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At President Donald Trump's Tuesday night rally in Phoenix, Arizona, a federal law may have been broken when Ben Carson, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), was introduced by his cabinet title prior to taking stage, according to the Washington Post.
"The secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson," the announcer said before Carson took the stage. Some legal experts believe that this was a violation of the Hatch Act.
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The purpose of the Hatch Act is to "prevent government employees from using their position and their station to promote candidates or political parties," Larry Noble, senior director of the Campaign Legal Center, told the Post. "The idea is that the government, once it’s in government, is supposed to be nonpartisan. It’s really to prevent the abuse of power."
Hence, giving the appearance that a government official is promoting a candidate while on the job is illegal under the Hatch Act.
The Washington Post reported that, legally, the rally constituted a campaign rally for Trump's 2020 reelection bid. "In order to avoid criticism for the cost and tone of the events, the bills have been paid by a reelection campaign organization that was formed back in January," the Post reported. Because of this, Carson should not have been announced by his cabinet title.
Hatch Act violations are nothing new for the Trump administration. Dan Scavino, the president's social media director, violated the same law when he called for the defeat of a Republican politician on Twitter. He was let off with only a warning.
The previous HUD secretary under Obama, Julián Castro, also violated the law when "he indicated during a news interview conducted in the department’s offices that he endorsed Hillary Clinton," the Post reported.
In the case of Ben Carson, a spokesperson denied that a law was violated, and told the Post that Carson "did not hear his name before he was cued to go on."
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"We don’t believe there was a Hatch Act violation. Dr. Carson’s travel and lodging were not paid for by the Department. Dr. Carson was there in his personal capacity. Additionally, he did not discuss HUD during his speech," HUD spokesman Raffi Williams wrote in an email to the Post.
"We are unaware of what instructions, if any, were provided to the announcer. All other references during the event refer to him as Dr. Carson. In this instance he did not hear his name before he was cued to go on. We are consulting with our Ethics Office on the matter to ensure it doesn’t occur again," the statement continued. |
A high court judge has ruled that companies do not have a general claim of ownership of the content contained in staff emails.
The decision creates a potential legal minefield for the terms of staff contracts and an administrative nightmare for IT teams running email servers, back up and storage.
The judge ruled businesses do not have an "enforceable proprietary claim" to staff email content unless that content can be considered to be confidential information belonging to a business, unless business copyright applies to the content, or unless the business has a contractual right of ownership over the content.
The ruling was in relation to a case involving shipping company Fairstar Heavy Transport and its former chief executive Philip Adkins.
Fairstar had already won a court order preventing Adkins from deleting certain emails that had been forwarded to him from the company's servers.
Although Adkins had been working for Fairstar he was actually under contract to do so by a separate company called Cadenza Management. Adkins lost his job as chief executive when Fairstar was bought by a rival company.
Whilst employed by Fairstar Adkins had agreed a shipbuilding contract with a Chinese shipyard. A dispute had arisen about the potential cost liabilities Fairstar faced under the contract terms.
Fairstar claimed that it in order to address the issue, and also to respond to an investigation into alleged accounting irregularities being undertaken by the Oslo stock exchange, it needed to have access to the contents of Adkins' emails.
Fairstar claimed that it automatically deleted the emails that it forwarded through its servers to Adkins' Cadenza account when he worked as chief executive.
But Justice Edwards-Stuart ruled that the company had no right over the ownership of the email content and therefore rejected Fairstar's request for an independent inspection of Adkins' emails to take place.
The judge said that there was nothing set out in case law in England and Wales that provides that there is a general proprietary right in the content of information.
He said, "I can find no practical basis for holding that there should be property in the content of an email, even if I thought that it was otherwise open to me to do so.
"To the extent that people require protection against the misuse of information contained in emails, in my judgment satisfactory protection is provided under English law either by the equitable jurisdiction to which I have referred in relation to confidential information (or by contract, where there is one) or, where applicable, the law of copyright.
"There are no compelling practical reasons that support the existence of a proprietary right - indeed, practical considerations militate against it."
Justice Edwards-Stuart added it was "quite impractical and unrealistic" to determine that ownership of the content of emails either belongs exclusively to the creator or the recipient of an email.
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Although renewable energy made impressive advances this year, its impact has been dwarfed by the changes caused by the surplus of cheap, abundant natural gas made possible by hydrofracturing—fracking—of shale deposits. It will also be hard for renewables to equal the impact of shale gas in the coming years.
Big rig: Workers drill for shale gas in Pennsylvania. The emergence of access to shale gas in the U.S.—and the low natural gas prices that followed—has created an extra hurdle for renewables.
As utilities shift electricity production from coal plants to natural gas ones, carbon dioxide emissions have dropped to levels not seen for 20 years. In China, the government has set ambitious goals to scale up fracking and shale gas production there as well.
Similar drilling technology has led to a surge of oil production in the United States that could have it rivaling the production of oil in Saudi Arabia. It’s led to credible estimates that within a couple of decades—with the help of rigorous fuel economy standards—North America could produce as much energy as it consumes.
Shale gas is having a major impact on renewable sources of energy as well. For example, as a result of cheap natural gas, some companies that had been founded to produce biofuels from renewable sources—and entrepreneurs who had dedicated much of their lives to developing such technologies—have given up and turned instead to making fuels with natural gas. At the same time, cheap natural gas has made it far more difficult for renewable sources of energy to compete.
Meanwhile, the prospects for solar, wind, biofuels, and advanced vehicles took a decidedly bearish turn this year.
Solar companies went bankrupt left and right. Electric vehicles sales were less than expected and A123, a once-promising advanced battery company, declared bankruptcy and was auctioned off at a fraction of the amount that had been invested in it.
Yet incremental progress is being made. Hybrid vehicle technology is now often profitable. There have also been some developments in improving internal combustion engines. Efficient internal combustion engines could be cheaper than batteries and electric motors, and so work their way into mainstream sales faster than electric vehicles, having a bigger impact on fossil fuel consumption over the next decade.
And even while many solar panel companies are going out of business, startups continue to push forward with new solar technology. Silevo combines several improvements to conventional silicon solar cells that both increase efficiency and lower manufacturing costs. Its technology works largely with existing manufacturing equipment and can take advantage of supply chains for conventional solar panels.
Yet for alternative technologies to take on fossil fuels at a large scale—and help achieve the dramatic cuts that would likely be needed to stabilize greenhouse gas levels—technology has to get far better than it is now. Incremental improvements are unlikely to be enough. The intermittency of renewable energy is something Germany will have to confront sooner than others as it embarks on an ambitious plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions while abandoning its greatest source of low-carbon energy: nuclear.
The U.S. Department of Energy has an ambitious goal to bring the cost of solar power down to six cents per kilowatt hour, less than half of what it is now. But to compete with natural gas at a large scale—in the United States now, and perhaps in other places as shale gas is developed around the world—it may need to achieve lower costs still. And that cost will have to build in the cost of intermittency—something the current DOE target doesn’t include.
Can such low costs be achieved? This year brought some encouraging signs. One company, Alta Devices, having built record-setting solar cells that could lead to far lower prices, is making progress in scaling up its technology and finding markets for it. Companies like Silevo could eventually make its solar cells cheaper by adopting some of an array of technologies that are being developed by other companies.
But no one knows the extent to which these advances can be commercialized, or what the real costs will be. A world powered mostly by renewables remains hard to imagine.
Yet just a few years ago, the shale gas revolution was equally hard to imagine. The challenges ahead aren’t reason to give up on alternatives to fossil fuel—but instead are a reason to keep driving innovation forward. |
"The question is, how can we get the ox out of the ditch?" Mr Skinner said. "In order to create jobs in America, you're going to have to cut taxes… particularly in the business community.
"We pay some of the highest [corporate] taxes around the world. There needs to be some levelling."
Asked about federal borrowing, he said: "It's not a good story… the government has to spend less. We have to grow the economy, grow GDP… and you have to be able to do it in an organic way and not through borrowings and increasing debt."
McDonald's army of blue-collar customers need more clarity on core issues, such as healthcare, he said. "Until all of that is all defined and certain… we're going to continue to have a fragile environment for consumer confidence."
Skinner's intervention will be seized upon by President Obama's opponents amid a fierce debate in Washington over the country's deteriorating finances and high unemployment. As Democrats and Republicans fire up their 2012 election campaigns, the focus is on the "9pc nightmare", with both the US budget deficit and jobless total at that level.
Federal government debt has climbed to $15 trillion (£9.4 trillion), about the same as annual GDP. Worse still, America's credit rating was recently downgraded by Standard & Poor's.
As the leader of a remarkable turnaround at McDonald's, Skinner's comments will resonate across the country. His company is one of only a few big US employers still hiring in significant numbers, with more than 500,000 staff on its domestic payroll.
McDonald's has just delivered 100 consecutive months of same-store sales growth. It is ranked number one in the Dow Jones Industrial Average for total shareholder return over the past five years, with the share price rising from $12 in 2003 to $93 today.
Skinner joined the company as a trainee store manager 40 years ago and was made chief executive in 2004.
• Jeff Randall's full interview with Jim Skinner will be broadcast tonight on Sky News at 7pm. |
While political opponents have long questioned Mayor Cory Booker's popularity in Newark, a 2012 poll obtained by The Star-Ledger seemingly puts an end to questions about his ratings in the city he governs.
Booker received an overall 70-percent favorability rating among likely voters in Newark, according to the poll commissioned in October by some of his most staunch opponents. A total of 69 percent of African American voters in the city said they have a favorable opinion of the mayor, who is now in his second term.
The poll was conducted by Global Strategy Group, a prominent national polling firm, and questioned 404 likely voters - a healthy sample for a city of Newark's size. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
It was commissioned by a group of city leaders including South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka, West Ward Councilman Ron Rice, to determine who would have the best chance of winning the 2014 mayoral race. Booker will most likely not seek a third term. Instead, he is gearing up for a U.S. Senate run.
Rice, who is unlikely to run for mayor, came in second on favorability with 63 percent. Baraka scored 61 percent, according to the poll.
The two other major potential candidates — North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos and former Assistant Attorney General Shavar Jeffries — scored 44 percent and 16 percent respectively.
Since the poll was conducted, two major events have occurred that could have an impact on the numbers: Booker lost a fierce battle to appoint Shanique Speight as Donald Payne Jr.'s successor on the council. Payne was elected to Congress to replace his father, who died last March. Then, Booker announced he was running for U.S. Senate, angering a lot of Democrats statewide
Still, a favorability rating of 70 percent is good for any politician, not to mention one who has engendered such vocal opposition among city leaders.
Other numbers in the poll also tell an interesting story.
Booker received an overall 65 percent job approval rating and 58 percent of respondents said they would re-elect him if he ran for a third term.
That means anyone running against Booker's legacy in Newark will have to carefully calibrate their message since a commanding majority of voters seem to back the mayor's job performance.
What the numbers portend for potential mayoral candidates is unclear. In a four-way matchup between Baraka, Rice, Ramos and Jeffries, Rice came out ahead with 28 percent of the vote, Baraka got 27 percent, Ramos got 23 percent and Jeffries got 2 percent, according to the poll.
With Rice out of the race and campaigns still in their infancy for the 2014 contest, those numbers could change drastically.
Follow @giambusso |
The dust is settling over the great Szechuan sauce debacle of 2017, McDonald’s spectacular failure of a promotional event. Last Saturday, the fast-food giant tried to capitalize on Rick And Morty fans’ obsession with Rick’s dipping-sauce obsession, but either didn’t anticipate the overwhelming response—presumably because no one in the marketing department bothered to so much as glance at Twitter in the days before the promo—or figured that people who love a cartoon wouldn’t get in a snit if they were ultimately denied said sauce. They were wrong on both counts.
In the cold light of another sauce-less day, some fans have threatened class-action suits against McDonald’s for the emotional duress of traveling, in some cases across state lines, to compete for one packet of a limited number that reportedly varied from 5 to 20. (The employee hoarding theories will have to be taken up with HR.) And while that’s a bit much, even Rick And Morty co-creator Justin Roiland wasn’t thrilled with the way it all went down, which he posted about on Twitter.
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Roiland clarified that the show had nothing to do with the stunt, and that he wasn’t “happy” with how McDonald’s ran the whole thing. He also urged fans to “please be cool to employees it’s not their fault,” advice that really shouldn’t need stating, especially since we’re talking about a mix of ketchup and teriyaki sauce. |
I (raiph) have switched to selected highlights rather than an exhaustive summary and changed some other things. I'd appreciate comments from both #perl6 regulars and those who are just reading these reports saying whether or not these changes are an improvement over last week's report. (Alternatively gmail raiph.mellor.)
2012-08-26:
masak et al continued development this week of hygienic macros.
arnsholt et al continued development this week of the Rakudo native call interface Zavolaj.
Moritz continued development this week of content for the new p6doc ("Official Perl 6 documentation" for endusers).
2012-08-27:
diakopter said "should Perl 6 encode to NFD on I/O output? or leave in NFC + exploded NFG appendices?" which led to dialog about encodings and pragmas.
thou said "do you have an idea on how to normalize examples in docs?" which led to a dialog about automated verification of examples.
2012-08-28:
2012-08-29:
pmichaud overhauled the Rakudo Star build process.
pmichaud wrote a Rakudo Star Release Guide.
2012-08-31:
japhb continued his discussion about perl6.org with the question "How much stylistic similarity do we want between perl6.org and its subdomains?".
TimToady got P5-in-P6 to a key milestone. " viv+STD_P5 now parses all of viv ".
2012-09-01: |
A View inside of OpenSUSE's Awesome Haskell Support
Peter Simons
37 min
37 min 2017-05-26
2017-05-26 118
118 c3voc.de
Playlists: 'osc17' videos starting here
The functional programming language "Haskell" has been instrumental in researching the design of compilers, type systems, and advanced programming language features for more than 2 decades, but in recent years it has also become increasingly popular with red-blooded software engineers who worry about practical tasks like developing client/server systems, standalone applications, cryptography, finance solutions, or REST application back-ends. As it happens, openSUSE offers outstanding support for the Haskell language ecosystem and is therefore an ideal platform for discerning Haskell hackers who develop commercial-grade solutions. Both Tumbleweed and Leap support a whopping 2,200 Haskell packages that cover the entire LTS Haskell standard version 8.x. Furthermore, there exists a sophisticated infrastructure to easily maintain and update a package set of that size, which guarantees that important new releases make it into the distribution with a minimal delay.
In this presentation, we would like to describe the current state of Haskell packaging in openSUSE, covering the following topics in particular:
1. Introduce Haskell briefly and explain why it kicks ass.
2. How can I install and set up a Haskell development environment with openSUSE Leap or Tumbleweed?
3. How can I package and deploy my own Haskell applications on openSUSE with the Open Build Sevice?
4. How does the underlying infrastructure work ("cabal2obs") that makes all this possible?
The target audience for this presentation are Haskell programmers who would like to get started using openSUSE, openSUSE users who would like get started with Haskell, and packagers who would like to get insights into an endeavor that maintains and updates several thousand spec files without major human intervention.
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Johannes Hahn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner during his visit to Macedonian capital of Skopje pointed out the importance of elections scheduled for December 11, as the only way of solving the nation’s ongoing political crisis.
Today’s visit (October 14) of Commissioner Hahn to Macedonia came at the height of political uncertainty in a country strongly divided by a political crisis which erupted in 2015.
After meeting with the highest political officials in Macedonia and the Special prosecutor, Hahn noted the necessity of the election scheduled for December 11.
He stated that the election has to be fair and credible in order to minimize the room for criticism from any Macedonian political party. Hahn pointed out that the election is the only way out of the two-year-long political crisis in Macedonia.
However, while the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party claims all the conditions for a fair and credible election have been meet, the parliaments’ (which is dominated by VMRO-DPMNE MPs) failure to dissolve itself on Wednesday (October 12) could delay the election.
The most prominent opposition party Social Democrats (SDSM) saw the parliament’s failure to dissolve as a trick by a ruling party to intentionally delay the election. They told Commissioner Hahn that their ministers in the interim government will do everything in their power to prevent election fraud.
Severe political crisis and the “Colorful revolution”
The two-year long political crisis in Macedonia started in 2015, when the opposition accused the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party, and the government led by its leader, Nikola Gruevski of illegal wiretapping of more than 20,000 people, including government officials, ministers and party officials.
Opposition accusations gained momentum, when they started publicly releasing the covertly recorded tapes, claiming they reveal the government’s involvement as well as other criminal charges against members of the cabinet which included election fraud.
The accusations by the opposition sparked mass protests against the VMRO-DPMNE government and then Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. The mass protests came to be called the “Colorful revolution” as protesters frequently threw paint on government’s buildings.
On the other side, VMRO-DPMNE government led by Gruevski claimed that the tapes were fabricated by “foreign intelligence agencies” in a effort to destabilize the nation. Gruevski’s statement encouraged his supporters to organize counter protests to anti-government protest led by the opposition.
The crisis was briefly paused by a deal reached by Macedonian parties, which was mediated again by Johannes Hahn earlier this year. The deal required the PM Gruevski to resign, which he did, and enabled the opposition SDSM to name few ministers in the interim government.
The deal also required Macedonia to undertake serious law reforms and enable the creation of the office of the Special prosecutor.
(Written by Dejan Scepanovic; Editing by Robyn Hunter & Omar Nor ) |
Grimsby Town 1-1 Sunderland U21 (Sunderland win 7-6 on penalties)
safc.com’s Sam Lightle reviews the action from Blundell Park as Sunderland under-21s exited the Checkatrade Trophy.
THE WRAP
Sunderland under-21s gave it as good as they had against Grimsby Town as they ran out 7-6 winners on penalties in the Checkatrade Trophy.
After a goalless first period, the game sparked to life the final 15 minutes when JJ Hooper turned home a penalty after Harry Cardwell was fouled by Brendan Galloway.
But the Black Cats produced a swift response. Donald Love found the bottom corner from the edge of the box as the ball rolled down his leg and past a helpless Ben Killip.
And so it came down to penalties. Adam Bale scored the crucial penalty to edge the Black Cats into a 7-6 lead before second-half substitute Sean McAllister saw his penalty crash against the crossbar. Sunderland clinch the bonus point to round off their Checkatrade Trophy campaign on a high.
QUARTET START
Elliott Dickman took charge of the match this evening, replacing Robbie Stockdale in the dugout, and named four first-team faces, with Callum McManaman included in that. The winger started on the right while Jack Rodwell, Brendan Galloway and Donald Love also featured. Second-year scholar Jack Diamond started on the left for the Black Cats as he gained another taste of senior action.
COLD
The winter is here. On a bitterly cold night at Blundell Park, Sunderland and Grimsby met in a group H Checkatrade Trophy match that counted for little as both sides faced an early exit. But judging by the opening exchanges, it meant a lot to both sides as Luke Molyneux raced clear and warmed the gloves of Killip before Jamille Matt saw his header hacked off the line by Owen Gamble. Molyneux built on his early chance by pulling Grimsby’s backline all over the place. The adapted winger, who was playing in a central role, fed off the space down the flanks and linked up with the trickery of McManaman as he flashed an effort over the bar from 20 yards. Gamble too looked tidy in the middle of the park with some neat touches while 17-year-old Diamond offered bags of exuberance as his slender frame fended off challenges as he danced his way into Grimsby’s half.
WING WIZARDRY
Sunderland had a control and discipline to their game out of possession, and that played into their hands as Grimsby struggled to open the visitors up. Meanwhile, in possession McManaman showed his class as Gamble seized the ball back high up the field and immediately spread play out to the 26-year-old who was hugging the right touchline. McManaman peeled off the white line, breezed past his man and then curled an attempt a fraction wide of Killip’s far post. Moments later, the winger freed Molyneux with an early floated pass from deep inside his own half. Molyneux went toe-to-toe with Karleigh Osborne but on that occasion lost out as the half-finished goalless.
TIME TO SPARKLE
Glimpses. Flashes. That’s what we saw of Diamond in the opening period. But the winger saw more of the ball in the first minutes of the second 45, and produced a powerful run which had Grimsby’s backline on their toes. Diamond drove at the heart of Grimsby’s backline, and after coming off the left flank the winger let fly from range but his effort drifted a fraction wide of Killip’s goal. Russell Slade shuffled his pack in order to deal with the Black Cats’ strong start to the second 45, and it worked as they created a flurry of chances. Mitch Rose the orchestrator of most things good for Grimsby controlled the tempo, with Hooper warming the gloves of James Talbot before Diallang Jaiyesimi sliced an effort high over the bar from 20 yards.
BANG!
Sunderland worked their way back into the match, Molyneux and Gamble spurned goalscoring chances as they failed to hit the target. In truth there was little to tell between each side, and that will explain why Grimsby’s opener was swiftly cancelled out by Sunderland less than a minute later. The hosts took the lead through Hooper who calmly dispatched a penalty after Galloway had fouled Harry Cardwell. But it was Galloway who helped get the lads level, when his lung-bursting run from his own box saw him move Sunderland into Grimsby’s box. McManaman dug the ball out and Love’s effort trickled into the bottom corner with 79 minutes played.
PENALTIES TO SETTLE IT
And so it came down to penalties. Adam Bale scored the crucial penalty to edge the Black Cats into a 7-6 lead before second-half substitute Sean McAllister saw his penalty crash against the crossbar. Sunderland clinch the bonus point to round off their Checkatrade Trophy campaign on a high.
Grimsby Town: Killip, Mills, Osborne, Hooper, Kelly, Rose, Clifton (Powles, 87), Matt, Osborne (McAllister, 69), Jaiyesimi, Cardwell
Subs: McMillan, Davis, Dixon, Sawyer, McKeown
Sunderland: Talbot, Love, Galloway, Bale, Rodwell, Beadling, McManaman, Gamble (Hackett, 82), Robson, Diamond (Greenwood, 60), Molyneux.
Subs: Taylor, Woud, Storey, Hume, Wright |
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CHICAGO -- The NFL Draft returns to Chicago tonight.
This is the second consecutive year that the league's Draft Town will be in Chicago's Grant Park. But this time it takes up even more space.
NFL Draft Town will be open from noon to 10 p.m. today and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. The event is free and open to the public.
Activities and displays now take up as much room as 20 football fields.
You can train like a pro, test your vertical jump, run the 40 yard dash, kick a field goal and hit the NFL Museum. Then you can ride a 120-foot Ferris wheel, check out the virtual reality exhibits, grab player autographs, take the little ones to the ball pit and join your favorite team for a picture.
200,000 people showed up last year thanks to some good weather. But despite that success, the league is considering other locations for next year.
The draft itself is at Roosevelt University's Auditorium Theater.
Round one starts at 7 p.m. today. The Chicago Bears have the 11th overall pick. |
It has been a rollercoaster of a ride for global equity investors over the past few days. Besides the month-long slide in the Chinese markets, the Dow plummeted from approximately 16,459 on August 21st to 15,446 on the 24th.
When the going gets tough, investors have historically flocked toward assets that are considered safer, including cash, gold, and treasury bills. Often times, the asset of choice is gold because it is considered the greatest store of value. However, some think that Bitcoin might one day trump gold as a means of protecting against volatility.
Tim Draper, founding partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital fund, believes that bitcoin might one day be the preeminent store of value for investors.
“When bitcoin is mature, I expect people to run to bitcoin the way they do to gold when the market gets scary,” Draper said in an email to Bitcoin Magazine.“Currently, there is not enough usage to make people feel comfortable investing in Bitcoin when they come out of the market. I expect that to change.”
Draper suggests that currently, bitcoin is far too speculative an investment for it to be a store of value. According to Investopedia, a store of value means, “any form of commodity, asset, or money that has value and can be stored and retrieved over time. As long as a currency is relatively stable in its value, money (such as a dollar bill) is the most common and efficient store of value found in an economy.”
Fundamentally, the reason people run to cash when the stock market falls is because they view the small inflation to be a small loss in comparison to what could happen in the stock market. Even more, they run to gold because, as Investopedia says, “they can be counted on to retain some value in almost any scenario, especially in those cases where the store of value has a finite supply (like gold).”
For bitcoin to be considered an efficient store of value, the price of it would need to start rising and stay relatively consistent rather than having significant volatility. Draper explained that the bitcoin ecosystem isn’t in a place, yet, for this to happen.
“There will be pressure on Bitcoin pricing as there is supply to sell as miners get more bitcoin, and less demand to buy as the use cases evolve,” Draper explained. In essence, miners need to sell their bitcoin more to pay for electricity than hoarders and users need to buy. This results in a drop in the price.
“I expect this phenomenon to turn around in about 6 months as use cases become apparent,” Draper went on to say.
Due to the understood finite supply of bitcoin—there will only ever be 21 million coins released—as usage increases and the supply stays relatively constant, the only place for the price to go is up. As the price goes up, investors will potentially see bitcoin as a functioning store of value, which will perpetuate its value.
Jacob Donnelly is a full-time product manager and journalist covering finance and bitcoin. He runs a weekly newsletter all about bitcoin and digital currency called Crypto Brief.
Photo Disney | ABC Television Group / Flickr (CC) |
www.zubeidamustafa.com
WHEN you start to despair — and we have too many occasions for that — go get the light of hope from someone who holds the candle. So I went to see Dr Ruth Pfau, who has been an inspiration for many, especially the most stigmatised of segments — her leprosy patients.
Even in her poor state of health in her hospital bed, Dr Pfau continues to be the candle of hope she has epitomised. She was hospitalised recently but is now in her own apartment in her neat and prim clinic. Of course, she is happy to be back home, she told me.
As I held her hand I could feel the “enrichment flow from her into me” to use her words. That is the role she has been playing since she arrived as a young woman of 31 in Karachi from Germany in 1960 and made Pakistan her home. It was chance that took her to the Lepers’ Colony behind the commercial offices on McLeod Road (now I.I. Chundrigar Road). The squalor and subhuman conditions did not deter her. Within three years, she had set up a proper leprosy clinic, now an eight-storey hospital on Shahrah-i-Liaquat, and the hub of 157 leprosy centres all over the country. There followed an arduous journey of over five decades devoted to “serving the unserved”. At no stage has her commitment slackened.
In her forthcoming autobiography, quoting an axiom, she writes, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness” and, better still, “to keep it burning”.
Leprosy, according to Dr Pfau, ‘is not just a sickness’.
What I find striking about Dr Ruth Pfau is her holistic approach to the people she works for and whom she loves unconditionally.
Thus leprosy, the disease she focused on, is, according to her, “not just a sickness” with specific medical conditions, but also a monstrosity due to society’s attitude towards the person who is suffering from it. He or she is dubbed a sinner, a victim of the scourge of the divine.
It is this stigma that robs patients of their dignity and deprives them of their basic birthright that Dr Pfau finds disquieting. Hence in her scheme of things the cure is a process which not only treats the physical ailment but continues until the patient has been rehabilitated and has access to his right to food and clothing, shelter, education, health, equal job opportunities and, above all, social acceptance. With the risk of relapse ever present, leprosy workers have to establish lifelong associations with their patients who are monitored for early signs of any recurrence of the disease.
This sounds so idealistic in Pakistan’s context. But it has actually worked because Dr Pfau’s strategy from the initial years has been to focus on community development as well. She took healthcare to the patients right to their doorstep, personally visiting families to convince them that leprosy, a grossly misunderstood disease, was treatable.
After studying Dr Pfau’s approach, I feel that is the only one which can work in a Third World society. To be effective, a four-pronged strategy is needed: a) adopt preventive measures; b) educate communities to lower the incidence of diseases; c) provide curative treatment to those who still fall ill; d) monitor and detect early cases that recur to nip the damage in the bud.
Dr Pfau made an impact on the leprosy scene in Pakistan and in 1996; WHO declared that leprosy had been controlled in the country. Dr Pfau then set her sights on leprosy elimination, a bigger challenge as the incubation period can last from two to 40 years. In 2016, the number of patients under treatment in Pakistan were only 531 — a far cry from 19,398 in the early 1980s.
To use fully the capacity, it had created, the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC) branched out into tuberculosis and blindness prevention programmes in support of the government. Why TB? The TB bacterium is related to the leprosy bacillus. Why blindness? For the leprosy patient, blindness enhances his helplessness since he is robbed of his tactile ability as well. You need a lot of compassion to understand the feelings of those suffering from either of the two.
TB and blindness programmes require similar community efforts. With the socio-medical infrastructure in place for leprosy, the MALC could include these in its sphere of work.
Dr Ruth Pfau saw a rat nibbling the decayed foot of a leprosy patient who had lost sensation in his legs. That prompted her to “care for such patients” as she puts it.
What would you say about the case of a doctor in Umerkot who, reportedly, refused to touch a sanitary worker who was brought to the hospital in critical condition after inhaling gas in the gutter he was cleaning? The reason that was supposedly given was, “The man was covered with filth and I was fasting.”
www.zubeidamustafa.com
Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2017 |
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud waits to greet U.S. President Donald Trump, as he arrives to attend a summit of Gulf Cooperation Council leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 21, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s ruling powers represent the “tip of the spear” of global terrorism, Saudi King Salman said in a speech on Sunday during a visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to the kingdom.
“Our responsibility before God and our people and the whole world is to stand united to fight the forces of evil and extremism wherever they are ... The Iranian regime represents the tip of the spear of global terrorism.”
The king also said in a televised speech that Saudi Arabia would not be lenient in trying anyone who finances terrorism.
“We will never be lenient in trying anyone who finances terrorism, in any way or means, to the full force of the law.” |
The website asks students to “expose and document” professors REUTERS/Kacper Pempel A new website is asking students and others to "expose and document" professors who "discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom."
The site, called Professor Watchlist, is not without precedent -- predecessors include the now-defunct NoIndoctrination.org, which logged accounts of alleged bias in the classroom. There's also David Horowitz's 2006 book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America. But such efforts arguably have new meaning in an era of talk about registering certain social groups and concerns about free speech.
At the same time, the new list has attracted Twitter jokesters under the hashtag #trollprofwatchlist, with complaints about Indiana Jones, Professor Plum of "Clue University," and Gilderoy Lockhart from Harry Potter's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, among others.
Professor Watchlist, launched Monday, is a project of Turning Point USA. The group's mission is to "identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government." Its national college and university field program works to "identify young conservative activists, build and maintain effective student groups, advertise and rebrand conservative values, engage in face-to-face and peer-to-peer conversations about the pressing issues facing our country," according to its website.
The group's founder, Charlie Kirk -- a millennial who has emerged in some conservative political circles as a major player -- did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Professor Watchlist, but he promoted it on social media.
In a write-up of the project, Kirk said, "It's no secret that some of America's college professors are totally out of line" and that he often hears stories about "professors who attack and target conservatives, promote liberal propaganda and use their position of power to advance liberal agendas in their classroom. Turning Point USA is saying enough is enough. It's time we expose these professors." |
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Ohio Republican Party, which supports candidates who espouse fiscal responsibility, has an accounting problem. Some months, its numbers don't balance.
