds during the second quarter at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Auburn Receiver Suspended: What is the Impact on the Outback Bowl?
Auburn Receiver Suspended: What is the Impact on the Outback Bowl? by Jim Oxley
Following a successful 10 year career in the National Football League, former Wisconsin Badger and current Cleveland Brown Jim Leonhard has decided to retire from football.
Leonhard announced his decision following the Browns season-ending game Sunday.
Join us in saluting @BadgerFootball‘s Jim Leonhard who today concludes a 10 year @nfl career. #badgers pic.twitter.com/4MlyhKtVFM — Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) December 28, 2014
Leonhard, a free safety who has played 142 games while a member of five different NFL squads over his career, surprised many with his staying power in the NFL. Badgers fans weren’t surprised, however, after Leonhard came to UW without much fanfare and became a Madison star.
A Ladysmith, Wisconsin native, Leonhard walked on at UW in 2001 following a strong high school career at Flambeau High School in Tony, Wisconsin. His humble beginnings turned into years of success, as after a true freshman 2001 season spent mostly playing special teams, he became the full-time starter at strong safety as a sophomore.
He went on to start 39 straight games to finish out his career.
In total, Leonhard played 51 games as a Badger, starting 14 games at strong safety and 25 at free safety. He also returned punts during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
In his Badger career, Leonhard had 281 total tackles, 50 passes defended and 21 interceptions, including an 11-interception sophomore campaign that led him to the first of many All-American honors from varying outlets. The 11 interceptions tied a Big Ten single-season record.
Leonhard had 105 career punt returns for 1,347 yards and three touchdowns, as well.
Despite his success in college, Leonhard again went unnoticed at the next level, and was passed on in the 2005 NFL Draft. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Buffalo Bills, and was the only undrafted rookie to make the Bills 53-man roster.
He played in 10 games, mostly on special teams, as a rookie, but in his second year in the NFL played 15 games and made his first start. He spent one more year with the Bills before heading to the Baltimore Ravens in 2008, then spent three season with the New York Jets.
His first season with the Jets – 2009 – was arguably the best of his professional career. Leonhard started all 16 games that season, recording 76 total tackles.
Leonhard played with the Jets until 2012, when he began 1-year stints with the Denver Broncos, a second stint with the Bills in 2013, and finished his career this year in Cleveland.
Leonhard retires with 329 total tackles in his 10-year career. He has also returned 108 punts for 998 yards.
Leonhard’s NFL career will be remembered as a successful one, especially by Badgers fans who remember the walk-on rising to stardom on the turf at Camp Randall.
Before his last game, Leonhard spoke to the media at Browns practice Friday and said he expected Sunday’s game would be his last, despite head coach Mike Pettine saying Leonhard would likely make his decision in the offseason.
“I’m very happy with my decision and I’m looking forward to that next chapter.”
He also alluded to an opportunity in Madison, which has led to rumors that a spot on new Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst’s staff could belong to the Wisconsin Alumnus.
“I definitely want to get out and travel a little bit with the family. Outside of that, head back to Madison (Wisc.) and figure it out. I had a lot of conversations with people and we’ll see what happens, where this thing leads.”
Badgers fans would love to see Leonhard back in the program, and his success as a walk-on would be great for recruiting.
As his professional career came to an end Sunday, Leonhard was given one last honor before he took the field for the final time:
Retiring Jim Leonhard only #Browns game captain. — Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) December 28, 2014
College stats courtesy UWBadgers.com. NFL stats courtesy ESPN.com. |
Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Chelsea’s main man Diego Costa could have been a hero at Anfield and was lined up to partner Luis Suarez up front.
My word, imagine that.
Costa, 26, has revealed to the Daily Mirror that he came close to joining the Reds back in 2013 after Liverpool triggered the $30 million release clause in his contract.
[ RELATED: How things stand with 10 games left ]
The Spanish international striker turned down Liverpool and remained at Atletico to
“I was close to leaving Atletico,” Costa said. “Liverpool are a great team, but after fighting so hard and overcoming difficulties to get my place at Atletico, how could I leave? I thought it was very important to keep growing with Atletico and to play there for many years.”
Costa has scored 17 times for Chelsea this season as he leads the Premier League in goals scored, with the Brazilian-born forward a major success in his first season in England. Costa scored Chelsea’s winning goal in a 2-1 win at Anfield earlier this season and the two sides meet in west London on May 9.
Of course, there is plenty of controversy that comes with Costa as his recent three-game ban for stamping on Liverpool’s Emre Can in the League Cup semifinal proved. With Suarez already a stunning striker and the main man at Anfield but a liability with his on-field antics, perhaps it was a good thing Costa decided to turn down Liverpool and remain in Spain.
Then again, imagine if Costa and Suarez were paired up front during the 2013-14 season at Anfield? Surely a first-ever Premier League title would have arrived instead of the Reds finishing second.
What could have been Liverpool fans, what could have been…
Follow @JPW_NBCSports |
The Movie (3/5)
I love period pieces, and I love Jane Austen film adaptations. When combined, there is typically a large gathering of talented writers, beautiful actresses, and a wealth of some of the most elaborate sets and costumes used to create a period appropriate rendering of the Victorian era. So, when I caught wind that someone was setting out to make a new film based on Jane Austen’s novella, Lady Susan, I jumped in without hesitation. I didn’t know a single thing about the story, I just put all my cards on the table, and dragged my sister to local multiplex for an early afternoon screening in early June.
The results were, from both myself and my sister, tepid at best, and in revisiting the film, I think I know why.
Love and Friendship is the story of Lady Susan, a woman who has developed a reputation in society for being an overly ambitious flirt and adulteress. The film opens with her escaping from the estate of one of the men of society, being chased by the man’s wife and the man, as he looks on in distress at her haste. From there, Lady Susan and her friend, whom she drags around and refuses to pay, make a visit at the home of her former husband’s brother’s estate, Churchill, where she decides to set her sights on seducing and potentially partnering with Lady Vernon, the lady of the house’s brother, in order to both make a mockery of him, and raise her status in society. At the same time, she must deal with the return of her daughter, Frederica, whom she cares about only in as far as whom she marries to secure their financial security, and little more, and her goofy suitor Sir James Martin. This all builds into an exchanging of nasty exchanges, the straining of various friendships and relationships, and a series of awkward, goofy situations that build intro a rather muted conclusion.
Love and Friendship, especially in the trailers, was billed as a comedy of sorts, and outside of a few interactions with the character James Martin – who is played delightfully by Tom Bennett, it isn’t an outwardly funny movie. Instead, the humor is buried behind some oddly contrasting choices of musical score, and a layer of deception and hostility, as Lady Susan, played with elegance by the always lovely Kate Beckinsale, does everything she possibly can to prove herself to be the smartest player in the high society game at the expense of her friends, and most astonishingly, her daughter. She is a truly awful person, and sometimes it is difficult to dig past that in order to find any humor in the situations presented on screen. Instead, it’s easier to look at the film as almost a caper of sorts, as Lady Susan plays multiple parties against each other, hiding under layers of deceit to mask her nefarious intentions, which in the end seem rather petty.
My first screening in theaters was spent trying to wade through the strangely inept supporting characters, who do little to stop Lady Susan in her conquest, and instead either fall into her traps, get ignored, or do everything they can to support her, to try and find that comedy that was promised – that was a big mistake. As long as you don’t go looking for laughs, Love and Friendship is an excellent period drama, with a fine supporting cast behind Beckinsale, filled out with the likes of Stephen Fry, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell, and Chloe Sevigny as Lady Susan’s American best friend – a character that I feel must have played a more substantial role in earlier cuts of the film, but got somewhat marginalized on the way to the screen. Truly a shame.
Even though the film is chocked full of wonderful period sets, and elegant costumes that help fully realize the world of Love and Friendship, it feels oddly modern. It feels almost like a reality TV program in the way it introduces characters and has them intersect, and if it wasn’t for the fact that the promotional material said so, I’d barely recognize it as an Austen story. The drama almost feels over the top at times, especially when the character Lady Manwaring is on screen.
Overall, Love and Friendship is a competent, if not dry and ultimately uneventful adaptation of one of Jane Austen’s lesser known pieces of work, for good reason. The acting, set design, and costumes are par for the course for these types of productions, but I almost wish the film had taken the route that was depicted in the trailers – it would have felt far more fresh, rather than the kind of warn, been there – done that kind of period piece that we got. On my second pass at the film, I found that my opinion on the movie stands – tepid.
The Video (4/5)
Love and Friendship was shot using the Arri Alexa digital camera, and finished in 2K resolution for theatrical projection in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Presented on Blu-ray in 1080p, the theatrical aspect ratio is maintained.
As if mirroring its cold, nefarious story, Love and Friendship proves to be a rather cold viewing experience. The costumes are elaborate, but never quite pop off the screen due to a rather muted color scheme of darker colors, set against a combination of shadows and natural lighting. As a result, Love and Friendship sometimes comes off as looking TV-esque in its depiction of the Victorian era, with flat lighting and very little contrast to go around. The digitally captured image however, is incredibly detailed, and razor sharp, with a noticeable layer of digital noise creeping into the shadowy interiors, and bright exterior sequences. Much like the film, this 1080p presentation is competent, if not unremarkable.
The Audio (3/5)
Love and Friendship is presented on Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-Master Audio surround sound presentation.
As it is a film driven almost entirely by dialogue, Love and Friendship has an appropriately limited soundtrack, which almost entirely resides in the front 3 channels, with no application of the subwoofer, and almost nothing being tossed to the surrounds. Dialogue is crisp and clear, and the film’s score, composed by Mark Suozzo, mostly resides in the left and right speakers, making room for the occasional piece of dialogue, or sound effect as horse carts move off screen, etc…. I didn’t expect much after seeing the film in theaters, and what we have here is adequate.
Special Features/Packaging (1.5/5)
Love and Friendship has been released to Blu-ray by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in a standard blue keepcase. The front artwork features a composite of a few of the main characters from the film, set against a painting of Victorian era buildings and a lovely blue sky. The back artwork features Lady Vernon and her closest friend, Alicia, as well as four still from the film, surrounded by a paragraph about the film, a list of the single feature included, technical specifications, and credits. The artwork is nice, but not incredible by any means.
Onto the feature:
Behind the Scenes of Love and Friendship – a ten minute feature that explores the making of the film, with the insight of the cast on the various characters and the nature of the film.
With only one feature to its name, and only decent artwork, this one is not a Blu-ray I would buy for value-added material.
Technical Specs (click for technical FAQs)
Video
Codec: AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
DTS-Master Audio 5.1 (English)
Subtitles
English
English SDH
Spanish
Overall (3/5)
Love and Friendship is a serviceable, if not some times unlikable attempt at adapting one of Jane Austen’s more obscure works. The movie is put together wonderfully, but Lady Susan is such a cold and detestable character, that its tough to find anything in this film funny, which kind of hurts a film that was marketed as comedic. As for its Blu-ray, it features a sharp, but sometimes noisy image, and an adequate soundtrack, but the special feature leaves a bit to be desired. The package looks nice, but it can’t quite hold the weight of an otherwise unremarkable release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. |
Russian ice hockey team Saturday won the semifinal match against the United States with the score of 4-0 and will face Canada in the World Championship’s final.
PRAGUE (Sputnik) — On its way to the final the Russian national team defeated Sweden 5-3 in the quarter-final action Thursday.
YES!!! We are in FINAL! Canada, we'll came for you! #IIHFWorlds#Russia#icehockey — Catherina (@OutlandeRu) May 16, 2015
Sergei Mozyakin, Alexander Ovechkin, Vadim Shipachev and Evgeni Malkin scored for Russia.
Russia crushing USA in World Ice Hockey semis. Going to be a great Canada v. Russia Final #IIHFWorlds — Joshua (@Joshua5344) May 16, 2015
Earlier in the day, Canada beat Championship’s hosts, Czech Republic. Two goals for Canada were scored by Taylor Hall and Jason Spezza.
Congrats to #Russia's Ice Hockey team on defeating Sweden at the World Championships! (Reuters) #2015MWC pic.twitter.com/5ZpUrMItXI — The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) May 15, 2015
The final game of 2015 Ice Hockey World Championship will be held on Sunday, in the Czech Republic's capital Prague. |
Marriott and the hotel industry's American Hospitality & Lodging Association are asking that the Federal Communications Commission — and by extension, all of us — trust them when it comes to what they want to do with Wi-Fi access on their premises.
If you have reservations, they'd like you to cancel them.
But as this is the travel business, be forewarned this change may cost you.
The hotels say they want to be allowed to monitor and control how customers connect to the Internet with their laptops and other portable devices. They say they would never render all but their own Wi-Fi services inoperative unless it was absolutely necessary to thwart cybersecurity threats.
Marriott is acutely aware of the rules against "willful and malicious interference" of wireless signals to which it seeks an exception. It shelled out $600,000 a few months ago to settle an FCC complaint that it kept customers from using their own wireless modems and hot spots rather than its own pricey Wi-Fi connection at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center.
As for the hotel industry, its knack for finding revenue opportunities to exploit through fees such as charges for making toll-free phone calls and delivering unsolicited packages speaks for itself. If money isn't driving this push — and the hospitality association insists it is not — it's sure to be making a lot of noise from the back seat if an allowance is made.
The argument lodging people make is they want to be able to monitor and, if necessary, jam Wi-Fi hot spots used in their meeting and conference spaces that aren't authorized and can be used or co-opted to hack a computer or device.
"Hotels need to be able to protect the personal data and information of their guests," Maryam Cope, the industry lobbying group's vice president of government affairs, said in a statement.
"Our petition asks the FCC to provide clear rules so that hotels can take all reasonable steps necessary to manage and protect their guest's data without fear of legal penalty."
Through this prism, it's all in the name of security, like an in-room safe, an amenity some may find of dubious value for which some hotels charge guests regardless of whether they're ever used.
"The question at hand is what measures a network operator can take to detect and contain rogue and impostor Wi-Fi hot spots," Marriott said. "The entire hotel industry is seeking clarity from the FCC regarding what lawful measures a network operator can take to prevent such attacks from occurring."
Perhaps seeking to make this more palatable to the public, Marriott has stressed it doesn't want to interfere with Wi-Fi in rooms and in common spaces. But if rogue Wi-Fi services are such a pernicious threat, then why not head off trouble there as well?
What makes tablet users at a hotel conference any different than when they're back home at the mall, library or Starbucks?
If the FCC grants an exception here, it's a sure bet other businesses will seek to follow suit.
Any merchant tired of seeing would-be customers check prices and order from somewhere else before they've left the store will surely seize the opportunity to claim a security threat. Never mind that a lot of these businesses still haven't figured out how to keep buyers' personal data secure in the sales transactions they actually do make.
"As we've seen too often, it takes only one rogue actor to breach a protected system, and network operators need the ability to prevent sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands," Cope said.
Giants are lined up on either side because of the stakes.
Cisco is with the hotels.
Google and Microsoft are opposed.
At a time when the FCC has yet to sort out its stand on net neutrality and the government has kept Comcast's proposed Internet, cable and phone marriage with Time Warner Cable in limbo, it's hard to predict an outcome.
There's no available signal.
But it should be up to us, and no one else, whether we hang a Do Not Disturb sign on personal Internet connections.
[email protected]
Twitter @phil_rosenthal |
Returns & Exchanges
Let us know which items didn't work out below, and we'll send you a printable UPS return label.
If you'd like to make an exchange, we recommend placing a brand-new order for the replacement item as soon as possible. (Shipping both ways is always free.) We produce in super-limited runs, and items often go very quickly... we'd hate for you to miss out.
Reason -- Choose Reason -- didn’t fit; too large didn’t fit; too small didn’t love style didn’t love color didn’t love fabric not as depicted damaged item incorrect item none of these... just changed mind Qty Exchange for a smaller size Exchange for a larger size Exchange for the original item Exchange for something
different; please contact me Exchange for new item; please contact me Just refund me
Any other details you'd like to add? We'd love the feedback |
By Choi Sung-jin
The average Korean ate 51.3 kilograms of meat in 2014, more than the per capita meat consumption of 47.1 kg by the average Chinese and that of 35.5 kg by the Japanese, statistics show.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Korea's per capita meat consumption breaks down to 24.3 kg of pork, 15.4 kg of chicken and 11.6 kg of beef with its total larger than China and Japan by 4 to 16 kg.
An average Chinese consumed 32 kg of pork, 11.4 kg of chicken and 3.7 kg of beef while an average Japanese ate 14.9 kg of pork, 13.6 kg of chicken and 7 kg of beef, the OECD report said.
The United States topped the list of per capita meat consumption with 89.7 kg, followed by Argentina's 85.4 kg and Israel's 84.2 kg. OECD member countries' average per capita meat consumption was 63.5 kg (27.6 kg of chicken, 21.9 kg of pork and 14 kg of beef).
OECD countries consumed more meat than non-member nations, and also consumed more chicken and beef than pork. In most countries with per capita income of $30,000 or more, aside from EU countries, consumption of chicken was larger than other meat products, which experts attribute to their preference of white meat out of concerns about health, as also shown in the OECD countries' average per capita meat consumption.
"Korea, too, is likely to consume more chicken than red meat, as the nation's income increases," said an official at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
China accounted for 31.2 percent of global meat consumption, and the top five countries (China, EU-28, the U.S., Brazil and Russia) made up 71.6 percent of the total worldwide, indicating the undue concentration of meat eaters in a relatively small number of countries. |
One person has been arrested in connection with the death of a college student who was known to have protested against illicit liquor and drug dens in his locality, about 30 km from Kolkata.The body of 21-year-old Sourav Choudhury was found near the railway lines on Saturday. According to his family, Sourav had apparently been called out of his house at Bamungachi on Friday evening by some locals. When his family went out to look for him, they couldn't find him and registered a complaint with the police.Among those who had called Sourav out of his house was Shyamal Karmarkar, who is believed to control the illicit liquor and drug trade in the area. He is absconding.The police have arrested one Anup Talukdar, believed to be a local criminal, in connection with the case. The BJP has called a 12-hour bandh today to protest Sourav's death.Soon after his body was found on Saturday, locals blocked the rail lines and later the key Jessore Road where police had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse the crowds. |
I Hate Everything YouTuber Information Profile I Hate Everything Style Commentary Date Joined August 23, 2013 Twitter @IHE_OFFICIAL Videos 238+ Status Active Username Channel Trailer I HATE CHANNEL TRAILERS Most Viewed Video The (NOT DISNEY) Collection - The Search For The Worst - IHE (8 MOVIES!) [Source]
Alex Horton (born: March 15, 1994 (1994-03-15) [age 24]), better known online as I Hate Everything (abbreviated as IHE) is a British commentary YouTuber born in New Zealand and known for his rants on social media, movies, games, memes, and other topics. He is best known for his "I Hate" series, where he mixes hyperbole and his own opinions to deliver comedic social commentary.
Contents show]
Current Ongoing Series
I Hate
"I Hate [BLANK]" is the series that begun Alex's channel. In it, he takes a popular topic in which he has a strong dislike for and discusses what about the topic he likes and mostly dislikes
I Love
Though, only one episode, in this series Alex defends things in which he likes, opposite to "I HATE", and he uses a parody character "I Love Everything" instead of his classic "I Hate Everything."
Mini Rants
Mini Rant videos consist of several small rants that he considered creating an "I HATE" video of, but didn't think was necessary or didn't have enough time. They usually have about 3 different smaller rants within them.
Comment Comeback consists of Alex going back to some of his older, more controversial videos, and where he finds the funniest hate comments, and he jokes around and reacts to them.
The Search for the worst
The Search For The Worst is a series in which Alex reviews the lowest rated movies on IMDb and some of his most hated movies in hope of finding the worst. He goes in depth about each scene and gives an over-exaggerated crtitical on said movie(s).
The Quest for the best
Opposite of "The Search For The Worst", this series discusses some of Alex's favourite recent films. It does have several differences from The Search For The Worst though, as it has a lot less of a production quality and less in depth reviews, as it usually discusses around 5 movies in the time that a Search For The Worst episode usually discusses one.
Trying to watch
To go with Alex's episodes of the beloved Search For The Worst, for each episode, he will create a video named "Trying to watch (title of movie)".In the video, Alex, joined by friend(s), watches the movie, making jokes and first impression-like critical reactions, usually cut down to avoid copyright and to ensure the viewer is interested
Q&As
Though extremely unactive now, Alex used to hold a series called "Q&A"s where he answers fans questions. It began as just fun Q&As, but soon began to become Alex's way of creating specials for achieving certain amounts of subscribers, but ended at 10,000 subscribers.
Top 5s
In Top 5s, Alex creates a typical top 5 list of a particular topic, in the same style as many other YouTubers.
Dramatic Reading: Awful Deviant Story 'Hope'
Intended to be a full series in which Alex dramatically reads stories etc, "DRAMATIC READING: AWFUL DEVIANT STORY 'HOPE'" is the only 5-part episode he made before the series became inactive. It was split into several parts though, which is why I am classifying this singular reading a full series.
Inside Jokes/Channel Memes
"If you hate everything, does that mean you hate yourself?"
—Derived from the many comments IHE recieved of this phrase in some form, which the audience took back and re-used satirically.
—Derived from the many comments IHE recieved of this phrase in some form, which the audience took back and re-used satirically. "DURR PLANT"
—A sarcastic phrase originally spoken by IHE in response to the "Damn Daniel" meme to make fun of its frivolous nature. The phrase ironically turned into a meme, with several parodies and remixes arising from it, which IHE himself has discussed in a separate video.
—A sarcastic phrase originally spoken by IHE in response to the "Damn Daniel" meme to make fun of its frivolous nature. The phrase ironically turned into a meme, with several parodies and remixes arising from it, which IHE himself has discussed in a separate video. "Make I hate mars bars"
—A user (Onemegabyte Plays ) once asked him to do a video on Mars bars, he pointed out what a terrible idea that was, and viewers have been purposely asking him to made a video on the candy bar ever since. Onemegabyte has also done an AMA on reddit .
—A user (Onemegabyte Plays ) once asked him to do a video on Mars bars, he pointed out what a terrible idea that was, and viewers have been purposely asking him to made a video on the candy bar ever since. Onemegabyte has also done an AMA on reddit . "Zooboo"
—A meme created on 19 September 2016 to show that anything IHE says could be memed. First appeaed in leafy, idubbbz and ricegum in the title.mp4, and got a KnowYourMeme page that same day.
JAR Media
Alex runs a side channel with his friends James and Ruben, and his brother Jamie. As well as discussing topics and questions asked by fans, he reviews games and movies and has begun hosting podcasts.
In December 2015, it came to light that the partner of JAR had been taking 60% revenue from them without their knowledge. They have subsequently abandoned the initial channel and created a new one with the same name. It currently has over 100,000 views and 50,000 subscribers.
As of February 2017, the channel focuses on 'Blabs', small ramblings on individual topics and the moderately successful JarCast (AKA. Yogspogs, Jarmedia Pozdact, Yogscast, Pussycast.)
Personal life
He has a Corgi named Argy, a mother (@Jumabo1 on twitter) and a brother named Jamie (@jamiebeltman on twitter)
Appearance
IHE includes a picture of a person who was theorized to be himself in his I Hate Facebook video. During a live stream on Kamcord on June 5, 2016, IHE confirmed it to be himself. He has since released pictures of himself, in a comedic Twitter stunt. Both him and 'Colossal Is Crazy' planned face reveals, and so swapped pictures, and both claimed the pictures of each other to be themselves. This was soon spotted by eagle eyed fans, and was widely reported by news sources such as Scarce. He now occasionally posts his face on his and Argy the dog’s Instagram account.
Controversy
Cool Cat Saves The Kids
On November 6, 2015, Alex uploaded a review of the movie Cool Cat Saves the Kids for his series, "The Search For The Worst". And on November 9, 2015, the video was taken down and Alex's channel given a strike for copyright infringement by the movie's creator Derek Savage, despite the videos correctly falling under fair use law.
Alex released several videos detailing the events of the incident, including emails between Alex and Derek and tweets from Derek Savage's "Cool Cat" account, shown in Alex's video "With Apologies To Derek Savage".
Alex moved forward with a counter-claim with the the support of YouTubers Bobsheaux and YourMovieSucks and his network, Creative Nation.
On November 27, 2015, Alex's Cool Cat videos were once again listed on his channel and, the following day, Alex uploaded a video in which he stated that the copyright strike was removed. Alex also went into detail about an email sent to him from a law firm on November 13 regarding copyright material in his "Attack of the Jurassic Shark" videos. However, several obvious clues pointed put by YMS gave Alex reason to believe that the law firm and email was fabricated by Derek Savage, and the real creators of "Attack of the Jurassic Shark" have not made any attempt to issue copyright strikes against Alex.
Termination
On Tuesday ,January 19, 2016, I Hate Everything's channel was suspended for unknown reasons. His channel was recovered the day after thanks to his fan base and other YouTubers such as GradeAUnderA, Boogie2988, iDubbbzTV, H3H3 Productions, LeafyIsHere and JonTron. Due to YouTube's "poor" handling of the suspension and the community's overall frustration with YouTube's guidelines led Alex to become a voice for those who experienced similar situations. |
Gentleman that he is, Preston Manning is politely trying to nudge Canadian conservatives away from mingy, bumper-sticker simplicities and toward the spirit of principled public service.
His new political business plan, outlined in a Globe and Mail op-ed piece Monday brimming with the conservative version of sunny-ways optimism, also included bit of advice for leadership selection: No bozos, please.
Manning himself, of course, is the anti-bozo; an intellectual who always seemed to regard the clownish bomb-throwers in his party with bemused distaste.
That's not to say he was, or is, a moderate. He more than anyone is responsible for de-coupling the words "progressive" and "conservative" in Canadian politics.
Largely because of him and the Reform Party he founded, the big-tent Progressive Conservatives of John Diefenbaker and Brian Mulroney and Bob Stanfield no longer exist.
But Manning also believed in serious debate and civil behaviour, rather than the loud, ad hominem, raised middle finger that has taken over American conservative discourse in the U.S., and has been seeping into Canada's.
"Ultimately," wrote Manning, in urging his party to restock what he called its cupboard of intellectual capital, "the next generation of conservative leaders, needs … to govern ably and wisely, not just communicate and entertain."
And yet, according to a new poll that came out at the same time as Manning's reflections, the reality showman Kevin O'Leary has suddenly become an ascendant star in Canadian conservative politics.
O'Leary has expressed an interest in leading the Conservative Party, and the Mainstreet/Postmedia survey found that just a few days after he put his hand up, he is tied in popularity with Peter MacKay, a former minister with long experience and a high profile.
Here be dragons
It's hard to resist comparisons between O'Leary and Donald Trump, the supreme bozo of American politics.
Neither has ever been elected to or governed anything; both love bragging about their financial genius; and both are reality TV stars.
Trump used to yell "You're fired" on The Apprentice, and O'Leary left a CBC show called Dragons' Den for something similar called Shark Tank in the U.S.
Trump, once regarded as a vulgar joke, has been borne to the top Republican Party polls by a fevered "base" that loves him for his anti-political correctness campaign.
Flame-throwers? Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Ted Cruz enjoy the stage during the Fox Business Network debate in South Carolina last week. (Chris Keane/Reuters)
Which means they adore his eagerness to offend — to call women pigs, dogs and slobs, to call Mexicans criminals and rapists, to propose banning Muslims from entering the U.S., and generally to utter the first inanity that floats into his head.
O'Leary, having made his name in Canada, has shown more restraint, but does tend toward stunts and loudmouth behaviour.
He advocates outlawing labour unions and advises people "Don't be an employee," as though there's always a choice.
A couple of weeks ago, he offered to invest $1 million in Alberta oil if New Democrat Premier Rachel Notley would only repudiate the Alberta voters who elected her majority government and leave office.
Once, during his CBC business show, he grew impatient with Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer-prize-winning ex-New York Times journalist who was trying to explain the Occupy Wall Street movement, and called Hedges a "left-wing nutbar."
Hedges responded: "If you want to discuss issues, that's fine. I mean, this sounds like Fox News and I don't go on Fox News."
Endless overtime
Like the celebrity hosts at Fox, O'Leary's real specialty is bombastic entertainment, not the sort of in-depth policy and philosophical reflection Manning is prescribing in his plan to "recharge the right in Canada."
The thing is, the mainstream media are generally bored by the latter and suckers for the former, for two reasons. First, bombast has shock value; it sells papers and draws eyeballs.
And second, most reporters love to see conservatives fulfilling their expectations of loutishness.
The American columnist George F. Will, a giant of conservatism who regards Trump with naked contempt, has predicted that if the party nominates him in 2016, "there might not be a conservative party in 2020."
Will might dread such an outcome, but a swaggering jester leading his party to electoral ruin would be an irresistible spectacle to most other journalists, apart from providing the benefit of endless overtime.
I don't know a single colleague who wouldn't love to see the Republican Party nominate Donald Trump as its presidential candidate.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the other big GOP flamethrower, would be almost as much fun to cover.
Canada is a different place. The New York Times might now be reporting that we're suddenly hip, but if we are, we're earnestly hip.
Former Conservative justice minister Peter MacKay is apparently tied with O'Leary in quickie opinion poll. A different kind of hip in Canada. (CBC)
The Canadian version of Fox, Sun News Network, failed miserably, ignored by most Canadian TV viewers.
Still, I suspect most of my colleagues would quietly grin if O'Leary does chase the party leadership.
Meanwhile, Preston Manning bluntly rebukes the Harper legacy, calling for a commitment to "openness, honesty, transparency, integrity, compassion, humility," and making the possession of such traits a "more important factor in recruiting candidates, leaders and staff."
Further, Manning concedes there are issues on which conservatives "rightly or wrongly" are "perceived as weak or disinterested, such as poverty, inequality, health care, education, environment, science and culture."
He advises his party to pay serious attention to them.
Trump would just laugh, or sneer, at most of that. It's hard to imagine O'Leary showing much interest, either. |
Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum, discussing if the upcoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump will pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry said if they do other nations will continue the deal, so the Trump administration “will have done great injury” to U.S. “credibility” and “it will hurt for the endurance of a year, two years, whatever, while the administration is there.”
Kerry said, “Take Iran for instance. If the United States were to decide suddenly, and say ‘hey we are not going to pursue this,’ and so forth, I bet you —I haven’t talked to all of them — but I’ll bet you that our friends and allies who negotiated this will get together, and that Russia, China, Germany, France, and Britain will say, ‘you know what, this is a good deal. We’re going to keep it.’ And Iran will keep it. And we’ll have made ourselves the odd person out. We’ll have injured our own credibility in, conceivably, an irreparable way. Not irreparably. There’s time, and that’s just too dramatic. But we will have done great injury to ourselves. And it will hurt for the endurance of a year, two years, whatever, while the administration is there. But it’s unnecessary —”
Interrupted by audience laughter, Kerry said, “I told you I was going to be active. I didn’t say how active.”
(h/t Business Insider)
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN |
Uncertainty on the visa front is the main challenge for India's Information Technology sector in 2017-18 but it's going to be business as usual otherwise, said industry veteran Kris Gopalakrishnan.
"The challenge mainly arises because of uncertainties on the visa front (emanating from US)," the co-founder and former CEO of Infosys told PTI in an interview, discussing prospects of IT industry in the new financial year.
"That's one challenge I see. I don't see anything particularly different this year except for the visa issue.
Everything points to a steady growth for the industry," said the former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry.
"If the global GDP grows around 2-3 per cent, (global) IT investment will grow around 3-5 per cent and Indian IT will grow about 4-5 per cent higher than that. So, it (Indian IT industry) will grow around 9-10 per cent (in 2017-18)."
He said the current fiscal is not going to be the most challenging for the IT industry, noting the financial crisis in 2008 had brought the growth rate to almost zero then.
In the era of digitisation, Indian companies are moving in that space, where new firms are also emerging.
Clients and the industry are increasing investments into some of the new technologies, he said.
Hiring in the IT sector has come down because of slower growth rate, and increasing automation on some types of services such as infrastructure management and testing, he said.
On salaries of entry-level IT engineers not seeing hike in recent years, Gopalakrishnan said it's a function of supply and demand, and the industry had a large supply and so the salaries are modestly growing.
He said Indian IT engineers also need to move into user industries such as retail manufacturing, healthcare and financial services which require larges-scale IT deployment.
They also need to look at opportunities such as those in product companies and firms providing services on the cloud which require "unique and specialised skills".
He did not agree with perception in some quarters that India is "pleading" with the US on the visa issue.
"This is a trade issue. We have certain strengths which we need to leverage. Services is our strength. Having said that, we need to look at new models, we need to look at how the industry can transform. I see this happening. Lot more US companies are setting up IT operations in India. So, the companies are shifting to India," Gopalakrishnan said.
There have been apprehensions that under the new administration in US, there may be a clamp down on H1B visas which can hurt Indian IT industry. The US is the largest market for Indian IT-ITes firms.
H1-B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies, including those from India, depend on it for hiring tens of thousands of employees each year. |
By Steve Roth
The standard definition of income makes much of rich people’s income invisible.
If your home or stock-portfolio value goes up over a decade or three, have you received “income”? It sure as heck feels like income. It increases your asset holdings and net worth. It’s new money in your pocket that you can spend now and in your retirement. (Maybe you have to sell things or borrow against them. Whatever.) How is that not income?
But in economics — actually right down to the core of national accounting methods — capital gains aren’t counted as income. And they don’t contribute to “saving.” Those gains are completely invisible to a huge bulk of the economics work (both empirical and theoretical) that is built on income and saving concepts and measures.
Even Piketty and company, who importantly include capital gains income in their income data, don’t include it in their theorizing about income and saving. Ditto most Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) work, despite (or because of?) that group’s rigorous accounting-based approach.
There’s a historical reason: When FDR tasked Simon Kuznets and his cohorts to create the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs) in the 1930s, they had no means to measure or estimate people’s assets, net worth, “wealth.” (The NIPAs didn’t have balance sheets, and still don’t. Cap gains don’t, can’t, exist in the NIPAs.) So they built incomplete accounting constructs that they called “Income” and “Saving,” that they could estimate based on measurable flows within the accounting period.
Get Evonomics in your inbox
Those incomplete constructs shamble on today in the Fed’s Flow of Funds matrix. It’s a closed-loop accounting construct that’s only closed because it balances to an artificial and incomplete balancing item called “Saving” (based on the incomplete definition of income). The Flow of Funds don’t sum to change in net worth — the very “balance” in “balance sheets.” Because cap gains are missing.*
Theory: The justification is that income is payments to “factors of production” — labor, capital, natural resources, etc. But think about it: when existing-asset markets go up, that’s the market looking at our previously created assets and “realizing” they’re worth more than they thought they were at the time of production and sale. So cap gains are delivering income from production — production in previous periods.
Data: Capital gains comprise 15-25% of comprehensive household income (it varies a lot year to year).
Distribution estimates vary, but some are eye-popping: as much as 96% of capital gains income may go to those making more than a million dollars a year.
In 2011, the top 1% of U. S. earners (median income, $1.4 million) got 36% of their income from capital gains — all invisible in the standard measure of “income.” This is only realized capital gains, of course, and it ignores capital gains from the $20-trillion+ of invisible assets held in offshore tax havens.
Politics: by rendering capital gains income largely invisible to accounting, these incomplete income and saving measures make those flows largely invisible to economists, and hence to politicians, and to the whole political conversation about equality and distribution. |
Prawn farming in Senegal may hold the key to eradicating a common and deadly parasitic disease.
Researchers believe if the shell fish are reintroduced into the West African nation's rivers, they will eat the snails that host the parasite that causes schistosomiasis.
Spread through contaminated water, the disease, also known as bilharzia, kills more than 200,000 people a year, according to UN figures.
More than two million more are infected each year by the parasitic worms which impair child growth and damage internal organs.
My father used to fish hundreds of prawns every day. Now it's very difficult for us, the younger generation, to make a living out of fishing Fisherman Batch Boye
"I've been infected with schistosomiasis for two years," says Gadiaga Diop from the village of Lampsar, about 20km (12 miles) from the city of Saint Louis.
Nearby children play and bathe in the sun as mothers wash household dishes and clothes in the Senegal River.
It is a beguiling scene - as the water is dangerous with a 60% prevalence rate of schistosomiasis.
"It started with painful and bloody urination," says Ms Diop.
"A doctor gave me pills, but they had side effects, so I also vomited, and had diarrhoea.
"I was very tired, I lost weight, and I was afraid for my life."
Schistosomiasis is the second most common parasitic disease in the world after malaria - with 90% of cases in Africa.
Complications include profuse bleeding in the digestive system that can lead to death.
The infection can be treated fairly effectively with a drug called praziquantel.
No running water
The latest government campaign to distribute the pill has lowered bilharzia cases around Lampsar village from about 30 a month to less than 10, says Fatou Sarr Diouf, head of the regional health centre.
But there is nothing to prevent re-infection.
The government has put up posters and organised talks to explain to the villagers that urinating in the water can make them sick, and that they should avoid bathing in the river at noon - the snails come out when the temperature is highest.
But for as long as people are exposed to the river, they will be exposed to the disease.
Image caption At market giant river prawns sell for five times the price of fish
"I feel better, but the disease won't go away completely," says Ms Diop.
"I know it's because I keep going back to the river, but there is no running water here and I have to go there at least twice a day, to wash the dishes, do my laundry, wash my children. I'm afraid every time I go in, but I have no choice."