Other times, they just don't add up.
At one point this year, the Ohio GOP's federal campaign account had an unexplained $40,000 increase in receipts, baffling the Federal Election Commission.
Another month, the Ohio party had a $3,923 discrepancy between the amount of cash it said it had on hand at the end of one month and the amount it reported at the start of the next month. Under checkbook-balancing principles, the numbers should have been identical.
The Federal Election Commission, whose Reports Analysis Division keeps finding these errors and discrepancies, caught $70,623 in previously undisclosed donations in another month.
These discoveries during FEC reviews might not be so unusual had the party not acknowledged financial reporting problems earlier. It blamed software and personnel issues for mistakes in 2013 and 2014. It said those problems were behind it.
Yet rarely a month goes by now when the FEC doesn't notify the Ohio Republican Party State Central & Executive Committee that it needs to fix its math errors, a cleveland.com review of FEC filings and correspondence shows.
The FEC's warning is always the same: Failure to adequately respond "could result in an audit or enforcement action." And so the Ohio party, which told cleveland.com that it is working to fix the problems, responds with a new filing.
But then it makes a new error the next month. And the FEC writes another demand for another explanation.
"As we get the letters," said Brittany Warner, the Ohio Republican Party's spokeswoman, "we're certainly taking them seriously and we're working with the FEC to get them resolved."
The Ohio Republican Party, though largely a state entity, helps raise money for congressional and national elections, so its central and executive committee must file reports with the FEC, listing contributions and disbursements from its federal campaign account.
The state party shares these receipts with such groups as the Hamilton, Franklin and Cuyahoga County Republican parties, which separately support congressional candidates; with a multi-state committee called the Senate Battleground Fund; with a joint committee supporting Sen. Rob Portman's election campaign, and, in the past, with the Boehner for Speaker Committee, which in turn distributed contributions to still more Republican campaign groups.
Bookkeeping for these funds can be complex. Federal laws limit the total amount of money an individual donor may give to a campaign or candidate, yet some donors write excessive checks, necessitating a refund or a reallocation. Proceeds must be split among the entities involved in specific fund-raising events. There are a number of moving parts.
But the Ohio Republican Party State Central & Executive Committee's problem is of a different nature. Its numbers simply fail to balance or reconcile month after month.
A typical FEC letter to the party, sent to the party on Sept. 10:
"The beginning cash balance of this report (for June) does not equal the ending balance of your May Monthly Report." The letter also said that sums in 11 separate columns "appear to be incorrect."
From an Oct. 27 FEC letter, which the Ohio party just received last week:
"Your amended report (for April) discloses an increase in receipts totaling $40,000 from the amounts disclosed on your original report."
And from an April 27 FEC letter:
"Your amended report discloses an increase in receipts totaling $70,623.53 from the amounts disclosed on your original report."
These problems might not stand out were it not for the fact that this has gone on a long time -- and for the fact that the Ohio party had earlier told the FEC that while it once had issues like this, they were now resolved.
The state and central committee told the FEC in March 2015 that it "went through a change of staff in December 2013." During that transition, it said, "mistakes were made as staff learned the system and the FEC file."
So the party audited its reports after December 2013 to find and correct errors, it told the FEC. "All new reports have been uploaded as of 3/26/15. This addresses columns not adding up and balances not being transferred properly."
In June 2015, the Ohio party explained the genesis of its problems slightly differently. It told the FEC that in "the late fall of 2014, the Ohio Republican Party realized that the reports that were being run from the accounting software ... contained errors. The reports had been created by prior ORP staff."
The party said it conducted a comprehensive review, adding in a note to the FEC that "corrections have been made to the accounting and internal systems to correct these mistakes going forward."
That was in June. But in the months since then, including September and October, the FEC's Reports Analysis Division has sent new notices that detail newly-found problems. The FEC sent the party eight difference notices in September alone, asking about apparent errors, deficiencies or imbalances in Ohio Republican Party monthly filings from February to September.
Christian Hilland, an FEC spokesman, told cleveland.com that his agency cannot comment on the notices or reports. But based on public records, it does not appear that the Ohio Republicans have been penalized, and they appear to be responsive to the steady flow of FEC requests and questions.
Warner, the state party spokeswoman, described the problems as a sort of "chain reaction." Each time the party files an amended report to deal with one month's issue, it throws off a different balance or report.
It is unclear how or when the party can catch up, but Warner said it will happen.
"I have no doubt," she said. |
“Eastern Montana is the energy producer for the state,” said Jerry Jimison, Glendive’s mayor. “People down here deserve the same safeguards for safe water.”
Glendive, near the North Dakota border, sits on the edge of the Bakken Formation, one of the nation’s richest oil-producing regions, where oil and gas production during the past decade has been a boon to the economies of dozens of small, formerly forlorn prairie towns in North Dakota and eastern Montana.
Unemployment has fallen to 2.2 percent, according to the latest federal data, and an increase in home sales and local tax revenues is linked to the money pouring in from the oil fields and related industries.
On Tuesday, residents complained that they had not been properly notified by either Bridger or local officials about the spill and the subsequent contamination of the treatment plant. Some people said they had learned about it via Facebook posts from other residents.
“I’m O.K. with the pipeline,” said Tracey Rod, who works in the local court system. “It’s what’s making jobs around here.”
But, she added, “I think the city should have told us more and the city should have been quicker.”
Some restaurants and other businesses that rely on city water decided to shut down. Some parents were planning to keep their children home from school, Ms. Kjelstrup said, even though school officials tried to reassure parents that they had plenty of bottled water for cooking and drinking.
Lana Warner was serving coffee and lattes at Crazy Woman Espresso, using purified water that she buys outside Glendive. But she said she could not make frozen drinks — ice was off-limits — and could not wash blenders or dishes using tap water. On Tuesday morning, she said, she washed her hands and immediately noticed a petroleum odor. She decided there was no way she would drink — or serve — anything using municipal water for now. |
It went good playing with my guys. Obviously we have a lot of guys that no one really knows about, but they stepped up big and played against a team that we know a lot about -- we ended up winning a (state) championship.
I did in a way, but I kind of struggled because I wasn’t playing in a position that was my element. I was playing the four and the five because I was the tallest guy on my team. It’s not somewhere I’m used to playing. I’m used to playing on the wing or the one, two or three. I’m learning the game from a different aspect and it was a learning process. So I had to deal with that. I caught a rhythm towards the middle of the season and I thought I played pretty well.
Developmental wise, there’s a long list. There’s a long list of things from top to bottom. I could start naming stuff, but we’d be here all day.
Defense. Defense is a limited commodity. Just being able to guard multiple positions and being able to stay in front of guards, forwards, that’s going to get you on the floor. Defense is going to get you on the floor no matter whose team you’re on so if I can get that to a level where I’m pretty good I’ll have a really solid career.
I have a few weeks. We are about to start the national tournament, but I took two visits to Michigan and California. I got to talk to my mom and talk about what I want to do towards going to college and just discussing things. I hadn’t gotten to the gist of things. The process is coming to an end. I have about a month and I’ll be looking to make a decision.
That’s fair to say. It’s possible because I haven’t made my mind up on where I want to go yet. I haven’t really even thought about a top five. If I choose a school within the next two weeks that I think I like the most and if they don’t have any NBA guys I won’t have to wait until whatever the NBA deadline is. If I do, I’ll probably wait. I have a list of things that I’m looking into for the schools.
Being comfortable. No matter where I go. I’m going to be there for six months to four years so I want to make sure I’m comfortable wherever I’m at. Whether a coach leaves or if somebody gets recruited over me, I just want to make sure I’m going to a good environment, I have a great relationship with the people around me and they have a sure fire basketball team.
With Cal, I put a lot of schools on my list late that are really good educational wise like North Carolina. They came in late. Michigan came in late. Those two definitely came in late. Those are really good education schools. I want to get the most out of college. So I’m thinking schools that can get the most out of me and which schools I can get the most out of them. So I put the schools on my list first.
The same as everybody else. It’s mostly about education and things like that. Berkeley is definitely known for education. But it’s the same for everybody else. Everybody else has their own spin on things and how they want you to come to their school. It’s pretty much the same as everything else.
Oh, no. I know with Ivan they are talking about they might get him or might not. But with Caleb I didn’t know he was getting recruited by Cal until the last week or so. I took a visit out there. I talked to Ivan. That’s pretty much the only person I talked to before I went out there. I liked the visit. It’s a nice place, Berkeley. Great education and borderline genius’ at Cal-Berkeley and I think I could fit in just like I could fit in somewhere. I have a lot of things to think about, but Cal is definitely on my list.
Michigan, I have a lot of family. I’m based in Michigan so I could deflect a lot of stuff because my family is there, so Michigan is definitely going to be in the front runner of things. Talking to Coach Beilein, he’s like an offensive genius the way he gets these guys that aren’t really ranked high to be lottery picks in the draft is amazing. It’s definitely something that drew my attention. Also Michigan is a great education school. They have one of the top public universities in America with Cal-Berkeley, UCLA and North Carolina.
Kentucky is probably the best basketball program in America. I took a lot of visits and nobody basketball program was as good as Kentucky. In the gist of things basketball is what I’m going to do with my life and basketball is important, but nobody’s basketball program is probably as good as Kentucky just with their facilities and how they operate. It’s just so professional and it’s ridiculous. I saw it with my own eyes. Kentucky, I just have so much respect for that program.
I want to develop. People say I’m ready to go this year. People say I’ll be ready next year. To do what I want to do, I think it’ll take me at least two years. I don’t want to come into a situation like the NBA and have to develop for two or three years. When I come in I want to be a superstar. Coming in I want to be on superstar status. Coming in I don’t want to have to wait two years. It’s going to take development and it’s going to take hard work. I know I can make the business move and be a top five, top 10 or top 15 draft pick if I just had a solid year in college and left. I love the game too much to chase after the money. I know your heath is not secure, but I love the game. Your heath is never secure. You could get hurt anytime. I just want to develop and be the best player I can be. When I’m ready, I’m ready.
Coach Roy, he’s a great guy, humble guy. He has a very smooth personality and is down to earth. His program has a lot of tradition and a lot of good players have come through their program. They treat it like it’s special and means a lot because a lot of their good players come back and everything. I don’t know what’s there, but obviously it’s something special. All of their players come back every summer and they always tutor you and mentor you. I’ve had people reach out to me that went to North Carolina and telling me it’s like nothing else. It’s that type of environment.
The same as everybody else honestly. Come here and we are going to develop you and we are going to make sure you have everything you need education wise and are going to be in a good environment.
I didn’t want people calling me. You can call my mom. She’ll pick up the phone and you can ask her about me. Other than that, I’m just trying to stay focused on one thing at a time. Before I was focused on my school work and winning a state championship. Now I’m focused on McDonald’s, Hoop Summit, Jordan and the national tournament. When all that ends, I will reach out to every coach. Until then I don’t really need to talk to you about how I’m doing. I already know what your school offers. I’ve been on a visit. I’ve talked to you numerous times. I know you want to build a relationship, but I’m not sure if I’m going to your school yet so I don’t want to build that relationship yet. If we are building a relationship and I go somewhere else it’s a waste of time and a waste of everyone’s energy. So I’d rather pick your school and then build a relationship.
Bill Self is a great guy. Down to earth. Very humble. He came in a unique way. Bill Self doesn’t really talk a lot about basketball. He’s a people person. He talks about relationships and how he’s going to develop you as a man and mentally. That’s important as well. Just how you develop physically and mentally, and that’s how Bill Self comes out. Kansas definitely, at least when I was there, felt like a family environment. My mom said it reminded her of Muskegon, which is her hometown (in Michigan). Bill Self seems like a wonderful guy.
I’m definitely going to have to reach out to them. They are great coaches. They’ve been down and they’ve been with me since eighth grade. I have a lot of respect for those guys. Coach Brian Gregory and coach Mark Fox are great guys. So I definitely have to reach to them. They still reach out and it’s basically the same pitch as everybody else, but basically just staying at home and what staying at home could mean. They’ve talked to me about a lot of the great players that have stayed at home like Russell Westbrook, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
I doubt it. But you never know. I might feel a certain type of way when I wake up and call a coach and book a flight the next day. I don’t think I will. |
Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, is planning to call an end to the operation of mixed accommodation in an announcement which could come as early as this week.
He is understood to have asked Dame Christine Beasley, the Chief Nursing Officer, to visit all hospital trusts which still contain mixed sex wards to monitor what steps they have taken to ensure that male and female patients are not forced to share facilities.
Only accident and emergency and intensive care units would be permitted to maintain mixed accommodation.
It comes nearly two years after the previous Labour government gave up on the promise to end mixed sex wards, on the grounds that it was an “aspiration that cannot be met”.
One in 10 patients is currently admitted to a mixed sex ward, while a third are forced to share bathrooms.
Patient charities have campaigned for years to bring about the end of "undignified" mixed wards in NHS facilities, and a number of female patients have been victims of assault while in hospitals which force the sexes to share facilities.
Mr Lansley is said to feel that in a modern health service it is not acceptable for patients to be denied the privacy of single sex wards.
He has held a number of meetings with hospital heads and senior NHS officials, and is said to be determined to push ahead with the move as soon as possible.
NHS trusts will be warned that they will face fines if they do not get rid of their remaining mixed wards by the end of the year.
But Catherine Murphy of The Patients' Association warned that the pledge may be difficult to achieve at a time when the NHS is facing financial restrictions as part of the Government's austerity drive.
She said: "We would welcome an end to mixed sex wards – it is an unjust and unfair way to treat our most vulnerable, especially the elderly.
"But given that each incoming secretary of state has made exactly this same pledge since 1997, we will wait to see if it is more than just rhetoric.
"Until we see the proof, we will continue to campaign for the end of mixed sex wards."
Mr Blair fought the 1997 general election which swept Labour to power on a promise to end same sex wards within two years. The party’s 2001 election contained a similar pledge.
But seven years later, in January 2008, Lord Darzi, the former health minister, said that it was more cost effective to merely split wards into single sex bays, rather than devoting entire units to one or other of the sexes.
He described the provision of separate wards for male and female patients as an "aspiration that cannot be met”.
Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, dismissed the forthcoming announcement as “hollow.".
He said: This is nothing more than an empty gesture … we had a huge drive to abolish mixed sex wards. They're pretty much gone except in hospitals where the layout makes it impossible."
Mr Lansley is also understood to be keen to encourage hospitals to make greater use of private rooms to tackle infections such as superbugs.
He will order NHS staff to ensure that at least half of the beds in new wards are in single rooms, helping to slow the spread of hospital-acquired infections as well as giving patients more privacy. |
FILE PHOTO: An encryption message is seen on the WhatsApp application on an iPhone in Manchester , Britain March 27, 2017. REUTERS/Phil Noble
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia said on Sunday it will push for greater powers to tackle the use of encrypted messaging services used by terrorists and criminals at an upcoming meeting of ministers from the “Five Eyes” intelligence network.
The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, will meet in the Canadian city of Ottawa next week, where they will discuss tactics to combat terrorism and border protection, two senior Australian ministers said.
Australia has made it clear it wants tech companies to do much more to give intelligence and law enforcement agencies access to encrypted communications.
“I will raise the need to address ongoing challenges posed by terrorists and criminals using encryption,” Australian Attorney General Senator Brandis said in a joint statement.
“These discussions will focus on the need to cooperate with service providers to ensure reasonable assistance is provided to law enforcement and security agencies.”
Tech firms such as Apple (AAPL.O) and Facebook (FB.O), which owns encrypted messaging service WhatsApp, have been criticized in the United Kingdom and United States for not doing enough to crackdown on so-called dark spaces where extremists can communicate.
Industry involvement in thwarting the encryption of terrorist messaging will be a priority for Australia at the gathering, Senator Brandis said. |
Scientists have developed a new robot – with human sized feet laced up in a pair of sneakers – that closely imitates the walking motion of humans, making it more energy-efficient and better at navigating uneven terrain.
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The bipedal robot steps with a heel-toe motion that copies human locomotion more closely than flat-footed robot walkers can, according to Christian Hubicki, a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).
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The humanoid robot DURUS was designed collaboratively by the research nonprofit SRI International and Georgia Tech’s Advanced Mechanical Bipedal Experimental Robotics (AMBER) Lab.
An earlier DURUS design was modified to accommodate the new manner of walking.
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Robots that walk on two legs typically have ‘feet’ that are large and flat, to provide a more stable platform, Hubicki told Live Science.
The algorithms that dictate a robot’s forward momentum typically keep those big feet flat on the ground when pushing off, to minimise the risk that the bot will tip over.
While a flat-footed walker might perform well on a treadmill, uneven terrain in the real world could stop a robot in its tracks.
The researchers designed a new algorithm that works to keep a robot upright and moving forward even if only parts of the foot are engaged.
They tested DURUS using a modified foot with an arch; every step began with the heel making contact and then rolling to the ball of the foot to push off from the ground, said Hubicki.
Springs installed by the robot’s ankles act like tendons.
DURUS’ feet are about the same size as human feet — about half as long as the feet on the original model. To enhance the similarity, researchers also gave it pair of sneakers.
The new algorithm may even have applications beyond robotics, Hubicki added.
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It could be used to improve the design of prosthetics and exoskeletons to help people who use assistance to get around. |
The single most frequently-viewed page on this website is the glossary of ableist phrases . As with anything frequently shared and visited on the internet, reactions generally fall into one of two camps: happy and supportive, or else, highly critically or viscerally offended. Eventually, I prefaced that page with its own brief essay explaining some of the reasons for its existence. (It still receives a lot of criticism. Some of these criticisms are valid, and I continually revise the page to reflect my own process of learning and unlearning. Others span the gamut of accusations about my intentions or the page's reasons for existence.)For example, a few months ago, someone pointed out that the list of alternative phrases assumed class and education privilege. The commenter said that a lot of the words seemed like SAT words. In response, I attempted to revise and expand the list of suggested alternatives to account for varying tones, moods, and access to education or linguistic privilege. More recently, another person criticized the list of alternatives for including profanity because swears are fairly common triggers. (At the same time, a lot of other people find swears to be the most easily accessible language. I have now added a trigger warning before a new, separate list of alternatives just for the swears, located at the bottom after everything else. I'm not going to outright delete them, though, because there's also a lot of baggage for many people who have been continually told that they should not use swears, abused for their language, or oppressed by a lot of classism and ableism in demonizing the use of swear words.)One of the most common (inaccurate and mischaracterizing) criticisms, however, both from inside and outside the disability community, is the accusation that the list is a tool for policing language or censoring words.So what's the purpose of the list? Why compile it at all? Because linguistic ableism is part of the total system of ableism, and it is critical to understand how it works, how it is deployed, and how we can unlearn our social conditioning that linguistic ableism isand justor should be.As important as it is to recognize and uncover the violence of linguistic ableism (how ableism is specifically embedded into our language), it is also critical to understandthis is important. (And this is where those who jump the gun and leap to accusations of pedantic, holier-than-thou, smug language-policing or censorship have not yet come to understand why this page, and those like it, need to exist.)Linguistic ableism:a) is part of an entire system of ableism, and doesn't exist simply by itself,b) signifies how deeply ableist our societies and cultures by how common and accepted ableism is in language,c) reinforces and perpetuates ableist social norms that normalize violence and abuse against disabled people,d) actively creates less safe spaces by re-traumatizing disabled people, ande) uses ableism to perpetuate other forms of oppression.Language is not the be all end all. This isn't about policing language or censoring words, but about critically examining how language is part of total ableist hegemony. This is about being accountable when we learn about linguistic ableism, but it is also about being compassionate to ourselves and recognizing that to varying extents, we have all participated in ablesupremacy and ablenormativity. This is about understanding the connections between linguistic ableism and other forms of ableism, such as medical ableism, scientific ableism, legal ableism, and cultural ableism.Language reflects and influences society and culture. That's why students of any foreign language often study the cultures where that language is dominant. (And that's not to dimiss the many valid criticisms of the ethnocentrism and colonialism in much area and language studies programs.) Language isn't important for silly semantic reasons, but because it cannot be separated from the culture in which it is deployed. Feminist theory, queer theory, and race theory have all analyzed how sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, binarism, and racism are embedded in language. This is the same process.Using the language of disability (either directly or through metaphor) as a way to insult other people, dismiss other people, express your vehement loathing for them/their viewpoints, or invalidate their viewpoints is actually extremely ableist (and often sanist, neurotypicalist, audist, or vidist).For example, I am talking about using the language of mental illness ("crazy," "insane," "psycho," or "wacko," for example), cognitive disability ("retarded," "slow," or "moron," for example), or physical disability ("crippled" or "completely blind/deaf," for example). In another example, I am also talking about using disability as metaphor.Using the language of disability to denigrate or insult in our conversations and organizing presumes thata.) people who hold undesirable or harmful viewpoints must hold themthey are mentally ill/have psych disabilities/are mentally disabled/are disabled in some way,b.) having mental illness/psych disability/mental disability/any disability is actually so undesirable and horrible that you can insult someone that way (the same underlying reason why socially embedded linguistic heterosexism lets people use "gay" as an insult),c.) it's acceptable to use ableism against one disability group while decrying ableism against another disability group (creating horizontal or intra-disability oppression) or another form of oppression against another marginalized group (creating horizontal oppression), andd.) and that no one who is disabled in any way might actually share your opinion or be on your side,thus actually actively excluding and marginalizing this part of our community, and making our spaces less safe and less inclusive.For alternatives, try being more precise in your language. Maybe you meant to say one of the following (much longer list on the glossary ):- These people have completely ridiculous ideas.- That person's viewpoint is extremely harmful.- That idea is extremist.- Those people have disturbing and concerning opinions.- That comment was super problematic.- I can't even engage with that person anymore.- That person is a total [profanity/swear].If you find yourself using this ableist language, please take a minute to re-examine how your perspective has been informed by ableism. This isn't an accusation or an insinuation that you are automatically an Evil Person. We have all participated in ableist structures, and are all continually learning and unlearning. But if you are truly committed to building more just and inclusive communities, then it is critical to unlearn how we have been conditioned into accepting ableism in all parts of our lives and societies, including in our language. |
The Department of Justice announced Friday that a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee pleaded guilty to removing classified information from the agency's offices.
Nghia Pho, a 67-year-old living in Maryland, was a developer for the NSA's hacking corps — Tailored Access Operations (TAO). Authorities found classified documents throughout his home, according to court documents, which Pho took from work between 2010 and 2015.
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The New York Times reports that Pho is the NSA employee that was targeted in a reported incident where Russian spies hacked NSA tools using Kaspersky Lab software. That incident is believed to be among the reasons the Trump administration banned the use of Kaspersky software.
Media reports described that employee as taking classified hacking tools to work from a home computer that was loaded with Kaspersky Antivirus. According to the same reports, spies used the file scanning function of Kaspersky Antivirus to search for classified documents on all systems running the software.
Kaspersky has denied the claim of intentional espionage, noting that its applications scan for malware — including government-designed malware. The TAO tools, it said, triggered the antivirus program.
Court documents contain only sparse details about Pho's crime and do not describe the Kaspersky incident.
Pho is the third person working for the NSA to be arrested for removing classified information since October of last year — with contractor Reality Winner and NSA employee Harold Martin III preceding him. |
When it comes to major sporting events (ex, the Final Four) win or lose, you're pretty much guaranteed a riot. Nothing allows you to unwind from the stress of watching TV getting drunk off your ass like setting some fires and breaking stuff. Last night/this morning was no exception as a bunch of Kentucky students proved their fandom by indulging in this most sacred of traditions. It's a little more forgivable, seeing as how the only thing to do in Kentucky just began the offseason (Plus, they just got this riot done out of the way two days early). Had they won the National Championship tomorrow night, there would've been a celebratory riot instead of a riot fueled by frustration. Property damage-wise we doubt there'd be a difference. After all was said and done 31 people were arrested. Anywhere, here's some pictures:
Officers with protective shields line the ends of State Street. pic.twitter.com/2tXTfT1WZS — Paris Lewbel (@PLewbel) April 5, 2015
Things on State Street are starting to get more violent. We've seen multiple fights breaking out in the last few mins pic.twitter.com/HRNW5zwQrk — Paris Lewbel (@PLewbel) April 5, 2015
Lexington officials: "Tonight we would characterize the crowd as rowdy, and at times hostile." pic.twitter.com/OBuM0oHwP4 — Paris Lewbel (@PLewbel) April 5, 2015
Kentucky Fans Start Fires, Police Plan For Riots After Undefeated Streak Broken By Wisconsin (@CheyeneMiller19) pic.twitter.com/6zUPQQi0Ty — Breaking News (@Breaking911) April 5, 2015
Fireworks now going off on State Street https://t.co/UrJaKyfEtX — Paris Lewbel (@PLewbel) April 5, 2015
.@lexkypolice Officers aiming non-lethal pepper ball guns at a group fighting nearby. pic.twitter.com/7PaCjQEZTU — Paris Lewbel (@PLewbel) April 5, 2015
More fires starting here on State Street and more pour into the street. #BBN pic.twitter.com/i1Au6W9eiX — Paris Lewbel (@PLewbel) April 5, 2015
Fans now getting rowdier, now more fire. pic.twitter.com/Na28OI0QGx — Garrett Wymer (@GarrettWKYT) April 5, 2015
Street Sweepers now taking over State Street after a long night of post-game madness. pic.twitter.com/p8XH37YBt9 — Paris Lewbel (@PLewbel) April 5, 2015
The city of Vancouver remains unimpressed.
[via @PLewbel/Barstool Sports]
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to [email protected] |
VANCOUVER -- A woman whose beloved therapy dog was disembowelled by a pit bull is livid that the city prosecutor has decided not to file bylaw charges against the animal’s owner.
Mia Johnson’s miniature pinscher Yuri died in November after he was attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier, a member of one of the breeds commonly referred to as pit bulls.
Johnson was heartbroken last week when she learned that, after five months, the city bylaw prosecutor’s office has decided not to pursue any legal action, even though the Animal Services department had recommended charges for three bylaw violations.
“There’s something wrong here. This is not what should have happened,” she said, adding that no one from the prosecutor’s office interviewed her about the attack.
Johnson and her daughter were walking Yuri on leash near West 10th Avenue and Dunbar Street on Nov. 1 when they ran into another woman and her pit bull. The bigger dog was wearing what looked like a cloth muzzle and was straining at his leash, according to Johnson.
Somehow, the leash broke, the muzzle fell off and the pit bull’s jaws locked onto Yuri’s body, ripping him open. Johnson had to have him euthanized.
The pit bull’s owner had her dog put down as well, but Johnson was hoping for more action from authorities.
“The owner should have been charged. They should have been charged, big time. It sends a message,” she said.
A city communications staff member said no one was available to comment on the decision not to pursue charges. However, the prosecutor’s office came to the conclusion that Yuri’s death was the result of an unfortunate series of coincidences and that the bigger dog’s owner was taking reasonable care of the animal.
Johnson doesn’t buy that.
“What’s unfortunate here is not that the leash broke or that the muzzle came off, it’s that someone was walking a very dangerous animal,” she said.
Johnson has noticed an increase in the number of pit bulls in her neighbourhood, and she’s worried that attacks like this could become more frequent as animal-loving Vancouverites take in rescue dogs from places that have restricted pit bull ownership or from shelters with high euthanization rates.
“I think they’re just being good-hearted Samaritans, they’re trying to save animals. I’m really sympathetic,” she said.
But she worries that the average dog owner doesn’t have the ability to safely care for an animal that has the potential to be dangerous because of its strength and history of mistreatment.
[email protected]
Twitter.com/bethanylindsay
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I recently received a review copy of the SteelSeries Sensei MLG Edition pro gaming mouse, and it’s taken me a while to explore all the features and try the mouse on a variety of games and applications. Without diving too deep into technical details that would be incomprehensible to most gamers, I’ll say this about the mouse: it is completely accurate- as accurate and precise as you can be. The hardware ensures this (and remember, a good mousepad is just as important to accuracy as your mouse).
You can customize any aspect of its software to your exact specifications- sensitivity, path correction, acceleration, lift distance, the button mappings, the colors- you can macro them to buttons to change all of these on the fly if you want. The only issue is that many gamers may be ill-equipped to take full advantage of these features, unless they know exactly what sort of acceleration/speed they need to be most effective in a given scenario. Fortunately, the default settings feel intuitive to me, (and to most gamers, I expect). Despite the software enabling you to modify the software, it is all onboard- no PC/Mac drivers necessary. You can even store multiple customizations (profiles), and trigger a different profile when a given application is active (increase sensitivity when Counterstrike is active, glow blue when Starcraft II is active).
Like all worthwhile pro gaming mouses, it has a button that lets you swap between low and high sensitivity. These can be modified through the accompanying software package, but the default specs were more than refined. Unlike my previous mouse (Logitech MX518), I didn’t find the high sensitivity setting to be uncontrollable. It is definitely the setting you’ll want to use on a twitch shooter, and you will be used to the higher sensitivity in 5-10 minutes. You’ll find it fairly easy to stop your cursor on small targets across the screen- don’t rest your palm on the mouse when accuracy is important; I recommend a bit of a claw grip for highest accuracy.
You can tell that a lot of thought went into each component of the mouse to maximize effectiveness; the shape conforms well to your hand without favoring righties like many high-end mice (it even has a left-handed mode built into the software). the weight is well-balanced, the material is smooth, and the bottom enough friction to keep it from slipping on smoother pads, but not enough to inhibit movement. The scroll-wheel is grippy and precisely notched, and the double-braided cord is unlikely to break under the yanking force of even the most angry gamer.
It has a few visual perks that some may be interested in; the leds on the scroll wheel & body may not be necessary for most people, but they’re tasteful and customizable- you can change the colors or turn them off. Personally, I was planning on immediately turning them off, but after switching to a deep purple hue, I find that I kind of like it. The LED screen on the bottom is slightly overkill- it’s unlikely most people will see it, but I suppose it might be a desirable place for would-be pros to put their gamer tag. That being said, it certainly doesn’t detract from the mouse in any way- it can also be turned off if a gamer isn’t interested in the extra bling. However, several of these perks could certainly contribute to the price point.
The price is the “make-or-break” point of the device. At $99, it is at quite a high price-range for mice. However, it consistently ranks near the top for gaming mice in its class, and is well-under the most expensive mice out there. However, it is likely that many of the features may not be necessary for most gamers, and thus the price point may not be justifiable. However, unless you want a weightier mouse at the extreme end of the ergonomic spectrum, this mouse will do everything you want it to do. If you are a gamer who feels bottlenecked by his hardware (and can afford a hundred-dollar mouse) I give the Sensei my full recommendation.
[Final Breakdown]
[+Optimized Hardware] [+Extremely Precise] [+Great Customizability] [-High Price Tag]
4/5: Good |
About 6 weeks ago I reported that Morrissey was gearing up to release a new album in 2014.
Today, Morrissey fan-site True To You has got the scoop on further details – claiming the album will have the very Morrissey-esque title of World Peace Is None Of Your Business.
There hasn’t yet been any official word from Moz, but he is well-known for releasing news via fan-sites so there’s no real reason not to believe True To You.
As well as revealing the album title, the post also claimed the album is slated for release in late June/early July. They also go on to say Morrissey is ‘beyond ecstatic’ with the album.
World Peace Is None Of Your Business will be the former Smiths front-man’s 10th solo studio album and his first for five years, following 2009’s Years Of Refusal. |
Shia LaBeouf’s new film is a certified flop.
The military thriller Man Down premiered in the United Kingdom this weekend to just £7 total, according to comScore. That’s equal to about $8.71 — or a single movie ticket.
Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) directed the film, which stars LaBeouf as a Marine who returns from a tour in Afghanistan only to find America in post-apocalyptic disarray. He then embarks on a quest to find his wife (Kate Mara) and young son (Charlie Shotwell). Jai Courtney and Gary Oldman also star.
Man Down premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015, and although it debuted to less-than-stellar reviews, it still managed to earn about $454,000 in North America after hitting theaters in December. In the U.K., it was simultaneously released on demand and in a single theater. The film currently holds a 15 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. |
Usually, it adds extra cheer to your day when the person who made your coffee beverage adds a decorative flourish to the cup, whether it’s traditional latte foam art or a pretty caramel drizzle. One Starbucks customer in Louisiana says that a barista served up two beverages adorned with a pentagram and the number 666 in caramel syrup.
Who drew these decorations, and why? What kind of Starbucks beverage are they? They appear to be cold beverage with clear plastic tops, so it’s they’re not regular foam-topped lattes. “I’m assuming those lids were used because we ordered no whipped cream and there was no need for a dome lid,” she later clarified.
At least the customer demanded to see a manager as soon as she received the drinks to make sure that the culprit was held responsible, right? Well, no. “I unfortunately can’t give the young man’s name who served it,” she posted to the Starbucks Facebook wall, “because I was so appalled that I could not bring myself to look at him.” She wasn’t too appalled or pressed for time to snap a picture of the drinks before consuming them, though.
A Starbucks representative told The Daily Advertiser that the company had apologized to her by social media, but they couldn’t identify the artist. “This obviously is not the type of experience we want to provide any of our customers, and is not representative of the customer service our partners provide to millions of customers every day,” Starbucks said in a more formal statement.
If you want an apology and for the employee who did something wrong to be corrected, you should call the problem to the attention of someone at Starbucks as soon as possible, picking up the phone if you didn’t check your takeout order before leaving. The customer says that she did file an official complaint other than her Facebook post, so there’s that.
Update: I am ashamed that I didn’t think of the “you’re in Carcosa now” joke first. Well played, Kelly Faircloth of Jezebel.
Starbucks apologizes to Louisiana woman for alleged Satanic symbols in coffee foam [Daily Advertiser] |
Note: This Is Part Two or a Two Part Article — You Can Read Part 1 Here.
How To Find a Real 70 mm IMAX Theatre
From my count, 342 of the 430 US IMAX Theaters are Digital. That means only 88 screens are real 70mm IMAX. And many of those screens are attached to museums, and don’t show Hollywood movie releases. The Dark Knight Rises prologue was only available on 42 of those 88 screens. So how can you find the nearest 70mm IMAX theater to you?
Someone has created a Google Map listing the locations, but it was last updated in August 2009:
View IMAX or LIEMAX? in a larger map
LF Examiner keeps an updated list of IMAX theaters in the US, but the list isn’t the easiest thing to read. Below you can find a listing of the real 70mm 15 perf IMAX theaters in existence as of December 2011, organized by state (Click here for a list of international IMAX Theaters — look for the format “1570” for real 70mm IMAX). Please note that some of these theaters are connected to museums and show only documentary presentations. Check your local listings to see if they screen Hollywood movies.
A Complete List of US IMAX 70mm Movie Theaters
AL
Birmingham McWane Science Center (1998)
Huntsville U.S. Space and Rocket Center (1982)
Mobile Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center (1998)
AZ
Grand Canyon National Geographic Visitor Center at the Grand Canyon (1984)
Phoenix Arizona Science Center (2006)
Tempe Harkins Arizona Mills 25 (1998)
CA
Cathedral City Desert IMAX Theater (1999)
Irvine Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 & IMAX (2002)
Los Angeles California Science Center (1998)
Los Angeles Rave 18 IMAX (2010)
Ontario Edwards Ontario Palace 22 & IMAX (2003)
Sacramento Esquire IMAX Theatre (1999)
San Diego Reuben H. Fleet Science Center (1973)
San Francisco AMC Loews Metreon (1999)
San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation (1998)
Universal City AMC Loews Universal City (2000)
CT
Norwalk Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk IMAX (1988)
DC
Washington National Air and Space Museum (1976)
Washington National Museum of Natural History (1999)
FL
Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science (1992)
Kennedy Space Center (1984)
NAS Pensacola National Naval Aviation Museum (1996)
Orlando Orlando Science Center (1997)
Orlando Regal Pointe 21 & IMAX (2007)
Tampa Museum of Science and Industry IMAX (1995)
GA
Atlanta Fernbank Museum of Natural History (1992)
Columbus National Infantry Museum (2009)
IA
Council Bluffs AMC Star Council Bluffs (2010)
Davenport Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science (2002)
Des Moines Science Center of Iowa (2005)
IL
Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (1986)
Chicago Navy Pier IMAX Theatre (1995)
IN
Indianapolis Indiana State Museum (1996)
KS
Hutchinson Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center (1980)
KY
Louisville Louisville Science Center (1988)
LA
New Orleans Entergy IMAX Theatre (1995)
Shreveport Sci-Port (1998)
MA
Boston Museum of Science (1987)
Boston New England Aquarium (2001)
Natick Jordan’s Furniture (2002)
Reading Jordan’s Furniture (2004)
MD
Baltimore Maryland Science Center (1987)
MI
Dearborn The Henry Ford (1999)
Detroit Detroit Science Center (1978)
MN
Apple Valley Great Clips IMAX Theatre (1997)
Saint Paul Science Museum of Minnesota (1999)
Shakopee Valleyfair Family Amusement Park (1982)
MO
Branson Branson’s IMAX Entertainment Complex (1993)
Saint Louis Saint Louis Science Center (1991)
MT
West Yellowstone Yellowstone IMAX Theatre (1994)
NC
Charlotte Discovery Place, Inc. (1991)
NE
Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo (1997)
NJ
Atlantic City Tropicana Casino And Resort (2004)
Jersey City Liberty Science Center (1993)
NM
Alamogordo New Mexico Museum of Space History (1980)
NY
Garden City Cradle of Aviation Museum (2002)
New York AMC Loews Lincoln Square (1994)
New York American Museum of Natural History (1982)
Syracuse Museum of Science and Technology (1997)
West Nyack IMAX Theatre at Palisades Center (1998)
OH
Cincinnati Cincinnati Museum Center (1990)
Cleveland Great Lakes Science Center (1996)
Dayton U.S. Air Force Museum Foundation (1991)
OR
McMinnville Evergreen Aviation Museum (2007)
Portland Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (1992)
PA
Harrisburg Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts (1999)
Philadelphia Franklin Institute Science Museum (1990)
Pittsburgh Carnegie Science Center (1991)
RI
Providence Providence Place Cinemas 16 (2008)
SC
Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach IMAX 3D Theater (2007)
TN
Chattanooga Tennessee Aquarium (1996)
Memphis Memphis Museums, Inc. (1995)
TX
Austin Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum (2001)
Dallas Museum of Nature and Science (1996)
Fort Worth Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (1983)
Galveston Moody Gardens (1993)
Houston Edwards Houston Marq*e 23 & IMAX (2003)
Houston Houston Museum of Natural Science (1989)
San Antonio IMAX 3D Theatre San Antonio Rivercenter (2001)
San Antonio IMAX Theatre San Antonio Rivercenter (1988)
VA
Chantilly Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (2003)
Richmond Science Museum of Virginia (1983)
Virginia Beach Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center (1996)
WA
Seattle Pacific Science Center (1998)
Seattle Pacific Science Center (1979)
Spokane Riverfront Park IMAX (1978)
WI
Fitchburg AMC Star Fitchburg 18 (2010)
Milwaukee Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater (1996) |
The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia's captain suggests he has been unfairly blamed for both the shipwreck that killed 32 people and for appearing to abandon ship prematurely, CBC's the fifth estate reports in an exclusive documentary airing Friday.
In an interview, Capt. Francesco Schettino describes to the fifth estate's Bob McKeown how he believes that the ship wasn't on the course he had ordered and how he believes a helmsman's brief error contributed to the problem. As well, Schettino says that evidence from the ship's recovered "black box" appears to support his contention.
"It's not a crime, it's an accident," he says. "And there is a difference between crime and accident. In this case, it's being treated like a crime, and I don't understand why."
Schettino had ordered a sail-past "salute" to the island of Giglio on the evening of Jan. 13, travelling parallel to the shore at a distance of about half a nautical mile.
When he arrived on the bridge to command the salute, however, he said the ship wasn't on the course he had ordered. As he took control and turned the ship, he saw foam and realized he was in shallow water. The Costa Concordia had in fact been heading at full speed toward rocks.
As the black box indicates, Schettino says, he ordered a turn to port, to the left, but it appears the opposite happened. Shortly after, the aft section of the ship struck rocks in the shallow water, and a 35-metre gash was torn in the hull below the water.
Watch Watch the fifth estate documentary, Costa Concordia: The Captain's Tale Friday. It airs on CBC-TV at 9 p.m. (9:30 in Newfoundland and Labrador).
Schettino told the fifth estate that he delayed ordering the passengers to abandon ship because he didn't want to create panic. He says that there was also the expectation that they would be safer closer to shore where they could be rescued.
"The moment that you do that, you do that only when you are sure that it's more dangerous to keep them on board," he says.
With the ship still in motion toward deeper water, it would have been dangerous to man the lifeboats, the captain says.
"It's only one passenger that starts to give the example to jump overboard, and you can provoke a kind of hysteria. Mass hysteria. And that would have been the worst thing to happen."
Removal of passengers
In the end, the Costa Concordia, now without power, drifted into shallower water against rocks near Giglio and began to tilt severely to the right.
The salvage of the ship continues, as do numerous lawsuits against the owners. Charges of negligent manslaughter against Schettino are pending, as a judge in Italy decides whether to proceed.
Schettino was accused after the wreck of trying to abandon ship before the passengers were off. However, he says that while he was co-ordinating the evacuation of the ship, he accidentally slid off the side of the listing ship and onto a lifeboat.
The half-sunk cruise ship Costa Concordia remains where it ran aground on Jan 13, 2012. (CBC)
When the famous conversation with Italian Coast Guard commander Gregorio de Falco took place, in which the captain is upbraided and ordered back on to the ship, Schettino says the passengers on the submerged side of the ship were already off. The problem was to get to those on the high side, on the left.
Where Schettino and his crewmembers were, they were at risk of being crushed by the still-listing ship, he said.
"We had no other option, because we were on the starboard side, the sinking side of the ship," he tells McKeown. "We were forced to go: otherwise we would have died."
To be sure, suspicions about Schettino's actions that night remain, and the fifth estate talked with survivors such as Laurence and Andrea Davis, who live in Calgary.
To swim or not?
"I saw too many bad things happen to panicking people," Laurence Davis says. "They were getting hurt, injured, people falling between lifeboats."
With lifeboats either full or gone, the Davises were faced with the decision whether or not to jump into the cold water.
"During all these emotions, I never did think we were going to die until I was standing on that deck and the water started coming over my feet," Davis says.
"That was the first time I said to myself, this is the end. And this is why I looked at Andrea and said, well, sink or swim."
Eventually — they don't remember how long it took — they reached the rocks and safety.
As for Schettino being blamed in Italy and elsewhere, the captain seems at a loss to respond.
"I cannot feel responsible," he says." Of course I feel sad for that, but it's something that I can deal with, because I know that it's not the truth. And I know that one day, the people — that this is the beginning of this. We will start to make clear on the dynamic, all the circumstances that led to happening to this accident."
Watch the fifth estate documentary, Costa Concordia: The Captain's Tale Friday. It airs on CBC-TV at 9 p.m. (9:30 in Newfoundland and Labrador). |
[Begin clip]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Hello again. The secret struggle to balance national security and individual liberty broke out into the open this week after a series of blockbuster revelations starting in the Guardian newspaper. We learned that the government has the capacity to track virtually every American phone call and to scoop up impossibly vast quantities of data across the Internet. And our first guest is the Guardian columnist getting these scoops, Glenn Greenwald. Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Greenwald. You are really on a roll. You broke another story yesterday showing the scale of the data collection programs. In March 2013 you report the government collected 97 billion pieces of data, almost all of it from outside the U.S. What's the key finding here?
GLENN GREENWALD: There are two key findings. One is that there are members of the Congress who have responsibility for oversight, for checking the people who run this vast, secret apparatus of spying to make sure they're not abusing their power. These people in Congress have continuously asked for the NSA to provide basic information about how many Americans they're spying on, how many conversations in telephone and chats of Americans they're intercepting. And the NSA continuously tells them, we don't have the capability to tell you that, to even give you rough estimates.
And what these documents that we published show, that were marked "Top Secret" to prevent the American people from learning about them, was that the NSA keeps extremely precise statistics, all the data that the senators have asked for that the NSA has falsely claimed doesn't exist. And the other thing that it does, as you said is it indicates just how vast and massive the NSA is in terms of sweeping up all forms of communication around the globe, including domestically.
GS: You also drew new criticism yesterday from the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper. He called the disclosures "reckless," said the rush to publish this creates significant misimpressions, and added that the articles are filled with inaccuracies. Your response to that?
GG: Every single time any major media outlet reports on something that the government is hiding, that political officials don't want people to know, such as the fact that they're collecting the phone records of all Americans, regardless of any suspicion of wrongdoing, the people in power do exactly the same thing. They attack the media as the messenger, and they try and discredit the story. This has been going back decades, ever since the Pentagon Papers were released by The New York Times and political officials said you're endangering national security.
The only thing we've endangered is the reputation of the people in power who are building this massive spying apparatus without any accountability, who are trying to hide from the American people what it is that they're doing. There's no national security harm from letting people know that they're collecting all phone records, that they're tapping into the Internet, that they're planning massive cyberattacks, both foreign and even domestic. These are things that the American people have a right to know. The only thing being damaged is the credibility of political officials and the way that they exercise power in the dark.
GS: Well, one of the things you reported is that the government has, quote, "direct access" to the servers of massive Internet firms like Google and Microsoft and Facebook, and all the companies have come out and denied it. You see Google saying, "The U.S. government does not have direct access or a backdoor to the information stored in our data centers," similar statements from Facebook and Apple. And Mr. Clapper also said the U.S. government does not unilaterally obtain information. Now, I take it there could be some semantic word games being played here. What's your understanding about what is actually happening? Because it does appear that they don't have direct access to the servers.
GG: Well, our story was very clear. What we said was that, and we presented it as the story from the start, was that we have top secret NSA documents that claim that there is a new program called the PRISM program in place since 2007 that provides, in the words of the NSA's own documents, collection directly from the servers of these companies. We then went to all of those companies named, and they said, no, we don't provide direct access to our servers. So there was a conflict, which was what we reported, that the NSA claims that they have direct access; the companies deny it.
Clearly there are all kinds of negotiations taking place and all kinds of agreements that have been reached between these Internet companies that store massive amounts of communication data about people around the world and the government. We should have this debate out in the open. Let these companies that collect massive amounts of information about people and the government resolve this discrepancy in public. Tell us what it is exactly that these companies are turning over to the government, and what kinds of capabilities the government is wanting to access. So we reported these discrepancies precisely because we want them, those parties, to resolve it in public, in sunlight, and let people decide whether or not that's the kind of country they want to live in when the government can get this massive amount of information.
GS: The DNI spokesman also said that a crimes report has been filed by the National Security Agency. Have you been contacted by the FBI or any federal law enforcement official yet?
GG: No. And any time they would like to speak to me, I'll be more than happy to speak to them, and I will tell them that there's this thing called the Constitution, in the very first amendment of which guarantees a free press. As an American citizen I have every right, and even the obligation as a journalist, to tell my fellow citizens and our readers what it is that the government is doing that they don't want people in the United States to know about. And I'm happy to talk to them at any time. And the attempt to intimidate journalists and sources with these constant threats of investigation aren't going to work.
GS: You've described your source as a reader of yours who trusted how you would handle the material. The source has also been described as a career government official who is concerned about these programs. A former prosecutor called the source a "double agent."
[Pause clip] |
For over a year we have been waiting to see some kind of life from The Boondocks season 4. Thanks to the beautiful Regina King we finally get to see a first look at the new season!
Regina King recently posted a picture that revealed her doing voice work for the infamous duo Huey and Riley Freeman. Check out the photo below!
This is without a doubt the very first look at season 4 of The Boondocks! Regina King recently posted this photo up on June 11, 2013 and asked, “Can you guess what I was doing today??”
If you are still doubting that this is a glimpse at season 4 then allow us to convince you even more!
John Witherspoon on the very same day this image was posted took to his Twitter account and stated that he was working on season 4 of The Boondocks. He also noted that this season was going to be hilarious!
The last and final piece that undoubtedly proves this is a season 4 shot, is the fact that on May 2, 2013 Studio Mir announced that they had their last animatic meeting for The Boondocks season 4. This means that the studio wrapped up all of the animation and now voice overs are currently taking place!
I am a huge fan of The Boondocks and I wish we could get a season every year, but this news is sure to excite any fan of this amazing series. Let us know what you want to see in Season 4 below and stay tuned for more inside information on The Boondocks season 4 right here at Junkie Monkeys!
UPDATE: NEW INFO CONCERNING THE AIR DATE FOR THE FIRST EPISODE CAN BE SEEN BY CLICKING RIGHT HERE! |
Michael Jordan will always be Michael Jordan, of course. But the search for another MJ may well be over.
Instead, kids across America are aiming at becoming the Next Stephen Curry — as postulated by Howard Beck in this extended feature for B/R Magazine.
A thorough read of Beck’s story is suggested. But Warriors fans focused primarily on Curry’s place in the scheme of things will not be surprised by Beck’s appraisal.
“Generation Steph” is what Beck called this age of young players trying to reach the NBA. Related Articles As Golden State finds its ‘joy’, Kevin Durant is playing with anger
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“Coaches everywhere are managing a new challenge: a millennial army of aspiring Stephs,” Beck wrote.
Curry told Beck about the myriad of videos sent to his social media accounts, by proud parents and youth coaches, of shots kids hit from 30 feet or half court.
“Somebody will hit a deep three, and they’ll tag me in it, saying, ‘Such and such did his best Steph Curry impersonation,'” Curry said. “Just random people from all over the country — all over the world.”\
Be Like Mike has turned into Shoot Like Steph.
“I hear it a lot,” Curry said. “It’s pretty special.”
Former NBA player Penny Hardaway, now a high school coach, has reportedly “had to admonish his players more than once for launching from 30 feet, like a band of mini-Steph Currys.”
Said Hardaway: “They’re just not making as many as Steph. They’ll just say, ‘I can really shoot them!’ And I’ll go, ‘Yeah, well prove it to me. If you prove it to me, then you have that right.’
“They want to be Kyrie (Irving) and Steph, for sure.”
Curry wants those kids to work on more than their shooting skills.
“Hopefully, it inspires them to work on their game and not just try to go out and do the stuff that I do,” Curry said. “Because I want them to know how much time I put into it.” Related Articles NBA rescinds DeMarcus Cousins’ technical vs. Charlotte
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While future players continue to work toward the NBA, current stars are more free than ever before from comparisons to Jordan. Instead, they can able forge their own identities.
“Russ Westbrook is just Russ Westbrook, Steph is just Steph, and the quest to reincarnate MJ is mercifully over,” Beck wrote.
Curry was not among those who wanted to be like MJ.
Curry recalled, at age 10, seeing Jordan win his sixth NBA championship: “I didn’t really appreciate what I was watching.”
Not surprisingly, Curry’s favorite player at the time was not MJ but a current Warriors adviser.
“I was actually a Steve Nash guy,” Curry said.
And, now, so many kids are Steph Curry guys. |
We caught up with Power Ducks captain LL Anum before they enter the final weekend of the Minor League, and play their last 2 matches this season. Sitting just off the bottom of the league table, they can still cause upsets in the final standings.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your team name?
Our team is made up of pilots from Lazerhawks, with the team name being a parody of our corp name. We very nearly went with Anum’s Angles but my ego just isn’t there yet.
As a new team to the Championship your team earned their place here by participating in the EVE_NT Cup. If things stay as they are, would your team enter another EVE_NT Cup to qualify for next season?
Definitely. We’ve been enjoying it so far and I feel like minor league is a good place for a new team such as ourselves.
Your team recently played and beat 2nd in the league, Sudden Otters, in quite convincing fashion. A strong team that had only previously lost to Exodunks. What did you do to prepare for this match?
Lots of practice, and a little meta gaming. With one of each logi banned, the blue team (Otters) can lock red team (Ducks) out of the preferred logi since they have first cruiser pick. This basically forces red team to have an off-tank frigate pick or fly a logiless team. We had practiced and theory-crafted against this kind of play, so I was pretty sure how the rest of the picks and bans would go as soon as Otters used their first ban on a logi cruiser. By picking slasher we feigned a shield team, encouraging Otters to commit to a shield team and take the osprey, allowing us to take an armour team, which we feel is stronger.
One more week to go, and 2 more matches – Offline and Templis – where do you expect to finish in the league table?
I don’t claim to be an expert statistician but I think the numbers speak for themselves:
Following the current trend, I can say with confidence that we will win 150% of our next matches. This would probably put us into the top 4 and dump us into a very grueling major league.
Can you see yourselves winning any dominations in these last 2 matches?
Totes.
Your team has made use of nearly your entire roster, with 2 players having played more matches than yourself (some of the player roster data includes the EVE_NT Cup matches). Will you continue this trend or have you got a core set of pilots now?
I live in Australia so matches are very early on a Monday morning, making it a challenge to attend without throwing RL into the dumpster. We definitely have a reliable core of pilots on the team, but we cycle in other players who are well practiced for certain roles.
Is there anyone you would like to give a shout out to for any reason? |
This post was updated on April 2, 2015 to include the full presidential ranking data.
As Presidents Day approaches, so too does our annual reflection about our greatest presidents and how our current chief executive stacks up against them. Although much of this commentary is of the arm-chair analyst variety, a recent cottage industry of systematic investigations has emerged. Famed Harvard historian Arthur Schlesinger Sr. deserves most of the credit for the advance of this knowledge, thanks to his 1948 effort to poll the nation’s top historians for Life magazine. Subsequent polls took place in 1962 and 1996, with his son, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., lead the latter investigation. Authors B Brandon Rottinghaus Professor, Political Science - University of Houston J Justin S. Vaughn Associate Professor of Political Science - Boise State University
Today, there are numerous additional examples, with each survey utilizing its own methodological approaches. Given the diversity of approaches, the relative consensus of these studies’ results can be surprising. The top tier of greatness polls consistently reports the same handful of presidents—Lincoln, Washington, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, followed closely by Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt—while the bottom of the list also exhibits continuity, with names such as Harding, Buchanan, Pierce, and Hoover consistently among the most ignominious.
Barack Obama & presidential greatness
Like many of his predecessors, Barack Obama’s standing in such polls, whether respondents are experts or members of the mass public, has evolved. For example, a Gallup poll conducted in early February 2011 found that 5% of Americans viewed Obama as the nation’s greatest president. A year later, another Gallup poll revealed 10% of Americans viewed Obama as an outstanding president, but more than 60% believed he would go down in history as average, below average, or poor. By 2013, the number viewing Obama as outstanding had dropped to 6%, while those selecting average or worse had increased to 71%. This past June, a Quinnipiac University survey of over 1,400 Americans found Obama was viewed as the best modern president by 8% of respondents, while 33% viewed him as the worst president since World War II. (For comparison purposes, only 28% of respondents chose George W. Bush as the worst president during the same time period.)
Scholarly perspectives have showed less variance, partly a function of being less subject to the over-exuberance of regular citizens in the early days of the Obama presidency and, so far, less disappointment by his performance in the years since. Even so, there is limited evidence of a slight decline in expert perceptions of the 44th president’s relative greatness. The earliest major scholarly poll that included Obama was a 2010 Siena College Research Institute survey, which ranked him as the 15th greatest president. A 2012 Newsweek survey rated him as the 10th best since 1900 and a History News Network survey of historians gave him an overall B- grade in 2013. Statistical mastermind Nate Silver’s metaanalysis of multiple scholarly polls placed Obama at #17, just behind John Adams and before Bill Clinton.
New evidence: More of the same, but worse
We decided to conduct our own, original poll of several hundred members of the American Political Science Association on the topic of presidential greatness and President Obama’s current place in history (more on the methodology below.) The results of our survey of political scientists with expertise in the American presidency include findings similar to other such polls and some intriguing new evidence, as well.
First, President Obama ranks 18th overall, but beneath the surface of the aggregate figures lurks evidence of significant ambivalence. For example, those who view Obama as one of the worst American presidents outnumber those who view him as one of the best by nearly a 3-1 margin. Similarly, nearly twice as many respondents view Obama as over-rated than do those who consider him under-rated. One area where there is significant expert consensus about the president, however, concerns how polarizing he is viewed as being – only George W. Bush was viewed as more a more polarizing president.
Next, Obama does not perform well on more specific dimensions of presidential greatness, often viewed as average or worse. For example, he is the midpoint in terms of both personal integrity and military skill (e.g., 10th of 19 in both categories), but falls to 11th when it comes to diplomatic skill and 13th with respect to legislative skill. Even so, when asked which president should be added as the fifth face of Mt Rushmore, Obama ties with James Madison as the 7th most popular choice.
What can we take away from this? First, it is easy to infer that scholars and the public alike expected greatness from Obama early on and awarded it to him prematurely. Compare, after all, the fact that Obama’s first ranking in a major greatness poll was at #15; one must go back a half-century to Lyndon Johnson to find a president who entered the rankings at a higher number (#10), and LBJ was a well-known figure on the national stage who entered office after the national tragedy of his predecessor’s assassination. Second, scholars seem to hold Barack Obama in high regard personally, but view his skills and performance as mediocre to poor. Few think of Obama as an excellent president, while many more rate his presidency quite low, with the bulk of experts appearing to give him a passing grade but not one that would get him on the Dean’s list.
It could be worse for Obama, of course. Barring unforeseen scandal, he’s unlikely to become significantly less popular, and as he enters his post-presidency, he is likely to experience the same slow rise up the greatness polls George W. Bush has had. Whether that is a sluggish climb or more noteworthy, as the case has been with Truman and George H.W. Bush, remains to be seen, but there is still plenty of time left in his presidency to lay the foundation for future claims on the empty spot to the right of Lincoln on Mount Rushmore’s granite façade.
*****
About the survey: 391 members of the American Political Science Association’s Presidents & Executive Politics section, the premier organization of experts of the American presidency, were invited to complete the online survey, which was administered by Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston and Justin S. Vaughn of Boise State University. 162 surveys were completed online between May and November 2014. For more information, please contact the authors. |
Note to readers: This post was written in September of 2012. PLEASE do not ask me why I eat ‘this’ or why I don’t eat ‘that’ — as what is shown here does not necessarily reflect what or how I eat today (or more importantly, how you should eat). My diet evolves constantly, due to my constant tweaking and self-experimentation. Over time, I’ll share it here and there, but what I eat is not at all the focus of this blog. I ask that you refrains for asking questions about what I eat your comments.
For reasons I don’t fully understand the most read post on this blog is one I wrote very quickly and with very little thought. I wrote it in response to a question I’m asked all the time, “What do you actually eat?” The post, aptly titled, What I actually eat, has more than twice the traffic of the next three most read posts combined. Go figure.
After a full year in “strict” (i.e., no “cheat” days) nutritional ketosis I wanted to experiment with other eating patterns. I had been reading about intermittent fasting (IF), and had a few discussions and exchanges with Mark Sisson and Robb Wolf about it. Though I don’t know Brad Pilon or Martin Berkhan personally, I’d also read a few interesting things they had written.
Why the change?
My curiosity was sufficiently piqued to break a golden rule – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I was very happy after a year of nutritional ketosis, but I did wonder if I could improve on a few things. For starters, as my cycling season was about to ramp up, I wondered what it would be like to weigh 75 kg (165 pounds) instead of my steady-state weight of about 78 kg (172 pounds). I know 3 kg does not sound like a lot, but it can make a huge difference when riding up Mount Palomar, assuming one can preserve power output. I also liked the idea of not spending so much time eating. As you probably know, I’m pretty obsessive about how I utilize the 168 hours in each week and resent anything that takes me away from my family, my work, and my training. (This includes sleep, which I wish I could figure out a way to thrive without.)
In the end, I think Mark Sisson finally just egged me on enough to agree to at least give it try – even just one day per week. And with that, I embarked on the next phase of my nutritional odyssey.
I decided, in early May, to start with the following protocol: one meal per 24 hours, twice a week. On the other 5 days I consumed my usual keto-diet. On the two IF days I would just eat one meal at around dinner time. I still consumed normal amounts of liquids (water, coffee, tea) and supplements (see list below), with one exception – on fasting days I doubled the amount of sodium I supplemented via bouillon from 2 gm per day to 4 gm per day.
Like all nutritional changes, this one took some getting used to. Because I exercise in the mornings, on fasting days I would get pretty hungry by about 10 or 11 am. Interestingly, though, by about 2 pm, as my blood glucose levels would be between 60 and 70 mg/dL, I would start to feel completely fine. In fact, by about 5 or 6 pm, just before eating my meal, I found I wasn’t really hungry. This may have been due to the fact that my B-OHB levels were usually above 3 mM by this time of day.
Why do I call it “IFIK?”
Not surprisingly, after eating 100 gm of protein and 40 gm of carbohydrates in one sitting, my B-OHB levels would fall, often below 0.5 mM, the practical threshold of nutritional ketosis. Usually within 24 hours I’d be back to my normal levels, generally between about 1 and 2 mM. But, the cycling in and out of ketosis was new to me, hence the phrase “intermittent fasting, intermittent ketosis,” or “IFIK.” I guess you can see why I didn’t end up in marketing – “if-ik” doesn’t really have a nice ring to it.