Scientists have been looking for ways to definitively eliminate the disease for years, especially since the 1980s, when there was an unprecedented bilharzia outbreak shortly after a dam was built on the Senegal River.
An organisation called Espoir Pour La Sante has been working on a vaccine for 20 years - and the results of the latest set of tests are due this month.
Those behind a new non-profit scheme called Project Crevette (Prawn) hope that by reintroducing prawns into the Senegal River, not only will the causes of the disease be wiped out, but the region will also benefit economically.
The idea was born after scientist Armand Kuris, from the University of California, proved that prawns eat the mollusc hosts. He shared his findings with Elizabeth Huttinger, who worked on public health development projects and went on to found Project Crevette.
"I realised immediately that the idea of raising prawns and selling them through micro-commerce meant that the health effect could be sustainable," she says.
Fewer snails
Project Crevette is still at an experimental phase.
Schistosomiasis Also known as bilharzia
Affects more than 230 million people worldwide a year
The schistosomiasis-causing parasite is released by freshwater snails
The parasites are released into the water, and use fork tails to burrow into the skin
They travel to blood vessels that supply urinary and intestinal organs, including the liver, where they mature
Female worms, which live inside the thicker males, release many thousands of eggs each day
Eggs shed in urine and faeces may make their way into snail-inhabited water, where they hatch to release parasites that seek out snails to begin the cycle again
Researchers first set up an enclosure around an area at one end of Lampsar village popular with bathers and filled it with more than 100 prawns.
Another bathing site on the other side of the village was left untouched.
Then 300 people were treated for schistosomiasis from the two sections of the village.
Six months later, they were tested and it was found that there was a lower infection rate amongst those who bathed near the prawns - 80% lower than the area where there were no prawns.
The researchers also reported that there were fewer snails in the areas of the river where the prawns were introduced.
Before the dam was built, prawns were an important source of revenue for the locals.
"My father used to fish hundreds of prawns every day," recalls Batch Boye, a fisherman who works near the dam.
Image caption Bilharzia infection rates were lower near the prawn enclosure on the river
"They sold well. Now it's very difficult for us, the younger generation, to make a living out of fishing."
But if the Project Crevette experiment continues to be conclusive, the biggest challenge will be to find a way to sustainably restore prawns to the river.
The river used to be their natural habitat, but the dam prevented the prawns from accessing salty water where they reproduce.
The prawns being used in the experiments were imported from Cameroon, but Project Crevette wants to breed its prawns locally in the future and to involve local communities as much as possible.
A few months ago it set up a hatchery at the National Aquaculture Agency and is training four water farming students from Saint Louis University to breed prawns.
They are hoping profit may prove a motivator.
Ahmadou Tidjane Camara, head of the National Aquaculture Agency, who backs the reintroduction, says the project is an opportunity for local technicians to learn to breed prawns.
"The prawns could be a great source of profit for poor populations in the area," he says. |
Getty Image
Of the many mind-numbingly insensitive things Donald Trump said and did during his short trip to Puerto Rico, tossing paper towels into a crowd of hurricane survivors ranks pretty high. Soon after, the president seemingly recovered by suggesting the U.S. territory’s debt be completely “wiped out,” but the White House budget director and other Trump administration staffers quickly walked these comments back. Per an otherwise unbelievable account of the visit published by the Washington Post, however, it seems Trump did and said plenty of other ill-advised things while he was in Puerto Rico.
For example, as Death and Taxes points out, the president contemplated tossing cans of chicken into the same crowd he would later give paper towels and flashlights to. What’s more, it seems Trump had never seen canned chicken before, and their very existence amazed him. “Whoa! I’ve never seen that before,” he said while holding one of the cans up. “That looks kind of good. Let’s start handing it out. Do you feel like this?”
Trump passed out yellow bags of rice and then started tossing rolls of towels into the crowd as if he were shooting free throws. The crowd laughed and cheered him on. When he contemplated doing the same with the cans of chicken, the crowd gently told him no.
Unsurprisingly, this isn’t the president’s first ludicrous experience with chicken-themed things. Back in August, an inflatable chicken made to look like Trump popped up within visual range of the White House, thereby causing a brief internet sensation. During the 2016 campaign, the Republican presidential candidate was dubbed a “chicken” numerous times by The Late Show host Stephen Colbert, Bernie Sanders supporters and many others. Trump has even tweeted about chickens before, albeit in the form of an insult directed at Modern Family‘s Danny Zuker, and a weird argument against windmills.
Come on @DannyZuker, take the bet, show your friends and family (& your bosses on Modern Family) that you're not "chicken shit" — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2013 |
Sporting Locri, a futsal team which competes in Italy's top Serie A league, looked set to close last month after its president received anonymous messages threatening both his toddler and the club.
Futsal is the increasingly popular brand of five-a-side indoor football.
Club President Ferdinando Armeni bowed to pressure and resigned before Christmas, but the capitulation sparked a national outcry, with the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) stepping in to insist the team must play on.
With the club now headed up temporarily by the town's mayor Giovanni Calabrese, Sporting Locri will square up to Lazio at 1700 GMT in a match broadcast live on national television and attended by FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio.
The Lazio team looked defiant Sunday as it flew in from Rome to Calabria, a region in the grip of the richest and most powerful syndicate in Europe and which in 2014 had the highest level of unemployment in Italy, at 23.4 percent.
Italy has launched a probe into the messages ordering Armeni to shut down the club, including a note left on the car-seat of his three-year-old daughter.
The former president, whose tyres were also slashed, told journalists he had no idea who was behind the threats -- and brushed off press rumours that the real reason he resigned was because the club had finance problems after over-investing in players from Spain.
Top anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, who has lived under armed guard for the past 26 years after death threats and several attempts on his life, told AFP "the team absolutely must not close its doors".
"They not only have to keep playing but they have to be given psychological assistance because I can only imagine the stress these poor girls have been put under," he said, adding that the team was "a source of pride for this region".
Football is a honeypot for the mafia, which makes vast profits from match-fixing as well as using the sport as a means to recycle ill-gotten gains.
It has proved especially useful for the 'Ndrangheta, which is credited with controlling much of the world's cocaine trade.
In May, 50 people were arrested in a vast sting which uncovered match-rigging by the mobster syndicate at some 30 football clubs, involving football players, coaches and club owners.
But Gratteri, 57, interviewed at the heavily-guarded police headquarters in the southern-Italian city, said he did not believe the 'Ndrangheta was behind the Sporting Locri threats.
"The 'Ndrangheta is present where there's money to be had and power to be had. In this case, there's no money, no power." |
Unlike other electric vehicles that have strong roots in previous gas-powered models, Tesla cars started with a clean slate. That provides challenges since you can’t build off old ideas, but it also allows a certain type of design freedom that can be turned into a key strength. Tesla’s Model S was the first car to accomplish this and much of it had to do with Franz von Holzhausen, Chief Designer at Tesla Motors.
Speaking at the Gigaom Roadmap 2013 conference on Wednesday, von Holzhausen explained why he was interested in the project. “The automotive world needed a change and Tesla was moving towards a more green, stable environment. I’d never be able to achieve that at Mazda, GM or VW so I took the plunge.”
Advertisement
When asked about the design challenges for the first Tesla car, von Holzhausen explained what made it difficult and what his design goals were.
“It’s one thing to design a car but it’s another thing to design the first vehicle of a company that’s going to be growing for years and years. My goal: do that through the power of design. It’s the ‘moth to the flame’ idea: You don’t realize why you’re attracted to it, but you are. And it elicits an emotional response.”
It also needs to elicit recognizability so that consumers remember the brand when they see the car. There’s no mistaking a Tesla Model for what it is. And the emotions start as you walk up to the car because a Model S senses your approach and instructs the door handles to reach out for you. “As you approach the car, it’s the first experience you have and it needs to be incredibly memorable. Your first contact shouldn’t be with the cheapest part on the car.”
The company is currently readying its Model X, which tackled a different problem: Moving more people comfortably while also removing the addiction to fossil fuels. “No one wants to own a minivan so we thought: How can we make our car desirable more like an SUV?, said von Holzhausen. The model X has Falcon doors as well–similar to gull-wings but with two hinges instead of one. The doors are designed with sensors so they don’t hit the garage roof or doors.
Tesla’s Model X takes user experience into account for the dashboard in a new way, as well, with a large 17-inch touchscreen is the main focus. Why?
“Screens in cars really suck: They’re small, hard to interact with. Drivers don’t want three or four clicks; which is dangerous,” von Holzhausen explained. “The most important functions are on the screen at the same time. We can improve the UX over time with refreshes, helping to slow down the age of the car.”
Now that the Model S is for sale and pre-orders for the Model X have begun, what’s next? A third-generation car that will be essentially build from the ground up again. Tesla will surely take cues from the prior two models, but the next car will use a new platform. That’s fine with von Holzhausen; he’ll be able to be more creative once again in designing an electric car from the ground up.
Check out the rest of our Roadmap 2013 live coverage here, and a video embed of the session follows below: |
— “Guns Kill Civil Society,” says State Department Nominee
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a Wednesday vote on a State Department nominee who supports gun control on a global scale.
While advocates of the Second Amendment have come to expect that appointees of President Barack Obama would be hostile to the rights of gun owners, the president’s nominee for legal advisor to the State Department reaches a whole new level of anti-gun extremism.
Harold Hongju Koh, who served at the State Department under the Clinton administration, is a self-described “trans-nationalist” who believes that our laws — and our Constitution — should be brought into conformity with international agreements.
“If you want to be in the global environment, you have to play by the global rules,” Koh told a Cleveland audience.
Koh’s positions treat our constitutional law as if it were a mere local ordinance on the greater world stage. This is of particular concern to gun owners at a time when the U.S. Congress is under pressure from President Obama to ratify an international gun control treaty with countries in the western hemisphere. That treaty, known by its Spanish acronym CIFTA, would likely serve as a forerunner to a more extensive United Nations initiative, the “Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects.”
The Bush administration, under the leadership of UN Ambassador John Bolton, rejected the small arms treaty. Bolton plainly told the world that the United States will not accept a gun control document that violates our Constitutional right to bear arms. Harold Koh commented that Bolton was being “needlessly provocative.”
In a paper entitled “A world drowning in guns,” Koh maintains that a civil society cannot exist with broad gun ownership: “Guns kill civil society,” he said.
Koh is eager to assume his post at the State Department, having lamented that there is only so much that can be done from the outside to push gun control treaties, and that ultimately we need people like him in positions of power. The chief lawyer for the State Department is just the position someone like him needs to put his agenda into play.
While Koh’s nomination has been delayed largely because of Second Amendment concerns, Sen. Reid plans to force a vote this week.
It is imperative that gun owners contact their Senators and insist that they vote AGAINST this anti-gun extremist.
ACTION: Please contact your Senators immediately and urge them to oppose Harold Hongju Koh’s nomination to the State Department. You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center to send your Senators the pre-written message below.
—– Pre-written letter —–
Dear Senator:
The Senate is expected to soon vote on a State Department nominee who supports gun control on a global scale.
Harold Hongju Koh, who served at the State Department under the Clinton administration, is a self-described “trans-nationalist” who believes that our laws — and our Constitution — should be brought into conformity with international agreements.
According to Koh, “If you want to be in the global environment, you have to play by the global rules.” Well, I don’t support global rules that contradict our own Constitution.
Koh supports international gun control treaties such as the United Nations initiative entitles the “Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects.”
When former UN Ambassador John Bolton told the world that the United States will not accept a gun control document that violates our Constitutional right to bear arms, Harold Koh commented that Bolton was being “needlessly provocative.”
And in a 2003 Fordham Law Review article entitled “A world drowning in guns,” Koh maintains that a civil society cannot exist with broad gun ownership: “Guns kill civil society,” he wrote.
I urge you to reject this trans-nationalist, anti-gun extremist who would place foreign laws and international agreements on equal footing (at minimum) with the U.S. Constitution.
Sincerely, |
The value of the internet of things (IoT) may exceed the hype, according to research by the McKinsey Global Institute.
“We estimate that the total potential value of IoT will be between $3.9tn and $11.1tn a year by 2025,” said Dan Aharon, senior engagement manager at McKinsey & Company.
Download this free guide Robots are coming for your jobs It's happening, the robots are finally taking over. Will the rise of the robots mark the end of humanity? Download this e-guide to discover how big companies are turning to AI and machine learning to make their human resources a little less human. Start Download Corporate E-mail Address: You forgot to provide an Email Address. This email address doesn’t appear to be valid. This email address is already registered. Please login. You have exceeded the maximum character limit. Please provide a Corporate E-mail Address.
I agree to TechTarget’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and the transfer of my information to the United States for processing to provide me with relevant information as described in our Privacy Policy. Please check the box if you want to proceed.
I agree to my information being processed by TechTarget and its Partners to contact me via phone, email, or other means regarding information relevant to my professional interests. I may unsubscribe at any time. Please check the box if you want to proceed.
By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent.
“Most of this value will come from operations and equipment optimisation in factories, chore automation and security in the home, automation in the retail sector, and improvements in public health and transportation services,” he told journalists at PTC LiveWorx Europe 2015 in Stuttgart, Germany.
Aharon believes that any business that fails to invest heavily in IoT in the next 10 years will be unlikely to be able to remain competitive.
According to a McKinsey report co-authored by Aharon and published in June 2015, other key areas where IoT will drive value include autonomous vehicles and condition-based vehicle maintenance, security and energy improvements in offices, operations and safety optimisation in work sites, human health and fitness, and logistics and navigation.
McKinsey expects twice as much value to come from business-to-business (B2B) applications than from business-to-consumer (B2C) applications, and expects advanced economies to get more value from IoT than developing economies.
These two markets will also benefit in different ways. For example, developed markets will benefit from improved health treatments through remote heart monitors, while developing markets will be able to leapfrog the development of medical centres through telemedicine services.
The main types of opportunities enabled by IoT are the transformation of business processes through things like predictive maintenance, better asset utilitsation and higher productivity, and enabling new business models such as services based on remote monitoring capabilities.
However, capturing the maximum benefits, the report said, will require an understanding of where real value can be created, and successfully addressing various system issues.
Chief among these issues is interoperability, which McKinsey believes will be required to capture 40% of the total value.
“Interoperabiltiy will enable huge incremental value, but it is not happening in any major way yet and is a big barrier that needs to be overcome,” said Aharon.
“Allied to interoperability, organisations need to overcome the barrier of trust and concerns about security and privacy to enable them to share data more freely,” he said.
At present, McKinsey estimates that less than 1% of data generated is used for things such as anomaly detection and real-time control. More can be used for optimisation and prediction, which provide the greatest value, the report said.
“Like interoperability, data analytics is key to unlocking value,” said Aharon.
Other barriers to be overcome, he said, include the need for cheaper sensors and stronger batteries, the need for business structure and cultures to be better aligned to horizontal and vertical integration, and public policy to ensure regulation does not hinder digital transformation.
According to the report, advanced economies are likely to lead the deployment of IoT technologies, while Europe is expected to get the biggest benefit in terms of improved logistics, Australia and Canada are expected to benefit most from improvements in the mining and the oil and gas industry, and China is expected to get the most value from factory optimisation.
A dynamic industry is evolving around IoT technology, the report said, and like other technology waves there are opportunities for both incumbents and new players.
“Digitisation blurs the lines between technology companies and other types of companies, so makers of industrial machinery for example, are creating new business models, but using IoT links and data to offer their products as a service,” the report said.
However, to realise the full potential from IoT applications, the report said technology will need to continue to evolve, providing lower costs and more robust data analytics.
“In almost all settings, IoT systems raise questions about data security and privacy. And in most organisations, taking advantage of the IoT opportunity will require leaders to truly embrace data-driven decision making,” the report concludes. |
On Wednesday, September 7, Surfermag.com caught up with Bill Sharp and Frank Quirarte via cell phone as they were driving from New Orleans back to Houston to catch their flight back out to California. Here they give part one of their heavy account of the Surfzone Relief Operation's trip to New Orleans.
–Chris Dixon
SURFERMAG.COM: Bill how did this whole thing get started?
Bill Sharp: It started… I just got an email from Shawn Alladio at K-38. She cc’d me on an email blast about getting watercraft ready
What happened was that immediately after the hurricane, the FEMA California Task Force, made up of the elite teams from most of the county fire agencies, took off on Monday night on a C5 transport with their trucks at March Field. But they couldn’t bring their jet skis. So there were no Personal Watercraft — which turned out to be invaluable. So Shawn went to work organizing — getting the donations from Yamaha and getting them shipped to the closest drop point which was Baton Rouge. She just kind of put out this call for people qualified for driving skis and logistics and I just said, I’m in.
And you know Frank Quirarte of Mavericks Surf Rescue, he came onboard, and then Matt George representing Surfzone Relief Operations — the four of us created our own sort of strike team. That assignment came late Thursday night. So I spent all day Friday working the logistics of how to make it happen. We had eight jet skis in Baton Rouge and so that’s what I had to figure out — how to get them and us into New Orleans.
So the plan we came up with was, we had to fly to Houston which was the only place there were enough flights coming. I found a Hertz guy in downtown that was really sympathetic – he reserved two big Ford pickups and brought all the tow gear with us. This was at like, 2AM Saturday morning. Then Frank and Shawn came in later that morning. We drove to Baton and were planning on spending the night there. But we kept getting calls from rescue task force guys — the Menlo Park (California) Fire crew was who we were originally working for. They would call us and say, look, we need all these supplies So we were stopping about every hour wherever we’d find a Wal-Mart. They’d say, we desperately need socks. We need underwear. We need knives, tools , oil and food and just all this stuff. They came in lightly prepared, as first responders right after the storm, and had no one to re-supply them. Then we went on to Baton Rouge and picked up the two PWC trailers.
SURFERMAG.COM: How was the damage in Baton Rouge?
BILL SHARP: Baton Rouge seemed fine to us. I mean there was minor wind damage and some signs knocked over. It wasn’t until you got over that causeway over the swamp you’d start seeing real signs. Then when you got into the last stretch before the airport, then you just went through a mile or two and after that everything was just f–ed up sideways. I mean just fronts of buildings ripped off. There was a self storage center where all the walls were peeled off and everyone’s belongings were hanging out. Bricks on top of cars, cars abandoned everywhere. It was just like a war zone.
SURFERMAG.COM: Did it remind you of the areas where the Tsunami swept in?
BILL SHARP: Yes and no. There wasn’t any standing water on the outskirts and in the tsunami you didn’t have any wind. Here they had at least 120 mile an hour winds. But it was a little bit odd because you’d have one neighborhood that was just demolished and then you’d go a few blocks down and it would look relatively all right. It looked like there were areas where these micro bursts of wind just went berserk.
So we rolled in and there was obviously the National Guard blocking access but we had all the authorizations.
Advertisement
SURFERMAG.COM: So you went in to support Menlo Park Fire?
BILL SHARP: We ended up going in and supporting the entire California task force. The San Diego lifeguards — basically the whole Mission Beach lifeguard squad was there walking around in trunks. Then we were working with Orange County a lot too — so there was a full Southern California surf presence.
SURFERMAG.COM: How hard was it find everyone in the middle of the night with no power?
BILL SHARP: Well, we get there and we’ve got these really sketchy directions – like, by the airport and turn left. No power. No anything. All the street signs are down and no one’s in the road. It was a crazy third world war scene. And I had brought every piece of gear known to man, so we had a big searchlight and wandered and found this one corner and found 200 cops..
Sunday morning we’re at Zephyr field – which is the Saint’s practice field. There were helicopters coming in; Blackhawks, Chinooks, every 30 seconds in and out. They have an indoor practice field with a full regulation sized air conditioned football field. So that’s where we slept. The A/C had just come and the lights were spotty. But there were thousands of rescue workers and National Guard sleeping under one roof in cots. It was wild.
From then on, we woke up every morning at 5:30 and would get ready and wait for the task force orders to come down. We were first familiarizing all the Task Force guys with the equipment and then just stood by to do whatever they needed to be done. I can’t say it enough, those guys are the pros, and we were just lending a little hand.
SURFERMAG.COM: So what days were you on the water?
BILL SHARP: Monday and Tuesday. On Sunday we did a whole other Road Warrior run to pick up supplies and four more skis from Friendly Yamaha back in Baton Rouge. Those guys were awesome — they spent days helping us get ready.
SURFERMAG.COM: What would happen if someone was found?
BILL SHARP: They’d say, okay we found someone and then we’d tow over an inflatable boat and load it with survivors and take it to launch ramps — which were the freeway onramps.
SURFERMAG.COM: Let’s backup for a second. When did you first see the actual flooding and destruction and what was your thought when you got to that spot and actually looked out?
BILL SHARP: The command post was kind of on the west side of New Orleans and there’s this one causeway — the Lake Pontchartrain causeway — it’s kind of the highpoint and then everything east of there is just under four to twelve feet of water all the way across. And the freeway was underwater. Our main assignment was on the east side, kind of northwest of the French Quarter there’s just the gnarly projects. The sort of underprivileged people of the community and there are a lot of spooky old houses — and it abuts right up to an industrial zone just with petrochemicals and all the nasty stuff. So it’s a major hazmat situation.
SURFERMAG.COM: We’ve heard reports of how nasty the water was…
BILL SHARP: The water was unspeakable. Just unspeakable. There was just a sheen of chemicals on top and sewage, decomposing everything. I mean it’s very difficult for people who try to live a water based lifestyle and understand the pristine joy of just getting in the water — that wasn’t the case here.
SURFERMAG.COM: What did you wear to keep the water off?
BILL SHARP: Well, the fire department had dry suits, but it’s 95 degrees and incredible humidity and those suits are impossible to wear. So we went to Academy Outdoor Shop in Baton and just bought up a bunch of chest waders for everyone. It wasn’t the most stylish ensemble but it got the job done — because you did NOT want to touch that water. One of the things we came upon was there’d be guys in the National Guard there but they didn’t have waders and didn’t want to go in that water. So Frank would just go, no problem. He’d jump in and carry them on his shoulders — victims — evacuating them to the flat boats. We were doing whatever we needed to do — improvising on the spot.
SURFERMAG.COM: How many other rescuers and crews were there outfitted like you guys?
BILL SHARP: We were the only civilians to be found.
SURFERMAG.COM: There was a helicopter shot on CNN of jet ski guys. But it wasn’t a big crew of eight in one place.
BILL SHARP: Well, you don’t take eight out at a time, you split up. And that’s the great thing about the jet skis.
SURFERMAG.COM: Did you suck anything up in the impellers — trash and stuff?
BILL SHARP: That was a huge concern. We didn’t foul ours it but we did spend a lot of time helping some of the other people clear theirs.
SURFERMAG.COM: What was sort of the drill when you’d pick people up?
BILL SHARP: The 10 Freeway at the Louisa Avenue off-ramp was our base. There were probably six different areas where the California rescue teams worked. And it was kind of a gnarly area. There was National Guard there with these amphibious trucks. So you’d bring in the boats up until it was about six inches deep and they would drive those trucks out and load people up. You didn’t want them to even get their ankles wet in that stuff.
SURFERMAG.COM: Did you see any dead bodies?
BILL SHARP: Yeah. Three or four. Frank saw four.
SURFERMAG.COM: What was your overall impression rolling through this destroyed city?
BILL SHARP: It was just — the scope of the disaster you cannot possibly understand until you’re there. I mean all these neighborhoods that are flooded — you can’t just drain it out and rebuild those houses. They’re history. They’ve been soaking in hazardous materials for days. It’s done. You can’t just call the little remediation service and hose it down. All that stuff is going to be bulldozed and it’s going to take a long time if ever to make those areas liveable.
And you know, it’s such a huge area that’s underwater. It’s just amazing. Here I’ll put Frank on to talk about it.
SURFERMAG.COM: Frank, I was asking Bill his take on the scope of things and what the effect was on you guys personally.
FRANK QUIRARTE: I was completely, completely blown away. We were talking about it on the way down that we would have to prepare ourselves for the worst thing we probably possibly would ever have seen in our lives. It was worse than that when we got there. Because then you add the smells, the bodies and the devastation and you can’t help but feel for these people.
I mean when we went out yesterday (Tuesday, 8 days after the storm), there was a family in this one school and they wouldn’t come out. They thought that the water level was going to drop in a couple of days and they were just going to continue on with their lives. But they hadn’t seen what we had seen. I went and stopped and talked to the dad, who was their designated leader. I was saying, “Dude, I have kids, you have kids, let’s get the kids out.” He was just like, " …no, they’re staying with me." And I was just like, “fuck, we can’t leave.” I’ll let Bill tell you that story, because he can tell it more dramatically than me. But personally, that just set the tone for me the whole day, not that I wasn’t motivated, but after that, I was just saying, let’s get absolutely as many people out of here as we possibly can.
SURFERMAG.COM: Did you go to the Tsunami zone with Bill and Matt (George)?
FRANK QUIRARTE: No, I worked in the 89 earthquake in San Francisco, but it was dry and you could walk around. Here, you weren’t walking anywhere. You launched the skis into an oil slick, and in every corner where the water didn’t circulate it was just like dead things, shit, crap, stuff floating around. It’s everywhere. And there are water hazards – because you’re just cruising down residential streets. We were hauling ass out to take this cop to his house, and we hit a car and went flying over the top of it and caught air. That’s just standard out there. The cars are floating under the surface and one minute they’d be there then the next gone. There were semi trailers — you name it and it was floating. Just amazing.
SURFERMAG.COM: What was the heaviest thing you saw?
FRANK QUIRARTE: A woman had committed suicide — hung herself over this railing. Her arms were all spread out super gothic. I was with these detectives and they went and at least covered her head up. You cannot — that stuff can’t sink in and not affect you in some weird way. I lay on my cot last night and couldn’t sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and just mulled over our whole day — the good and the bad. It was heavy. Super heavy.
SURFERMAG.COM: How many rescues did you pull off?
FRANK QUIRARTE: Bill and I were counting and we brought in over 50 people just yesterday. Boatloads dude, boatloads. And I didn’t even go into any houses until the end. We were just pulling people out of the windows and stuff. But I had an oar and was breaking into a guy’s attic. Bill went in and I went in after him. I swear to God it was 150 degrees in that attic — easily, like going into a sauna. And I’m saying oh my God, these people have been in these places since the storm.
SURFERMAG.COM: So they had been up in that hot attic since the storm?
FRANK QUIRARTE: It was crazy dude. Crazy shit. The only place to get away from the water was an attic.
SURFERMAG.COM: What condition were these people in?
FRANK QUIRARTE: Brutal. Emaciated. They’ve had no freshwater, no sewers. Some had a little bit of food. A lot of diabetics. A lot of people who were on medication — older folks. The first people we took in were a father and two sons, and the dad was a heavyset guy, a couple of hundred pounds and he was diabetic and just brutalized. He hadn’t had insulin in like eight days.
SURFERMAG.COM: How will this affect you and your way of looking at life in the future?
FRANK QUIRARTE: I’ve had a lot of personal tragedy in my life and I’ve always tried to learn from it. This is just one more thing to appreciate what I have. My family’s healthy and happy and I appreciate the dry ground I live on. Maybe if some other disaster hit us then someone could come in and help us the same way we were helping those folks. And this place was black as could be. There’s not a white person anywhere. The racial lines there were laid down. And yesterday we were with the white good ol’ boy cops, but yesterday after one really heavy rescue they were like, awe it feels good don’t it?
Second half installment: Bill Sharp describes the heavy rescue at the school… |
Miami had a huge day yesterday, in almost every aspect possible. Football landed a huge recruit, basketball continued its meteoric rise, and the NCAA debacle came to a head, with the NOA coming in and Shalala sending it right back out with gusto.
Her statement to the public, and directly to the NCAA, was a fantastic piece of art that, frankly, has been missing from NCAA investigations in recent memory. UM's president is taking the fight to the NCAA, and with damn good reason. They have dragged out this investigation for over two years, watched as Miami cooperated above and beyond what they normally expect, screwed up their own work, and then still had the audacity to drop the hammer on Miami in spite of everything. To top it all off, the facts revealed in Shalala's statement soundly remove the title of investigation from what the NCAA has been doing all this time, and firmly place it under the umbrella of a witch hunt. Let's break this beast down. First, a refresher of the statement:
"The University of Miami deeply regrets and takes full responsibility for those NCAA violations that are based on fact and are corroborated by multiple individuals and/or documentation. We have already self-imposed a bowl ban for an unprecedented two-year period, forfeited the opportunity to participate in an ACC championship game, and withheld student-athletes from competition.
Over the two and a half years since the University of Miami first contacted the NCAA enforcement staff about allegations of rules violations, the NCAA interviewed dozens of witnesses, including current and former Miami employees and student-athletes, and received thousands of requested documents and emails from the University. Yet despite our efforts to aid the investigation, the NCAA acknowledged on February 18, 2013 that it violated its own policies and procedures in an attempt to validate the allegations made by a convicted felon. Many of the allegations included in the Notice of Allegations remain unsubstantiated.
Now that the Notice of Allegations has been issued, let me provide some context to the investigation itself:
· Many of the charges brought forth are based on the word of a man who made a fortune by lying. The NCAA enforcement staff acknowledged to the University that if Nevin Shapiro, a convicted con man, said something more than once, it considered the allegation "corroborated"—an argument which is both ludicrous and counter to legal practice. · Most of the sensationalized media accounts of Shapiro’s claims are found nowhere in the Notice of Allegations. Despite their efforts over two and a half years, the NCAA enforcement staff could not find evidence of prostitution, expensive cars for players, expensive dinners paid for by boosters, player bounty payments, rampant alcohol and drug use, or the alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts given to student-athletes, as reported in the media. The fabricated story played well—the facts did not. · The NCAA enforcement staff failed, even after repeated requests, to interview many essential witnesses of great integrity who could have provided first-hand testimony, including, unbelievably, Paul Dee, who has since passed away, but who served as Miami Athletic Director during many of the years that violations were alleged to have occurred. How could a supposedly thorough and fair investigation not even include the Director of Athletics? · Finally, we believe the NCAA was responsible for damaging leaks of unsubstantiated allegations over the course of the investigation. Let me be clear again: for any rule violation—substantiated and proven with facts—that the University, its employees, or student-athletes committed, we have been and should be held accountable. We have worked hard to improve our compliance oversight, and we have already self-imposed harsh sanctions.
We deeply regret any violations, but we have suffered enough.
The University and counsel will work diligently to prepare our official response to the Notice of Allegations and submit it to the Committee on Infractions within the required 90-day time period.
We trust that the Committee on Infractions will provide the fairness and integrity missing during the investigative process."
It will never get old reading that. Ever. Now, on to the first bullet point.
The NCAA considered statements by Shapiro corroborated if he made them more than once.
Here's a few definitions of the word corroboration:
From Merriam-Webster: To support with evidence or authority : Make more certain From a legal dictionary: To confirm and sometimes add substantiating (reinforcing) testimony to the testimony of another witness or a party in a trial.
The NCAA's stance on this is nowhere near either of those, and is absolutely laughable. They are basically saying that if Shapiro said something twice, on any occasion, that they considered it to be true, regardless of any other evidence to support it. It's unbelievable that any institution, even one so incredibly back asswards as the NCAA, would adhere to this as part of a formal investigation.
The idea that anyone, ESPECIALLY a convicted liar and con man, would be considered to be telling the truth so long as he repeats himself is astounding. If that's how things work, then what the hell has the justice system been doing all of these years? All one side would have to do is take the stand, repeat their accusations or defense more than once, and the trial is over. Shalala could have ended her statement right there, and everyone would have had the same reaction, but she didn't. It only got better from that point on.
We deeply regret any violations, but we have suffered enough.
Despite "investigating" Miami for over two years, and supposedly having boxes upon boxes of paperwork supporting Shapiro's claims, the NCAA could not find evidence of prostitution, expensive cars for players, expensive dinners paid for by boosters, player bounty payments, rampant alcohol and drug use, or the alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts given to student-athletes, as reported in the media.
It would be silly to assume that absolutely none of this happened, because there are photos of at least alcohol use, there was testimony of dinners, and there were 6 players at the start of the 2011 season who were suspended and had to repay money they were given by Shapiro. So while the above statement does have weight, it is not entirely 100% accurate. The main point of the statement, however, is to demolish the sensationalized viewpoint of the media that Miami was one gigantic block party for the entirety of the allegations.
The fact that the NCAA was apparently not able to corroborate (Shapiro must have only said it once) or obtain evidence of major infractions like cars, huge cash gifts, or bounty payments, means that all they had were a handful of minor infractions like dinners, travel expenses, and small bills gifts that were repaid and punished. That certainly is not grounds for an LOIC charge, regardless of how much the NCAA wants to justify themselves. Clearly, Shalala is fed up with the media pouncing on Charles Robinson's story and treating it as fact, when there is no evidence to support 90% of what was alleged.
Even though Miami specifically requested that the NCAA interview them, the investigators on the case did not interview many key individuals who would have been able to give first-hand accounts of the time during the allegations. This includes former and late Miami AD Paul Dee.
Let me repeat that. During the course of an investigation that is supposed to be based around fairness, facts, and evidence, the NCAA refused, not didn't, REFUSED, to interview extremely important figures that were present during that time. Paul Dee was the athletic director during the majority of the allegation timeline, and he was never interviewed by the NCAA. This is abhorrent. What this basically says is that the NCAA did not care to hear Miami's side of the story, or were afraid that if they were to interview these people, that much of what Shapiro had given them would be debunked, and therefore they would not be able to make Miami an example.
Instead, they chose to compel former coaches and players to talk to them, even when they had absolutely no obligation to do so. They chose to break their own rules in an attempt to gain information, rather than interviewing the people they had access to within their own rules. This wasn't an investigation, this was a witch hunt. This was the NCAA realizing early on that they had a shaky case, and instead of punishing Miami based on what they had, they spent 2 years trying to scrape up as much as they possibly could so they could justify their attempt to hand out sanctions that matched the media frenzy. They weren't trying to punish Miami fairly, they were trying to tailor their findings to fit what they WANTED.
The fabricated story played well—the facts did not.
Finally, during the course of this process, there have been multiple times when information has leaked out the the public regarding allegations made against the school. This information should not have been released, as it was, in its entirety, unsubstantiated. Miami is now on record as saying that they believe that the NCAA was responsible for this information coming out.
Remember when that story broke that Al Golden and his staff had broken multiple rules during recruiting, and that there were reportedly phone records to prove it? Remember how that cause a media frenzy that cast Miami into a negative light, cost them at least one possible recruit in Vernon Hargreaves and countless others because it painted Al Golden as a cheater and made it sound like things were going to get worse?
Do you also remember how that whole thing just sort of...went away with nothing more to come of it? Yeah. THAT is what Shalala is referring to. That information was somehow leaked out, even though it ultimately was patently false, and it came at a time when people were again beginning to question why the NCAA was taking so long in their investigation. They were starting to get questions about whether or not they even had a case to begin with, and then all of a sudden it turns out that they had information on the current staff, which is why they hadn't said anything in a while.
If the NCAA is, in fact, responsible for this information being leaked, then there aren't too many words that accurately express just how corrupt and meaningless that organization is. Their utter disregard for the institutions that they are supposed to protect shows that they only currently exist to further their own means, and to justify their gigantic salaries under the guise of a non-profit organization.
We trust that the Committee on Infractions will provide the fairness and integrity missing during the investigative process.
Miami will certainly draft a response to the Notice, and this case will be going in front of the Committee On Infractions. Miami is fighting this the whole way, as well they should. If there was ever a case that completely exposed the NCAA for the frauds they are, this is it. In the course of the next couple of months, it will be interesting to see the outcry from previous victims of the NCAA, and how others respond to what is clearly an attempt to ignore a failure. The NCAA does not just need an overhaul of their investigative branch, or their rule book. The NCAA needs to be gutted and rebuilt from the ground up, and the first statue to fall, so to speak, should be Mark Emmerts. |
Health officials fear they have another outbreak of infections linked to pain injections -- this one because at least seven people in two states developed abscesses after getting injections of steroid drugs. They're all linked to a single pharmacy: Main Street Family Pharmacy, a compounding pharmacy in Newbern, Tenn.
Tennessee state officials say the facility distributed the products to 13 states: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
"Fortunately, we are aware of no serious events like meningitis, stroke or death in association with this cluster, but still our hearts go out to those affected by this event," Tennessee state health commissioner Dr. John Dreyzehner told reporters in a telephone briefing.
"Out of an abundance of caution, the FDA recommends that health care providers not administer any products labeled as sterile from Main Street and quarantine them until further guidance is provided," the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.
"The reports of adverse events are all from patients who received preservative free methylprednisolone acetate (80 mg/mL) by injection. To date, the FDA has received seven reports," it added.
"Complications identified thus far are skin abscesses," the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. "Health officials have not had any reports of meningitis, stroke, or death." North Carolina officials are investigating the cases of two patients injected with steroids from the Tennessee pharmacy.
The injections contain the same drug at the center of last year's deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis. More than 55 people have died and more than 740 others developed infections after receiving contaminated injections from the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts.
The FDA says that at least one of the seven cases appears to be a fungal infection. The government recommends doctors stop using any sterile drugs distributed by the pharmacy.
Illinois officials said they were checking on five patients who developed abcesses after getting the injections. They were given the steroids between January 3 and February 21, and diagnosed in April and May.