The purpose of this post is not to provide a detailed overview of IF or ketosis, but rather to address the following common questions I often get asked in response to the original post on what I ate:
Question: Peter, why do you eat so much dairy? Answer: I don’t. That was a year ago. I did eat a lot of dairy, and seemed to tolerate it quite well. I realize that’s not true for everyone. Regardless, I seem to eat much less today. Question: Peter, is ketosis for everyone? Answer: Of course not. Besides oxygen and water, few things are. Question: Peter, why do you eat so much meat? Answer: I don’t. In fact, some days I don’t eat any. Other days I do. I obviously don’t think there is anything harmful with eating meat (read this post for a refresher), but I’m quite happy eating lots of non-meat items, too. Question: Peter, how can anyone possibly do anything athletic without carb loading? Answer: It’s easy. Anyone can do it, if they are just patient and let their body adapt. Question: Peter, you eat like a freak (ok, not really a question!) Response: And your point is?
What happened after several months of IFIK?
Interestingly, I did lose weight. After briefly hitting 163 to 164 pounds, I settled out at where I am right now, about 165 to 166 pounds, right at my 75 kg target. I have not yet repeated a DEXA scan to confirm, but I suspect I lost a bit of muscle, along with more fat, probably at about a 1:2 ratio. My last DEXA measured a body fat of about 9%, and I suspect I’m about the same, though my waist is half an inch smaller than when I started, so I may be closer to 8%.
Why do I think this happened?
In the IF community there are really two (maybe more) theories on why I lost weight. I won’t describe them here in any detail, but will do so in subsequent posts. One hypothesis is that I’m simply consuming fewer of the same high quality calories than I did before. The other hypothesis is that the physiologic response to IF (rather than the response to prolonged fasting) is to increase my REE during the period of IF, possibly through the up- and or down-regulation of various hormones. Of course, it could be a combination of these, or something entirely different, too.
Drumroll….
Before getting to the part that folks who are still reading probably care about, let me point out a few differences between what I eat today and what I ate a year ago.
I consume, on average, fewer calories per day. I am also lighter, and we know TEE varies with body mass, so it’s not surprising that most days I am not eating over 4,000 kcal, as I used to. Of course, one might argue my body has become more metabolically efficient at utilizing substrate, and so my REE is lower than it was a year ago. Finally, I do exercise less than last year. Hence, there are many explanations for this difference. I consume less dairy. Don’t read too much into this. There is nothing deliberate about it, just an observation of my behavior. I consume less meat of all varieties. Again, don’t read too much into this. I have no explanation except that I seem to crave it in lower amounts and less frequently. I consume more overall carbohydrates, though still virtually zero sugar or refined carbohydrates. Most of this additional carbohydrate is in the form of nuts and SuperStarch. I consume virtually zero sugar substitutes, except for the little bit in my SuperStarch and protein powder (sucralose). I also drink, at most, about one diet soda per month. I spend less money on food. I spend less time eating. Currently I only eat three meals per day about once a week. I eat two meals per day probably 4 times per week, and one meal per day twice per week.
To calculate the nutritional content of my intake I use a piece of software called Nutritionist Pro, which is not for the faint of heart. It’s one step removed from a DOS prompt. In addition to costing about $600 a year, it’s not exactly user-friendly. I’d probably describe it as “user-hostile,” actually. But, it’s really accurate and has a database that is unrivaled. The reports, once you learn how to generate them, are very good, also.
Three consecutive days of representative eating
Keep in mind, I don’t count my calories or weigh my food normally. I do it periodically, such as at this time, when I’m curious as to what I’m actually eating. I believe I’m able to do so without eliciting the Hawthorne Effect, but obviously one can never be positive.
Tuesday
7 am — morning workout – flat intervals on bike (75 minutes).
— morning workout – flat intervals on bike (75 minutes). 1 pm – Nicoise salad: 2 cup butterhead lettuce, 1 tomato, 10 black olives, 8 oz tuna steak, 1 hard boiled egg, 0.5 cup red onion, 2 oz lemon juice, 4 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp mustard.
– Nicoise salad: 7 pm – Chicken salad with nuts: 2 cup romaine lettuce, 1 tomato, 0.5 cup cucumber, 2 oz cashews, 2 oz walnuts, 8 oz chicken breast, 6 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar.
Daily totals:
Carbohydrate – 89 gm
Protein – 131 gm
Fat – 218 gm (about 15% SFA, 70% MUFA, 15% PUFA)
Calories – 2,900
Wednesday
6 am — morning workout – high intensity dry land (90 minutes).
— morning workout – high intensity dry land (90 minutes). 3 pm – The “Peter Kaufman shake” (named after my good friend, Peter Kaufman at Generation UCAN, who hooked me up with the recipe):
4 oz heavy cream, 8 oz zero-sugar almond milk, 1 pack chocolate protein SuperStarch, 2 tablespoons almond butter, 8 gm additional glutamine, 1 tray of ice cubes (blended to smoothie consistency).
– The “Peter Kaufman shake” (named after my good friend, Peter Kaufman at Generation UCAN, who hooked me up with the recipe): 4 oz heavy cream, 8 oz zero-sugar almond milk, 1 pack chocolate protein SuperStarch, 2 tablespoons almond butter, 8 gm additional glutamine, 1 tray of ice cubes (blended to smoothie consistency). 7 pm – Chicken-nut omelet:
4 eggs, 0.5 avocado, 3.5 oz cheddar, 3 oz red onion, 2 oz walnuts, 2 oz cashews, 4.5 oz chicken thigh, 2 tbsp butter
Daily totals:
Carbohydrate – 60 gm (30 gm of which is SuperStarch)
Protein – 151 gm
Fat – 226 gm (about 40% SFA, 35% MUFA, 25% PUFA)
Calories – 2,800
Thursday
7 am — morning workout – hill intervals on bike (75 minutes).
— morning workout – hill intervals on bike (75 minutes). 5 pm – Attia super salad:
1.5 cup romaine lettuce, 0.5 cup cucumber, 0.25 cup mushroom, 1 tomato, 3 oz sliced T-bone steak, 2 oz cashews, 2 oz peanuts, 2 oz macadamia nuts, 8 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar.
– Attia super salad: 1.5 cup romaine lettuce, 0.5 cup cucumber, 0.25 cup mushroom, 1 tomato, 3 oz sliced T-bone steak, 2 oz cashews, 2 oz peanuts, 2 oz macadamia nuts, 8 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar. Between 6 and 8 pm – after-dinner snack consisting of:
3 oz cashews, 1 oz almonds, 2 oz peanuts, 1 oz macadamia nuts, 2 cups of coffee with a total of 6 tbsp heavy cream.
Daily totals:
Carbohydrate – 94 gm
Protein – 93 gm
Fat – 369 gm (about 20% SFA, 65% MUFA, 15% PUFA)
Calories – 3,800
My daily supplements
Note: I am only listing the products I use, and not trying to convince you that my brand of vitamin D is superior to another. If I feel strongly about a product, I note it. But this is not a product pitch. I don’t make one penny off you buying any of these products.
Fish oil
1 tablespoon of Carlson’s Very Finest Fish Oil, providing 2,400 mg EPA and 1,500 mg DHA. I do feel this is a superior product and I’ve had detailed toxicology analytics conducted on the product to confirm the absence of lead, arsenic, mercury, and other toxins.
Vitamin D
5,000 IU D3 in gel capsule, by NOW.
Magnesium
400 mg magnesium oxide by Nature Made.
Sodium
2,000 mg in the form of bouillon, typically by Knorr.
MCT oil
Either 2 or 3 tablespoons, depending on activity level, by NOW.
Probiotic
2 capsules of Mark Sisson’s Primal Flora, providing 60 billion CFU. The reason I use Mark’s product is because I know and trust him, and I know how much homework he did in formulating this product.
One of the topics I’m currently getting steeped in is gut biota, and I’m hanging out a lot with a San Diego expert on the topic, UCSD Professor Larry Smarr, who has repeatedly sequenced his entire gut biome, with the help of Craig Venter at Synthetic Genomics and others at MIT. As Larry points out, the challenge of “moving the needle” with probiotics is that they only provide the aerobic bacteria while, of course, most of our gut biome is anaerobic. Stay tuned for much more on this topic.
Closing thoughts
My performance, especially in light of my reduced training volume (or maybe because of it!) has not deteriorated. In fact, this week I had 3 best times in 3 of the activities I do weekly (tire flipping/sledge hammer/plyometic routine (1:04); short sprint up 15-18% grade (0:39), and long sprint up 8% grade (3:29)). It’s possible the added carbohydrate, relative to my constantly ketotic state, has facilitated this, despite consuming about 15% of the carbohydrate I used to consume on my “standard American diet” circa 2008. I will discuss the impact on my biomarkers in a separate post. The only drawback I’ve noticed of IFIK so far is that I’ve inadvertently turned my daughter off nuts. About 4 months ago, after having three consecutive identical dinners (chicken-nut-salad), she called my wife into her room as she woke up and said, “Mommy…we need to talk. We need to have something different for dinner tonight. We can have steak…we can have sausage…we can even have regular salad without nuts…but I can’t have nuts in my salad anymore!” Poor girl… So now I have to make my salads separately.
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Immigration advocates are increasingly optimistic that a deal can be reached in the House before year's end to provide permanent protections for young immigrants brought to the country illegally.
Both Democrats and Republicans point to a flurry of working groups and bipartisan discussions on a replacement for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as signs that a majority of House members want to see legislation on the floor and would vote for it.
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Taylor's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
Lujan Grisham said that Democrats would stay firm on a commitment to negotiate on government spending only when a path forward for DACA was resolved, pointing out that Republicans have enough votes to pass measures through the House.
"They are in control," she said. "If you need any help we are right here."
Veteran lawmakers who've been involved in previous immigration reform attempts are holding increasingly open discussions on the matter.
After a long talk on the House floor with Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) said "we're trying out to figure out how we get there."
"Sometimes in politics, you know how you get things done? When everybody sees the dam's gonna bust," said Gutiérrez, who has announced he will not seek reelection.
President Trump announced in September that he would rescind the Obama-era program, giving Congress a six-month period to replace the program that was enacted through executive action.
Ryan, who has pushed to keep a DACA fix separate from a must-pass end-of-year spending bill, has stuck to Trump's March 5 deadline for a DACA fix, despite increasing pressure from Republicans to sort it out this year.
The number of House rank-and-file supporters is growing for a DACA fix, and they are being increasingly vocal in making their support known to leadership.
"Folks are more optimistic now for a solution," he said. "I'm pretty optimistic a solution's going to be done, certainly before March."
Republican leadership is also feeling pressure from within to take action on DACA.
Curbelo, who earlier this month butted heads with the CHC over the group's refusal to allow a Republican to join, was praised by Lujan Grisham on Thursday .
"To his credit, Rep. Curbelo is saying, 'Look, I want it by the end of the year, these values are important, I'm standing strong.' It gives you a sense that we are still working together," she said. |
Public sector whistleblowers are protected under First Amendment rights from any job retaliation when they raise flags over alleged corruption, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In a unanimous decision, the court decided in favor of Edward Lane, a former Alabama community college official who says he was fired after giving evidence at the criminal fraud trial of a state lawmaker. Lower courts had ruled against Lane, finding that he was testifying as a college employee, not as a citizen.
Writing for the court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Lane's testimony was constitutionally protected because he was speaking as a citizen on a matter of public concern — even if it covered facts learned at work.
“Speech by citizens on matters of public concern lies at the heart of the First Amendment,” Sotomayor wrote in the court’s opinion.
“After all, public employees do not renounce their citizenship when they accept employment, and this Court has cautioned time and again that public employers may not condition employment on the relinquishment of constitutional rights.”
Lane was director of a college youth program at Central Alabama Community College in 2006 when he discovered that a state lawmaker, Sue Schmitz, was on the payroll but not showing up for work. Lane fired Schmitz despite warnings that doing so could jeopardize his own job.
Federal prosecutors began investigating Schmitz and Lane was later called to testify before a federal grand jury and under subpoena at Schmitz's two criminal fraud trials. Lane says he was fired in retaliation after testifying at the first trial.
“The First Amendment protects all sworn statements by public employees as part of judicial proceedings—whether compelled by a subpoena or voluntary,” the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Lane.
“Distinguishing voluntary and compelled testimony would disrupt the orderly operation of the American judicial system and deter witnesses from coming forward.”
But the Department of Justice wrote an friend-of-the-court brief partially supporting the opposing view, arguing against the free speech protection for government workers, saying it needs the ability to control its employees.
"Government employers have interests in prohibiting the disclosure of sensitive or confidential information, which may range from tax records and trade secrets to information about law enforcement sources or sensitive investigative techniques," the brief reads, arguing for a balance between the rights of government workers and the government.
Al Jazeera and The Associated Press |
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To the American Board of Pediatrics:
I took and passed my recertification exam in Washington State last fall and would like to express my sincere gratitude to your organization for setting up more hoops for pediatricians to jump through under the guise of helping us stay up-to-date. The first hurdle was the exam application and the second was the testing day experience, which was one of the most humiliating of my entire life. Below are my thoughts.
My daughter was 9 months old and still nursing when I took the exam. The recertification test duration is six hours with a 20-minute break for lunch. When I inquired about adequate time to pump and store milk, your office informed me I was the first and only pediatrician in the United States to request an accommodation. Consideration for 20 extra minutes required application as a “disabled” physician.
My “disability” request involved submitting a letter by me outlining my needs, obtaining a second letter from my obstetrician, to include his CV, medical license, and credentials. Obviously, this application process was instituted to discourage anyone from requesting schedule variances. My heart should have been bursting with delight when you allowed me time to pump milk to feed my daughter.
The morning of the test I left my home at 6:30 a.m. in order to reach the testing site by 10 a.m., which required travel across the Puget Sound by ferry. Upon arrival, I was allowed only one small locker for my things with no exceptions for those with additional necessary medical equipment. My $1,200 breast pump had to be placed on top of the bank of lockers with no assurances it would remain there throughout the testing period.
The staff was unwilling to put it anywhere else for safe keeping. We were warned not to leave valuables inside our vehicles, because the testing site was in a high crime area. Desperate to keep both valuables, I tried putting the pump motor and my wallet in the locker but to no avail.
The alternative option was to place the pump inside the locker and my purse with my credit cards and identification on top. Figuring it was less likely my breast pump would be stolen; I took my chances and placed my purse inside the locker. Why couldn’t an exception be made for storing necessary medical equipment? In light of my “disability,” is that even legal?
The very intensive search process ensued as I presented my driver license, turned out each and every pocket in my clothing, and was wanded like a common criminal. I have more sympathy for them now that I have been subjected to such measures. Finally, testing got underway. Emerging three hours later, I was relieved to see my breast pump still sitting on top of the bank of lockers.
No room was available for pumping, so I was told to use the bathroom. I ate lunch, went to the restroom, and discovered one plug next to the sink. Unable to use the counter with others needing to wash their hands after using the facilities, I would have to sit on the floor. I returned to the waiting room mulling over how to resolve this situation.
Finding a plug in the waiting room, I began to set up my pump and put on my hands-free pumping bra. The room contained about 20 young men waiting to take their truck driver tests, hairstyling certification exams, and other trade competency assessments. Horrified, the testing center attendant jumped up and demanded, “What are you doing?”
My answer was, “If you are unable to find a private room for me, this waiting room is about to witness quite a show.”
Surprisingly, she went to find the site manager and they found me a more private location. Isn’t there a federal law that guarantees nursing mothers are provided appropriate accommodations, with one electrical outlet far enough from a water source to ensure safety from electrocution?
I am a hard-working pediatrician with 12 years of post-high school education and 14 years in practice. By 7:30 p.m., I returned home feeling beaten down. Why would any physician submit to this demeaning process to recertify board competency? It is absolutely unacceptable.
All testing sites should have adequate storage for required belongings, a testing site should be within 30 to 60 minutes of our home or workplace, and in compliance with federal law, adequate facilities should be available to properly attend to our medical needs.
Many female physicians, including me, postponed their child bearing in order to complete our educations. I had three children aged 4, 2, and 9 months when recertifying. These regulations place undue burden on those of us who have young families. If we are “disabled,” then why are we not accommodated in compliance with federal standards?
Is the American Board of Pediatrics as callous as they seem? Maybe individuals on the board of directors did not breastfeed and cannot spare a drop of empathy for medical needs of fellow physicians? Maybe things would be different if pediatricians could prevent the American Board of Pediatrics employees from paying their bills and feeding their children? Wait, we actually could do that! Maybe pediatricians should collectively refuse to comply with your unreasonable demands in the future.
Sincerely,
Niran S. Al-Agba, MD, FAAP
Niran S. Al-Agba is a pediatrician who blogs at MommyDoc. This article originally appeared in Rebel.MD.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com |
Last season Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players association agreed to institute a new rule restricting how much a base runner can do to break up a double play. The text as it appears in the rule book is as follows.
Rule 6.01(i) — Sliding to Bases on Double Play Attempts
If a runner does not engage in a bona-fide slide, and initiates (or attempts to make) contact with the fielder for the purpose of breaking up a double play, he should be called for interference under this Rule 6.01. A “bona fide slide” for purposes of Rule 6.01 occurs when the runner:
(1) begins his slide (i.e., makes contact with the ground) before reaching the base;
(2) is able and attempts to reach the base with his hand or foot;
(3) is able and attempts to remain on the base (except home plate) after completion of the slide; and
(4) slides within reach of the base without changing his pathway for the purpose of initiating contact with a fielder.
As with most rules this one was motivated by a specific play. The nickname for the rule is the Chase Utley slide, because of the following play from the 2015 NLCS.
That play provoked a great deal of outrage against Utley, and it’s easy to see why. Tejada, the middle infielder Utley slid into, suffered a broken fibula in his right leg. This outrage forced the MLB to respond and a year later we have the above slide rule. But how has it gone so far?
From the umpires perspective fairly well, if the results of instant replay review are to be trusted. Of the 36 times that the Utley rule was challenged last year only 4 of them were upheld. That is 11.11% of the time, a sharp drop off from the 51.40% of total reviews. Another interesting tidbit is that just 1 review, 2.78%, was initiated by the Umpires, again a falloff from 11.17% of total reviews (the largest group). Those numbers are a small sample size, but indicate that the umpires are generally getting it right, at least according to the umpires.
Despite that reaction in the media and among fans has been mostly negative. Old school commentators have been decrying the removal of toughness from the game. While other fans are complaining about the slowing of game pace thanks to the managerial reviews associated with the rule.
In regards to the toughness issue, that’s highly subjective, and in many ways a little silly. Toughness is not only expressed through willingness to do physical harm, but can also be staying in the batter’s box against Aroldis Chapman fastballs. Baseball is a non-contact sport, you should not be able to impact a play through physical, non incidental contact. Those who say otherwise are full of macho nonsense.
In terms of the pace of play, last season there were 36 slide interference calls that were challenged by managers, 2.35% of the 1531 total instant replay reviews. Certainly that shows that the slide rule has an impact on pace of play, but it seems a very small part of the larger issue that instant replay reviews present, if pace of play is something you are concerned about.
That would appear to answer the two major criticisms of the rule, however; in doing research for this post I watched all 36 reviewed plays and noticed a third, less discussed issue.
Many of the more controversial slides happened at the beginning of the season, when people still didn’t have a clear idea of exactly how to implement the rule. As a result Umpires called slides that fit any of the above descriptions illegal, even if they posed no threat to the infielder.
This is the heart of the issue. The slide rule exists to protect middle infielders, dangerous slides should be called, non dangerous slides should not. Too often last season we saw players over slide the base and be called out. Umpires have to remember the spirit of rules like this when enforcing them. This improved as the season went on, and I expect it to be the norm next year. If they are able to do that, we should hear significantly less criticism.
All in all the implementation of the slide rule was a success. Physically obstructing a fielder has no place in baseball. Sure there were some bumps, but it was the first year, things will improve. |
The Indian Hockey team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, later going on to defeat Germany 8–1 in the final
India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, with a lone athlete (Norman Pritchard) winning two medals- both silver- in athletics. The nation first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in 1920, and has participated in every Summer Games since then. India has also competed at several Winter Olympic Games beginning in 1964. Indian athletes have won a total of 28 medals so far, all at the Summer Games. For a period of time, India national field hockey team was dominant in Olympic competition, winning eleven medals in twelve Olympics between 1920 and 1980. The run included 8 gold medals total and six successive gold medals from 1928–1956.
History
Early history
Indian Olympic delegation 1920
India sent its first athlete to the Summer Olympics for the 1900 Games, but an Indian national team did not compete at the Summer Olympics until 1920. Ahead of the 1920 Games, Sir Dorabji Tata and Governor of Bombay George Lloyd helped India secure representation at the International Olympic Council, enabling it to participate in the Games (see India at the 1920 Olympic Games). India then sent a team to the 1920 Olympics, comprising four athletes, two wrestlers, and managers Sohrab Bhoot and A. H. A. Fyzee. The Indian Olympic movement was then established during the 1920s: some founders of this movement were Dorabji Tata, A.G. Noehren (Madras College of Physical Education), H.C. Buck (Madras College of Physical Education), Moinul Haq (Bihar sports associations), S. Bhoot (Bombay Olympic Association), A.S. Bhagwat (Deccan Gymkhana), and Guru Dutt Sondhi (Punjab Olympic Association); Lt.Col H.L.O. Garrett (from the Government College Lahore and Punjab Olympic Association) and Sagnik Poddar (of St. Stephen's School) helped organise some early national games; and prominent patrons included Maharajas and royal princes Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, Ranjitsinhji of Nawanagar, the Maharaja of Kapurthala, and the Maharaja of Burdwan.
In 1923, a provisional All India Olympic Committee was formed, and in February 1924, the All India Olympic Games (that later became the National Games of India) were held to select a team for the Paris Summer Olympics. The Indian delegation at the Paris Olympics comprised seven athletes, seven tennis players and team manager Harry Buck.
In 1927, the provisional Indian Olympic Committee formally became the Indian Olympic Association (IOA); its main tasks were to promote the development of sports in India, choose host cities for the national games, and send teams selected from the national games to the Summer Olympics. Thus, at the 1928 national games, it selected seven athletes to represent India at the next Summer Olympics, with Sondhi as manager. By this time, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) had also been established and it sent a hockey team to the Summer Olympics. The national hockey team and additional sportspersons were similarly sent to the 1932 Games (four athletes and one swimmer) and 1936 (four athletes, three wrestlers, one Burmese weight-lifter), along with three officials headed by team manager Sondhi.
From 1948 onward, because of the IOA's wider outreach, India began sending delegations of over 50 sportspersons representing several sport, each selected by its sports federation, to the Summer Olympics. The delegation was headed by a chef-de-mission.
Thus, India's Summer Olympic delegation in the early Olympic Games was as follows:
1900: One athlete
1920: 6 competitors (four athletes, two wrestlers) and managers Bhoot and Fyzee
1924: 14 competitors (seven athletes, seven tennis players) and manager Harry Crowe Buck
1928: 21 competitors (seven athletes and a hockey team of 14) and manager G D Sondhi
1932: 20 competitors (four athletes, one swimmer, and a hockey team of 15) and three officials headed by manager G D Sondhi
1936: 27 competitors (four athletes, three wrestlers, one Burmese weight-lifter, and a hockey team of 19) and three officials including manager G D Sondhi
1948: 79 competitors and a few officials headed by chef-de-mission Moin ul Haq
1952: 64 competitors and some officials headed by chef-de-mission Moin ul Haq
Recent history
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Bindra won gold in the Men's 10 metre air rifle event becoming the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games. Vijender Singh got the country's first medal in boxing with his bronze medal in Middleweight category.
The 2012 Summer Olympics saw an 83-member Indian contingent participating in the games and setting a new best for the country with a total of six medals. Wrestler Sushil Kumar became the first Indian with multiple individual Olympic medals (bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics) since Norman Pritchard in 1900. Saina Nehwal won bronze medal in badminton in Women's singles getting the country's first Olympic medal in badminton. Pugilist Mary Kom became the first Indian woman to win a medal in boxing with her bronze medal finish in Women's flyweight.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, a record number of 118 athletes competed. Sakshi Malik became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal with her bronze medal finish in Women's freestyle 58 kg category. Shuttler P. V. Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in Olympics and also the youngest Indian Olympic medallist.
List of competitors
This list provides a comparative compendium of all the participants/competitors of India in the summer Olympic games.
Games Sports Men Women Total Change Gold Gold Silver Silver Bronze Bronze Total Change 1900 1 1 0 1 NA 0 2 0 2 NA 1920 2 6 0 6 +5 0 0 0 0 −2 1924 2 13 2 15 +8 0 0 0 0 0 1928 2 21 0 21 +7 1 0 0 1 +1 1932 3 30 0 30 +9 1 0 0 1 0 1936 3–4 27 0 27 −3 1 0 0 1 0 1948 10 79 0 79 +52 1 0 0 1 0 1952 11 60 4 64 −15 1 0 1 2 +1 1956 8 58 1 59 −5 1 0 0 1 −1 1960 6 45 0 45 −14 0 1 0 1 0 1964 8 52 1 53 +8 1 0 0 1 0 1968 5 25 0 25 −28 0 0 1 1 0 1972 7 40 1 41 +16 0 0 1 1 0 1976 2 20 0 20 −21 0 0 0 0 −1 1980 1 58 18 76 +56 1 0 0 1 +1 1984 48 −28 0 0 0 0 −1 1988 7 46 −2 0 0 0 0 0 1992 5 53 +7 0 0 0 0 0 1996 13 44 4 49 −4 0 0 1 1 +1 2000 7 65 +16 0 0 1 1 0 2004 14 48 25 73 +8 0 1 0 1 0 2008 12 31 25 56 −17 1 0 2 3 +2 2012 13 60 23 83 +27 0 2 4 6 +3 2016 15 66 54 118 +35 0 1 1 2 −4
This list provides a comparative compendium of all the participants/competitors of India in the winter Olympic games.
Games Sports Men Women Total Change Gold Gold Silver Silver Bronze Bronze Total Change 1964 1 1 0 1 NA 0 0 0 0 NA 1968 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1988 1 2 1 3 +2 0 0 0 0 0 1992 1 2 0 2 −1 0 0 0 0 0 1998 1 1 0 1 −1 0 0 0 0 0 2002 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2006 3 3 1 4 +3 0 0 0 0 0 2010 3 3 0 3 −1 0 0 0 0 0 2014 3 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2018 2 2 0 2 −1 0 0 0 0 0
Medal tables
Red colour indicates the best performance.
Medals by Summer Games
Medals by sport
Leading in that Sport
Sport Gold Gold Silver Silver Bronze Bronze Total Rank Field hockey 8 1 2 11 1 Shooting 1 2 1 4 34 Athletics 0 2 0 2 71 Wrestling 0 1 4 5 43 Badminton 0 1 1 2 9 Boxing 0 0 2 2 64 Tennis 0 0 1 1 30 Weightlifting 0 0 1 1 56 Total 9 7 12 28 12
List of medalists
See also |
That is the new book from Lanny Ebenstein, I found it well-written and useful. You can read about Henry Simons, the Cowles Commission, Hayek, Jacob Marschak, of course Milton Friedman, and much mmore. Friedman, by the way, originally had intended to become an actuary.
Here is Friedman on Hayek from an Ebenstein interview from 1995:
Q: How would you describe Hayek personally? A: In terms of his personal characteristics, Hayek was a very complicated personality. He was by no means a simple person. He was very outgoing in one sense but at the same time very private. He did not like criticism, but he never showed that he didn’t like criticism. His attitude under criticism, as I found, was to say: “Well, that’s a very interesting thing. At the moment, I am busy, but I’ll write to you about it more later.” And then he never would!
Friedman is extremely frank about Hayek in this interview, and repeatedly mentions that he objected to how Hayek treated his first wife. I have never seen Friedman be so negative, or for that matter so emotionally involved, and when it comes to The Fatal Conceit he simply avers: “It’s not up to Hayek at his best.”
You can then turn to two pages of Paul Samuelson, in a letter to Ebenstein, criticizing Milton Friedman. Ebenstein, by the way, argues that Friedman is essentially a left-wing, utilitarian thinker. |
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If you have a question, please read the Site FAQ first to see if your question has already been answered.
Author Message
adelikat
Joined: 2004-11-03 20:14:03
Posts: 4457
Location: Tennessee Site Manager / ... / Expert player (4214)Joined: 2004-11-03 20:14:03Posts: 4457Location: Tennessee
Posted: 2015-07-15 22:14:55 Post subject: PCSX-rr and PSXjin - no longer accepted after 2016-12-31
With the
BizHawk uses the mednafen PSX core which is VERY good. It is highly accurate with a good architecture with long term value. PCSX, on the other hand, is a lost cause and below the minimum standards we generally have. Because it was the only option, we reluctantly supported it many years ago. TO give an idea of accuracy, note the results of these
Note: we try to be emulator agnostic. We aren't saying that BizHawk is the only option. But the mednafen core itself is the only open source core that is up to our standards. We are saying mednafen-based emulators are approved, and PCSX-based emulators are not.
Like the
There are many problems with PCSX and PSXjin, including horrible unreliable sync, and horrible emulation (such as all the extra lag in some games in PSXjin). So I would encourage everyone to consider restarting rather than continuing with these emulators. You will probably save time in the long run.
One of the main reasons we want to no longer accept these emulators, other than accuracy, and the subpar TASing experience, is the difficulty of encoding. Our publishers are amazing and very dedicated. But their time is very valuable too. And the time it takes to get movies to sync, and to fight the bugs in order to get a decent encode is tremendous with these emulators. Accepting PCSX-rr and PSXjin movies means a big cost to our publishers time.
Anyway, feel free to discuss here, and again, please report any TASes you are wanting to finish on one of these emulators.
_________________
Pimpin' ain't easy
My Homepage
My TAS projects _________________Pimpin' ain't easy I hope this doesn't come off as rushed or pretentious, but since we usually give plenty of time during the depecration process, I wanted to go ahead and get this going.With the official release of the PSX core of Bizhawk, we want to move away from PCSX-rr and PSXjin for publications at TASVideos.BizHawk uses the mednafen PSX core which is VERY good. It is highly accurate with a good architecture with long term value. PCSX, on the other hand, is a lost cause and below the minimum standards we generally have. Because it was the only option, we reluctantly supported it many years ago. TO give an idea of accuracy, note the results of these accuracy tests . Mednafen tops the charts at 81% (as of this writing) where PCSX-R is only 48.9%. Note that PCSX-R is the reloaded fork, which is an improved version compared to the PCSX core used for rerecording!.Note: we try to be emulator agnostic. We aren't saying that BizHawk is the only option. But the mednafen core itself is the only open source core that is up to our standards. We are saying mednafen-based emulators are approved, and PCSX-based emulators are not.Like the depcreation of Mupen I want to set hard date such as December 31, 2016. But, like that thread, I don't want it to be a hard date. If you are currently working on a TAS using PCSX-rr or PSXjin, please report it here, and I want to accommodate your needs, within reason.There are many problems with PCSX and PSXjin, including horrible unreliable sync, and horrible emulation (such as all the extra lag in some games in PSXjin). So I would encourage everyone to consider restarting rather than continuing with these emulators. You will probably save time in the long run.One of the main reasons we want to no longer accept these emulators, other than accuracy, and the subpar TASing experience, is the difficulty of encoding. Our publishers are amazing and very dedicated. But their time is very valuable too. And the time it takes to get movies to sync, and to fight the bugs in order to get a decent encode is tremendous with these emulators. Accepting PCSX-rr and PSXjin movies means a big cost to our publishers time.Anyway, feel free to discuss here, and again, please report any TASes you are wanting to finish on one of these emulators.
got4n
Joined: 2011-02-05 13:49:33
Posts: 1417
Location: France Experienced player (749)Joined: 2011-02-05 13:49:33Posts: 1417Location: France
Posted: 2015-07-15 22:38:00 Post subject:
_________________
Current:
Rayman 3 maybe? idk xD
Paused:
N64 Rayman 2 (with Funnyhair)
GBA SMA 4 : E Reader (With TehSeven)
TASVideos is like a quicksand, you get in, but you cannot quit the sand PSXHawk master race :D
ALAKTORN ♂
Player (107)
Joined: 2009-10-19 06:28:15
Posts: 2526
Location: Italy
Posted: 2015-07-15 23:51:21 Post subject:
I suppose if I could actually run BizHawk syncing my Tenchu run shouldn’t be too hard. I’m more worried about TASing experience after having worked on PSXjin a lot (which is admittedly a piece of shit, but shit I’m used to nonetheless).