Tennessee officials say they are acting to track down anyone who may have received an injection from the pharmacy. "We are double checking and triple-checking to ensure that we have a good understanding of which products went to which facilities in which states," said Dr. Marion Kainer of Tennessee's state health department.
Dreyzehner said it's not clear whether any of the steroid injections from the pharmacy are actually contaminated. "We are acting as if they are," he said.
"Main Street Family Pharmacy, LLC, was licensed by the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy in 1985. It is currently on probation as a result of a recent inspection," the Tennessee Department of Health said. Officials said the problems had to do with drugs that were past their use-by date, as well as at least one unregistered technician.
The FDA has asked Congress to pass legislation giving it more power to regulate large-scale compounding pharmacies that ship products in bulk. The House and Senate both have measures in the works and leaders say they hope to have a bill ready soon.
FDA officials have repeatedly warned that it's a matter of when, not if, a new outbreak will occur because of poor regulation of compounding pharmacies.
Traditionally, compounding pharmacies mixed up drugs on a patient by patient basis, following a doctor's prescription. But in part because there's so much demand for specialty formulations, and because it's a lucrative business, large-scale compounders now mix up giant batches and ship them to hospitals and clinics ahead of anticipated need. Many operate across state lines.
"There’s no regulation that fits this new industry that’s grown up," FDA's Dr. Janet Woodcock told a House committee hearing on the issue on Thursday.
Woodcock says the FDA is often powerless to police these new, large compounders until there is a problem. Some members of Congress and consumer groups have accused the FDA of failing to do its job.
Since the outbreak linked to the Massachusetts pharmacy, FDA and state officials have stepped up inspections of compounding pharmacies, and found many operating with unsterile conditions.
Main Street Family Pharmacy said it was cooperating with the investigation. "As the FDA reported, an investigation into the exact source of the potential adverse effects from methylprednisolone acetate is inconclusive and ongoing. The company is fully supportive and compliant with the FDA’s recommendation that patients not be administered this compounded medicine until the investigation is complete," the company said in a statement.
Related stories: |
When Shane van Gisbergen won the 2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship at Sydney Olympic Park earlier this month he dedicated the victory to his family, noting the influence his father Robert had had over his career development.
Robert was a rally driver himself - although his motorsport activities have been limited since he broke his back in 2012 operating a digger - and he has been his son’s coach, manager and closest confidante throughout his career.
Robert, or ‘Cheese’ as he is nicknamed, was at Sydney Olympic Park to watch Shane achieve a “lifetime goal”, and along with wife Karen gave supercars.com an insight into their son, why he loves Supercars and how they helped him progress to the elite level.
Shane van Gisbergen Supercars champion. How does it feel?
Robert van Gisbergen: “Pretty awesome actually. I am glad he has finally done it. He has had a few ups and downs in his V8 Supercars career, but he has been forging ahead... He works hard for it, he deserves it.”
The feedback from people such as (Shane’s race engineer) Grant McPherson is how studious he is and how hard he applies himself. I get the feeling a lot of that comes from you judging by what he said in his post-race press conference about you being a perfectionist?
“I like things to be dead right.
“I will never forget the day I went to his apartment and I saw this big sticker on his fridge that said ‘no mistakes’. That’s the secret to success.”
Did that sticker symbolise a realisation, that the message had got through?
“It’s just something Shane is aware of that that’s the secret. And I have always strived for perfection.
Shane certainly doesn’t get his relaxed attitude and demeanour from me that’s for sure. It all comes from his mum and my wife Karen, she is the one who has always harped on to him about making sure he has fun.
If you are not having fun you need to do something, you need to change things so it is fun.
And he has had some fun in the last four years.
He enjoyed his stint with TEKNO and at Red Bull – even though a lot of people have said he is not going to handle the pressure there – he has just done an outstanding job.
And Red Bull is not as regimented as everyone thinks out there, there are certainly controls in place. Look at what they have done with him.”
Shane is a tremendously gifted motor racing driver, motorcyclist, RC (radio-controlled) racer for that matter. How much of his talent is naturally there and how much has come out of the hard work?
“We have never really thought of it that way. Shane has just had fun through the years. We have raced each other, everything we do together is a challenge. On the simulator we are always challenging each other, we are always racing each other. We just do it for fun.
Early on when we were racing quads and things I never thought he had exceptional talent, it’s just we had fun together. We were just mates having fun and he just got better than me in most things though (laughs).
But I tell you what, he lifted my game. I used to kick his arse but things have changed.”
When did the transition come, when did he start beating you?
“Oh the time he puts on that Hyper Stimulator, I couldn’t get near him. I can give him a run on the rally and some of the dirt stages but he always comes out on top at the end.
He just picks up a track so much faster than I do. I will take an hour to get to practice on the track whereas he is on the pace in five minutes.”
That’s on a computer, but what about the real world. I hear on your gravel driveway you still have a hold on him?
“Yeah, we haven’t done that for a little while and I’ve got a feeling he … the last time we did that challenge it was a Lancer Evo four-wheel drive thing and it was pretty close.”
So how long is the driveway?
“It would be about one-and-a-half kay.”
How close did he get to you?
“He wasn’t quite in the same second but he was close. I feel pretty proud of my driveway and certainly to beat him I was on my edge, I had to give it my all.”
How long ago was that?
“It was before I broke my back, so maybe five years ago.”
Do you think there will be a rematch any time soon?
“Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. There will be a rematch.”
So how is your injury now. Sorted?
“Oh no, I would probably be okay to go up and down the driveway. I’d still give him a go.”
As a journalist I interact with Shane in a purely professional way. Ask a question and get an answer and that’s the end of that. Can you give me a bit of a picture of what he’s like away from the hype and pressure of a race meeting?
“He’s my son mate … I don’t know how to answer that one (laughs). Look, he’s competitive and we still race each other online, he’s in Australia and I am at home in New Zealand. He’s relaxed, he’s relaxed. He doesn’t like issues.”
He talked about winning the Supercars title as the achievement of a lifetime goal, how did that come about?
“He has always been fans of two drivers; one was Graham Standring in midget speedway and Greg Murphy in Supercars and there was a time in Shane’s motorsport journey that he had to make a decision if he was going to go to Europe in single seaters, in which he would have been quite proudly supported by the Giltrap family. Or he could take the tin-top Supercars route in Australia.
I had to refrain him from making that decision and make him sleep on it overnight, but I knew what his answer was going to be. I said to him ‘you have to put some thought into this, it’s your choice’ and I’ve always had him make the choices.
And so I let him sleep on it and he was out of bed the next morning before I was; ‘Dad I am racing V8 Supercars, I just want to race Supercars’.
There was absolutely no doubt.
I said to him ‘mate have you done your plusses and minuses’ because that’s what you have to do. He said ‘you are not talking me out of it Dad’ and I said ‘I am not trying to talk you out of it’.
So that was it, I said ‘I will tell the Giltrap family that you want to race V8 Supercars’. He turned down the A1GP and that’s how he came here; this is what he wants to do.
He doesn’t want to drive GT cars in Europe.”.
He says it’s only a learning exercise to improve his Supercars skills?
“He does it for fun, he does it for fun. He reckons this is the absolutely the toughest championship to win and he absolutely loves it. He loves the challenge.”
To be number one and do it by beating Jamie Whincup in a head to head battle must mean a huge amount to him and you?
“At the end of the day he has won the championship ahead of Jamie. Jamie is a champion, he’s the best and Shane is the champion this year. But he is going to have a hell of a job backing it up and I think both Shane and Jamie are going to have an absolute blinder year between them next year.
They work well, they share well, and contrary to what all the keyboard warriors and all these other people go on about, the expectation of a war and the s*** that goes on in the team. That doesn’t happen, they are mates and they respect each other.
They really do work together and deep down they are racing each other and fighting with each other but the engineers share.
It’s just not like the previous multi-car team Shane was in [Stone Brothers Racing]. It’s just different.”
It’s an exceptional operation, the record bears that out.
"It’s my sort of operation. It’s polished and I love perfection and I just love it. I am just so proud that Shane is part of it. V8 Supercars is polished.”
How do you think Shane feels about the prospect of Jamie coming back even harder next year?
“Oh he will love it. He will strive for it. It will be good, he loves a challenge.
We saw that when he drove through the field on Saturday [at Homebush to win the championship].
It’s something that we have always loved, the concept of starting from the back in races, whether it be motocross or whatever.
He was dominant in the quads back when he was in the junior class and at the grid starts they used to run we had him facing the wrong way and he had to pass the whole, entire field.
I’ve always been one to pass to race."
Did you set out to train a champion race driver?
“No.”
So why do that to him?
It’s what I used to do to myself. Initially I wanted him to be a rally car driver. That’s my passion, but it was actually Karen who got Shane to do the Formula Vee Scholarship [and start road racing in 2004]. So that was Karen’s doing not mine.
So did he blue about having to start off the back facing backwards?
No he loved passing and he loves passing. When he was nine-years old in quarter midgets he loved passing cars, just outside and inside and he learned not to hit them.
He’d watch and learn how others behaved, find their weaknesses.
So does Shane have any talented siblings coming through the ranks we’ll be seeing soon.
Karen van Gisbergen: No his sister is in to snowboarding. She’s getting good at it though… |
Sniffer dogs could be used for the early detection of lung cancer, according to new research published in the European Respiratory Journal.
The study, carried out by researchers from Schillerhoehe Hospital in Germany, is the first to find that sniffer dogs can reliably detect lung cancer.
Lung cancer is the second most frequent form of cancer in men and women across Europe with over 340,000 deaths per year. It is also the most common cause of death from cancer worldwide.
The disease is not strongly associated with any symptoms and early detection is often by chance. Current methods of detection are unreliable and scientists have been working on using exhaled breath specimens from patients for future screening tests.
This method relies on identifying volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are linked to the presence of cancer. Although many different technological applications have been developed, this method is still difficult to apply in a clinical setting as patients aren't allowed to smoke or eat before the test, sample analysis can take a long time and there is also a high risk of interference. Because of these reasons, no lung cancer-specific VOCs have yet been identified.
This new study aimed to assess whether sniffer dogs could be used to identify a VOC in the breath of patients. The researchers worked with 220 volunteers, including lung cancer patients, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and healthy volunteers. They used dogs that had been specifically trained.
The researchers carried out a number of tests to see if the dogs were able to reliably identify lung cancer compared with healthy volunteers, volunteers with COPD and whether the results were still found with the presence of tobacco.
The dogs successfully identified 71 samples with lung cancer out of a possible 100. They also correctly detected 372 samples that did not have lung cancer out of a possible 400.
The dogs could also detect lung cancer independently from COPD and tobacco smoke. These results confirm the presence of a stable marker for lung cancer that is independent of COPD and also detectable in the presence of tobacco smoke, food odours and drugs.
Author of the study, Thorsten Walles from Schillerhoehe Hospital, said: "In the breath of patients with lung cancer, there are likely to be different chemicals to normal breath samples and the dogs' keen sense of smell can detect this difference at an early stage of the disease. Our results confirm the presence of a stable marker for lung cancer. This is a big step forward in the diagnosis of lung cancer, but we still need to precisely identify the compounds observed in the exhaled breath of patients. It is unfortunate that dogs cannot communicate the biochemistry of the scent of cancer!" |
Today TrekMovie finishes up our exclusive interview with Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Brent Spiner, where we talk about his least favorite episode of TNG, why he thinks Nemesis bombed, what he thinks of JJ Abrams Star Trek, and where he would like to see Star Trek go next.
Spiner Interview (Part 2): Bad TNG Episodes, Why Nemesis bombed, JJ Trek & Franchise Future
In Part 1 of the TrekMovie interview with Brent Spiner, we talked about The Simpsons, his web series Fresh Hell and Star Trek: TNG turning 25. For part two we dive deeper into what worked and didn’t work with TNG, discuss why Star Trek: Nemesis failed and get Brent’s thoughts on the new Star Trek movies and where he would like to see the franchise go in the future.
TrekMovie: You mentioned how there are so many episodes of TNG, obviously some of those rise to the top and there are those that don’t. When you guys were in the middle of episodes like "Best of Both Worlds" or "Yesterday’s Enterprise" or others that people now look at as the best, did you realize "hey this is really good." And on the other hand, did you notice when you were in one of the less than good episodes? Or is it impossible to know when you are in the middle of it?
Brent Spiner: It really is impossible to know, at least I didn’t. We were working so many hours it was impossible to think about it. I didn’t even watch the show. I didn’t have time to watch it. I watched the first twenty or so and then thought "I have spent enough time. I am on the set 16 hours a day and go home and learn lines for another hour so enough is enough." Of course there were moments where we would go "we’re in trouble." There is that one episode that we all knew was bad very early on. The one where Denise [Crosby] was captured by the tribe of space Africans [laughs]. It ["Code of Honor"] was just a racist episode. Maybe not intentionally but it felt that way and looked that way. It was the third episode so it was fortuitous that we did our worst that early on and it never got quite that bad again.
But certainly there were episodes that were less good. There was one that we thought was terrible while we were doing. We were laughing at each other’s faces at the acting we were doing in "Masks," but that is a fan favorite. I am always hearing how fans love it and let me tell you, we could not look at each other. Colm Meaney was laughing at me, Marina [Sirits] was laughing at me. I was laughing at Patrick. He was laughing at me. We were thinking "this is preposterous," but you cut it together and add the music and it works.
Spiner in Star Trek: TNG’s "Masks"
TrekMovie: Speaking of the show living on, have you had a chance to see the Blu-ray Next Generation?
Brent Spiner: No…they sent it to me, but I haven’t watched it. It was like "what do I watch, old episodes of the show I did or Boardwalk Empire? I think I’ll watch Boardwalk Empire."
TrekMovie: I imagine there must be a shades of the film Sunset Boulevard with Gloria Swanson watching her old movies. Every actor must think about that.
Brent Spiner: Right. I just don’t do it, period. There are many things I have done in my career that I have never seen. The only times I have seen myself recently is because I had a contractual obligation, like for the Star Trek movies I had to go to the premiere as that was in the contract, so I saw them one time. But I’ve never seen them again.
TrekMovie: Looking back at the arc you were able to take with your character on Star Trek, do you feel satisfied or were there things you feel you left on the table?
Brent Spiner: I feel completely satisfied. If we had done another one I would have been satisfied with that too. We were just happy to be working. I thought the character had a very good arc. I was one of the defenders of the death of Data, because it made sense. We were told this was pretty much our last film. I have tried to tell fans were upset about it – but I don’t have much success – that as far as Paramount was concerned, all the other characters are dead too. You have never seen Riker again or Picard again or anyone again? So why not have that emotional finish to the journey as opposed to leaving it open and you never know.
TrekMovie: Personally, while I had some issues with Star Trek: Nemesis, that was not one of them. I thought it was his final stop on his journey to being human.
Brent Spiner: Exactly right! Exactly.
TrekMovie: But people and Paramount, look at film as a disappointment, especially financially. And if you hear Jonathan Frakes’ take on it, with him in the director’s chair things would have been different. Do you think it is that simple?
Brent Spiner: I think Jonathan would have done a great job as he is a wonderful director, but I think there is more to it. I honestly think that for that period of time, the fans had had enough of us. I say that because the movie didn’t "open" the way the other movies opened. It wasn’t about good or bad – nobody came and that was significant. It was not the quality of the film. People go to bad films all the time. Every Star Trek movie opened bigger and that spoke to how the fans were sick of us. Maybe if we waited a few more years and come back it would have been a different story. The first weekend was dismal and that wasn’t word of mouth or Data dying, that was that the fans were not interested.
Spiner as Data saving Picard shortly before sacrificing himself in "Star Trek: Nemesis"
TrekMovie: Well let me ask the obligatory JJ Abrams question. Did you see the 2009 Star Trek movie? And any thoughts on it or the sequel?
Brent Spiner: I saw it and found it totally entertaining. And no doubt I will see the next one. It was a nice action movie and I enjoyed it.
TrekMovie: Some fans are assuming – or hoping – that some day they will reboot The Next Generation with new younger actors. What do you think about that notion? And if you had to pick a twenty-something actor to be the new Data, do you have anyone in mind?
Brent Spiner: I don’t know any twenty-something actors [laughs]. I do think it is likely they will reboot Next Generation some day. I don’t see Star Trek ever ending. I think it would better if they went further into the future, past were we did or the original series or Voyager or Deep Space or any of them, and continues the saga. I am not that keen on going backwards because then it becomes history instead of the future.
TrekMovie: Wrapping up, are there any other projects besides Fresh Hell that you are working on that you can share with the fans?
Brent Spiner: Yes, but I can’t. I am working on something, but I feel I shouldn’t say something.
TrekMovie: Is it in the world of music or acting?
Brent Spiner: Acting, if you can call it that [laughs].
TrekMovie: Well thank you for taking the time.
Brent Spiner: No problem, thank you.
Spiner in the latest episode of "Fresh Hell" |
Eigenfaces is the name given to a set of eigenvectors when they are used in the computer vision problem of human face recognition.[1] The approach of using eigenfaces for recognition was developed by Sirovich and Kirby (1987) and used by Matthew Turk and Alex Pentland in face classification.[2] The eigenvectors are derived from the covariance matrix of the probability distribution over the high-dimensional vector space of face images. The eigenfaces themselves form a basis set of all images used to construct the covariance matrix. This produces dimension reduction by allowing the smaller set of basis images to represent the original training images. Classification can be achieved by comparing how faces are represented by the basis set.
History [ edit ]
The eigenface approach began with a search for a low-dimensional representation of face images. Sirovich and Kirby (1987) showed that principal component analysis could be used on a collection of face images to form a set of basis features. These basis images, known as eigenpictures, could be linearly combined to reconstruct images in the original training set. If the training set consists of M images, principal component analysis could form a basis set of N images, where N < M. The reconstruction error is reduced by increasing the number of eigenpictures, however the number needed is always chosen less than M. For example, if you need to generate a number of N eigenfaces for a training set of M face images, you can say that each face image can be made up of "proportions" of all this K "features" or eigenfaces : Face image 1 = (23% of E 1 ) + (2% of E 2 ) + (51% of E 3 ) + ... + (1% E n ).
In 1991 M. Turk and A. Pentland expanded these results and presented the eigenface method of face recognition.[3] In addition to designing a system for automated face recognition using eigenfaces, they showed a way of calculating the eigenvectors of a covariance matrix in such a way as to make it possible for computers at that time to perform eigen-decomposition on a large number of face images. Face images usually occupy a high-dimensional space and conventional principal component analysis was intractable on such data sets. Turk and Pentland's paper demonstrated ways to extract the eigenvectors based on matrices sized by the number of images rather than the number of pixels.