I’ve been working on a massive improvement of the published Tenchu: Stealth Assassins TAS for like I don’t even know, so long. I don’t see myself finishing any time soon either. I’m doing it on PSXjin, and I don’t think my PC can even run BizHawk, so that’s kinda a problem. I have Windows XP and 3.25GB RAM, just as an example of how garbage my PC is. Idk about computers.I suppose if I could actually run BizHawk syncing my Tenchu run shouldn’t be too hard. I’m more worried about TASing experience after having worked on PSXjin a lot (which is admittedly a piece of shit, but shit I’m used to nonetheless).
gamerretro2
Joined: 2014-09-17 13:07:20
Posts: 367
Location: France Active memberJoined: 2014-09-17 13:07:20Posts: 367Location: France
Posted: 2015-07-16 02:24:12 Post subject: I'm working on Rayman 2 on psxjin I do not know when I'll finish i can't tassing on bizhawk my pc not run this emulator
Last edited by gamerretro2 on 2015-07-16 13:24:21; edited 1 time in total
got4n
Joined: 2011-02-05 13:49:33
Posts: 1417
Location: France Experienced player (749)Joined: 2011-02-05 13:49:33Posts: 1417Location: France
Posted: 2015-07-16 04:14:15 Post subject: gamerretro2 wrote:
I'm working on Rayman 2 on psxfin I do not know when I'll finish i can't tassing on bizhawk my pc not run this emulator
so you need finishing it before end of 2016 else you're screwed up. :/
_________________
Current:
Rayman 3 maybe? idk xD
Paused:
N64 Rayman 2 (with Funnyhair)
GBA SMA 4 : E Reader (With TehSeven)
TASVideos is like a quicksand, you get in, but you cannot quit the sand so you need finishing it before end of 2016 else you're screwed up. :/
Flip
Joined: 2007-07-25 18:04:50
Posts: 286
Location: UK Skilled player (1635)Joined: 2007-07-25 18:04:50Posts: 286Location: UK
Posted: 2015-07-16 10:04:02 Post subject:
Warcraft II-Orc Expansion, being 10/12 levels in; (**not so**) easily done this year. That'd be 3/4 runs done on PSXjin, no doubt I'd prefer making Human Expansion on it too.
Last edited by Flip on 2015-10-08 15:20:06; edited 1 time in total
moozooh
Joined: 2005-08-04 20:58:59
Posts: 5608
Location: Moscow, Russia Vested EditorJoined: 2005-08-04 20:58:59Posts: 5608Location: Moscow, Russia
Posted: 2015-07-16 11:53:21 Post subject: got4n wrote:
so you need finishing it before end of 2016 else you're screwed up. :/
Actually, no they aren't. As per the usual deprecation procedure, this thread is here partly to give players (who have long-term projects that are too far in to be restarted)
_________________
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry. Actually, no they aren't. As per the usual deprecation procedure, this thread is here partly to give players (who have long-term projects that are too far in to be restarted) continuances as needed. But I think they'll be fine, there's 1.5 years ahead still.
Samsara ⚥
Skilled player (1773)
Joined: 2009-02-20 13:34:32
Posts: 1788
Posted: 2015-07-16 14:17:54 Post subject: gamerretro2 wrote:
i can't tassing on bizhawk my pc not run this emulator
When did you last try BizHawk? It should be running on a lot more PCs since version 1.9.2
When did you last try BizHawk? It should be running on a lot more PCs since version 1.9.2
boct1584 ♂
Editor / Former player
Joined: 2007-08-09 18:26:28
Posts: 1593
Location: Tiffin/Republic, OH
Posted: 2015-07-16 16:37:46 Post subject:
_________________
Proud to be a TASVideos Editor. Shoutout to Mothrayas for giving me the chance.
Bobo the King wrote:
boct1584 wrote:
Not to mention, different cores have different system requirements. Most of the time when I'm watching TV or Netflix, I'm watching true-crime shows like Forensic Files and The First 48, or I'm watching an on-the-job reality TV show such as Deadliest Catch or Ice Road Truckers.
Apparently boct1584 is my mother.
Dooty
Joined: 2009-06-02 02:51:55
Posts: 1184
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil Expert player (3428)Joined: 2009-06-02 02:51:55Posts: 1184Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Posted: 2015-07-16 17:21:42 Post subject:
In any case, it's time to start messing around with PSXHawk. Thank you very, very much, all the developers of BizHawk for this great addition.
_________________
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it. I can play N64, and even Wii games, somewhat better than some SNES games on my computer, mind you.In any case, it's time to start messing around with PSXHawk. Thank you very, very much, all the developers of BizHawk for this great addition.
gamerretro2
Joined: 2014-09-17 13:07:20
Posts: 367
Location: France Active memberJoined: 2014-09-17 13:07:20Posts: 367Location: France
Posted: 2015-07-16 17:48:38 Post subject: Samsara wrote:
gamerretro2 wrote:
i can't tassing on bizhawk my pc not run this emulator
When did you last try BizHawk? It should be running on a lot more PCs since version 1.9.2
No psxhawk very slow load/save state. 5 second on Bizhawk 1.9.2 and last version
Invariel ♂
Joined: 2011-08-11 22:22:45
Posts: 487
Location: Toronto, Ontario Editor / Player (161)Joined: 2011-08-11 22:22:45Posts: 487Location: Toronto, Ontario
Posted: 2015-07-16 17:51:58 Post subject: People have been working hard implementing PSXHawk and getting save/load state times reduced; maybe downloading 1.11.0 would help matters.
_________________
I am still the wizard that did it.
"On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata
<scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is
Samsara last edited by Invariel on 2015-07-26 02:08:14
Danfun64
Member
Joined: 2007-07-25 00:00:46
Posts: 47
Posted: 2015-07-16 20:57:00 Post subject: Huh? I was under the impression that psx support on bizhawk was cancelled. Or is it just psxhawk?
Samtastic ♂
Player (142)
Joined: 2012-11-30 21:59:50
Posts: 668
Posted: 2015-10-08 13:52:10 Post subject: I am having problems right now with Abe's Oddysee on both PCSX and PSXhawk. I may know what the problem is to fix the missing ring, but my movie file on PSXhawk goes over Dotoy's file comparing to PCSX. Can I still use PCSX to match the loading times with the submitted file? It will be quite difficult to obsolete Dooty's time on PSXHawk.
_________________
Enjoys speedrunning, playing and TASing games!
Has TASed:
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee in 12.06.13 (with Dooty)
Oddworld: Addventures II in 20.03.78 (with Dooty)
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:08:28.4 (with Dooty)
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:05:01.65
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:18
Spikestuff ?
Joined: 2011-10-12 10:20:02
Posts: 5061
Location: The land down under. Publisher / Experienced player (962)Joined: 2011-10-12 10:20:02Posts: 5061Location: The land down under.
Posted: 2015-10-08 14:18:50 Post subject: Samtastic wrote:
Can I still use PCSX to match the loading times with the submitted file? It will be quite difficult to obsolete Dooty's time on PSXHawk.
We have already mentioned to you, load times are not a factor if they are longer due to better emulation.
We have already mentioned to you, load times are not a factor if they are longer due to better emulation.
Samtastic ♂
Player (142)
Joined: 2012-11-30 21:59:50
Posts: 668
Posted: 2015-10-10 10:38:56 Post subject: Update: I know exactly what caused the missing ring to disappear now and I can confirm that the Boardroom ring shows up too! So if I modify Dooty's PXM file and finish it off, the total movie time will be good. I will submit it as soon as I finished it.
_________________
Enjoys speedrunning, playing and TASing games!
Has TASed:
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee in 12.06.13 (with Dooty)
Oddworld: Addventures II in 20.03.78 (with Dooty)
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:08:28.4 (with Dooty)
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:05:01.65
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:18
jlun2
Joined: 2009-09-17 09:58:28
Posts: 4712
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah" Skilled player (1719)Joined: 2009-09-17 09:58:28Posts: 4712Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
Posted: 2015-10-10 15:49:56 Post subject: Spikestuff wrote:
Samtastic wrote:
Can I still use PCSX to match the loading times with the submitted file? It will be quite difficult to obsolete Dooty's time on PSXHawk.
We have already mentioned to you, load times are not a factor if they are longer due to better emulation.
I think what's worse is that even if there was a massive note indicating so, it won't stop others from looking at it and saying "it's slower" regardless. :/
_________________
LLCoolDave wrote:
_________________ This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award. I think what's worse is that even if there was a massive note indicating so, it won't stop others from looking at it and saying "it's slower" regardless. :/
Spikestuff ?
Joined: 2011-10-12 10:20:02
Posts: 5061
Location: The land down under. Publisher / Experienced player (962)Joined: 2011-10-12 10:20:02Posts: 5061Location: The land down under.
Posted: 2015-10-10 16:01:16 Post subject: jlun2 wrote:
I think what's worse is that even if there was a massive note indicating so, it won't stop others from looking at it and saying "it's slower" regardless. :/
Tell me about it.
feos
Joined: 2010-04-17 05:29:12
Posts: 8467
Location: RU Senior Judge / ... / Skilled player (1783)Joined: 2010-04-17 05:29:12Posts: 8467Location: RU
Posted: 2015-10-10 17:29:57 Post subject:
_________________
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
If TASing is meta-play, _________________If TASing is meta-play, TASVideos Movie Rules are meta-meta-play! Good job flushing in the lavatory all the help people gave you with movie conversion.
Mothrayas
Joined: 2009-08-14 19:21:55
Posts: 3582
Location: The Netherlands Admin Assistant / Expert player (4006)Joined: 2009-08-14 19:21:55Posts: 3582Location: The Netherlands
Posted: 2016-05-01 12:51:35 Post subject:
To be clear:
You have until December 31 2016 23:59 UTC to complete any runs you have started using PCSX-rr or PSXjin, no exceptions will be made, unless you have been granted a continuance on your existing run. If you feel you have a long run that already had a lot of work put into it, and will need a while to be completed, you may request a continuance in this thread. We will accept continuances until December 15 2016 23:59 UTC.
This means that users have, as of this day, 8 months to submit their PCSX-rr or PSXjin movies, or 7.5 months to request a continuance otherwise.
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/Mothrayas
<dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects.
<Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits
<adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help. _________________ This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help. Bumping to make clear that, unless/until further notice, the proposed date will be the one in effect for the PCSX-rr and PSXjin deprecation. Like other systems pending deprecation, continuances can be requested in this thread.To be clear:This means that users have, as of this day, 8 months to submit their PCSX-rr or PSXjin movies, or 7.5 months to request a continuance otherwise.
ALAKTORN ♂
Player (107)
Joined: 2009-10-19 06:28:15
Posts: 2526
Location: Italy
Posted: 2016-05-01 23:32:01 Post subject:
So how do continuances work? Should I bother asking for Tenchu or am I better off porting it to BizHawk 10 years from now when I’ll actually have it finished, maybe?
Samsara ⚥
Skilled player (1773)
Joined: 2009-02-20 13:34:32
Posts: 1788
Posted: 2016-05-01 23:46:45 Post subject:
In your case, you have a little over 7 months to figure it out, but if you're only able to work sporadically/slowly I'd honestly recommend holding out and porting it over to BH once you're able to do so.
Continuances technically last forever. I'd say they're more for people who have put ridiculous amounts of time and effort into an input file already and would rather finish that run instead of spending the same amount of time and effort porting everything over. If I'd spent, say, a year or so running 30 minutes of a 60 minute game, I would most likely ask for a continuance. I wouldn't if I'd spent a couple weeks TASing 2 minutes of a 15 minute game.In your case, you have a little over 7 months to figure it out, but if you're only able to work sporadically/slowly I'd honestly recommend holding out and porting it over to BH once you're able to do so.
paosidufygth
Player (110)
Joined: 2014-11-13 18:28:42
Posts: 35
Posted: 2016-07-02 20:51:51 Post subject: I'd like a continuance on Rockman Complete Works 3-6
Oh and Rockman X3
Samsara ⚥
Skilled player (1773)
Joined: 2009-02-20 13:34:32
Posts: 1788
Posted: 2016-07-19 21:13:55 Post subject:
I can't personally see the point in issuing a continuance if you're just starting these runs. The point of a continuance is to give leeway to people who don't want to give up long-term projects they started with a soon-to-be deprecated emulator. I don't think we should be issuing continuances to people who just refuse to use the accepted emulator.
About half a month late in replying, but I think this needs to be said.I can't personally see the point in issuing a continuance if you're just starting these runs. The point of a continuance is to give leeway to people who don't want to give up long-term projects they started with a soon-to-be deprecated emulator. I don't think we should be issuing continuances to people who just refuse to use the accepted emulator. |
3d artist and talented coder Clovis Gay (Hocus Pocus Studio) gave a little presentation of his upcoming PhysX Painter tool. It’s a cool utility for 3DS Max, which helps you to fill you scene with objects in a physically accurate manner.
Introduction
I’ve always been interested in art, and so I’ve been to some art schools, and I finally decided to go to a 3D school because I loved animated films, video games and all. So, after this school I started working as a modeling artist for an animated serie and then I went a bit in Video Games as environment artist. Right after my Video Games experience I worked for a few years as a 3D generalist in a studio environment where we had to know and do almost everything. That’s where I started to script some tools, and since then I never really stopped.
Our studio is made of two parts, Hocus Pocus studio where we provide 3D services for vfx, feature films, short films, commercials, and corporate stuff, and KinematicLAB which is more my part, where I create, sell or give for free some of our tools. So we really have these two entities, one for the 3D creation, and the second for more technical stuff. I create visuals sometimes, but I’m much more into technical stuff, I do a lot of Rigging and tool development.
As a Studio we sometimes create everything, from 3D to animation, rendering, compositing and editing…etc. And we also provide specific 3D services like rigging, tool developpement, rendering…etc for other 3D animation studios.
For example we’ve worked on Rigging for a movie called Lazer Team, where we had to create creatures and digital doubles rigs, we’ve fully created the music clip for Mystery Skulls called Magic, and a few other projects showed on our website, and some others which we are not able to show right now.
We also try to find time to develop our own projects, like the Civil War Trailer, which was an in-house project to show what we would like to do. And we have a massive in-house project runing as well.
PhysX Painter
PhysX Painter is a tool done for 3Ds Max, to quickly populate your 3D scenes with assets and place them naturally with rigid bodies simulations. It’s a very easy way of working, with some brushes to paint your assets directly on your ground, delete them, replace them quickly, simulate & re-simulate…etc
It’s coded in Maxscript, and I use MassFX to simulate, so nothing extremely complicated.
That’s very useful during the scene assembling process where you need to put everything together to make your scene believable. This tool can place the assets with physX simulations, but not only, you can paint the assets with no simulation and place them with some random transforms.
So you really can use it in two scenarios where you need piles of things like debris, or anything which should look placed randomly, or you can use it to place any other assets like trees, or street assets…etc.
Placing all the assets manually or runing simulations yourself is very time consuming, so this tool will save hours of work, and look much more natural.
You could also use it in Games, to create piles of assets which could be re-used in your levels, because it comes with collapsing tools, so you can paint/simulate and then collapse in one mesh to export it to your Engine.
This tool only makes instances of your Source Assets so it doesn’t really affect how they are rendered.
The clever thing to do is to use the replacement options to replace the Low Poly versions used to simulate with VrayProxies to have more detailed assets at render time, and also render faster.
Using the Tool
So all the simulation here is done and automated with MassFX, which is a simulation tool inside 3dsmax.
The key to make it work properly is to prevent the assets to overlap during the painting process, so when the simulation starts, they don’t expode. Also to speed up the painting process and the simulation I recommand to have 2 versions of each asset. A very low poly for painting and simulating, and a high version which replaces the Low at render time for example.
The Gravity can be changed, you can use the World Gravity you have in MassFX, or choose a specific Gravity Helper in 3ds Max to push and Attract in a specific direction.
The Physicall properties are again set with MassFX so they are Convex Hulls, and you can affect the Contact Distance and have access to all the options MassFX provide.
Unfortunately I only code for 3ds Max, so there is no plan to make it available for Maya or Game engines, But I’m pretty sure some people will do similar tools.
Interesting Links |
There is no strong evidence to back a licensed cannabis-extract medicine which the Department of Health plans to make available to multiple sclerosis patients next year, according to a study.
There is no strong evidence to back a licensed cannabis-extract medicine which the Department of Health plans to make available to multiple sclerosis patients next year, according to a study.
The drug, Sativex, is used in the treatment of muscle spasms in sufferers of the disease. According to the study's findings, the strength of any evidence is insufficient to warrant its routine use.
In addition, a change in the law will be needed here before doctors are allowed to prescribe it for patients.
The study, led by Dr James Cave, editor of the 'Drugs and Therapeutic Bulletin' (DTB), which is part of the British Medical Journal group, examined the effects of the drug – given in the form of a mouth spray – which contained the extracts dronabinol and cannabidiol from the cannabis plant.
Muscle
It is estimated that 8,000 Irish people have multiple sclerosis. An increase in muscle tone, or spasticity, is a common symptom of the condition, causing involuntary spasms, immobility, disturbed sleep and pain.
Complex combinations of drugs are sometimes needed to manage spasticity, but they don't work that well and have a range of unpleasant side-effects.
Sativex is intended for use by patients where other options have failed. But the DTB review found that the trial data on which the success of Sativex is based are limited.
Overall, the trials did show a small difference, where in a number of patients the symptoms lessened.
But the DTB review says that the evidence is insufficient to warrant its routine use. "We believe that such limitations make it difficult to identify the place of this product in clinical practice," it suggests.
The preparation is also expensive, costing around 10 times as much as other drugs used for the secondary treatment of MS muscle spasms.
Irish Independent |
I came across kratom about 5 years ago while searching for something to help the chronic pain in my feet and legs due to non-diabetic neuropathy. As a registered nurse in a busy ICU unit, I’m on my feet for 12+ hours at a time, 3-4 days a week. Kratom is absolutely the only thing I have ever found that helps my pain enough for me to be able to continue doing the job I love.
I’m not the kind of person who’s against prescription medication, or who says I’m not going to take anything a doctor gives me. I see the miracle of modern medicine in action on a daily basis. But I feel that kratom is the best treatment FOR ME. It may not be right for others, but for me it’s the only option I have. Taking opiates is just not an option I am willing to accept, and with good reason.
The hospital where I work is in Scioto County, Ohio, which is somewhat notorious for being the starting point of the whole Appalachian opioid epidemic. In the 20 years I have worked there, I have seen the whole nightmare unfold. When I first started, fresh out of nursing school, I had never even heard of people overdosing on, well, anything, actually. Then oxycontin came along and the pill mills popped up. One of our area’s best physicians, orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Lilly, was the first high-profile case of a doctor getting arrested for selling oxycontin. Then another area doctor was charged with the wrongful deaths of four young people due to overdosing on the drugs he provided. But it only got worse from there. After the authorities started cracking down on bad doctors and shutting down the clinics, the heroin came along.
No one has any idea the extent of the addiction problem unless they are right in the middle of it, as all of my coworkers and I are every day. There are so many drug addicts, it’s almost impossible to wrap your head around it until you see it. Day after day, we get one overdose after another through the ER doors. We see people as old as 70s and 80s using heroin. Many became addicted after starting on opiates prescribed by their doctor. But eventually the opiates became unavailable.
It seems hard to believe someone would resort to injecting street drugs with dirty needles in an effort to control pain. Well, believe it. It happens all the time. Many people would take a chance on dying to escape the never ending pain.
As bad as it has been, I do believe seeing what I have over the years has saved me. As my chronic pain progressed, I swore that no matter no bad it got, I would NEVER start taking opiates. There is no way I am ever going to let them take hold of me and ruin my life like I have seen it do to so many others.
[Kratom] could help so many people live better lives. For some, it could even be a light at the end of the dark tunnel of drug addiction.
As my pain got worse over the years, I started looking for alternative treatments for my condition. I honestly can’t remember exactly how or where I came across kratom in my research. But in reading about it, I felt like it might be worth a try, as so many swore by it for chronic pain. At that time, I didn’t even realize there was any kind of controversy. It was just another herbal supplement I researched and decided to try.
The relief was significant and immediate, and I felt so much better. It brought my pain down to a reasonable and tolerable level, without making me drowsy or impairing my thinking in any way. Between my job and raising two girls alone, I couldn’t afford to take anything that would alter my thought process or make me sleepy.
Paul Kemp - https://www.facebook.com/PaulKempIII Susan Ash and Paul Kemp of the American Kratom Association at the Kratom March on DC Sept 13th. Hundreds attended, giving a voice to the thousands of us who will be affected by the proposed scheduling of kratom...
Kratom has never made me feel “high,” and I can’t imagine why anyone thinks that. It helps me think more clearly, just like a cup of coffee does. I guarantee anyone who is under the impression that kratom has any kind of psychoactive effect has never taken it. Honestly, I wish the people who make those kind of claims would just try it once and they would see that it has no negative effect on the thought process whatsoever.
Over the past few years, I have become acquainted with many folks who use kratom for a variety of reasons. Some are recovering addicts who have been able to stop using illicit drugs because kratom took the edge off the withdrawal symptoms. Others are like me and have just found it’s a better option for them than prescription pain medications. I am not sure what I am going to do if kratom becomes illegal. Hopefully, I can get along with the other supplements I take, although I am probably going to have to face the fact that I am going to be in a lot more pain on a daily basis. I am dreading it. I am more worried about some of the others in the community. I am sure some of them will feel they have no choice but to return to taking opiates to control their pain, and it’s going to be devastating.
It’s going to be even worse for those who were able to get off heroin by using kratom. The only hope they have is being taken from them, and without kratom they may not be able to stay clean. These are good people, people who have hit rock bottom and had the strength to claw their way out of it and get clean and go on to be productive citizens again. But this might be too much for some of them. They are taking away the very thing that helped them get better and saved their lives. I have no doubt people are going to die because of this.
@DEAHQ I'm an ICU nurse in Portsmouth, OH. Sound familiar? I zip up too many body bags! It doesn't have to be this way! #kratomsaveslives — Dreama McFadden (@DreamaDawn) September 4, 2016
As for kratom being “addictive,” I honestly don’t buy it from my own experience. I take it on a regular basis, and if I don’t take it, I have no problems other than my feet start hurting again. I don’t have any other problems. My pain levels just return back up to what they were before I started taking it. It’s just miserable. I dread the thought of trying to get through the day hurting so bad 24/7. However, there’s nothing else that I am willing to take that will help the pain.
I don’t want to end up on disability. I don’t want to become a shell of the person I could be.
Banning kratom is a step in the wrong direction. It could help so many people live better lives. We should be encouraging people who could benefit from it to use it, not taking away that opportunity. For some, it could even be a light at the end of the dark tunnel of drug addiction. I am not convinced that there is any danger whatsoever in taking kratom regularly for pain control. And even if there were a proven risk, I would be willing to accept it. I am all for regulation. I don’t believe it should be available to children under 18. I think there should be penalties for those who attempt to make medical claims, just as there are for any other supplements.
Kratom should only be available in its natural form, as a dried leaf to be taken by mouth or as a tea. Greedy retailers have been marketing kratom in extract form as a “legal high” with names like Vivazen and Tramasol. But those who buy it hoping to get a quick buzz are going to be disappointed. Those are the people who try it once or twice and realize they are wasting their money.
If I could ask the powers that be at the DEA one question it would be this: “What do you suggest we do now?” You say opiates are bad. I agree. But what about those of us who suffer chronic pain on a daily basis? What options will be available to us? Especially if we find becoming addicted to prescription pain meds an unacceptable alternative? Should we just suck it up and deal with the pain? |
Greenpeace Indonesia activists and concerned members of the public are calling on the government to overcome the potential for global disaster by developing renewable energy and strengthening the implementation of a moratorium on primary forest and peat land conversion.
'It will be too bad if the government fails to develop Indonesia's renewable energy potential, including geothermal, solar and wind, in the process of developing the country's infrastructure,' said Greenpeace Indonesia's climate and energy campaigner Hindun Mulaika as quoted by Antara in a press statement in Jakarta on Saturday.
The activist said the government was in the process of implementing its 35,000 megawatt energy supply plan for Indonesia. Sixty percent of this energy will come from coal-powered plants (PLTU). This suggests that for the next 20 years, Indonesia will depend on coal as its main energy source, she said.
'If the government fails to reduce carbon emissions from the two biggest emission sources, Indonesia will not be able to fulfill the emission reduction commitment it made to the world,' said Hindun.
To help tackle climate change, a number of Greenpeace activists together with local communities are scheduled to hold flash mob dance performances in several cities, including Bandung, Jakarta, Padang, Pekanbaru, Purwokerto, Semarang and Yogyakarta.
Hindun said the event aimed to create public awareness of the dangerous climate changes resulting from deforestation and excessive use of fossil-based fuels.
The creative action is part of the Global Day of Action organized by Greenpeace in more than 30 countries across the world to call for action to tackle climate change, she said. (ebf)(+++) |
Elizabeth Renter
Infowars.com
November 17, 2012
A new study from the Pesticide Action Network says that the more than 1 billion pounds of pesticides used in the United States every year may be having detrimental effects on children’s health. While it may seem like a statement from Captain Obvious, the industry that makes these pesticides insists they are safe. Safe to have on our foods, in our air, and leeched into our water. And just as safe for children as they are for adults.
But, the Pesticide Action Network North America (PAANA) says, that simply isn’t the case. Their research, and research that has come before them, indicates these chemicals (used to kill things incidentally) are contributing to things like autism, birth defects, early puberty, obesity, cancer, diabetes, and asthma.
Researchers drew their conclusions from dozens of studies that linked pesticides with serious health concerns. These studies show that the effects of pesticides on children are even more pronounced than they are in adults. After all, everything is smaller and still developing in the young.
“One of the things that is also really clear from science is that children are just much more vulnerable to pesticide exposure,” said report co-author Kristin Schafer. “In terms of how their bodies work and defense mechanisms work, how much (pesticides) they’re taking in pound for pound, they’re eating more, drinking more, breathing more than an adult, and are much more susceptible to harms that pesticides can pose.”
For their part, the pesticide industry says these findings are simply untrue—that their chemicals are harmless for everyone, that they are tested for safety and wouldn’t be used if they weren’t safe. Of course, their vested interest in the continued belief of their chemicals safety wouldn’t be playing a role in their insistence, would it? Pesticide companies and companies like Monsanto, for instance, are notorious for funding studies that “prove” their safety—because truly objective studies would hurt their bottom line.
While keeping our children away from pesticide-laden produce, for instance, can decrease their exposure, these chemicals are everywhere. Until the corporations making money off of them are forced to admit they are causing serious damage to the health of all humankind, we can’t expect their prevalence to change.
The effects of pesticides aren’t pretty. In addition to causing significant harm to children, pesticides have also been tied to infertility, birth defects, obesity, and cancer among adults as well.
This article first appeared at NaturalSociety, covering important health information. |
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During an alternative-fact-filled interview with Bill O’Reilly on Sunday, President Donald Trump launched into a diatribe about California pushing back against his immigration policies, suggesting that he would try to cut off the Golden State’s federal funding. “We give tremendous amounts of money to California,” he said. “California in many ways is out of control, as you know.”
Assuming that Trump was speaking on behalf of the federal government, he was, in fact, correct that “we” give lots of money to California. Annually, the feds spend nearly $368 billion in California, which includes everything from paying government contracts to cutting Social Security checks. Yet implicit in Trump’s comments was the assumption that Californians are gobbling up or blowing through “tremendous amounts” of government spending without paying their fair share in return. That’s wrong.
An accumulation of data from various sources shows that California routinely pays more in federal taxes than it receives in federal spending. A 2015 study by the New York state comptroller found that in 2013 Californians paid $9,086 per capita in federal taxes and received $9,040 per capita in federal spending—or about 99 cents of spending for every tax dollar. (This is an improvement: The Tax Foundation found that California received about 78 cents in spending for every tax dollar in 2005, and Census and IRS data showed the state getting back 87 cents on the dollar in 2010.) In comparison, the average state gets about $1.29 in federal money for every dollar it sends to Washington.
California pays about 13 percent of all federal taxes and receives about 11 percent of federal expenditures. It’s one of 11 states with a deficit between what it pays the feds and what it gets back. New Jersey has the biggest annual gap between spending and taxes, at more than $2,600 per person. New Mexico enjoys the biggest surplus, at more than $7,700 per person.
Here’s how all the states stack up in terms of federal taxes paid and spending received.
States pay a wide range of taxes per capita. Connecticut pays nearly $14,000 per person, while Mississippians pay about $4,800 apiece.
Federal spending by state also varies widely. Swamp-adjacent Virginia gets more than $16,800 per person. (Washington, DC, itself brings in a whopping $65,000 per resident.) Arid Utah, on the other hand, gets just $7,000 per person per year.
Meanwhile, there remains insufficient data to calculate how much Trump has paid in taxes relative to the tremendous amounts of benefits he has received from the federal government. |
IVANKA Trump's bombshell good looks are inspiring women in China to go under the knife to look like the First Daughter.
The 35-year-old's popularity is soaring in the communist country as businesses cash in on the blonde's trademark name. And the country's women are flocking to copy Ivanka's striking model looks. It comes after Daily Star Online revealed Ivanka was the First Daughter everyone wants to look like.