Once established, the eigenface method was expanded to include methods of preprocessing to improve accuracy.[4] Multiple manifold approaches were also used to build sets of eigenfaces for different subjects[5][6] and different features, such as the eyes.[7]
Generation [ edit ]
A set of eigenfaces can be generated by performing a mathematical process called principal component analysis (PCA) on a large set of images depicting different human faces. Informally, eigenfaces can be considered a set of "standardized face ingredients", derived from statistical analysis of many pictures of faces. Any human face can be considered to be a combination of these standard faces. For example, one's face might be composed of the average face plus 10% from eigenface 1, 55% from eigenface 2, and even -3% from eigenface 3. Remarkably, it does not take many eigenfaces combined together to achieve a fair approximation of most faces. Also, because a person's face is not recorded by a digital photograph, but instead as just a list of values (one value for each eigenface in the database used), much less space is taken for each person's face.
The eigenfaces that are created will appear as light and dark areas that are arranged in a specific pattern. This pattern is how different features of a face are singled out to be evaluated and scored. There will be a pattern to evaluate symmetry, if there is any style of facial hair, where the hairline is, or evaluate the size of the nose or mouth. Other eigenfaces have patterns that are less simple to identify, and the image of the eigenface may look very little like a face.
The technique used in creating eigenfaces and using them for recognition is also used outside of face recognition. This technique is also used for Handwriting recognition, lip reading, voice recognition, sign language/hand gestures interpretation and medical imaging analysis. Therefore, some do not use the term eigenface, but prefer to use 'eigenimage'.
Practical implementation [ edit ]
To create a set of eigenfaces, one must:
Prepare a training set of face images. The pictures constituting the training set should have been taken under the same lighting conditions, and must be normalized to have the eyes and mouths aligned across all images. They must also be all resampled to a common pixel resolution (r × c). Each image is treated as one vector, simply by concatenating the rows of pixels in the original image, resulting in a single column with r × c elements. For this implementation, it is assumed that all images of the training set are stored in a single matrix T, where each column of the matrix is an image. Subtract the mean. The average image a has to be calculated and then subtracted from each original image in T. Calculate the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the covariance matrix S. Each eigenvector has the same dimensionality (number of components) as the original images, and thus can itself be seen as an image. The eigenvectors of this covariance matrix are therefore called eigenfaces. They are the directions in which the images differ from the mean image. Usually this will be a computationally expensive step (if at all possible), but the practical applicability of eigenfaces stems from the possibility to compute the eigenvectors of S efficiently, without ever computing S explicitly, as detailed below. Choose the principal components. Sort the eigenvalues in descending order and arrange eigenvectors accordingly. The number of principal components k is determined arbitrarily by setting a threshold ε on the total variance. Total variance v = ( λ 1 + λ 2 + . . . + λ n ) {\displaystyle v=(\lambda _{1}+\lambda _{2}+...+\lambda _{n})} n = number of components. k is the smallest number satisfies : ( λ 1 + λ 2 + . . . + λ k ) v > ϵ {\displaystyle {\frac {(\lambda _{1}+\lambda _{2}+...+\lambda _{k})}{v}}>\epsilon }
These eigenfaces can now be used to represent both existing and new faces: we can project a new (mean-subtracted) image on the eigenfaces and thereby record how that new face differs from the mean face. The eigenvalues associated with each eigenface represent how much the images in the training set vary from the mean image in that direction. We lose information by projecting the image on a subset of the eigenvectors, but we minimize this loss by keeping those eigenfaces with the largest eigenvalues. For instance, if we are working with a 100 x 100 image, then we will obtain 10,000 eigenvectors. In practical applications, most faces can typically be identified using a projection on between 100 and 150 eigenfaces, so that most of the 10,000 eigenvectors can be discarded.
Matlab example code [ edit ]
Here is an example of calculating eigenfaces with Extended Yale Face Database B. To evade computational and storage bottleneck, the face images are sampled down by a factor 4x4=16.
clear all ; close all ; load yalefaces [ h , w , n ] = size ( yalefaces ); d = h * w ; % vectorize images x = reshape ( yalefaces ,[ d n ]); x = double ( x ); %subtract mean mean_matrix = mean ( x , 2 ); x = bsxfun (@ minus , x , mean_matrix ); % calculate covariance s = cov ( x ' ); % obtain eigenvalue & eigenvector [ V , D ] = eig ( s ); eigval = diag ( D ); % sort eigenvalues in descending order eigval = eigval ( end : - 1 : 1 ); V = fliplr ( V ); % show mean and 1th through 15th principal eigenvectors figure , subplot ( 4 , 4 , 1 ) imagesc ( reshape ( mean_matrix , [ h , w ])) colormap gray for i = 1 : 15 subplot ( 4 , 4 , i + 1 ) imagesc ( reshape ( V (:, i ), h , w )) end
Note that although the covariance matrix S generates many eigenfaces, only a fraction of those are needed to represent the majority of the faces. For example, to represent 95% of the total variation of all face images, only the first 43 eigenfaces are needed. To calculate this result, implement the following code:
% evaluate the number of principal components needed to represent 95% Total variance. eigsum = sum ( eigval ); csum = 0 ; for i = 1 : d csum = csum + eigval ( i ); tv = csum / eigsum ; if tv > 0.95 k95 = i ; break end ; end ;
Computing the eigenvectors [ edit ]
Performing PCA directly on the covariance matrix of the images is often computationally infeasible. If small images are used, say 100 × 100 pixels, each image is a point in a 10,000-dimensional space and the covariance matrix S is a matrix of 10,000 × 10,000 = 108 elements. However the rank of the covariance matrix is limited by the number of training examples: if there are N training examples, there will be at most N − 1 eigenvectors with non-zero eigenvalues. If the number of training examples is smaller than the dimensionality of the images, the principal components can be computed more easily as follows.
Let T be the matrix of preprocessed training examples, where each column contains one mean-subtracted image. The covariance matrix can then be computed as S = TTT and the eigenvector decomposition of S is given by
S v i = T T T v i = λ i v i {\displaystyle \mathbf {Sv} _{i}=\mathbf {T} \mathbf {T} ^{T}\mathbf {v} _{i}=\lambda _{i}\mathbf {v} _{i}}
However TTT is a large matrix, and if instead we take the eigenvalue decomposition of
T T T u i = λ i u i {\displaystyle \mathbf {T} ^{T}\mathbf {T} \mathbf {u} _{i}=\lambda _{i}\mathbf {u} _{i}}
then we notice that by pre-multiplying both sides of the equation with T, we obtain
T T T T u i = λ i T u i {\displaystyle \mathbf {T} \mathbf {T} ^{T}\mathbf {T} \mathbf {u} _{i}=\lambda _{i}\mathbf {T} \mathbf {u} _{i}}
Meaning that, if u i is an eigenvector of TTT, then v i = Tu i is an eigenvector of S. If we have a training set of 300 images of 100 × 100 pixels, the matrix TTT is a 300 × 300 matrix, which is much more manageable than the 10,000 × 10,000 covariance matrix. Notice however that the resulting vectors v i are not normalised; if normalisation is required it should be applied as an extra step.
Connection with SVD [ edit ]
Let X denote the d × n {\displaystyle d\times n} data matrix with column x i {\displaystyle x_{i}} as the image vector with mean subtracted. Then,
c o v a r i a n c e ( X ) = X X T n {\displaystyle covariance(X)={\frac {XX^{T}}{n}}}
Let the singular value decomposition (SVD) of X be:
X = U Σ V T {\displaystyle X=U{\Sigma }V^{T}}
Then the eigenvalue decomposition for X X T {\displaystyle XX^{T}} is:
X X T = U Σ Σ T U T = U Λ U T {\displaystyle XX^{T}=U{\Sigma }{{\Sigma }^{T}}U^{T}=U{\Lambda }U^{T}} X X T {\displaystyle XX^{T}}
Thus we can see easily that:
The eigenfaces = the first k {\displaystyle k} k ≤ n {\displaystyle k\leq n} U {\displaystyle U} The ith eigenvalue of X X T = 1 n ( {\displaystyle XX^{T}={\frac {1}{n}}(} X ) 2 {\displaystyle X)^{2}}
Using SVD on data matrix X, we don’t need to calculate the actual covariance matrix to get eigenfaces.
Use in facial recognition [ edit ]
Facial recognition was the source of motivation behind the creation of eigenfaces. For this use, eigenfaces have advantages over other techniques available, such as the system's speed and efficiency. As eigenface is primarily a dimension reduction method, a system can represent many subjects with a relatively small set of data. As a face recognition system it is also fairly invariant to large reductions in image sizing, however it begins to fail considerably when the variation between the seen images and probe image is large.
To recognise faces, gallery images, those seen by the system, are saved as collections of weights describing the contribution each eigenface has to that image. When a new face is presented to the system for classification, its own weights are found by projecting the image onto the collection of eigenfaces. This provides a set of weights describing the probe face. These weights are then classified against all weights in the gallery set to find the closest match. A nearest neighbour method is a simple approach for finding the Euclidean distance between two vectors, where the minimum can be classified as the closest subject.(Turk & Pentland 1991, p. 590)
Intuitively, recognition process with eigenface method is to project query images into the face-space spanned by eigenfaces we have calculated and in that face-space find the closest match to a face class.
Pseudo code[8] Given input image vector U ∈ ℜ n {\displaystyle U\in \Re ^{n}} M {\displaystyle M} w k = V k T ( U − M ) {\displaystyle w_{k}=V_{k}^{T}(U-M)} Then form a weight vector W = [ w 1 , w 2 , . . . , w k , . . . , w n ] {\displaystyle W=[w_{1},w_{2},...,w_{k},...,w_{n}]}
Compare W with weight vectors W m {\displaystyle W_{m}} d = | | W − W m | | 2 {\displaystyle d=||W-W_{m}||^{2}}
If d < ϵ 1 {\displaystyle d<\epsilon _{1}}
If ϵ 1 < d < ϵ 2 {\displaystyle \epsilon _{1}<d<\epsilon _{2}} U may be an unknown face and can be added to the database.
may be an unknown face and can be added to the database. If d > ϵ 2 , U {\displaystyle d>\epsilon _{2},U}
The weights of each gallery image only convey information describing that image, not that subject. An image of one subject under frontal lighting may have very different weights to those of the same subject under strong left lighting. This limits the application of such a system. Experiments in the original Eigenface paper presented the following results: an average of 96% with light variation, 85% with orientation variation, and 64% with size variation. (Turk & Pentland 1991, p. 590)
Various extensions have been made to the eigenface method such eigenfeatures. This method combines facial metrics (measuring distance between facial features) with the eigenface representation. Another method similar to the eigenface technique is 'fisherfaces' which uses linear discriminant analysis.[9] This method for facial recognition is less sensitive to variation in lighting and pose of the face than using eigenfaces. Fisherface utilises labelled data to retain more of the class specific information during the dimension reduction stage.
A further alternative to eigenfaces and fisherfaces is the active appearance model. This approach uses an active shape model to describe the outline of a face. By collecting many face outlines, principal component analysis can be used to form a basis set of models which, encapsulate the variation of different faces.
Many modern approaches still use principal component analysis as a means of dimension reduction or to form basis images for different modes of variation.
Review [ edit ]
Eigenface provides an easy and cheap way to realize face recognition in that:
Its training process is completely automatic and easy to code.
Eigenface adequately reduces statistical complexity in face image representation.
Once eigenfaces of a database are calculated, face recognition can be achieved in real time.
Eigenface can handle large databases.
However, the deficiencies of the eigenface method are also obvious:
Very sensitive to lighting, scale and translation; requires a highly controlled environment.
Eigenface has difficulty capturing expression changes.
The most significant eigenfaces are mainly about illumination encoding and don't provide useful information regarding the actual face.
To cope with illumination distraction in practice, the eigenface method usually discards the first three eigenfaces from the dataset. Since illumination is usually the cause behind the largest variations in face images, the first three eigenfaces will mainly capture the information of 3-dimensional lighting changes, which has little contribution to face recognition. By discarding those three eigenfaces, there will be a decent amount of boost in accuracy of face recognition, but other methods such as Fisherface and Linear space still have the advantage.
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ] |
Hullabaloo
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
No on Prop 23
by digby
Speaking of California, the No on Prop 23 folks have come out with a powerful ad that should be seen by everyone who lives here:
Deceptive Proposition Would Kill California Clean Air Standards & Kill Clean Energy Jobs
Two Texas oil companies are spending millions to push Prop. 23, a deceptive ballot proposition that would kill California clean energy and air pollution reduction standards. Four years ago, California passed a clean air law (AB 32) that holds polluters accountable and requires them to reduce air pollution that threatens human health and contributes to global climate change. This law has launched California to the forefront of the clean technology industry, sparking innovation and clean energy businesses that are creating hundreds of thousands of new California jobs.
The tragic oil spill in the Gulf reinforces the urgent need to reduce our dependence on costly, dangerous oil. But the oil companies' Prop. 23 would allow polluters to avoid our state's clean energy standards, kill competition and jobs from California's clean technology companies, and keep us addicted to dirty oil.
Prop. 23 - The Texas Oil Companies' Dirty Energy Proposition is deceptive.
* The primary funders of Prop. 23 are the Valero and Tesoro Texas oil companies. They are among the nation's biggest polluters, and their California oil refineries are among the top ten polluters in our state.
* Valero and Tesoro claim Prop. 23 would only "suspend" California's air pollution and clean energy standards until the economy improves. In fact, Prop. 23 - The Dirty Energy Proposition - would repeal our clean energy law and harm the economy.
o The fine print in Prop. 23 reveals their plan is to kill these standards by prohibiting them from being enforced unless unemployment drops to a fixed level that has rarely ever been achieved.
read on ...
Even Dianne Feinstein came out against prop 23, which is sort of a miracle since she doesn't buck the big money all that often. Her argument is that this is about green jobs which is true. But it's also about Big Money.
In fact, this whole election is about Big Money, especially in California, where we have the Big Plutocrat Whitman, followed by her mini-me Fiorina and huge amounts of secret cash flowing in from all directions. It's mind boggling.
This campaign is one of the clearest, strangely enough. These big oil companies have been exposed trying to turn back the will of the voters so they can pollute at will.
Circulate this Youtube to your friends and family in California to make sure they don't get away with it.
.
digby 10/13/2010 02:00:00 PM |
In this letter, the ACLU of Louisiana outlines why Walnut Hill Principal Albert Hardison's religious message violate the First Amendment. (Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith)
Caddo Parish Schools is investigating allegations in an open letter by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana that the principal of Walnut Hill Elementary/Middle School violated the First Amendment by invoking God and Jesus and calling for prayer in school publications.
The school district issued a statement Tuesday saying it would investigate the matter internally and make certain there isn't a Constitutional violation.
"In this instance, questionable materials subsequently have been removed from district web pages while the investigation continues," the statement said. "If there is a violation, we will make certain we act swiftly to ensure we do not have any further violations."
The principal in question, Albert Hardison, said he couldn't comment on the matter.
In the letter, ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Marjorie Esman said Hardison engaged in unlawful religious coercion by referencing God, specific Bible verses, Christianity and prayer in messages directed at parents. The letter was sent to Superintendent Lamar Goree Monday.
According to the ACLU's letter, a message in a March newsletter asked parents to pray God gives students strength, mental fortitude, patience and wisdom as they prepare for state mandated testing.
"Please help our children understand the meaning of Philippians 4:13 ... I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," the ACLU quoted the newsletter as saying.
A separate "Principal's Message" posted on the school's website, also previously included numerous references to God and Christ.
Marjorie Esman (Photo: Submitted Photo)
"A hundred years from now it will not matter what type of house we lived in, what color our skin was, how much money we had or what brand of clothes we wore, but what will matter is that we steadfastly walked in the ways of Christ, that we honored and loved our parents, family, and fellow man and that we lived by our school motto," a portion of the message said before the references were removed.
Such practices, the ACLU said, should be stop immediately.
"No school employee may tell a student what religion to practice or even to practice religion at all," Esman wrote. "Nor may a school official tell students or their families to teach any religious texts."
All religious references included in the "Principal's Message" have since been removed. Meanwhile, Hardison has received an outpouring of support online from parents and others.
Jeanine Rowe, a teacher's aide and Walnut Hill PTA president, attributes the school's success to Hardison's beliefs. She said he teaches basic values such as trying your best and exhibiting good behavior needed to be successful in life.
"I think the ACLU should stay out of our school and leave us alone," she said. "We are a successful school. We're not hurting anybody. We're not forcing our beliefs on anybody. They are our beliefs."
She said prayer is not being forced on students. Rowe's children and grandchildren attended Walnut Hills. She said she stayed to work at the school because she believes in what Hardison stands for. She and others described Hardison as a caring and religious principal who often purchased — out of pocket — shoes, clothes, backpacks and other essentials for students.
This 2013 photos shows Walnut Hill Principal Albert Hardison talking to a fifth-grade student (Photo: File Photo)
Rowe said Hardison's messages would still be well-received even if he practiced another religion.
"It's the basic principles of doing the right thing," she said.
Rochelle Miller, a paraprofessional and parent of Walnut Hill students, also supports Hardison's messages.
"We put God first in my household, and I love that the same principles apply here," she said.
The ACLU of Louisiana also asked Goree to educate all school officials about Constitutional protections staff and students have from religious indoctrination.
"These policies and procedures must be communicated to all students and their parents or guardians," wrote Esman. "Please confirm to this office that the School Board will take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with the law."
The school district says it works to ensure constitutional rights are not violated at any school.
"We take concerns and complaints seriously and make sure to follow the law," the district's statement said. "At the same time, the district remains committed to protecting student freedoms. This includes their abilities to lead and participate in prayer and other religious activities, and we will equally continue to work to ensure student freedoms are not inhibited."
Read or Share this story: https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2015/03/31/-aclu-walnut-hill-school-religious-messages/70705690/ |
Lisp has too many parentheses…
…or so they say! And you know what people? Your language has too many variations and rules in it. They’re too complicated, and your weirdo representations of programs with { } and [ ] and ; and tabs and operator precedences and all that other junk is horrifically stunting your language.
What is Lisp? The LISt Processor I’ve heard.
Nope. Lisp doesn’t even have lists. Would you say C has lists? No. You can of course make lists in C, but you’re really just juggling pointers below a few abstractions you made. Does Python have lists? I guess so. They have a separate data type called “list” and is a fundamental structure in the sense that it’s not built up by anything else.
Lisp is kind of the same as C. There are no lists. All we have are cells and atoms. Let’s denote the set of cells by $C$ and atoms by $A$. Cells are just pairs of either other cells or atoms. What kind of structural things can we do with cells? Well, let $p=(x,y)$ be a cell.
We can get the first part of $p$. Let’s call this part the anterior region. To get the Cell’s Anterior Region, we write $\operatorname{car} p = x$. We can get the second part of the cell. Let’s call this part the dorsal region (why not posterior? The meaning of dorsal makes more sense with lists, in that the dorsal region of a list $[1,2,3]$ is the part “near the end”, $[2,3]$, whereas the posterior would just be $3$). To get the Cell’s Dorsal Region, we’ll write $\operatorname{cdr} p = y$. We can take two things, and construct a cell out of them. We’ll write $\operatorname{cons}(x,y)=(x,y)$.
We can easily “emulate” lists by having a special atom $\Lambda$ for empty lists, and then having special cells of the form $(x,y)$ where $x$ is a cell or atom and $y$ is $\Lambda$ or itself one of these special cells. Let’s call these special cells (as well as $\Lambda$) links and denote them $L$ So, \[(a,((x,(y,(z,\Lambda))),(c,(1,(2,(3,\Lambda))))))\] is a list. For simplicity, let’s use the notation \[ [a,[x,y,z],c,1,2,3]. \] So we know with Lisp’s basic construct, we can make things that resemble lists. They are, however, still just cells.
As said, all of Lisp is constructed by these cells and atoms, and usually come in the form of lists (since a lot of data is aggregate). However, this is not what Lisp is, it is just what it is made of. I am a human made of cells and atoms (albeit a different type of cell and atom), but it is not who I am nor what I represent. I am just represented by atoms and cells.
So then, what is Lisp?
Well, it is a sort of tree that lives and thrives in an artificial world, and are consumed by these creatures called Evals (pronounced roughly like “eh-vulz” as in “bevels”) and, unlike the natural process of digestion here on Earth, the Evals give us back another tree (depending on the environment it’s in).
A tree is an object with an operator or root and operands or leaves. Consider $2+6$. Itself, this not-yet-computed computation is a tree whose root is $+$ and whose leaves are $2$ and $6$. Feed this to an Eval and it will return to you a nice lump of $8$. Feed him $2+\text{bone}$, and the poor thing probably won’t be able to digest it and either choke until you revive it or die.
Anyway, these Evals eat these trees of the species Lisp. More (or perhaps less?) concretely, these trees are merely abstract representations of a kind of structure. A Lisp program, when sitting in memory, is just a structure. Of course we have a useful way to represent these programs so they can be communicated by us humans. We cannot see Lisp in its native form. We can, however, see a projection of Lisp in the form of characters, which we are all too familiar with. The projections look something like this:
(DEFUN DIFF (EXPR X) (COND ((EQUAL EXPR X) 1) ((EQUAL (CAR EXPR) 'PLUS) (LIST 'PLUS (DIFF (CADR EXPR) X) (CADDR EXPR) X)) ((EQUAL (CAR EXPR) 'TIMES) (LIST 'PLUS (LIST 'TIMES (CADR EXPR) (DIFF (CADDR EXPR) X)) (LIST 'TIMES (DIFF (CADR EXPR) X) (CADDR EXPR)))) (T 0)))
I hear what you’re going to say already.
See?! Too many parentheses!
However, this is not Lisp. A picture of the Eiffel Tower is not the Eiffel Tower. It is just a depiction of it. Therefore, saying Lisp has too many parentheses is like saying the Eiffel Tower has too much ink, when you’re just looking at a photograph of it.
The reason these projections of Lisp have so many parentheses is because it’s very simple. They all stem from one simple syntax:
(operator operand-1 operand-2 ...)
Now, keep in mind the image of Lisp has syntax, not Lisp itself. It is a way to describe what the Evals eat; Evals don’t literally eat our descriptions. They eat the trees we describe.
What makes Lisp beautiful then? I mean, the real actual Lisp Lisp, not the way we describe it with parentheses.
Well, since Lisp is something I can only show you pictures of, it’s very hard to explain why it is beautiful. You have to experience it for yourself. A photograph of Paris won’t replace the experience of drinking the wine or smelling the bread from within the streets. I can give a little “taste” however.
Going back to our discussion of cells, Lisp trees are built up from these cells. We represent the trees as lists. $[1,2,3]$ translates to (1 2 3) , etc. And we know how these lists are built from cells: $[1,2,3]=(1,(2,(3,\Lambda)))$, which in turn translates to (1 . (2 . (3 . NIL))) , and therefore (1 2 3) is really just shorthand for (1 . (2 . (3 . NIL))) .
So where’s the beauty?
Well those structural operations on cells also have their Lisp equivalents:
$\operatorname{car} p$ is just (car p) ,
, $\operatorname{cdr} p$ is just (cdr p) , and
, and $\operatorname{cons} (x,y)$ is just (cons x y) .
I’m still not seeing anything remarkable.
Well, the operations on cells are built up from cells themselves. (cons x y) is just (cons . (x . (y . NIL))) . So these inherently datum-like objects — lists, cells, atoms, trees — are also code objects. And they can mix and mingle and act on each other. This is why Lisp is called the programmable programming language.
Oh, and I might add, those Evals are just eval in Lisp and when they eat a tree called tree , one writes (eval tree) ; Eval, as well as the concept of an Eval “eating”, is just made of the same stuff the trees are made of: atoms and cells.
This post was inspired by this Usenet post, which talks about generally the same thing, but in a much different fashion. Highly recommend. |
A neighbor told the Associated Press that Cascade Mall shooter Arcan Cetin was so “creepy, rude, and obnoxious” that she kept a Taser near her front door, just in case he came calling.
The neighbor, 21-year-old Amber Cathey, said she blocked Cetin on Snapchat after he sent her a photo of his crotch. She found him so frightening that she would walk a longer route to her nearby apartment to avoid him, if she saw his car in the parking lot.
Another neighbor, a 19-year-old female classmate of Cetin’s who wished to remain anonymous, told the Seattle Times, “One time, he walked into my house uninvited. I got my brother to ask him to leave because I was too scared… He’s not a cool character. I didn’t like him.”
A high-school classmate of Cetin’s named Dakota Kinonen told CBS News he was “very hurtful toward girls.”
“He would sexually harass them, and bully a lot of them,” she said. Local news station KIRO adds Kinonen’s claim that Cetin once “grabbed her inappropriately in high school,” and says another young woman who wished to remain anonymous told a similar story of sexual harassment.
“In high school he started harassing kids and not being a nice person, so I disassociated with him. He would grope women in high school and middle school,” Austin Hendrix, who graduated from Oak Harbor High School with Cetin in 2015, told the Seattle Times.
The New York Times quoted another classmate, Uhlaine Finnigan, who called Cetin “sexist” and said he often slapped or grabbed girls on their buttocks.
“He did that to girls of all grades at the high school including my best friend and I, regardless of the blatant disgust from the girls and being told to stop,” Finnigan said.
Cetin also had a “string of run-ins with the law in recent years, including charges he assaulted his stepfather,” as well as a drunk driving arrest.
Due to his domestic violence case, a judge told him on December 29th that he should not possess a firearm. His stepfather, however, pleaded with the judge not to impose a no-contact order on Cetin, arguing that he would be unable to help his stepson deal with the “hard time” he was going through, if the two were forbidden to have contact.
CBS News reports that a formal no-contact order was nevertheless entered for both of Cetin’s parents, but KIRO says the judge granted a motion to cancel the no-contact order the next day.
“It’s clear from the court docket that Cetin was struggling with emotional or mental health issues, and that the court, prosecutors office and defense team were trying to get him help,” mused the Seattle Times.
“He was reportedly ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation in August 2015, and that was completed as of March 2016, KIRO reported. As of Aug. 25, 2016, Cetin was in compliance with weekly sessions for mental health counseling. He complied with the alcohol assessment, according to court records, and he had a deferred prosecution review for a case involving a marijuana scheduled for 2018,” CBS reports.
KIRO alludes to a second “misdemeanor fourth-degree assault case” in Island County concerning Cetin and a different alleged victim, but provided few details beyond noting that prosecution was deferred, on the condition Cetin avoid drugs and alcohol.
The search for a motive in Cetin’s deadly rampage often mentions his ex-girlfriend, who is said to have once worked at the Macy’s where he opened fire, but moved to a different area some time ago. The police have been working to establish whether he knew any of his five victims.
The Associated Press dug into Cetin’s social media accounts to look for clues:
A Twitter account showed, among other things, selfies, photos of him in younger years and pictures of Turkish food. He once participated in paintball and said he “can’t wait for Halo 5,” the first-person shooter video game. He also tweeted: “Shout out to the ROTC peeps.” A Facebook account showed he liked military-related sites. Cetin also appeared to have blogs on the site Tumblr that had not been updated in many months. They included seemingly random posts about serial killer Ted Bundy, a collection of selfies, the top-secret Area 51 Cold War test site and photos of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The two blogs linked back to each other and one of them linked to what appeared to be his Twitter page.
The L.A. Times adds that in one Tumblr post, Cetin “urged readers to repeat the phrase ‘Subhan Allah’ (‘Glory to God’) 10 times, ‘and then reblog this, do not stop reblogging it.” The date of this Tumblr post is not mentioned in the article. |
(Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.)
The Winnipeg Jets are, at this moment, nicely ensconced in a playoff position, having taken 60 points from 51 games and leading the Kings by six points. As we know, six points is a long way out to find oneself at this point in the year.
As recently as a few weeks ago, they looked poised to continue a march up the standings and potentially even threaten for a spot in the divisional playoffs (though the idea of playing one of St. Louis or Chicago in the first round isn't that much more appetizing than Anaheim or Nashville). People were calling them on of the biggest surprises in the league, and praising to the heavens what Paul Maurice has done with this club.
Scroll to continue with content Ad
And indeed, Maurice's work this year has for the most part been praiseworthy. They, the Winnipeg Jets of all the teams in the world, entered Sunday's games with the eighth-best possession numbers in the league and that surprisingly comfortable playoff spot, and a lot of that came because Ondrej Pavelec finally played himself out of a job (three years too late) and Michael Hutchinson was one of the best goaltenders in the league.
In fact, through the end of December, Hutchinson had the third-highest save percentage at 5-on-5 of any goalie with more than 600 minutes played (.949). This was, of course, in limited appearances — only 630 minutes, dwarfed by, say, Pekka Rinne (1,546) or Carey Price (1,433) — but still, you couldn't feel too badly about the Jets' chances going forward with this guy between the pipes, especially because he at least wasn't that other guy.
Story continues
But Hutchinson, perhaps predictably, dropped off last month, with his ESsv% sliding about 20 points but more or less normalizing at the still-good level of about .925. The problem is that it's nowhere near elite at 16th in the league in January. Hutchinson always put up good numbers in the AHL and thus his crack at the starting job made a lot of sense, but now that he's regressing back toward being what he is — a potentially better than average goaltender at the NHL level, albeit marginally — we're going to start asking some harder questions about just how good these Jets really are.
The issue is a simple one: They've been pretty solid for the last few years, and really only held out of the playoffs by the organization's foolish insistence on starting Pavelec. In the last three seasons, his inability to stop pucks at anything approaching an reasonable rate cost the Jets a total of 15 points in the standings versus a league-average goaltender, and in the last two the additional points he cost (three and seven, respectively) would have put the team in the playoffs.
Hutchinson obviously papers over that issue just by being solid, and he's been a little better than that in point of fact. The odds that he gets much worse than this seem minimal based on his past performance. And the Jets don't have an easy out on the final 31 games of their schedule either, with four left against St. Louis; three with Vancouver; and two each with Nashville, Washington, and Chicago.
And the real concern is that the wheels have come off a bit lately at both ends of the ice. Their last three games, they've conceded 15 goals and scored just seven. Now, that followed a five-game winning streak so maybe it's just one of those things, but maybe the bounces are finally starting to go against them, too.
In terms of quality, the Jets are a solidly middle-of-the-pack team in the NHL or maybe a little better, but even before this little skid I'd have been wary of anointing them any sort of potential disruptor in the Western Conference. They're certainly not better than any of the teams ahead of them in the standings, both because they're behind them in the standings and they're just not as deep, and don't have the superstar players those clubs do. I think they're probably also a little worse than Vancouver and Los Angeles on paper. They're roughly on par with Dallas, I'd think, especially if the Stars' goaltending and defense can ever sort itself out in the way the forwards really have over the last month or so. They're at least clearly better than Calgary and Colorado, not that this is saying much.
So the question for the Jets, and more specifically for their fans, is whether that's good enough for them.
This is almost certainly going to be the first season the team makes the playoffs since it moved from Atlanta, and MTS Centre is going to be a cauldron for any team coming there for a maximum of three games. But those who formulated pretensions of a little more than that were always likely to go home for the summer disappointed. People in Winnipeg have long enjoyed blaming the incompetent operations of the Thrashers on the team's struggles, and a lot of that has been in the form of inheriting a team bereft of depth and carrying an awful goalie. Now those two issues are sorted out, but the lesson is that for all the good drafting done in recent years, those guys aren't ready yet.
Turning into an actual elite team is a process, obviously. The Jets are finally making steps in the right direction. That ought to be enough.
What We Learned
Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks continue to be unbelievable in one-goal games and still haven't lost one in regulation this year. How?
Arizona Coyotes: Shane Doan is “untouchable?” Why on earth would you not want to trade him?
Boston Bruins: Oh my god if Tuukka Rask can be, like, The Tuukka Rask down the stretch the Bruins are going to be a terrifying draw for a top seed in the postseason. Dude went .949 in January, and he's only at .920 for the season. Nowhere to go from up.
Buffalo Sabres: Oh we're writing this kind of thing again? What's it been, like, two weeks?
Calgary Flames: The Flames keep winning so let's start banging the drum for a new publicly funded rink in Calgary. Hoo boy.
Carolina Hurricanes: Alex Semin went from being scratched to playing on the top line. Oh and the Hurricanes still lost. Ah well.
Chicago: These guys were outscored 12-6 in the third period in the month of January. This seems problematic.
Colorado Avalanche: The Avs think they're gonna have success down the stretch because they'll play “desperate.” Okay guys. Sure.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Kevin Weekes thinks Columbus is “on the rise” which is true overall but this year I'm not sure that's a thing.
Dallas Stars: The Stars' penalty kill is still awful, and that means no matter how much better they're getting at even strength, they still risk serious problems down the stretch.
Detroit Red Wings: Do you think there's ever going to be a point at which the Red Wings are like, “Yeah, hey, our defense is pretty good again.” They seem to hate every young prospect they've got.
Edmonton Oilers: This was some really interesting stuff from Todd Nelson on Nail Yakupov and how the organization handles him. Turns out screaming at him and making him a healthy scratch isn't always a great idea.
Florida Panthers: The Panthers don't have a lot of offense, you say? Hmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmm.
Los Angeles Kings: Well this is the frickin' question, isn't it? That schedule down the stretch, though, man.
Minnesota Wild: When you're pinning all your playoff hopes on Devan Dubnyk: Season Saver, maybe just pack it in. They're not making up this many points.
Montreal Canadiens: Carey Price is where this team's chance of winning anything this year begins and ends. But yeah the whole team needs to play well or something.
Nashville Predators, America's Favorite Hockey Team: Good lord this shot from Gaby Bourque. Not a good area of the ice to turn it over, but this puck would have gone through Marc-Andre Fleury if he had gotten in the way of it.
New Jersey Devils: Why not try for Steven Stamkos, too, while you're at it?
New York Islanders: The good news is Lubomir Visnovsky is back in the lineup. The bad news is he's not Kyle Okposo.
New York Rangers: Chris Kreider is given a chance to go in on PK Subban and... doesn't take it? Doesn't he know you're supposed to hate Subban because he's Brash and Selfish?
Ottawa Senators: Two sets of brothers played each other on Saturday night: Rob and Mark Stone, and Zbynek and Milan Michalek. Reading the quotes after the Coyotes lost 7-2, you wouldn't have really been able to guess which team won or lost; both guys on the winning team sounded like they really felt sorry for their brothers.
Philadelphia Flyers: I'm surprised to learn that Michael Del Zotto's career-best point streak isn't “two.”
Pittsburgh Penguins: If the Penguins trade for Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh dissolve into two warring factions of fans. I hope so badly that this happens.
San Jose Sharks: The dang Sharks are looking pretty good these days. Antti Niemi with a 31-save shutout, the 31st of his career. He wears No. 31. He is 31 years old. It's like that movie.
St. Louis Blues: This is goal No. 25 for Vladimir Tarasenko. Had a pretty easy go of it for this milestone.
Tampa Bay Lightning: So long to Eugene Nabokov, whoever that is. How do you spell “Vasilevskiy” right but “Evgeni” is wrong?
Toronto Maple Leafs: That's nine losses in a row for the Leafs. Bring back Randy!
Vancouver Canucks: Is this column worried about whether the Canucks would beat the Sabres... after they already did it?
Washington Capitals: The Caps have a lot of thoughts about the player tracking technology the league will soon be implementing? It's actually pretty interesting. Barry Trotz: “All stats that you get, doesn’t matter what you get, all analytics are all vital in terms of what you have in a player. They’re information that you can help to improve a player in a team concept or maybe individually.” Nerd.
Winnipeg Jets: The Jets' top line is one of the sneaky-best in the league. They're awesome. Bryan Little is awesome.
Play of the Weekend
Can't think of a more appropriate way for Alex Ovechkin to join an elite club. What a damn bomb.
Gold Star Award
Feb 1, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) scores a goal on this shot against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at Verizon Center. The Blues won 4-3. (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)
Alex Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the season yesterday, giving him 10 straight since he came into the league. That's a feat accomplished by only five guys ever in NHL history. You've probably heard of the other four guys: surefire Hall of Famers Jarome Iginla (11) and Jaromir Jagr (15), along with guys who already made it like Mike Gartner and Phil Esposito (15 each), Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Hull (13 each), Marcel Dionne (12), and Mike Bossy, Jarri Kurri, Darryl Sittler (10 each). That includes scoring more goals in a 48-game season in 2013 than Jagr did in 1995.
But yeah the guy's a bum and Washington should have let him go to the KHL years ago. Imagine being dumb enough to have believed that. Ovechkin has 453 goals in 729 career games. He is one of the greatest players ever, dawgs. Sorry.
Minus of the Weekend
Jan 18, 2015; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Arizona Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett reacts during the third period against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Winnipeg wins 4-3 in overtime. (Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports)
Couldn't believe the Coyotes used an ECHL goaltender this weekend. And Louis Domingue got called up as well.
Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week
User “YourARumor” is wise.
To EDM: Karlsson
To OTT: Hall
Signoff
You haven't taken a shower once this summer. Not once in 8 weeks.
Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is hereand his Twitter is here.
MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEY: |
EU leaders in Brussels on Friday edged towards a 2014-2020 budget deal that would fix the bloc's ceiling for overall spending at €960 billion, with hours of hard bargaining still expected before a final agreement is signed today.
ADVERTISING Read more
EU leaders appeared poised Friday to cut the bloc's budget for the first time in its six-decade history, with a tentative agreement to trim spending by three percent over the rest of the decade, diplomats said.
After a short break following a 19-hour session lasting through the night, the bloc's 27 leaders were due to return to the negotiating table at 1200 GMT.