GETTY BEAUTY: Ivanka Trump's good looks are inspiring women to go under the knife
Ivanka Trump through the years Ivanka Marie Trump is an American businesswoman and former fashion model. She is the daughter of real estate developer and President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump and former model Ivana Trump. 1 / 29
Women in America admitted to spending as much as $90,000 for cosmetic surgery to get the so-called Ivanka look. Li Yunxing, from Foshan Yiwanka Medical Management, said young women are lusting over Ivanka's features. She said: "Young women here want Ivanka’s big eyes, her pretty nose and lips and her flawless figure. “Her facial features, disposition and appearance are perfect, no matter whether they are judged by the beauty standards of the East or West.”
“Young women here want Ivanka’s big eyes, her pretty nose and lips and her flawless figure” Li Yunxing The company, based in the city of Foshan, offers breast implants, liposuction and nose and eye augmentation all inspired by the First Daughter. Its name, registered before the election, is the Chinese translation of Ivanka. The latest cosmetic surgery boom comes as businesses in the country pile in on the "Ivanka effect". Companies have been applying to register under the name Yiwanka, with the vast range of products including underwear and sanitary towels. More than 250 businesses have lodged bids for "Ivanka" trademarks since dad Donald won the election in November last year.
Is Melania Trump the HOTTEST first lady ever? There have been stylish first ladies throughout the history of the US, there have even been first ladies who were ex-models, but is Melania Trump (née Knauss) the hottest? 1 / 15 WireImage Donald Trump and Melania Trump attend Radio City Music Hall Restoration Grand Opening on 4th October, 1999. |
WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Tom Homan confirmed on Thursday that a man arrested in connection with setting a fire in Sonoma County Wine Country is an illegal alien from Mexico who has been twice returned to his “home country.”
Homan also confirmed that ICE has issued detainer requests for Jesus Fabian Gonzalez five times now in the past year alone, including the one issued on October 16 in relation to his most recent arrest on suspicion of arson. All of the arrests were made “by Sonoma County on various felony and misdemeanor charges,” according to Homan.
Sonoma County is considered a sanctuary jurisdiction and does not fully cooperate with federal immigration officials. That includes not honoring ICE detainer requests. “ICE was never notified of Mr. Gonzalez’ various releases,” Homan wrote in the statement regarding Gonzalez.
There were several fires in the region, and it is not clear what role the fires Gonzales allegedly set played in the overall disaster.
Homan’s public statement highlights the lack of cooperation from Sonoma County officials and the devastating wildfires that have ravaged the region:
Once again, a non-cooperative jurisdiction has left their community vulnerable to dangerous individuals and preventable crimes. ICE lodged a detainer against Jesus Gonzalez with Sonoma County jail officials on October 16, following his arrest on felony charges for maliciously setting fire to a property. This is especially troubling in light of the massive wildfires already devastating the region. Over the past year, ICE has lodged detainers against Mr. Gonzalez after four separate arrests by Sonoma County on various felony and misdemeanor charges. ICE was never notified of Mr. Gonzalez’ various releases. Additionally, Mr. Gonzales has been returned to his home country of Mexico on two separate occasions. The residents of Sonoma County, and the state of California, deserve better than policies that expose them to avoidable dangers. Non-cooperation policies – now enshrined in California state law – ensure only one thing: criminals who would otherwise be deported will be released and left free to reoffend as they please.
California Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed into law a bill that makes California a sanctuary state.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
Photo: file |
At Berlin's insistence, Washington has finally returned 300 metric tons of gold to Germany.
According to reports, the transfer was uneventful and even ahead of schedule:
The German Central bank finally got its gold back. But it wasn't easy... “The transfers were carried out without any disruptions or irregularities,” Bundesbank board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele said in yesterday’s news release. “The gold storage plan for New York, which envisaged the transfer of 300 tons of gold from New York to Frankfurt, was fully realized in 2016.” The 300 metric tons of gold repatriated from New York equates to 20 percent of Germany’s gold holdings in the United States. Thiele also announced that Germany would repatriate 100 percent of its gold holdings in France by the end of 2017. The Bundesbank currently stores 47.9 percent of its gold in Germany, 36.6 percent in the U.S., 12.8 percent in England, and a mere 2.7 percent in France. Once the transfers are complete, Germany will hold half its 3,378 tons of gold in Frankfurt, with the balance in New York and London.
But experts say that Germany's decision to repatriate its gold revealed a not-so-secret secret: U.S. gold reserves are not nearly as large as they are reported to be:
Valentin Katasonov, a professor at the International Finance Department at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), suggested that the US disposed of Germany’s gold bars at its own discretion. "There are a lot of signs that the gold was not physically presented in the New York vaults when Germany called it back. Of course, the US began to return it to Germany but there is one interesting detail. When you leave your suitcase in the luggage storage you expect to get back the same suitcase. But Germany took the wrong 'suitcase,'" Katasonov told Radio Sputnik. According to the economist, the gold bars that Bundesbank repatriated have different labels. He suggested that the US might have replaced the German bullion with different gold bars bought from the market.
All of this suggests of course that the U.S. had to buy gold off the market to fill Germany's order.
This is interesting in its own right. But another important aspect of this story is: Why is Germany so eager to get its gold back? There are multiple competing theories, but here is one of them:
With President Trump threatening to undermine both nato and the European Union, you can be sure that German leaders are discussing how they can shore up their economic and military might in a world where America isn’t their ally. Germany’s old World War II foes will soon regret turning Germany loose. The world is about to see a much stronger Bundesbank—and consequently, a more aggressive German nation. German confidence and power grows with the clink of each brick it adds to its towering stack of gold!
We reported last week that Russia and China were dumping U.S. treasuries and buying up gold. It seems that Germany is positioning itself accordingly.
Things are getting interesting. |
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On Wednesday, six massive international banks agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle allegations from regulators in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland that their traders tried to manipulate the $5.3-trillion-a-day foreign-currency exchange market. But Wall Street watchdogs say the banks got off with a slap on the wrist.
From 2008 through 2013, traders at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS colluded to coordinate the buying and selling of 10 major currencies to manipulate prices in their favor. The penalties—announced Wednesday by an alphabet soup of American and foreign regulatory agencies—mark the end of the first phase of investigations into the banks that could lead to further fines. They “should be seen as a message to all market participants that wrongdoing and foul play in the financial markets is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Tim Massad, the chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said in a statement.
“It’s corrupt, as usual,” says one House staffer. Regulators should “send crooks to jail.”
But critics say the banks, which were not forced to admit wrongdoing, deserved a much harsher punishment. “The global too-big-to-fail banks are again allowed to evade responsibility and accountability by using shareholders’ money to pay big fines, which will generate headlines but do little if anything to stop the relentless Wall Street crime spree,” Dennis Kelleher, the president of Better Markets, a financial reform advocacy shop, responded in a statement.
David Weidner, who covers Wall Street for MarketWatch, agrees. The settlements “appear to be just another cost-of-doing-business budget line for the banks,” he wrote.
What’s more, financial reformers say, none of the employees involved in the rate-fixing will face criminal charges. “It’s corrupt, as usual,” says one House staffer. Regulators should “send crooks to jail.”
As part of the deal, the CFTC and Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority called on the banks to strengthen their internal monitoring of foreign exchange trading activity. But “while the banks did agree to take certain steps to better supervise their traders, that is laughably inadequate” to prevent future wrongdoing, Kelleher says.
The Justice Department and New York’s Department of Financial Services have been pursuing separate criminal investigations into the alleged rate manipulation. Those probes could result in criminal charges, although “if history is any indication,” Weidner says, the people charged won’t be high-level executives. To date, only one top banker who helped cause the financial crisis went to jail because of it. This time, he adds, they will likely “single out low-ranking traders who pushed the buttons.” |
The Associated Press has announced it will begin using automation technology to write business news reports, a development which likely foreshadows a future mainstream media dominated by computer “reporters.”
The AP recently said that data provided by Zachs Investment Research will be funneled into software developed by Automated Insights which will then automate short stories for the AP in roughly the same amount of time it would take its human reporters to write.
“…Instead of providing 300 stories manually, we can provide up to 4,400 automatically for companies throughout the United States each quarter,” said Lou Ferrara, an AP managing editor.
The wire news service also claimed the automation will not eliminate jobs.
“This is about using technology to free journalists to do more journalism and less data processing, not about eliminating jobs,” Ferrara continued. “In fact, most of the staff has been receptive to the effort and involved for the past few months of discussion.”
But a computer science professor has predicted that by 2030, 90% of all mainstream news stories will be written by automation technology.
“This is possible because some kinds of reporting are formulaic,” wrote Jason Dorrier with the Singularity Hub. “You take a publicly available source, crunch it down to the highlights, and translate it for readers using a few boiler plate connectors.”
Considering that mainstream reporters are already formulaically regurgitating government talking points without question, it should come as no surprise that establishment outlets want to make the final – and practically simple – push towards using real robots for “reporting.”
And this move really began with the death of investigative journalism in mainstream media, which had allowed individual reporters to hold government accountable to the public.
“Fewer commercial news organizations support investigative journalism now than at any time in recent history, and reporters today – especially those who aggressively seek the truths that government, business and other powerful institutions seek to conceal – are arguably more alone, more exposed and more vulnerable to professional and even physical harm than they ever were,” said Charles Lewis, a former 60 Minutes producer and the founder of the Center for Public Integrity.
Fortunately, many of these reporters are moving into the alternative media, which is now exploding in popularity.
“At my heart, I feel like I’m an investigative reporter and that’s what I can bring to the table and contribute, and quite frankly in the last couple of years there just wasn’t the appetite for that kind of reporting,” former mainstream correspondent Sharyl Attkisson said after leaving CBS for the alternative media. “What I’m seeking out now, which is sort of in flux, is the opportunity to bring underserved stories to a broad audience and to an editorial process that doesn’t censor or try to direct a story to go in a certain, unnatural direction but lets the story be told in a way that is naturally occurring.”
So even though the mainstream media is transitioning into an era of automated government propaganda, real, human reporting will nevertheless thrive in the alternative, new media. |
Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sign Australia international Brett Holman from Dutch club AZ Alkmaar this summer.
The 27-year-old winger, who has won 53 caps, was named as Australia's football writers' Player of the Year for 2011.
Holman, who joined Eredivisie leaders Alkmaar in 2008, will sign on a free transfer when his contract expires.
"I am delighted to have agreed terms with Aston Villa. I am looking forward to joining up with the team in the summer," said Holman.
"Villa have a long and prestigious history in English football and a fantastic set of fans."
Holman has spent a decade in the Netherlands, having had spells at Feyenoord, Excelsior and NEC Nijmegen before moving to AZ.
"Brett is a very intelligent player," said Villa manager Alex McLeish. "A great team player and a man who is recognised in the game as a non-stop, committed wide midfield player.
"He has international experience and has played in the Champions League. He will add significantly to the experience in the Villa squad." |
The eurozone's biggest economies, France and Germany, hold elections next year. So may Italy, its third biggest, if a government formed out of the present parliament cannot hold.
Greece, in recent years the eurozone's politically most unstable country, may now be vying for a place in the pack, adding to the shifting political parameters of 2017.
That, at least, is how some observers are interpreting Prime Minister Alexis Tsirpas' decision to hand out 700 million euros ($744m) in concessions for low-income pensioners on December 8.
The announcement followed a Euro group meeting in which the ruling leftists failed to win more than short-term debt restructuring, leaving to 2018 the more substantial measures Greece needs to be viable.
Leftists trailing
The reasoning is that with the 2017 budget now safely passed in parliament last weekend and Syriza fast running out of political capital following its failure either to restructure the debt or to enter Greece into the European Central Bank's quantitative-easing programme, it is time to let the conservative New Democracy (ND) assume the mantle of austerity before Syriza loses any hope of re-election in future.
The ruling leftists are now trailing ND by more than 10 points in every major recent poll.
Syriza, which was returned to power in September last year, theoretically has until 2019 to run.
Alekos Papadopoulos, former finance minister, gave the daily newspaper To Vima a caustic interview on Sunday, in which he launched a broadside at the political system for failing to undertake necessary reforms.
"After seven years of crisis, the political system ... deliberately hasn't allowed people to understand the causes of this crisis," Papadopoulos said.
"Between 2001 and 2015, our people subsidised pension funds’ deficits to the tune of 220 billion euros ($234bn) through taxes and borrowing. That is equivalent to two thirds of the debt."
Papadopoulos acknowledged the "many tens of billions of euros" spent by European taxpayers to raise the Greek standard of living through European Union subsidies.
Still, he blasted the EU for postponing a resolution of the Greek crisis until after 2018, something he called "a grand deception on the part of the Europeans". |
Promises made, then broken. Promise peace. Wage war and daily violence throughout the Territories. Announce a settlement construction halt. Keep building, the promised pause (not a freeze) never observed despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s December 8 announced moratorium saying:
“I hope that this decision will help launch meaningful negotiations to reach a historic peace agreement that would finally end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians,” what he relentlessly pursues, spurning resolution for an equitable, just peace, wanting surrender, not conciliation on equal terms, what he’ll never agree to or accept.
Despite announcing “a suspension of new permits and new construction in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) for a period of ten months,” construction never stopped. Israel’s land grab continues. Thousands of new units have been approved, New York Times writer Ethan Bronner, on July 14, headlining, “Despite Settlement Freeze, Buildings Rise,” saying:
… an examination of the freeze after more than seven months suggests that it amounts to something less significant, at least on the ground. In many West Bank settlements, building is proceeding apace. Dozens of construction sites with scores of Palestinian workers are active.
Why? Because “cheating has occurred (and other units were) grandfathered in” to proceed. In addition, huge approval increases preceded Netanyahu’s announcement, enough to continue construction unabated, though at a slower pace.
Another promise, another lie like the bogus peace process and claims about regional threats, Israel posing the only one, what everyone knows but won’t say.
Peace Now.org (PN) on Israel’s Bogus Moratorium
PN “is the leading voice of Israeli public pressure for peace… with over 10,000 members from the Middle East and around the world.” On August 8, it launched a anti-settlement campaign, saying:
It’s Israel’s moment of truth, its “choice between hope and despair; between settlements and the peace process… between international isolation and global support… choosing settlements over peace will have a destructive impact on public support….”
Eight months into the announced moratorium, PN assessed its non-enforcement, explaining:
— construction began on 600 or more housing units in 60 separate settlements, including 223 permanent structures and 167 caravans or semi-permanent projects;
— at least 492, announced on the eve of the pause, are in “direct violation,” plus another 112 granted since December 8;
— during an average previous eight-month period, construction on about 1,130 housing units began; and
— currently, about 2,000 units are being built, most begun before the December 2009 announced pause.
This means that on the ground, there is almost no freeze or even a visible slowdown, despite the fact that legal construction starts have been prohibited for eight months. It also means that… Israel is not enforcing the moratorium.
Included are small scale and much larger projects, involving dozens of units. For example, 180 have been built in Modiin Ilit, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and another 40 in Givat Ze’ev, northwest of Jerusalem, one of the largest settlements with an estimated 10,800 population, a virtual small town.
In addition, other projects broke ground for their infrastructure, including 62 Barkan units in the northern West Bank, about 100 in Neriya, and 60 in Shaarei Tikvah. In total, 16 settlements have large-scale violations, many others smaller ones.
In the past decade, an average 1,700 new housing units were built annually, plus others built illegally. The settlement pause (never a freeze, a word Netanyahu never used)) excluded construction begun before it began. It will expire in October. Unless maintained and enforced, it will perpetuate the peace and conciliation lie, one persisting for decades. The names and faces change. The fraud and deceit remain.
Ending the moratorium in October will amount to another “meaningless, several month delay,” nothing more. Continuing construction “cast doubt from the start” on Israel’s true intentions. Say one thing, do another, standard practice in its quest for regional hegemony, a Greater Israel, and Jewish only exclusively, one settlement expansion and bulldozed home at a time.
Also Palestine’s historic Mamilla cemetery in Jerusalem, its previously untouched graves with roots from the 7th century, Israel’s Religious Affairs Ministry (in 1948) recognizing it as “one of the most prominent Muslim cemeteries, where Muslim scholars and seventy thousand Muslim warriors” led by Saladin, the first Egyptian Ayyubid Sultan/ opposition leader against the Franks and other Levant European Crusaders, recaptured Jerusalem in the Battle of Hattin. “Israel will always protect and respect this site.” Another promise, another broken.
The plan now calls for Jewish developments to destroy it along with thousands of Palestinian homes and property, Judaization to replace them. The process continues relentlessly, including the Separation Wall, closed military zones, Jewish only infrastructure, and seized Palestinian farmland – to establish “irreversible facts on the ground,” putting a lie to serious peace and reconciliation efforts, ideas not in Israel’s vocabulary and practically obscene for Netanyahu, a man who abhors everything not Jewish.
Peace Now stands opposed, saying a settlement moratorium is “for Israel’s own best interests, regardless of what is happening, or not happening, with regards to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. (It wants it) extended with no more game-playing….without adding any new exceptions or loopholes, (including) enforcement to stop settlers who” keep building illegally. “Otherwise, the entire debate….is little more than empty words,” another Israeli specialty.
Some Final Comments
In a July 23 address in Canada, Palestinian National Initiative founder Dr. Mustafa Barghouti assessed reality today in Palestine, saying:
For over six decades, Israeli apartheid, worse than South Africa’s, has persecuted and dispossessed Palestinians for decades. How else can you describe a system under which “Israel controls more than 85 per cent of” Palestine’s water, letting settlers use “48 times more than us,” where Israeli incomes are 26 times greater than Palestinians, and they’re obliged to pay inflated Israeli prices “because of (policy and) an imposed tax.”
“We even… pay double” for electricity and water, but don’t get enough. After 43 years of occupation, “most of our (West Bank) roads… have been confiscated (and) segregated,” used exclusively for Jews, Arabs on them arrested, imprisoned for seven years or shot by trigger-happy soldier or settlers with immunity to commit murder.
The Separation Wall is stealing 12% of the West Bank, depriving Palestinians of their land and freedom, destroying their economy, health system and education.
A woman “stand(s) on the roof of her two-floor building in Bethlehem,” her house “surrounded by the wall from all directions.” The Israeli military prohibits her going there anymore, saying “she needs a permit” henceforth for her own property.
“I am a medical doctor….I practiced medicine for 15 years in Jerusalem. I was born in Jerusalem. But (for the past) five years, I’m forbidden, like most Palestinians, from entering Jerusalem even with a permit. (It’s) horrifying.” West Bank husbands and Jerusalem wives can’t live in the city together, and if she stays in her husband’s residence, she’ll lose her Jerusalem citizenship.
“What is apartheid?” It’s “when you have two different sets of laws for two different people living in the same area.” Jews from Brooklyn or Siberia get immediate Israeli citizenship on arrival to live anywhere in Israel or West Bank or Jerusalem settlements. “If this is not apartheid, then what is….?
Today’s horrors negate Jewish suffering by the Nazis, Russian pogroms, the Inquisition or at other times. Before 1948 for decades, Palestine was, in fact, a safe haven for Jews who lived peacefully with Muslims and Christians in harmony, before Zionists wanted it all for themselves.
Trouble then began and never ended. Gaza is repressively besieged. West Bank Palestinians and Jerusalemites are virtually imprisoned by the Wall, checkpoints, permit restrictions, and total military control – a free and open system for Jews, an apartheid one for Palestinians denying them all rights oppressively, by wars, daily violence, home demolitions, land seizures, dispossessions, mass arrests, torture, and death.
The struggle isn’t between “two equal sides, and one cannot continue to equate between the Israelis and Palestinians as if this is just a struggle between (them) that cannot find a way to talk” and deal with each other peacefully. It’s “a struggle between” an oppressor and the oppressed, “between the culture of power and the power of culture, (our) vision….values, (and) humanity.”
Nonviolence doesn’t mean “non-struggle. (It) means struggling for your rights. (It’s) about not giving in or giving up, not giving up our dignity, even in the most difficult times….They can imprison us…torture us…shoot us, but they can’t… take away… our dignity” and determination. “We’ve learned how not to give up. (We know) resilience.” That spirit defies oppression, occupation, injustice and always will, what Israeli might can’t ever destroy. “Please don’t be silent.” Stand with us proudly. |
There are few things in this life worth truly committing to: Kids, pets you bought or rescued and the things that bring you pure, unbridled joy. One Direction is my child, my pet, my One Thing Good, and so I commit. I should be committed. They have rendered me a mess. Bellevue, I am coming.
After pouring a vat of gasoline all over my September student loan payments, I struck a match and set fire to my own adulthood with the purchase of one front row One Direction ticket for the Philly stop on their current On The Road Again Tour . Responsibilities don't exist when you're in your mid-20s, and are also me, at least for one night per year. My inexplicable love of One Direction is unsurpassed by anything to come before it, except for maybe how intensely I love Dave Grohl .
So, after YOLO-ing away my finances and further infusing Niall Horan 's tissues with Swarovski crystals, I found myself front row and buzzing.
But before I go into detail about the show, here is the truth: I have seen One Direction more times than I am willing to disclose at this point in my adult life. I have seen them in tiny venues (Beacon Theater, what's good?). I have met them. Traitor Zayn Malik told me he loved my hair -- he used the word love , which is deeper than "like," you know? That conversation took place over three years ago, yet here I am, still in it deep. But my years of One Direction stan-dom culminated in this one evening, in the 90 minutes of unfettered, emotional exodus that took place on September 1, 2015.
On a scale of Kirk Douglas to the Triassic Period, try to guess how old I feel at most One Direction concerts. The correct answer is "The Sun." But in that moment, on that blessed night, I was unbothered. Everything felt good and right and real.
I turned to the mom next to me and asked how old her daughter was. "15," she said, an appropriate age to watch One Direction from the front row. "How old are you?" she asked me, not unkindly. "I'm about to turn 27 in a few days," I said, to which she responded, "You don't look it at all!" As though 26 warrants me ancient relic status. Though I guess in a sea of spry, squirrelly 16-year-olds, I was a fossil wedged inside the darkest, dankest cave.
Mat Hayward, Getty Images
How do you break down One Direction, when it's the sum of their parts that renders them the inexplicable force that they are? I once described the group as a clowder of feral cats whose legs have been untethered for the first time. Not much has changed — though they're a bit more savvy now, and they cling to each other less. They're weary, they've been worked too hard, and, admittedly, it shows.
But anyway: Eventually, the lights dimmed, the screens buzzed and One Direction's terrible, tinny intro music shot me out of my tequila-infused stupor, saving me from being forced into any further idle chitchat, even though I'd initiated it. Everything awful in my life is my fault, and I know this now.
The band opened with "Clouds," which is the perfect introduction to One Direction for people who hate One Direction. It is #RealMusic unless you are Zayn, with the heaviest guitar riff on their album Four, pounding, insistent drums and a desperation in its lyrics that's equal parts frantic and honest. Delivered with a frenzied vocal intensity, Harry Styles starts off the song roaring, a mess of limbs and wild eyes: " I know you said that you don't like it complicated / That we should try to keep it simple / But love is never, ever simple ." Watching Harry is like staring at not only God, but also Jesus . He is a heavenly disaster, possessing the jolting physical movements of a corpse that fell onto some misplaced electrical wires. More on this later.
After rushing through the more '80s-leaning tracks in their discography (the Journey-inspired "Steal My Girl," the hair metal-lite "Little Black Dress," the dad-rock-esque "Where Do Broken Hearts Go," pop-punk reject "Midnight Memories") they start in on the forgettable "Ready to Run," a song that would've fit more appropriately on the soundtrack for the animated horse movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, which few people have seen.
The track falls kind of flat on its own, but " 100% not gay " member Liam Payne really enjoys it. It's one of his favorite songs, he says. I believe him, though I suspect One Direction is lying about many things, their "hiatus" included. But Liam tries so hard. He's a never-ending sugar cube, he's so sweet, and I was so close to him that I feel I have diabetes now. Some of One Direction's more world-weary, jaded fans can practically taste his desperate, palpable need to please -- but Liam's the most competent vocalist in the group by far, serving Mariah-style vocal runs with an ease unmatched by the other three.
It was humid that night, so Liam changed his shirt four times. Louis changed clothes once. Harry and Niall chose to marinate in their own sweat. All of these wardrobe changes took place offstage, of course, because as overtly sexual as Harry tends to be onstage, the majority of the group's shtick remains mostly chaste. I appreciated this, because if any of them had exposed naked flesh to the hoards of hormone-fueled fans around me, I'm certain I would have been mauled to death in the ensuing stampede. There's a certain electricity in the air at a One Direction concert, like every moment may be met with a fiery end.
Louis Tomlinson sang wildly off-key half the time, but he shined on "No Control," a misguided fan favorite whose worth can be found solely in the following Vine.
Louis' high-pitched voice can be a tad harsh for One Direction's bubblegum pop music and their more folky tracks and also their ballads. Maybe he'd find his niche in a brash pop-punk band. He looked sleepy and bored throughout the night, as though he were training for his impending fatherhood a full six months early, but his hair looked freshly washed.
Niall, meanwhile, "played guitar" throughout the evening, but he looked down at the fretboard quite often. He also butchered the opening verse to "Night Changes," though perhaps it sounded worse than it actually was because those lines once belonged to fallen member Zayn and, as Blair Waldorf once said: You cannot compare catfish to caviar. No matter: Niall's eyes were so blue that fans would have been content to drown themselves inside them, if only he'd make eye-contact with anyone, just once. I am not sure he realized people were watching him at all.
Niall did mollify the crowd eventually, with one of far too many speeches about gratitude peppered throughout the evening's set.
It became a sort of theme for the evening, this overbearing thankfulness. True, One Direction don't dance, their stage setup isn't particularly elaborate, pyro and fireworks are minimal and only two out of the four are more-than-competent vocalists (#BlameZayn). But one of the great things about One Direction is that they never pretend to be anything they're not. They play to their strengths: Heavy on the fan interaction, heavy on interacting with each other (unless you are the Harry and Louis combination), way too much gratitude.
It only makes sense that "Girl Almighty" is One Direction's true unspoken anthem, this triumph of young girls. Where so many boy bands before them were about acquisition, about desire, One Direction comes through and worships the biggest demographic of people who put them on the map. It's a largely-nonsense song with garbage lyrics ( Her light is as loud as as many ambulances as it takes to save a savior, oh ) but the Beatles wrote " I Am The Walrus ," right?
"Girl Almighty" is a rollicking, innocent celebration of girls, a group subliminally taught by our patriarchal society to value men above all else, and it's fire live. There is nothing sexual here, just youthful exuberance, genuine and fun. When Liam sings, " I get down on my knees for you ," Harry does exactly that, he drops down and he bows. Because going to a One Direction concert is like attending a mass, except the fans are all God and One Direction are the Evangelical Christians from Jesus Camp .
You get the feeling that the group knows they're an anomaly, and that their specific sort of fame and fortune doesn't make all that much sense. It's like they finally watched their own X Factor performances and asked, "How?" and "Why?" It is only appropriate to pay tribute to the people who put them on an impossibly-high pedestal.
But sometimes the Worship of One Direction is warranted. Remember when the group performed "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" with Ronnie Wood on X Factor ? I bet Ronnie does. Fondly, even. How could you forget performing next to a burgeoning rock star? Because that's exactly what Harry Styles is.
Mr. Molasses himself, Harry is the languid lothario of 1D, appealing to teens and tweens and the elderly alike. He speaks with the seeming ineptitude of a snail crawling through a vat of melted tar, but he's a fireball on stage, interacting with fans, belting out those notes with alarming fierceness, roaring and running with ten times the energy and enthusiasm of his bandmates. (Save, Liam. Good, genuine Liam.)
He is a whip, a veritable force of gracelessness. Harry is not smooth or suave in the same way Zayn was. He can't rest on his perfectly symmetrical looks or effortless, flawless vocals.
Michael Loccisano, Getty Images
But he has personality, leaps and bounds of it, a serious grit to his voice and an undeniable sex appeal that provides something of an edge for a group that caters largely to the tween subset. And while he has been hyped up by non-fans for years now (often enraging hardcore stans -- there's a whole band here, you know?) there's a reason he's the only member my father can name. If anyone is the JT of the group, it's Harry. You know it, I know it, Louis knows it.
But Harry is also the gentlest giant, a lumbering loaf of a man who throws bananas to fans claiming low blood sugar. He dumps bottles of water on others, sometimes he blows kisses, he smirks. These are all basic things, but find yourself on the receiving end of a piercing stare from Harry Styles and you will lose your dignity, and certainly your words -- I know I did.
Tracks from One Direction's magnum opus, the pop masterpiece that is Take Me Home , are largely absent from their current setlist, and that's a shame. From it, they kept only "Kiss You" and the Ed Sheeran reject "Little Things," opting instead to fill their 90-minute set with the songs they have to play ("What Makes You Beautiful," "You & I"), songs they want to play ("Through The Dark," "Story of My Life," "Little White Lies") and weird songs -- like the Irish-inflected jaunt, "Act My Age." You can practically hear Zayn choosing to quit the band on the studio version of this track.
Still, "Act My Age" is a fun song, and it works even though it shouldn't. They all really come to life at this point in the set, like they're so many Michael Flatleys: Lord of the Dance. But it's here when you're reminded that One Direction may break up, and that they somehow became famous enough for it to affect you in the first place. This goofy throwaway drinking song, tossed haphazardly into their encore, proved to be a sobering, bittersweet moment of realization. The past three-and-a-half years I've spent living my One Direction truth -- forging tight bonds with other fans, landing myself this very editorial job through a fan I met along the way -- could soon be over. I might finally regain some autonomy over my life, but at what cost?
One Direction is set to play their final show on U.S. soil tomorrow night (September 12), and there's no telling how long it'll be until they return, if they do at all. This is all going to end soon, this glorious mess of a machine that fans have spent so much time, energy and money on loving. One Direction could never truly be the best at what they do, not after being pounded tirelessly into the Earth by their label and coming out the other side barely alive.
But "Best Song Ever" provides a fitting soundtrack for the way it all should end (their set and otherwise): " And we danced all night to the best song ever / We knew every line / Now I can't remember how it goes / But I know that I won't forget her / "Cause we danced all night to the best song ever. " Juvenile lyrics, sure. But One Direction have always been about feeling first; specifics don't matter as much.
Most of the general public wishes One Direction would launch themselves somewhere well beyond Pluto’s icy atmosphere, and they did, sort of. But the group revels in exactly what it is: some silly little Something Great to so many, and for the fans -- for me, at least -- it’s enough.
See One Direction Through The Years |
Rafael Nadal had one shaky moment in Paris yesterday. It came not when he was ripping Stan Wawrinka limb from limb on Court Philippe Chatrier, but when he took possession of a special replica trophy to mark “La Decima”: his tenth French Open title.
Underestimating the weight of his very own Coupe des Mousquetaires, Nadal let it slip halfway out of his grasp. But his reflexes, razor-sharp all the way through this tournament, were quick enough to save him. He snatched up the cup before it hit the ground, and then embraced the man who had made the presentation – his uncle, Toni Nadal, who will step down from his day-to-day coaching team at the end of the season.