At the marathon talks to produce a 2014-2020 budget, British Prime Minister David Cameron, apparently backed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, led a sustained push for the EU to share in the austerity national governments are facing.
France, along with Italy, fought to protect spending it sees as essential to boost growth and jobs at a time of record unemployment, but indications early Friday were that Paris could live with the deal.
FRANCE 24's Christophe Robeet reports from Brussels
"It is not a fantastic compromise deal but it is acceptable," a French diplomatic source told AFP.
A draft deal sets the 2014-20 actual spending or "payments" at 908.4 billion euros ($1.2 trillion), with an absolute ceiling of 960 billion euros for spending "commitments" to the budget.
The latest figures would represent a 3.0 percent cut from the 2007-13 budget and were less than the 973 billion euros that Cameron and allies such as the Netherlands rejected at a budget summit in November that collapsed without any deal.
In the EU budget process, commitments refer to the maximum amount that can be allocated to programmes while actual spending or "payments" is usually lower as projects are delayed or dropped.
Originally, the European Commission had wanted a 5.0 percent increase in commitments to 1.04 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion) – about one percent of the EU's total gross domestic product.
After a six-hour delay Thursday, leaders thrashed out the details overnight before breaking in the morning.
Amid the cuts, they also managed to find six billion euros for a new fund to tackle youth unemployment.
Jobless numbers across the EU are currently over 26 million, with nearly three out of five under the age of 25 out of work in Spain and Greece.
If the talks do finally deliver an accord, there is another important hurdle still to clear – the European Parliament which must approve it and lawmakers have already made clear they are in no mood for more austerity.
Parliament head Martin Schulz said bluntly on Thursday that he and the assembly would not accept a budget which would compromise EU programmes and undercut its future.
The draft showed key budget areas – the Common Agricultural Policy support payments to farmers and Cohesion Funds, a crucial source of money for new EU members seeking to catch up with their peers – to be largely untouched compared with the November figures.
But plans to use 40 billion euros to leverage private investment in cross-border energy, transport and digital networks was slashed by a quarter and EU administrative expenditures were cut as well.
Some of the roughly 35,000 EU civil servants have already begun strike action over fears they will lose their jobs and the perks.
Cameron, who last month risked isolating himself with a decision to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, put his cards on the table right from the start on Thursday.
"When we were last here in November, the numbers that were put forward were much too high. They need to come down – and if they don't come down, there won't be a deal," Cameron said.
French President Francois Hollande, meanwhile, said cuts in support for farmers and investment for growth would be his red lines but he may be able to argue that globally, he has managed to protect key areas of concern to Paris.
Diplomats pointed to a provision which might allow another 12 billion euros from EU fines and unspent funds to be written back into the payments line, thus bringing it back up to 920 billion euros and allowing more flexibility.
(AFP) |
The Republic of China (Taiwan) denies having any weapons of mass destruction . There is no evidence of Taiwan possessing any chemical , biological or nuclear weapons , although it has pursued nuclear weapons in the past. [1] [2]
Research program
The development of nuclear weapons by the Republic of China has been a contentious issue, as it had been triggered by PRC's first nuclear test in 1964.[3] The U.S., hoping to avoid escalating tensions in the Taiwan Strait, has continually opposed arming the Republic of China with nuclear weapons after 1979. Accordingly, the Republic of China adheres to the principles of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has stated that it does not intend to produce nuclear weapons, on the official basis. Past nuclear research by the ROC makes it a "threshold" nuclear state.
In 1967, a nuclear weapons program began under the auspices of the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) at the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology. The Republic of China was able to acquire nuclear technology from abroad (including a research reactor from Canada and low-grade plutonium from the United States) allegedly for a civilian energy system, but in actuality to develop fuel for nuclear weapons.[4]
During the 1970s, the Republic of China had an active program to produce plutonium using heavy water reactors. However, after the International Atomic Energy Agency found evidence of the Republic of China's efforts to produce weapons-grade plutonium, Taipei agreed in September 1976 under U.S. pressure to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.[5] A study by the Mitre Corporation in 1977 included Taiwan in a list of "insecure" nuclear threshold states—states with the technical capability to develop nuclear weapons and the security motivations to seriously contemplate such an option. The other states were Israel, South Africa, South Korea, and Yugoslavia.[6] U.S. intelligence believed that the Republic of China also had designed devices suitable for nuclear testing.[7]
A secret program was revealed when Colonel Chang Hsien-yi, deputy director of nuclear research at INER, who was secretly working for the CIA, defected to the U.S. in December 1987 and produced a cache of incriminating documents. General Hau Pei-tsun claimed that scientists in Taiwan had already produced a controlled nuclear reaction. Under pressure from the U.S., the program was halted. A study into the secret program concluded that at the time of Chang's defection, Taiwan was one or two years away from being able to complete a nuclear bomb.[1]
During the 1995–1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, then Republic of China President Lee Teng-hui proposed to reactivate the program, but was forced to back down a few days later after drawing intense criticism.[8]
Current status
There is no evidence that the ROC possesses any nuclear weapons or any programs to produce them, although it does have the advanced, state of the art technological ability to develop nuclear weapons as well as the high-tech ability to enrich uranium or process plutonium.[citation needed] The Republic of China's nuclear power plants use imported enriched uranium and are subject to International Atomic Energy Agency inspection. |
Vice President Pence meets with billionaire Charles Koch
Vice President Pence speaks at Focus on the Family's 40th anniversary celebration Friday, during his visit to Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo11: Christian Murdock, AP)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Vice President Pence and several of his top aides met Friday night with billionaire Charles Koch, another sign of the influential donor's increasing willingness to work with the Trump administration to advance his free-market ideas.
Pence, who has longstanding ties to Koch's political and policy empire, met with the Kansas industrialist for about 50 minutes and discussed a "range of policies that will benefit the country," including repealing the Affordable Care Act, overhauling the tax system and a law signed Friday by Trump that makes it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire problem employees, said James Davis, a spokesman for the Koch organizations.
Koch, whose network rivals the Republican Party's size and budget, did not support President Trump's candidacy, and Trump publicly mocked his rivals who sought to win favor with Koch and his brother, David Koch. But in recent months, the Kochs have committed more resources to backing Trump's agenda, including a multimillion-dollar campaign to help push Trump's tax cuts through the GOP-controlled Congress.
"We're going to work with them where we can to advance good policy," Davis said of the Trump administration.
The high-level meeting came a day before Koch is scheduled to convene his annual summer gathering of the wealthy conservatives who help fund the network's activities. Pence is not attending the three-day Koch summit but was in Colorado Springs on Friday for other events, including an anniversary celebration for the conservative religious group, Focus on the Family.
Read more:
Friday's meeting included Marc Short, Trump's director of legislative affairs, and longtime Pence aide Marty Obst. Short is a former top official in the Koch network.
Those accompanying Charles Koch included key Koch lieutenants Mark Holden and Brian Hooks, who oversee the network's activities, along with Tim Phillips, who runs the Kochs' grassroots arm, Americans for Prosperity. Davis also attended.
The Kochs also are putting their financial and grassroots might behind efforts to win Senate confirmation for several of Trump's judicial nominees, as they did for the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch earlier this year.
Davis said Gorsuch was a topic of Friday's meeting. "We talked about what a great Supreme Court justice he's going to be and already is," he said.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2t5aRQf |
Image caption St Andrews University insists its doors are not open only to the privileged
Student leaders have described as "truly awful" the record of Scottish universities on admitting students from poorer backgrounds.
Figures were obtained by the National Union of Students (NUS) in Scotland using a Freedom of Information request.
They said older universities each typically recruit fewer than 100 students from deprived backgrounds.
The universities have defended their efforts to recruit a wider range of undergraduates.
The figures were compiled using the government's Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).
Students were classed as coming from a poorer background if they grew up in one of the least affluent 20% of postcode districts.
These statistics should act as a wake-up call and empower universities to take the steps required to make access fairer in Scotland Robin Parker, NUS Scotland
St Andrews University admitted 13 students from these areas. It teaches a total of 7,370 undergraduates.
Edinburgh and Aberdeen also recruited fewer than 100 students from these "SIMD 20" districts.
NUS Scotland said both Dundee and Glasgow "do much better".
Robin Parker of NUS Scotland said: "University places should be given to those that have the most talent and potential.
"Unless institutions do more to widen access, they're missing out on some of those with the most potential, that could get the best degrees, and quite frankly, not doing their job properly.
"Making access fairer is incredibly important, but that doesn't mean it's difficult to do."
St Andrews University said it was making efforts to attract a wider range of students.
A statement from the university said: "The top universities in this country are open and accessible to all - but we need much more support from society at large to engender the belief in young people that the brightest can come here, and succeed.
"Like other universities, we are conducting lots of outreach work, a range of innovative programmes and running summer schools to encourage bright young people from deprived areas to choose a university education.
"For as long as we do that in isolation however, our progress will be limited."
Aberdeen University said it recruited many of its students from north-east Scotland, which has fewer districts which fall into the SIMD 20 category.
Every stage
NUS Scotland insisted, however, that more could be done by universities.
Robin Parker added: "Scottish universities are currently drafting up agreements on widening access with the Scottish Funding Council.
"These statistics should act as a wake-up call and empower universities to take the steps required to make access fairer in Scotland."
Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, which represents Scotland's higher education institutions, said universities were working "hell for leather" to rectify the situation in terms of places for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
He told BBC Radio Scotland many of the inequalities in education begin much earlier, in school or even pre-school.
He added: "If you look at the attainment of five-year-olds, you find some absolutely shocking differences according to whether they're from a challenged background of not.
"There's an 18 month attainment gap in verbal skills between five-year-olds from the most privileged backgrounds and the most challenged backgrounds, so there's a huge systemic issue for Scotland about making sure at every stage along the line that we're helping people to realise their full potential." |
Water droplets, coffee granules, fragments of polystyrene and even a toothpick are among the items that have been flying around in a Swiss laboratory lately — all of them kept in the air by sound waves. The device that achieves this acoustic levitation is the first to be capable of handling several objects simultaneously. It is described today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Typically, levitation techniques make use of electromagnetism; magnetic forces have even been used to levitate frogs. It has long been known that sound waves could counter gravity, too, but so far the method has lacked practical application because it could do little more than keep an object in place.
To also move and manipulate levitating objects, Dimos Poulikakos, a mechanical engineer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, and his colleagues built sound-making platforms using piezoelectric crystals, which shrink or stretch depending on the voltage applied to them. Each platform is the size of a pinky nail.
The platforms emit sound waves which move upward until they reach surface lying above, where they bounce back. When the downward-moving reflected waves overlap with the upward-moving source waves, the two ‘cancel out’ in the middle, at so-called node points. Objects placed there remain stuck in place because of the pressure of sound waves coming from both directions.
By adjusting the position of the nodes, the researchers can tow the objects between platforms. The platforms can be arranged in different ways to adapt to various experiments. In one demonstration involving a T-shaped array of platforms, the researchers joined two droplets introduced at separate locations then deposited the combined droplet at a third location.
Hands-free reactions
The system could be used to combine chemical reactants without the contamination that can result from contact with the surface of a container. Sound waves are already used in the pharmaceutical industry to obtain accurate results during drug screening. Yet Poulikakos’s method is the first to offer the possibility of precisely controlling several items simultaneously.
Poulikakos suggests that the system could be used to safely try out hazardous chemical reactions. “We had fun demonstrating the idea by colliding a lump of sodium with some water, which is obviously an aggressive reaction,” he says.
Peter Christianen, a physicist who works on electromagnetic levitation at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, says that he’s impressed with the invention. “I really like it; this is a very versatile platform — almost anything you want to manipulate, you can.”
This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on July 15, 2013. |
Once upon a time there were two girls. One was kind and helpful and was rewarded with a box of gold. The other was mean and lazy and was rewarded with a box of snakes. You may know another version of this fairy tale though, because it changed as it spread across Europe. A new study of how it changed shows that people who came from different language groups – or who lived a few hundred kilometres apart – were more likely to have children with each other than to exchange their version of the story. Analysing folklore in this way, using techniques from genetic analysis, may give us new insights into how cultures evolve.
There are numerous versions of the “kind and unkind girls” tale across Europe. Quentin Atkinson at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and colleagues took a database of 700 versions collected a century or more ago in 31 languages, and quantified their differences. They then analysed these variations using standard techniques from population genetics, used to determine how common mutant versions of a gene are according to ethnic group or across a region.
“We are the first to include both those variables, so we can tease the effect of linguistic boundaries apart from geography,” says Atkinson. He found that both factors matter. “Two French versions of the tale collected 100 kilometres apart should differ as much as a French and a German version collected 10 kilometres apart,” he says. By the same token however, he found that a French version of the tale from near the German border might be more similar to a German version from just across the border than to another French variant found hundreds of kilometers away.
Stopped at the border
The analysis also shows that the tale crosses borders less readily than genes. There are very few consistent genetic differences between groups of Europeans that speak different languages; the team found that there were ten times as many divergences in the way two groups told the folk tale as there were genetic differences. In other words, it has been easier for Europeans to interbreed than share their stories.
Advertisement
“The results are quite reasonable,” says Peter Richerson of the University of California at Davis, whose team used the World Values Survey to show larger cultural than genetic differences between ethnic groups.
“We need to quantify more such cultural variables,” says Atkinson, to settle how cultures evolve.
Such analysis may also give us historical insights. Applying a method for tracing a gene’s family tree to the folk tale, Atkinson found that German-speaking Swiss tell the Italian version, not the German one. But the British tell the German tale – as do the Danes, Irish and Latvians. Maybe storytellers travelled medieval Baltic trade routes, speculates Atkinson. His team is analysis more folk tales to see if they cluster in the same way.
Journal reference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B, doi.org/kd8 |
When a reporter asked then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) back in October 2009 “where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”, Pelosi's response was to dismiss both the reporter and the question. “Are you serious?” she sneered. Nadeam Elshami, Pelosi’s communications director, later amplified his boss’s response, telling CNS News, “You can put this on the record. That is not a serious question.”
The U.S. Supreme Court thinks that it is. On Monday March 26, the Supreme Court will begin hearing three days of oral arguments devoted to the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including its controversial "requirement to maintain minimum essential coverage." This requirement, also known as the individual mandate, forces all Americans to buy or secure health insurance under what Congress claims is its power "to regulate commerce...among the several states."
Twenty-six of those states, plus the National Federation of Independent Business and several individuals, are challenging the health care law, claiming it is an illegal power grab by the federal government that tramples the Constitution and undermines the principles of federalism.
Contrary to what Nancy Pelosi would have you believe, these challengers have a strong and serious case. Here are four of their best arguments against the individual mandate.
4. The Individual Mandate Threatens the Foundations of Contract Law
American contract law rests on the principle of mutual assent. If I hold a gun to your head and force you to sign a contract, no court of law will honor that document since I coerced you into signing it. Mutual assent must be present in order for a contract to be valid and binding.
This view was widely shared by the framers and ratifiers of the U.S. Constitution. Here’s how Pennsylvania lawyer James Wilson, a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, put it in one of his legal lectures:
The common law is a law of liberty. The defendant may plead, that he was compelled to execute the instrument. He cannot, indeed, deny the execution of it; but he can state, in his plea, the circumstances of compulsion attending his execution; and these circumstances, if sufficient in law, and established in fact, will procure a decision in his favour, that, in such circumstances, he did not bind himself.
The individual mandate turns this longstanding legal principle on its head. After all, there’s nothing mutual about the government forcing you to enter into a binding contract with a private company. As the Institute for Justice, the public interest law firm that pioneered this argument, explains in the powerful friend of the court brief it filed in the case, the framers of the Constitution “would never have given, and in fact did not give, Congress, through the guise of the Commerce Clause, the power to gut the foundation upon which the entirety of contract law rests.” |
Ben Carson’s remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State.
Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Mr. Carson, who leads in some Republican presidential polls, was capable of leading American foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews that he had struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security and that intense tutoring was having little effect.
“Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,” said Duane R. Clarridge, a top adviser to Mr. Carson on terrorism and national security. He also said Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy so “we can make him smart.”
As the deadly assaults in Paris claimed by the Islamic State reframe the presidential race, the candidates’ foreign policy credentials are suddenly under scrutiny. And Mr. Carson has attracted extra attention because his statements give rise to questions about where, as a retired neurosurgeon without government experience, he turns for information and counsel on complex global issues. What is unusual is the candor of those who are tutoring him about his struggle to master the subject. |
Yesterday, Pradeo’s behavioural analysis engine raised an alert about an application available on the Google Play store called “Dune!”. The app is a game that has been downloaded over 5 million times in the last few weeks and is now part of the “Top Apps” list on the Google Play store.
After looking closer to Dune! with a detailed analysis, a conclusion emerged: the app massively leaks data. Here are the main outcomes of our findings:
Dune! geolocates users and relays their position
Dune! leaks phone data
Data are sent to 32 distant servers
Dune! features 11 OWASP vulnerabilities
"Data leakage is widely seen as being one of the most worrisome threats to enterprise security as we head into 2018." says JR Raphael in a recent article for CSO.
Leakage of the user’s location
Even though it is not required for the game execution, Dune! geolocates its users. Once collected, the location data is sent to not less than 32 distant servers. Depending on the user’s type and context, like for example for Governmental employees, being able to know at any time the exact location of such category of user represents a major security issue and highlights the sensitiveness to share some time to easily that type of data.
Leakage of the device data
Dune! collects several information about the device, and sends them to a multitude of distant servers. Among the data leaked (full list at the bottom of this post), we found the operating system version which provides a clear statement of the devices’ level of vulnerability and it is often used by hackers to evaluate whether they should attack a device.
Several OWASP vulnerabilities
The OWASP Mobile Security Project classifies mobile security vulnerabilities to help developers building and maintaining secure mobile applications. Pradeo’s engine detected 11 OWASP vulnerabilities in the Dune! app, potentially putting users’ sensitive data at risk. These flaws make the app vulnerable to data leakage, denial of service and data corruption. (See full list at the bottom of this post)
More external libraries than the average
Libraries are designed for specific services (payment, analytics…) and embedded into applications. As they come from external companies, developers don’t have the hand over their source code. Very often, these libraries silently perform unnecessary actions (such as connections to unknown servers) and leak data. The Dune! app embeds 20 libraries, which is a lot more than the average. For more than half of them the only purpose is to track users and get as much information as they can about them.
Discover our analysis of the Uber app in this article: The Hidden Face of Uber
Dune! ID:
Package: io.voodoo.dune
Version : 2.2
sha1: fe6c24c9c201ebbd73a70195941f9ea2c983adaa
Device information leaked:
- Operating System version
- Service provider name
- Country code for the SIM provider
- Mobile country code and network code of the SIM provider
- Kind of telephony network the device is connected to (3G, 4G, UMTS…)
- Device manufacturer
- Device commercial name
- Battery level
- Device model number
OWASP vulnerabilities detected: |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.