The formalities and statistics ended up overshadowing the match itself, which proved disappointingly one-sided. With his 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 victory, Nadal became the first player to land the same Grand Slam more than nine times in the Open era.
Admittedly, Margaret Court won 11 Australian Opens, but most of them came in the 1960s, when you barely needed an overarm serve to participate.
In terms of sporting dynasties, this is an outlier. In squash, Jahangir Khan went unbeaten between the spring of 1981 and the winter of 1986. The 400m hurdler Ed Moses overcame all-comers for just under a decade, starting in August 1977. But to achieve Nadal’s level of dominance in tennis, the most global of sports, is mind-boggling. |
Bloomberg
Pfizer Inc. and Allergan PLC are on the cusp of striking a merger deal worth more than $150 billion that would create the world’s biggest drug maker by sales, according to people familiar with the matter.
The final terms of the deal include 11.3 Pfizer PFE, -0.14% shares for every Allergan AGN, +0.30% share, the people said. The deal also contains a small cash component, they said. The boards of each company are expected to approve the agreement Sunday and it could be announced Monday.
The takeover would be the largest so-called inversion ever. Such deals enable a U.S. company to move abroad and take advantage of a lower corporate tax rate elsewhere, and have remained popular in the face of U.S. efforts to curb them.
Pfizer Chief Executive Ian Read will lead the combined company with Allergan CEO Brent Saunders serving as his No. 2, the people said. Other Allergan executives are expected to join the firm too.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com. |
The contentious relationship between China and Korea over the deployment of THAAD has seemingly made its way over into the entertainment world in the most overt way possible thus far. There were rumors of an unofficial ban being handed down before, ones that were refuted publicly by a government official, but now SBS‘s ‘The Show‘ has reportedly been suspended indefinitely in China due to the unofficial Korean entertainment ban.
the show据说是因为不可抗拒的政治原因在中国停播几周😂，今天中国看不到直播粉丝也不用投票了。这垃圾节目早点停吧 — YinVikki (@vikkiyincn) November 29, 2016
"The Show has been suspended in China because of political issue. There is no broadcast and no poll today." https://t.co/jHMskO2LQc — eos1d3 (@eos1d3) November 29, 2016
@eos1d3 Additional information: "No broadcast of The Show in China at least some weeks." It's said to be related to Korea ban order in China — eos1d3 (@eos1d3) November 29, 2016
At the moment, the reports are just coming in from Chinese fans, but they would likely know about the status of the show as they try to vote and stuff before the news trickles down to Korean news outlets.
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As far as I know, there’s still no official announcement of a Korean entertainment ban in China, and I think that’s probably to the advantage of China as they can thus selectively enforce whatever they want. However, it’s quite clear that something’s going on here. |
Thankfully, awareness about sexual harassment has been spreading lately — and the more people who share their stories, the closer we will come to making harassment a thing of the past. David Schwimmer launched a new campaign to fight sexual harassment called #ThatsHarassment, and it comes in the form of six short films from director Sigal Avin (who herself experienced sexual harassment by a famous actor early in her career).
Based on real-life stories, each film depicts (painfully real) encounters that six different women experience in their day-to-day.
"I realized that I really wanted to see what sexual harassment was instead of hearing about it and reading about it all the time," Avin said in an interview with Cosmo. "There was nothing on it, everything was much more violent, or unreal, but there was nothing that showed the gray area of sexual harassment."
Here’s just one of the five short, incredibly compelling videos (warning, this is a little hard to watch):
In the same Cosmo interview, Schwimmer shared how his mom and sister — and every woman in his family except his six-year-old daughter — have been sexually harassed at some point in their lives, so these stories are very personal to him.
"When you’ve been objectified your entire life and become accustomed to being a second-class citizen in many, many ways — constantly told that you aren’t worth the same as men, basically, and that your body comes first, or what you look like comes first — it makes a lot more sense to me that a lot of women don’t even recognize when they’re being harassed," Schwimmer said. "Because you spend your whole life not being treated with the kind of respect that men are automatically given."
Make sure to check out the rest of the #ThatsHarassment video series, because each film depicts how quickly sexual harassment can happen and how common it is for women to repeatedly brush these encounters under the rug — or worse — blame themselves.
These situations are never okay, and should not be tolerated under any circumstance. We hope these films keep this vitally important conversation alive. |
England are looking to improve on their third-place finish at the 2015 Women's World Cup
England can still improve despite thumping arch-rivals Scotland 6-0 in their opening match at Women's Euro 2017, says manager Mark Sampson.
Jodie Taylor scored a hat-trick, while Ellen White, Jordan Nobbs and Toni Duggan were also on target.
The Lionesses, who are fifth in the world rankings, face Spain and Portugal in their remaining group games.
"This team is a work in progress - we're not the finished product yet," said Sampson.
"The exciting part for me is how good we can become over the next five matches. These players enjoy the pressure, they thrive in it and this was the stage they were born to be at.
"With every good performance they put in, it excites me more for how far they can go. We could be the best team in the world."
Taylor had 'tough ride' since 2015
Media playback is not supported on this device Women's Euro 2017: Jodie Taylor & Mark Sampson react to England's 6-0 win over Scotland
Taylor's hat-trick was the first by an England Women player at the finals of a major tournament, and the first any nation has scored at the Women's Euros since 1997.
The Arsenal forward, who was left out of England squads by former boss Hope Powell, had turned down a chance to play for her country in 2010 because she "needed a break" from the game.
The 31-year-old, who scored once at the 2015 World Cup, has had several injuries since joining Arsenal.
"The hat-trick meant a lot to me," she said. "The last two years have been a tough ride. Just to be here fit and healthy is a huge achievement.
"I want to thanks the medics for getting me in a good place, and for Mark for still believing in me and having confidence in me because without that I wouldn't be here."
Sampson added: "Ever since we've known Jodie, I think everyone has known she is a world-class player.
"I've not seen better in the game at anticipating passes in behind, moving into positions to receive the ball.
"Of course, you need the service, but what Jodie has added to her game in the last 12 months in particular is her ability to be an instinctive finisher."
Analysis - 'Taylor's movement is phenomenal'
Former England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis on BBC Radio 5 live:
Jodie Taylor is hungry for success in this wonderful set-up. She spent so long in exile under Hope Powell for whatever reasons, but it spurred her on. It has shaped her as a person.
Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin on BBC Radio 5 live:
Jodie Taylor is one the best and most intelligent movers in the game. Her movement is phenomenal, the timing of it was perfect. She was so calm with the finish. |
Former Governor Mike Huckabee offered some unwarranted advice to the sore loser Democrats: “Suck it up, snowflakes. You Lost.”
Governor Mike Huckabee: Why would they want him to win? He is everything they hoped they don’t have in a US president. He’s strong. He’s surrounding himself with really tough people. But here’s the other reason that is utter nonsense. I mean true absolute donkey droppings. That’s what this amounts to. The idea that somehow the voters were persuaded by what’s in those DNC emails, let’s be reminded the mainstream media didn’t cover the content of these emails. The people who were covering them were the conservative news publications. Those folks were going to vote for Trump anyway. I think the Democrats were just embarrassed… I would say to the Democrats, “Suck it up snowflakes. You lost.” |
Federal opposition leader Tony Abbott walks through Inverbrackie, the site of the new detention centre in the Adelaide Hills. Picture: Kelly Barnes
HOUSING asylum-seekers in the "idyllic" Adelaide Hills will send the wrong message to people smugglers, Tony Abbott has said.
The opposition leader this morning toured the Inverbrackie housing estate near the Woodside Army Barracks before holding a community forum at a hall in the nearby town of Woodside.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has been under fire this week for secretly touring the facility on Monday and then avoiding local residents by holding a closed meeting in another town 20km away.
Mr Abbott said "pull factors" such as the high standard of accommodation in an idyllic Hills setting would only encourage more boats to come, after two boats carrying asylum-seekers were intercepted last night.
At the town hall meeting of about 200 concerned residents this morning, Mr Abbott received cheers and applause for saying "the first thing we have to do is stop the boats".
"Unlike the government, I am here to listen," he said.
"I have got the impression you are an open and welcoming community."
Most residents continued to express anger with the federal government for not consulting before announcing its plan to send up to 400 asylum seekers in family groups to their town for processing.
But the Greens attacked Tony Abbott’s comments on the facility, saying they were aimed at “raising the political temperature on a sensitive issue”.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Abbott was not interested in “rational or constructive discussion on the treatment of asylum-seekers”.
“The Coalition is hijacking genuine community concerns for its own political advantage,’’ she said.
“Mr Abbott is whipping up fear with his talk of sending ‘idyllic postcards’ and his reference to people smugglers and ‘their customers’.
“We should all remember that the people on board these boats are vulnerable asylum-seekers, the vast majority of whom are found to have a genuine fear of persecution."
Ms Hanson-Young warned against demonising and punishing people who were seeking protection.
She also said the Greens welcomed Immigration Minister Chris Bowen’s announcement that he would “pledge funding for a liaison officer position for the people of Inverbrackie and a reference group to consult with the local community”. |
The intersection of mental health care and gun control are suddenly tragically, and finally, the subject on every congressman’s lips and under discussion by dozens of state governors. But the two policy issues could not be further apart in terms of legislative remedies. Though both are complex and thorny matters, their respective roadblocks to resolution are diametrically opposite.
The constitutional right to bear arms is nearly as old as our country but America’s mental health policy dates only from post-World War II. The 2nd amendment was ratified in 1791. Harry Truman signed the “National Mental Health Act,” into law in 1946.
Though both issues are driven by unique interests, one constituency needs enormous investments of medical and psychological diagnostic research and a commitment to providing national and local support for overmatched families and schools educating thousands of children with special needs. On the other side of the checkbook, the gun owning citizenry is led by a well-informed private industry with seemingly limitless wealth — much of it dedicated to discouraging government legislators from authorizing restrictions.
1 of 10 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × What some pro-gun lawmakers are saying after Newtown View Photos In the aftermath of the shooting, a number of NRA-supported legislators have come out in support of new gun laws or signaled a willingness to budge. Here’s who said what. Caption In the aftermath of the shooting, a number of NRA-supported legislators have come out in support of new gun laws or signaled a willingness to budge. Here’s who said what. In the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., massacre, a number of traditionally pro-gun-rights legislators have come out in support of a ban on assault rifles, or otherwise signaled they may be willing to budge on new gun laws. The NRA gives lawmakers a grade on their gun stance , which can be influential in their elections. The scale ranges from an A-plus rating (the legislator consistently votes with the NRA and makes a “vigorous effort to promote and defend the Second Amendment”) to an F, (a “true enemy of gun owners’ rights”). If any gun-control measure were to be passed, it would need significant support of NRA allies who buck the group’s wishes. Scott Olson/GETTY IMAGES Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Those populations most deeply affected, though each well-intentioned and noble, rarely overlap. Most parents of young (mostly) men suffering from psychotic episodes struggle mightily to protect and care for their ill sons while seeking ways to integrate them into the larger community. Most gun owners are careful and safety-minded, and the gun-manufacturing sector rightly argues that firearms are not solely at fault for the 12,000 murdered with their products each year.
But their issues have recently converged disastrously in the public square, at the movie theater, and unspeakably, inside the schoolhouse door. We can no longer ignore that these two seemingly intractable subjects bring out the worst in each other. Now the Obama administration and Congress will hear from proponents of both on how to resolve and pay for one problem and how to stop influence spending to avoid reforming the other.
They say politics make strange bedfellows, but no two interest groups are more oddly paired than parents of special needs children and the National Rifle Association.
For 14 years, since the justice department and Congress revealed industry research acknowledging tobacco’s health hazards, billions of dollars in financial settlements from the largest cigarette manufacturers has been directed to state and federal budgets. Though far too little, some money even trickles into anti-smoking programs.
The NRA announced Wednesday it is “prepared to offer meaningful contributions” to address the public’s growing concerns. Since it’s open season on big ideas, here’s one for the industry organization. I suggest the gun advocate proactively re-direct a big chunk of its lobbying budget to support mental health outreach projects.
We may well have to wait to remove guns from the NRA’s cold dead hands, but at least they could allocate some profits to keep the rest of us alive and well. |
Since the attack on Attie Potgieter and his family, the simple stone farmhouse where they lived has stood empty and crumbling, with nobody wanting to live in the home where one of South Africa's most disturbingly brutal crimes took place.
Mr Potgieter, a farm caretaker, was stabbed and hacked 151 times with a garden fork, a knife and a machete near Lindley in the Free State - the agricultural heart of the country.
His wife, Wilna, and two-year-old daughter, Willemien, were both made to watch him die, before being shot in the head, execution style.
All for pocket money, and possessions of relatively little value – a too-common story in South Africa's rural areas, where mostly white Afrikaner farmers feel they are being targeted in gratuitously violent attacks on their remote farms and smallholdings. They accuse police and government of failing to make these crimes a priority. And as the horrifying murders continue, they are growing increasingly angry.
"If you kill a rhinoceros in South Africa, you get more time in jail then if you kill a person," said Susan Nortje, 26, Mrs Potgieter's younger sister. "I don't think people understand. We must show people what's really happening."
The murder last weekend of British engineer Chris Preece, 54, who was born in Southgate in north London and found his dream on a piece of rolling farmland bordering Lesotho's Maluti mountains, is the most recent farm killing to make headlines.
Mr Preece spent his weekdays working in Johannesburg before retreating to his beloved farm near the town of Ficksburg, where he and wife Felicity dreamed of starting a nature reserve to save raptor birds and cheetahs.
He was stabbed and hacked to death by men who stole just £210 and a mobile phone. Felicity was left severely traumatised with a skull fracture, and has not yet been able to talk about the attack from the Bloemfontein hospital in where she is being treated.
The couple's son, Robert Preece, and his wife, Jeanne, are now considering leaving their native South Africa, because they don't want to raise children in a country "where a man can be hacked to death for no reason".
"This isn't something we're going to get over," Jeanne Preece, 29, told The Sunday Telegraph. "It is a bottomless weight in all our souls."
On Saturday, in an unprecedented move to mark the second anniversary of the slaughter of the Potgieters, families of murdered farmers and survivors of farm attacks marched in the capital Pretoria and called for attacks on South Africa's mostly white farmers to be designated a crime of national priority.
Carrying photos of dead relatives and friends, 200 protesters - many wearing the khaki shorts and short-sleeved shirts that are the unofficial uniform of white South African farmers - sought to deliver a memorandum to the country's police minister, Nathi Mthethwa, urging that farm attacks be given the same elevated police attention already accorded to rhinoceros poaching and copper cable theft.
"These murders are marked by a unique level of brutality – often worse than that found in terrorist attacks," the memorandum said. "The argument that farm murders are 'only murder' does not hold water."
South African police stopped releasing separate figures on farm attacks in 2007, and incorporated them into wider violent crime statistics.
But according to the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa, there have been 2,863 farm attacks and 1,592 farm murders since 1990, and independent think-tanks put the true number of farmers murdered at closer to 3,000.
It is now twice as dangerous to be a farmer as it is to be a police officer in South Africa, according to Johan Burger, a senior researcher with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies' crime and justice programme. Last year the country had a murder rate of 31.9 per 100,000 people, almost 30 times higher than Britain, according to police statistics. For police officers, this rate rises to 51 – and among farmers, a staggering 99 people killed per 100,000.
What troubles many South Africans is the horrific and unnecessary violence that's a grim hallmark of farm attacks ostensibly staged to steal money - blamed by some on resentment at the yawning gap between rich and poor, 40 per cent unemployment in some rural areas and the legacy of ill feeling bequeathed by the former apartheid system.
Ernst Roets, deputy CEO of the Afrikaner civil rights group AfriForum and an organiser of the campaign, complained that the government had tried to declare the march an illegal gathering. "They are taking active steps to stop us from speaking out about the problem," he said.
The police minister was not in his offices on Saturday to receive the memorandum. But a spokesman, Zweli Mnisi, accused AfriForum of "grandstanding".
Mr Mnisi said: "They are only representing people based on their colour. For us, racialising crime is problematic. You can't have a separate category that says, farmers are the special golden boys and girls.
"You end up saying the life of a white person is more important. You cannot do this."
South African farms are still overwhelmingly owned by whites, mostly Afrikaner - who are descended from the country's first Dutch settlers and speak their own language. The government's efforts to encourage a gentle method of land reform, known as "willing buyer, willing seller" in stark contrast to the state-sponsored violent takeovers in neighbouring Zimbabwe, has been a flop.
Prof Burger rejects claims by some in the Afrikaans farming community that the attacks amount to a genocide on white farmers. He said there is also no evidence of political involvement in the attacks.
"The perception is that farmers are all rich, and these criminals know the vulnerability of these remote farms, and so they see it as relatively low risk," he said.
However, he added, in some attacks the perpetrators "take out their hatred for all those past wrongs, and show who's in control now". Farmers claim their attackers are stirred by the old black struggle song "Shoot the Boer", the subject of a court case on hate speech brought against the former African National Congress party youth leader Julius Malema after he took to singing it at rallies.
Among those on the march was Magda Pistorius, 53, who still grieves for her husband Wybrand, killed in an attack in June last year.
The couple were asleep at their new home on a smallholding in Muldersdrift, near Johannesburg, which they had moved into just 12 hours earlier, when they awoke at 3.50am to find two men standing over the bed. One of the men said "Hello, boss" - and then shot and killed Mr Pistorius, 53, before shooting his wife in the stomach.
Their daughters were also at home, but unharmed. The robbers fled with just a mobile phone and a torch.
The bullet was removed from Mrs Pistorius' stomach four months after the June 2011 attack. Today, she lives around the corner from the smallholding, and finds daily life hard because of the constant reminders of her husband.
"Physically, I have recovered," she said. "But emotionally, it will never go away.
"The government has to do something to stop this whole story. This whole country is so lawless. It's easy to rob and steal. The justice system is a mess. Everyone else here has got their human rights. But what about ours?"
Also protesting were three generations of the Pretorius family, ambushed when they returned home from a church service to their smallholding in Muldersdrift, near Johannesburg, one night in 2005.
Unbeknown to them, members of their extended family had been held captive at the house. A worker ran out to warn that a gang of armed men were inside, but while Coenie Pretorius, 36, was trying to drive off, the men opened fire.
Mr Pretorius died from gunshot wounds in front of his family and his wife, Petro de Kock, was shot in the lower back while protecting their two young children. She survived the injury, but the family still has deep scars from the trauma of the attack, especially since no one was ever convicted.
The slain farmer's parents have since moved to Perth, Australia, saying they can no longer live in South Africa, but returned to join in yesterday's protest.
Their grandson - also called Coenie, who is now 20 and lives in Johannesburg, said: "It makes it so difficult for us, because they wrecked our lives.
"Something needs to be done. This isn't just happening to our family - look at how many families there are here today." |
Share. A steep hill to climb. A steep hill to climb.
My mech weighs 70 tons, and I feel every pound as I plod along the streets of a frozen-over metropolis. It's been a long time since I sat in a MechWarrior game’s cockpit, and controlling this tank-like mech’s arms, torso, and legs independently feels like trying to pedal a bicycle with my hands. Then I see the other team’s first volley of long-range missiles arcing over the mountain ridge. They slam into me with a force of a freight train and my alarm systems scream bloody murder in my ear. It’s all certainly very raucous, and fights are intense at times, but after 20 matches of the same thing it’s become less exciting. It’s a long, tough road to become an adept MechWarrior Online player, and without more modes and variety, I don’t think it’ll hold my interest long enough to get there.
Exit Theatre Mode
Multiplayer combat is the sole focus of the free-to-play MechWarrior Online. There's no campaign, only 12-vs-12 matchups that involve a scant two modes of resource collection, base capture, or more often than not, mass mech destruction. Battles have a much different pace to them than what you’d expect from a shooter, and after I struggled to learn the ropes of its slow and complex combat system (with little instruction to guide me,) I found it a welcome change.
MechWarrior Online is smart in how it rewards cautious play, thoughtful weapon use, and using advanced tactics like taking advantage of weather conditions to secure victory. There's no sprinting around the map – you use a throttle to set your speed, which depending on the weight of your Light, Medium, Heavy, or Assault mech, can be quite slow. Mechs feel cumbersome to control initially, and moving through tight spaces can be like trying to navigate a semi truck through a parking structure. While you’re doing that you have to pay close attention to the heat your weapons generate, lest they overload and shut you down on the spot. You also must to keep track of which pieces of your mech have been blasted to bits in combat, or else you'll be trying to take on a foe with a particle projection cannon (PPC) that no longer works and get knocked out of the round. There’s a lot more to think about here, and that’s a good thing.
But it’s inconsistent. Matches swing between fast and furious and long and drawn out, and it can be dull when you and your team traipse around a vast map without an enemy in sight for long periods of time. When things finally heat up, combat is incredibly intense as you scramble to keep yourself intact with hellfire raining down on you from every direction. It's somewhere in the middle where the 12-vs-12 matches really feel like they have the scale and intensity the creators imagined, and you must think on the fly about what kind of opposition you're engaging and how.
Exit Theatre Mode
Figuring out how to be a contributing member of a team takes a while, with only a very brief movement tutorial and a "free roam mode" as teaching tools (I recommend lots of YouTube videos). It's easy to be turned off by this before you have a chance to get to the meat of MechWarrior Online, as getting blown to pieces shortly after the match started is pretty discouraging. Persevere, though, and it’ll reward you.
MechWarrior Online's most controversial feature is its "noob friendly" third-person camera mode, which allows you to peek around corners and see angles you can’t from a cockpit. To balance out concerns from high-level players, Piranha has given third-person players an easily spotted camera-bot and disabled their minimaps. A newer player, I usually find myself sticking with first-person as the mini-map is too valuable to lose, and honestly it just feels like the mode MWO was meant to be played in. If there’s an advantage in battle to the third-person perspective, it’s subtle.
Exit Theatre Mode
Almost more fun than combat itself is the process of buying and building up your own stable of mechs, all of which are graphically gorgeous. Fortunately, when you first start MechWarrior Online you get a currency boost that allows you to rack up in-game cash quickly, and it's a lot of fun saving up for a mech you want and tricking it out with a broad selection of custom weaponry like gauss rifles, lasers, and long-range missiles. Your mech build is far more involved than the simple loadout you'll find in typical shooters, and its where half of the strategy of MechWarrior Online comes in. You must figure out which weapon configurations work best with your mech and your playstyle, and then how to effectively use them in combat. The system felt overwhelming initially, but over time I was able to deduce what works and what doesn't, through a process of many, many deaths. Personally, I prefer catapult-type launchers that siege enemies from afar, rather than up-close brawlers whose combat style results in my destruction more often than not.
It’s also where the reminder that MWO is a free-to-play game comes in. When you’re buying and building it becomes apparent that a certain amount of machines are locked behind a paywall, though it isn't necessarily "pay to win." The premium mechs (anywhere from $7 to $30 a piece) look cooler than the others and have XP and cash bonuses, but you can buy other machines of comparable power with earned in-game currency if you save up long enough and choose your upgrades intelligently. It's commendable that Piranha has allowed you to build up competitive-quality mechs without paying. Still, it’s frustrating that some of the high-end mechs are only available through real-money purchases, and the freemium content can be a bit in your face at times. |
Re: Ethnic strategy for Hrc
From:[email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Date: 2016-02-29 11:19 Subject: Re: Ethnic strategy for Hrc
Jim. Plz give me a call this morn when you have a moment to discuss above Terry Lierman Cell: 301.787.2926 > On Feb 27, 2016, at 9:06 AM, Jim Rosapepe <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thanks. You're fast! Can they get counts on Italian Americans on voter lists and supporter lists in each > priority primary states? > > Don't worry about celeb list until you can. This is a good start. > > --,jim > > Sent from my iPad > >> On Feb 27, 2016, at 8:57 AM, Jared Mueller <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Terry and Jim, >> >> I spoke to our Analytics leadership last night, and the campaign does do sub-ethnic modeling of the sort the Obama campaign used to great success in 2012 -- though they do not use ethnic dictionaries. >> >> FiveThirtyEight maintains a clean, updated list of Members of Congress and Governors who have endorsed the campaign at this link, recopied below. We're working with our surrogates team to compile a simple list of celebrity endorsers and other major electeds to share, with the caveat that the SC primary today is absorbing folks' capacity. >> >> Thanks again, >> Jared >> >> >> ### >> >> 2016 endorsements >> FiveThirtyEight has collected 361 endorsements so far, out of a possible total of approximately 585. >> >> CANDIDATE DATE ENDORSER POSITION PTS. >> Hillary Clinton 2/26/16 Ben R. Lujan REP. (D-N.M.) 1 >> 2/24 Harry Reid SEN. (D-NEV.) 5 >> 2/19 James E. Clyburn REP. (D-S.C.) 1 >> 2/3 Alma Adams REP. (D-N.C.) 1 >> 2/1 Chaka Fattah REP. (D-PA.) 1 >> 1/30 Ron Wyden SEN. (D-ORE.) 5 >> 1/29 Al Green REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 1/26 David Price REP. (D-N.C.) 1 >> 1/19 Mike Quigley REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 1/8 Frank Pallone Jr. REP. (D-N.J.) 1 >> 1/7 G.K. Butterfield REP. (D-N.C.) 1 >> 12/18/15 Earl Blumenauer REP. (D-ORE.) 1 >> 12/16 Linda Sánchez REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 12/15 Brad Ashford REP. (D-NEB.) 1 >> 12/7 Michael E. Capuano REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 11/30 Jerry McNerney REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 11/30 Maxine Waters REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 11/30 Anna G. Eshoo REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 11/30 Pete Aguilar REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 11/30 Jackie Speier REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 11/19 John A. Yarmuth REP. (D-KY.) 1 >> 11/17 C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger REP. (D-MD.) 1 >> 11/17 Donna F. Edwards REP. (D-MD.) 1 >> 11/17 John P. Sarbanes REP. (D-MD.) 1 >> 11/17 Alan Grayson REP. (D-FLA.) 1 >> 11/17 Jack Reed SEN. (D-R.I.) 5 >> 11/16 Ruben Gallego REP. (D-ARIZ.) 1 >> 11/14 Denny Heck REP. (D-WASH.) 1 >> 11/14 Jay Inslee GOV. (D-WASH.) 10 >> 11/14 Suzan DelBene REP. (D-WASH.) 1 >> 11/13 Bobby L. Rush REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 11/13 Ann Kirkpatrick REP. (D-ARIZ.) 1 >> 11/13 Joe Donnelly SEN. (D-IND.) 5 >> 11/11 Gwen Moore REP. (D-WIS.) 1 >> 11/11 Corrine Brown REP. (D-FLA.) 1 >> 11/11 Tony Cárdenas REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 11/10 Christopher A. Coons SEN. (D-DEL.) 5 >> 11/9 Bennie G. Thompson REP. (D-MISS.) 1 >> 11/8 Seth Moulton REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 11/5 Maria Cantwell SEN. (D-WASH.) 5 >> 11/4 Jay Nixon GOV. (D-MO.) 10 >> 10/28 Jared Huffman REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 10/28 Heidi Heitkamp SEN. (D-N.D.) 5 >> 10/27 Sherrod Brown SEN. (D-OHIO) 5 >> 10/26 John Carney REP. (D-DEL.) 1 >> 10/26 Thomas R. Carper SEN. (D-DEL.) 5 >> 10/23 Paul D. Tonko REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 10/21 Jack Markell GOV. (D-DEL.) 10 >> 10/20 Eliot Engel REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 10/19 Joe Courtney REP. (D-CONN.) 1 >> 10/16 William Keating REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 10/14 Edward J. Markey SEN. (D-MASS.) 5 >> 10/13 Yvette D. Clarke REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 10/13 Hakeem Jeffries REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 10/5 Robert C. Scott REP. (D-VA.) 1 >> 10/5 John Hickenlooper GOV. (D-COLO.) 10 >> 9/17 Maggie Hassan GOV. (D-N.H.) 10 >> 9/13 Ann Kuster REP. (D-N.H.) 1 >> 9/7 David Loebsack REP. (D-IOWA) 1 >> 9/7 Cheri Bustos REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 9/1 Zoe Lofgren REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 8/31 Tammy Baldwin SEN. (D-WIS.) 5 >> 8/28 Timothy J. Walz REP. (D-MINN.) 1 >> 8/24 Donald Payne Jr. REP. (D-N.J.) 1 >> 8/24 Bonnie Watson Coleman REP. (D-N.J.) 1 >> 8/24 John Garamendi REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 8/24 Bill Pascrell Jr. REP. (D-N.J.) 1 >> 8/18 Jim Himes REP. (D-CONN.) 1 >> 8/6 Xavier Becerra REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 8/5 Scott Peters REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 7/15 Marcia L. Fudge REP. (D-OHIO) 1 >> 7/15 Lois Capps REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 7/14 André Carson REP. (D-IND.) 1 >> 7/13 Suzanne Bonamici REP. (D-ORE.) 1 >> 6/27 Niki Tsongas REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 6/26 Don Beyer REP. (D-VA.) 1 >> 6/26 Brenda Lawrence REP. (D-MICH.) 1 >> 6/23 William "Lacy" Clay Jr. REP. (D-MO.) 1 >> 6/23 Matthew Cartwright REP. (D-PA.) 1 >> 6/13 John B. Larson REP. (D-CONN.) 1 >> 6/13 Tom Wolf GOV. (D-PA.) 10 >> 6/13 Elizabeth Esty REP. (D-CONN.) 1 >> 6/7 Dannel P. Malloy GOV. (D-CONN.) 10 >> 6/5 Steve Cohen REP. (D-TENN.) 1 >> 6/4 Christopher Murphy SEN. (D-CONN.) 5 >> 5/27 Katherine Clark REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 5/20 Peter Shumlin GOV. (D-VT.) 10 >> 5/14 Joseph P. Kennedy III REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 5/12 James McGovern REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 5/5 Michael F. Bennet SEN. (D-COLO.) 5 >> 5/5 Gary Peters SEN. (D-MICH.) 5 >> 5/4 Ed Perlmutter REP. (D-COLO.) 1 >> 5/4 Eddie Bernice Johnson REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 5/4 Sean Patrick Maloney REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 5/4 Julia Brownley REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 5/4 Adam Schiff REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 5/4 José E. Serrano REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 5/4 Daniel Kildee REP. (D-MICH.) 1 >> 5/4 Adam Smith REP. (D-WASH.) 1 >> 5/4 Kathy Castor REP. (D-FLA.) 1 >> 5/4 Jim Cooper REP. (D-TENN.) 1 >> 5/4 Henry Cuellar REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 5/4 Derek Kilmer REP. (D-WASH.) 1 >> 5/4 Marc Veasey REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 5/4 Brad Sherman REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 5/4 Mike Thompson REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 5/4 Jared Polis REP. (D-COLO.) 1 >> 5/4 Joyce Beatty REP. (D-OHIO) 1 >> 5/4 Patrick Murphy REP. (D-FLA.) 1 >> 5/4 Filemon Vela REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 5/4 Kurt Schrader REP. (D-ORE.) 1 >> 5/4 Kathleen Rice REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 5/4 Gerald E. "Gerry" Connolly REP. (D-VA.) 1 >> 5/4 Rubén Hinojosa REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 4/29 Emanuel Cleaver REP. (D-MO.) 1 >> 4/24 Robert P. Casey, Jr. SEN. (D-PA.) 5 >> 4/23 Steve Israel REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 4/23 Cory A. Booker SEN. (D-N.J.) 5 >> 4/22 John Conyers Jr. REP. (D-MICH.) 1 >> 4/16 Gina M. Raimondo GOV. (D-R.I.) 10 >> 4/15 Jim McDermott REP. (D-WASH.) 1 >> 4/14 Rosa L. DeLauro REP. (D-CONN.) 1 >> 4/13 Tom Udall SEN. (D-N.M.) 5 >> 4/12 Debbie Dingell REP. (D-MICH.) 1 >> 4/12 Karen Bass REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 4/12 Diana DeGette REP. (D-COLO.) 1 >> 4/12 Andrew M. Cuomo GOV. (D-N.Y.) 10 >> 4/12 Jeanne Shaheen SEN. (D-N.H.) 5 >> 4/12 Rick Larsen REP. (D-WASH.) 1 >> 4/11 Nydia M. Velázquez REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 4/11 Jerrold Nadler REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 2/2 Brian Schatz SEN. (D-HAWAII) 5 >> 1/29 Alcee L. Hastings REP. (D-FLA.) 1 >> 1/27 Mazie K. Hirono SEN. (D-HAWAII) 5 >> 1/27 Ted Lieu REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/27 Judy Chu REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/27 Ami Bera REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/27 Mark Takano REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/27 Tammy Duckworth REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 1/22 Loretta Sanchez REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/22 Lucille Roybal-Allard REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/22 Grace Napolitano REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 12/18/14 Bill Nelson SEN. (D-FLA.) 5 >> 12/16 Al Franken SEN. (D-MINN.) 5 >> 12/1 Benjamin L. Cardin SEN. (D-MD.) 5 >> 12/1 Barbara A. Mikulski SEN. (D-MD.) 5 >> 11/14 Terry McAuliffe GOV. (D-VA.) 10 >> 11/10 Charles B. Rangel REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 10/14 Nita Lowey REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 8/5 Mark R. Warner SEN. (D-VA.) 5 >> 7/12 Michelle Lujan Grisham REP. (D-N.M.) 1 >> 7/12 Martin Heinrich SEN. (D-N.M.) 5 >> 6/21 Patrick J. Leahy SEN. (D-VT.) 5 >> 6/18 Rick Nolan REP. (D-MINN.) 1 >> 6/18 Betty McCollum REP. (D-MINN.) 1 >> 6/7 Richard Blumenthal SEN. (D-CONN.) 5 >> 6/6 Bill Foster REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 6/6 Robin Kelly REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 6/5 Richard J. Durbin SEN. (D-ILL.) 5 >> 6/4 Amy Klobuchar SEN. (D-MINN.) 5 >> 5/22 Debbie Stabenow SEN. (D-MICH.) 5 >> 5/4 Mark Takai REP. (D-HAWAII) 1 >> 5/3 Tim Kaine SEN. (D-VA.) 5 >> 2/7 Ted Deutch REP. (D-FLA.) 1 >> 1/31 Joseph Crowley REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 1/29 Joe Manchin III SEN. (D-W.VA.) 5 >> 1/28 David Scott REP. (D-GA.) 1 >> 1/28 Sander Levin REP. (D-MICH.) 1 >> 1/28 Richard E. Neal REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 1/28 Steny H. Hoyer REP. (D-MD.) 1 >> 1/28 John Delaney REP. (D-MD.) 1 >> 1/28 Doris O. Matsui REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/28 Jim Langevin REP. (D-R.I.) 1 >> 1/28 Luis Gutierrez REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 1/28 Janice Hahn REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/28 Henry C. "Hank" Jr. Johnson REP. (D-GA.) 1 >> 1/28 Chellie Pingree REP. (D-MAINE) 1 >> 1/28 John Lewis REP. (D-GA.) 1 >> 1/28 Terri A. Sewell REP. (D-ALA.) 1 >> 1/28 Cedric Richmond REP. (D-LA.) 1 >> 1/28 Stephen F. Lynch REP. (D-MASS.) 1 >> 1/28 David Cicilline REP. (D-R.I.) 1 >> 1/28 Mike Honda REP. (D-CALIF.) 1 >> 1/28 Jan Schakowsky REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 1/28 Brian Higgins REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 1/28 Gene Green REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 1/28 Grace Meng REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 1/28 Danny K. Davis REP. (D-ILL.) 1 >> 1/28 Gregory W. Meeks REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 1/28 Sheldon Whitehouse SEN. (D-R.I.) 5 >> 1/28 Joaquin Castro REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 1/28 Sheila Jackson Lee REP. (D-TEXAS) 1 >> 1/28 Frederica Wilson REP. (D-FLA.) 1 >> 1/28 Lois Frankel REP. (D-FLA.) 1 >> 1/28 Louise Slaughter REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 1/13 Chris Van Hollen REP. (D-MD.) 1 >> 12/12/13 Dianne Feinstein SEN. (D-CALIF.) 5 >> 11/17 Kirsten E. Gillibrand SEN. (D-N.Y.) 5 >> 11/11 Carolyn Maloney REP. (D-N.Y.) 1 >> 11/8 Patty Murray SEN. (D-WASH.) 5 >> 11/7 Mark Dayton GOV. (D-MINN.) 10 >> 11/5 Tim Ryan REP. (D-OHIO) 1 >> 11/2 Charles E. Schumer SEN. (D-N.Y.) 5 >> 10/30 Barbara Boxer SEN. (D-CALIF.) 5 >> 8/18 Dina Titus REP. (D-NEV.) 1 >> 6/18 Claire McCaskill SEN. (D-MO.) 5 >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> On Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 8:46 AM, Jim Rosapepe <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Great. Jared didn't think the campaign had run voter or other lists against ethnic dictionary yet. But it's relatively cheap to do -- and once you have done it, you can use it repeatedly. >>> >>> Jared -- >>> >>> Look forward to getting the electeds and celeb endorsers list from you. >>> >>> Thanks! >>> >>> -- jim >>> >>> Sent from my iPad >>> >>> > On Feb 27, 2016, at 6:57 AM, [email protected] wrote: >>> > >>> > Thanks for talking with me last night about this. I am putting some ideas together to have a comprehensive plan together to address ethnic groups comprehensively social media and voter files r essential To this and I assume HRC has that state by state. It will be good to role this out as a twat in the primaries then to be used completely in the general. Thanks much and will be in Touch >>> > >>> > Terry Lierman >>> > Cell 301-787-2926 >>> > >>> >> On Feb 26, 2016, at 10:46 PM, Jim Rosapepe <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >> >>> >> Terry -- >>> >> >>> >> Ideas, as we discussed: >>> >> >>> >> -- do ethnic Id on: donors, email/social media supporters, celebs, electeds, voters (cheap to do with ethnic id software) >>> >> >>> >> -- create ongoing communication to these verticals (I'm happy to drive for Italian Americans,but you can do for each) >>> >> >>> >> -- biggest value prop is ATTENTION (sometimes called "pandering.") Folks want to know Hrc sees them in their own terms, their family stories. Germans know they're not Italian and poles know they aren't Irish. And none think they are "white." >>> >> >>> >> -- great way to tie old immigrants to new immigrants -- and throw trump under the multiethnic bus. (When md was debating dream act, I asked joe Vallario his position. He said: I'm for it. these Hispanic kids remind me of my father; they just want to work hard and get ahead.) >>> >> >>> >> This is low cost, high value. >>> >> >>> >> Let me know what I can do. >>> >> >>> >> -- Jim >>> >> >>> >> Sent from my iPad >> |
Warning, this game suffers from poor controls and often unfair gameplay. Blind drops into pits of acid or lava, or just bumping against enemies or being hit by them when entering a room without having a moment to counter or avoid.
Often the controls are frankly unwieldy, forcing you to have precise aim whilst using the grappling beam to swing from point to point over a pool of lava that
Warning, this game suffers from poor controls and often unfair gameplay. Blind drops into pits of acid or lava, or just bumping against enemies or being hit by them when entering a room without having a moment to counter or avoid.
Often the controls are frankly unwieldy, forcing you to have precise aim whilst using the grappling beam to swing from point to point over a pool of lava that does insane damage. In this scenario even the exact order of aim and button presses needs to be precise or you'll wind up doing something totally different from what you intended. Control direction that is inversed sometimes from what you would expect when using spider ball. Juggling to switch between aion powers with the dpad whilst holding the shoulder buttons and circle pad to aim whilst pressing face buttons to fire, it can be a bit too much. And quite frankly it brings back really bad memories from bad control schemes back in the nes & snes era.
Add to that that the environment is extremely repetitive and boring, with no story and world building at all. And the most annoying part that the environment is built like a maze to be extremely obtuse to traverse, which is only made slightly easier down the line when extra abilities are unlocked. But unlike prime, where your abilities are keys to doors, here your abilities from even late game are needed for normal traversal in all areas. So be prepared to take that detour in a stupid morph ball maze for the first 6 hours of the game until you finally get the ability you need to just open the door to bypass that horrible experience. Prime games never ever used ability unlocks in that way, because that is very poor gameplay design.
I will also challenge you to tell me the difference between each colour block you can blast or each door icon on your minimap. It's impossible. They are extremely non descript. Again, prime was simple in this regard, each color door corresponds to each beam type using the same color. Color association. It works. Here in Samus returns they chose to throw that out of the window. I'm also baffled by why every blastable bit or crack is hidden with little or even no sign that it is there. It's integral to actually playing the game. If it weren't for the scan pulse, you would be blasting and bombing every cell of the level to find where the exit of a room is. Yet again what's wrong with showing cracked walls ? Zelda does it, metroid prime does it. Seems like great game design. Yet Samus returns ignores that too.
In the grand scheme of things these are annoyances that can be largely overcome or ignored, but there is one point in the game where all these bits come together in a glorious cocktail of infuriating madness. It's like it is specifically designed to test your determination to actually finish this game. All the bad parts meld together, punishing difficulty, controls that never seem to do exactly what you want. Unfair blind drops. Level design that is a horrible maze mess and annoying to traverse. It all comes together in this part where you'll genuinely question wether this is worth the effort.
I also take issue with the worldbuilding and environment. It is extremely repetitive, as are the boss fights and all enemies for that matter. There is no logic at all to the setting of the environment. Gone are the regions of prime. With ruins, ice temples, crash sites, underwater areas, etc. Each area having defense areas, installations, power facilities, laboratories with a logical reason for it being there. In Samus returns it's just level arenas dressed up to resemble a jungle theme, ruins theme, lava theme. But with none of the intricate detail and worldbuilding, backstory and logic. Just some generic hallways in maze form to connect it all. It's a gigantic step down from prime in this regard.
I'm terribly afraid of what this means for prime 4 if retro is not at the helm and Samus returns is heralded as being one of the best metroid games in years. To me this is metroid watered down. It's not a terrible game but there are things in there that I deem unacceptable. If the gameplay wasn't borked it would have received a 7.
… |
An update for Sven Co-op has been released. If you are running a dedicated server please use SteamCmd to update your servers. Those of you that were using the public release candidate can remain to do so, as this branch now matches the standard branch.
Please be aware that your FOV may be more zoomed out than normal. This is because of an aspect ratio fix particularly for wide screen users. We advise you change your FOV setting to the new default value in your game console as follows:
default_fov 70
Changes are as follows:
Notable changes
All components now compile successfully in Linux allowing us to provide an alpha state of the game client. The Linux client is provided literally as is. (We know there will be plenty of bugs.) No official presence on the Steam store will be indicated yet. No official support will be mainstream as this is not considered a finished product at all.
Fixed a severe stability issue when the entity count exceeds 2048.
Fixed three causes of svc_bad drops.
drops. Map Robination is back with a major revise.
Map Sector E has been removed by author request.
Removed software rendering mode.
Code: Game library
Added animation support for env_glow entities.
entities. Clamped CVAR default_fov from 50 to 110, with a new default of 70 (not 90) to account for an engine fix.
from 50 to 110, with a new default of 70 (not 90) to account for an engine fix. Clamped CVAR sv_zmax (and subsequently gl_zmax ) to 4096-16000 to prevent rendering artefacts (with the sky) and performance issues at greater distances.
(and subsequently ) to 4096-16000 to prevent rendering artefacts (with the sky) and performance issues at greater distances. Fixed a crash if a func_tank is removed while being used by a player or NPC.
is removed while being used by a player or NPC. Fixed a crash if a player tries to use func_tankcontrols that points to removed tank.
that points to removed tank. Fixed a crash if too many forced player models are in the list.
Fixed a crash when monsters try to calculate the last known position of a breakable door for attack.
Fixed a rare crash when a player is killed by the world, or by another player.
Fixed a rare crash when looking up an entity reference in utility functions.
Fixed a rare infinite loop case when searching through the node graph.
Fixed ambient_generic not stopping its sound when killed.
not stopping its sound when killed. Fixed CVAR plugin_list_file being ignored by the server configuration because it was being looked at too soon.
being ignored by the server configuration because it was being looked at too soon. Fixed CVAR sv_zmax not being initialised.
not being initialised. Fixed exploit with observers entering cheat codes that cause the player's solid to reset, enabling observers to touch objects again.
Fixed forced player model not being reverted after a map change.
Fixed forced player models list being carried over to next map, and still taking affect.
Fixed incorrect box position check for brush entities.
Fixed inventory UI not being cleared after a map change.
Fixed satchels for disconnected players being left on the ground. (Always attempt to remove satchel charges owned by the player, even if the player doesn't have satchel charges equipped.)
Fixed severe lag while dead due to HUD messages being sent every frame.
Fixed sky light colour and angle being incorrect due to some server CVARs not being initialised after a map change.
Fixed spore effects not being removed, causing a random floating spore to sometimes appear.
Fixed stats for disconnected players still being logged.
Fixed the view port storing map names in an array that is too small, now matches the engine size.
Fixed trigger_random being unable to set the same target index multiple times.
being unable to set the same target index multiple times. Fixed weapons showing their zoomed crosshair when you haven't zoomed in. (Any FOV below 50 is now considered zoomed in.)
On-line donor lookups for each player are now throttled to one query every 15 seconds to prevent excessive CPU usage (and thread count) whenever a donor feature is attempted to be used and the query had failed.
Removed a ton of redundant code and libraries.
Unregistered various CVARs from the game library as they are already registered by the game engine. (Fixes those "already registered" messages in the server console when a map starts.)
Code: Engine
All required components now compile successfully for a Linux client to work.
CVAR brightness is now 1 by default. (In case you delete your configuration file and it resets to 0.)
is now 1 by default. (In case you delete your configuration file and it resets to 0.) CVAR crosshair is now enabled by default.
is now enabled by default. CVARs bottomcolor and topcolor are now clamped to range to 0-255.
and are now clamped to range to 0-255. Fixed a crash on the Linux server if a player connects before a map is running.
Fixed a crash when gibs are produced due to CVAR r_decals being 0.
being 0. Fixed a crash when looking at an entity with no model and solid SOLID_BBOX.
Fixed a crash when opening the game options due to a null variable.
Fixed a crash when passing an invalid game to the game parameter.
parameter. Fixed a possible crash when checking light styles.
Fixed a severe stability issue when the entity count exceeds 2048.
Fixed FOV scaling in the incorrect direction, so wide screen users don't get some of their view chopped vertically.
Fixed issues parsing the hash '#' character in console commands.
Fixed particle effects not always working on Linux servers.
Fixed performance issues to due checking CVAR cl_lw constantly.
constantly. Fixed server UI not showing the map list if its longer than 4074 bytes.
Fixed server-side temporary beams (i.e. those produced by the Shock Trooper) having incorrect positions.
Fixed three causes of svc_bad drops.
drops. Removed a temporary workaround for the client game library being loaded twice. (Proper fix is now in place.)
Removed a ton of redundant code and libraries.
Removed obsolete CVAR sv_voicequality .
. Removed software rendering mode.
Removed spectator proxy.
Code: Sound
Fixed a memory leak when adding a sentence.
Fixed global replacement pitch being ignored by monsters if they had a hard-coded pitch.
Fixed sound origin not updating correctly when being heard via a camera.
Fixed an integer overflow when processing custom materials for footsteps.
Code: Non-playable characters
Alien Grunt : Added melee engage distance skill CVAR. ( sk_agrunt_melee_engage_distance )
: Added melee engage distance skill CVAR. ( ) Alien Grunt : Added weapon options.
: Added weapon options. Alien Grunt : Berserkers deal 30 damage. ( sk_agrunt_berserker_dmg_punch )
: Berserkers deal 30 damage. ( ) Alien Grunt : Reduced default alien grunt melee damage to 20. ( sk_agrunt_dmg_punch )
: Reduced default alien grunt melee damage to 20. ( ) Voltigore: Increased blast radius warning for NPCs.
Code: Equipment
Crowbar : Added unused primary attack animation.
: Added unused primary attack animation. Crowbar : Changed animation for throwing the crowbar.
: Changed animation for throwing the crowbar. Crowbar : Idle animation implemented.
: Idle animation implemented. Inventory : Fixed a crash when dying with an item selected.
: Fixed a crash when dying with an item selected. Inventory : Fixed item not being destroyed if the collection limit has been reached. (No point in having an item on the floor that can never be collected!)
: Fixed item not being destroyed if the collection limit has been reached. (No point in having an item on the floor that can never be collected!) Inventory: Fixed item not being thrown forwards when return time is set to -1 (never).
Code: AngelScript
Added a catch-all for ammo entities, so that AngelScript ammo entities can be given to players.
Added capability to detect if a map is forcing player models.
Added IgnoreConditions() for monsters.
Exposed StartTask() for NPCs.
Fixed the CVAR as_script_log_max not being taken into account by the AngelScript log.
not being taken into account by the AngelScript log. Regular expression functionality now available.
Removed a workaround for a crash when trying to create custom entities with CreateNamedEntity. (Proper fix in place.)
Removed unnecessary console output regarding player models having a ./ in the path.
Maps
Half-Life
C09: Fixed getting stuck in the vents between the vats of green goop.
Fortified
The map now starts with a default load out for players. A pistol, an Uzi, batteries, medkit and hand grenades.
You must now +use the teleport pad to become the commander.
the teleport pad to become the commander. Increased credits on easy to 10000 from 8000.
from 8000. Increased credits on non-easy to 6500 from 5000.
from 5000. Button for the lift to the doctors office is locked during his cut-scene.
Adjusted timing in winning cut-scene.
Added a trigger_hurt to kill people who get stuck in the weapon room when disconnected.
to kill people who get stuck in the weapon room when disconnected. Replaced grate between commander and his SAC-men with bars, so players can see the name of the commander.
Made the commander's elevator button more visible
Reduced Apache HP on ultra hard to 1200 from 2300.
from 2300. The commander can now call the abort vote when you have less than 500 credits, instead of 100.
When you have less than 500 credits, a text and sound occur to inform you of the option of aborting the mission.
Blondi now has correct sounds.
Survival mode credits increased to 800 from 600.
from 600. Emphasized that easy mode should be played by beginners.
Added a button to show credits for non-commander players.
Added various informational signs and lore.
Robination
Map completely revised.
New BSP file name: sc_robination_revised.bsp
Sector E
Map removed by author request.
Toadsnatch
Wrench nerfed.
Scripts
Buy Menu: Experimental new script.
Other
Delta
Updated modelindex to 13 bits for our increased model limit.
SDK
Added SprGen tool.
Added StudioMdl tool.
Hammer Level Editor
Added ability to resize various windows.
Added model rendering to the 3D view.
Added option to export "map" format with floating point co-ordinates. (6 digit precision.)
Added option to set a default texture.
Added selection box width and height information to the 2D views.
Browsing for sound files will now include some non-WAV formats.
BSP point files can now be rendered in the 3D view.
Double-clicking an object in the 3D view will now open the properties window for it.
Fixed 1024 unit grid highlighting not working as intended.
Fixed a crash of an entity key name or value is more than 127 characters.
Fixed an empty entity been left over when merging two or more brush entities together.
Fixed clipping tool not working beyond 16,384 units from zero.
Fixed contents of multi_manager not being searchable.
not being searchable. Fixed duplicate entity key names not automatically getting an index number suffix.
Fixed entity spawn flag descriptions being cut off early.
Fixed GL error when closing Hammer while more than one map was open.
Fixed latter 12 entity spawn flag check boxes not persisting.
Fixed selecting an entity near the edge of the grid causing a huge selection box to appear.
Fixed sprites rendering in negative colour when their render mode is set to "color".
Including standard prefabs.
Increased maximum co-ordinate size to 131072 .
. Increased maximum zoom distance so twice as much can be visible in the 2D views.
Maximum 3D back clipping plane increased to match maximum co-ordinate size.
Prevented all entity key names being implicitly converted to lower case.
Removed full file path of WAD files from the texture bar so only the file name shows.
Removed redundant help links.
The texture browser can now be scrolled through with the mouse wheel.
Misc
Custom sprays can be disabled in the player advanced options, or a large cache size can be selected.
Default map settings now contains CVAR sv_zmax .
. Materials file now contains the WAD file and descriptions so it's easier to find the source of the texture.
Version details
Steam build ID numbers: Game 1213242, dedicated server tool 1213245, SDK tool 1213246. |
A 12-YEAR-OLD girl has beaten great minds including Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein to get the maximum Mensa IQ test score.
British schoolgirl Lydia Sebastian joined the 1 per cent of those who have sat the exam who have obtained the highest mark of 162, putting her in the top 99.9th percentile of the population.
Lydia, from Essex, described the fiendishly difficult intelligence test as “easy”, according to Cascade news agency. She completed the 150-question Cattell III B paper, which primarily measures verbal reasoning ability, during her school holidays.
“At first, I was really nervous but once I started, it was much easier than I expected it to be and then I relaxed,” she said. “I gave it my best shot.”
Her father, Arun Sebastian, a radiologist at Colchester general hospital, said his daughter had spent an entire year talking about the test and had researched IQ test websites herself. “When I heard she had the maximum possible mark, I was overwhelmed, and so was my wife,” he said.
Lydia, who is about to start year eight at Colchester County High school for girls, has read all seven Harry Potter books three times and played the violin since aged four.
An only child to Mr Sebastian and Erika Kottiath, an associate director at Barclays Bank, she started talking at just six months.
“At the time, I was a trainee doctor and my wife was studying chemistry and I was away at the weekends,” said her 43-year-old father. “She used to say a few words to me on the phone.
“She also had an early interest in reading. When she was a few years old she was reading books that were for children several years older than her.
“We really have done nothing special with her.”
Lydia, whose favourite subjects include maths and physics, is now applying to join the Mensa society. Her parents, both originally from Kerala in southern India, say she voluntarily does homework until 8.30pm or 9pm.
“We’ve got a fairly laid-back view [about education],” added Mr Sebastian. “If a child is pushed to do something that’s not designed for their age then, personally, I’d feel they they’d be missing out on other things.”
Amazingly, Lydia is not the first child genius to achieve a perfect Mensa score this year, joining Nicole Barr, a 12-year-old also from Essex, as well as Aahil Jouher, a 10-year-old from Blackburn.
Hit reality show Child Geniuson the UK’s Channel 4 this year featured Holly, an 11-year-old who can recite pi to 122 decimal places, and 12-year-old Thomas, from Leeds, who sprints up and down the garden while spelling words like “hexamethylene”.
Child Genius 1:07 UK's Channel Four is entering the final stages of its Child Genius competition which is seeking to discover the smartest child in Britain. Courtesy: Channel Four
But the TV competition also caused controversy among viewers concerned about these over-achieving kids missing out on their childhood. David, 11, said on the series that winning was his “destiny”, and his parents used Chinese medicine techniques such as cupping to give their son the edge. Giovanni, 12, was driven by super-competitive father Mattheo, who once participated in the Chemistry Olympics, and said: “You need to push them to the limit, with their body and with their brains. If there is something in Giovanni, it will be developed, I will make sure of it.”
Producers from the show said the children were all assessed by psychologists and took pride in their intelligence. “Knowledge is something that should be applauded, not something to be ashamed of,” said producer Anna Strickland. “It’s something we should celebrate. So it’s great for the children to be in an environment where that is the case, and to be among other children who are similar to them.”
British Mensa’s Gifted Child Consultant Lyn Kendall said children with extraordinary abilities often exhibit traits including unusually good memory, passing intellectual milestones and reading early, awareness of world affairs and asking lots of questions. They can also be musical, talkative and intolerant of other children.
She says most child geniuses appear to succeed through a combination of nature and nurture.
Joanne Ruthsatz, a gifted children researcher from Ohio State University, told Ozy that child prodigies are as rare as 1 in 5000-10,000. She believes kids with preternaturally advanced abilities may store memories in their cerebellums, where most of us store our motor memories.
Scientists think there may be a prodigy gene or mutation that assists with a few specific skill sets including memory and extreme attention to detail.
David Feldman, professor of child development at Tufts University, warned that there is a difference between “prodigy” and “extraordinarily gifted”. He said that even a child like Laetitia Hahn, an 11-year-old from Germany who speaks five languages, would probably not qualify, unless she was speaking those languages like an adult linguist.
Child geniuses can face hardships, struggling to make friends and encountering existential questions at an early age. All parents can really do is let nature take its course. |
Wu-Tang Clan fans far and wide are getting a special treat , as Wu Wear is about to make a comeback in the best nostalgic way possible. German designers Donaldson Sackey and Sainey Sidibeh, who run a brand called CPxArt, have taken over as creative directors for the vintage hip-hop clothing line and are about to launch the brand's new "Renaissance" collection.
The new look for Wu Wear Renaissance collection has been unveiled for fans and fashion critics online, which displays model David Drammeh wearing a tracksuit in the clothing brand's signature black, white and yellow color scheme. The famous Wu-Tang logo is printed right on the chest, with the matching pants coming in a black color that has white stripes on the side. The mission of the brand's comeback is to revitalize the vibes of the 1990s as well as incorporate some new designs into the brand.
The Renaissance collection will reportedly contain 10 new pieces, and is slated to become available in July or August, though there is no current official drop date.
If you're a longtime fan of the Wu-Tang brand, you might want to get your wallet ready by the end of the summer so you can rock the new ensembles in the fall season.
Take a full look at the new tracksuit as part of Wu Wear's comeback collection in the gallery below, and peep the line's Instagram page. |
If Rex Ryan’s fate was decided by popular vote of the players instead of the electoral college chaired by John Idzik and Woody Johnson, he would win in a landslide, a resounding mandate to bring him back.
“I’m 100 percent confident that if it was up to the players, that he’d be back next year,” David Nelson told The Post. “I’m 100 percent confident that if the GM and the owner allowed player feedback, then there’d be a lot of guys that would go to bat for him, and speak on his behalf.”
They would tell them the team is headed in the right direction. They would tell that he is more than a coach.
“We don’t feel like Rex is leaving,” Sheldon Richardson said. “We don’t feel like he’s going anywhere no time soon.”
But 6-8 and out of the playoffs for a third straight time seemingly has his job hanging in the balance.
“People saw the upside, people saw the sparks,” Richardson said. “We didn’t pull out the wins like we wanted to, but we most definitely showed effort.”
Would Idzik buy into that?
“Idzik’s around every day, so I’m pretty sure they see the camaraderie between the players and the coaches,” Richardson said.
What would you tell Idzik?
“Rex should stay,” Richardson said, “it’s just that simple. This is Rex’s defense, this is Rex’s team. There’s nothing more to it.”
He means that much to you?
“I’d go through a bad season with a good coach than going through a good season with a bad coach any day,” Richardson said.
Calvin Pace has enjoyed a renaissance under Ryan.
“As a player, man, I truly believe Rex is The Guy for this team,” Pace said. “He’s the guy to lead this organization.”
Is that a universal thought in this locker room?
“Oh, no doubt,” Pace said. “Having played 11 years, I haven’t played for a guy who believes in everyone in this room. It’s just sad we just haven’t gotten it done these last couple of years for him. I don’t know if an endorsement from Calvin Pace helps out a lot but … he’s The Guy.”
What makes him The Guy?
“I don’t think many people envisioned us even winning six games,” Pace said. “I think the messages that he always installs in us, I think guys rally behind that … just schematically, I think what he does fits this conference. We’re a young team. We got a lot of guys who it’s their first year playing, second year. They need time, another year under their belt. I think he’s the guy, I think he’s the guy that just everybody rallies behind. But guys in this locker room have to do a better job of doing our part on the field.”
Would firing Ryan be a step back?
“I think any time you start over, you take a step back,” Pace said. “And you got to start all the way over, you got to install people, maybe the personnel you have doesn’t fit with the new guy wants to bring in. I think sometimes it’s more trouble than it’s worth. And not every coach fits every conference. It’s different styles of play in my opinion, AFC East versus AFC North. … He’s the guy for the job, man.”
“It’s deeper than just X’s and O’s, and it’s deeper than just schematics and practice,” Nelson said. “I mean, he really truly cares about his players, he gets to know them on a personal level and … I think you see that with the way they play on Sundays. They’re not just out there just running around catching balls. Guys play hard for Rex. They believe in Rex. They really care about him. They really want to do their best for him, and win for him.”
It was Willie Colon who first volunteered that firing Ryan would be a step back.
“I’m pretty sure the whole team feels like this,” Richardson said. “He loves you more than just football, man: ‘Is your life straight?’ One thing he always told me, ‘Save your money, man, you don’t need to spend your money.’ Every day for like the first three months I knew him. He didn’t want me to be one of those guys that’d be done playing football and I’m broke.”
Ryan has never brought up his job status with his players.
“The way today’s practice went, I feel like he’s the man for the job, and I feel like he’s going to be here for a long time,” Nelson said.
What was it about the practice?
“Just the way he approached it, just the way he handled business today. Just the way he came into the meeting room. There was no sense of anxiety in him at all, there was no sense of panic at all. He came in today, it was business as usual, and if today was any testament, then hopefully he’s here for a long time.”
Ryan, who is focused only on the Browns, addressed the end of the Jets’ improbable playoff dream with the team after Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s improbable 61-yard field goal to beat the Lions booted them out on Monday night.
Rex’s message: “Hey guys, we were banking on Detroit to pull one out, they didn’t pull it out. Got to finish these two weeks strong though. We signed up to play 16, not 14.” |
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Did you know n.paradoxa http://www.ktpress.co.uk/, the only international feminist art journal dedicated to contemporary women artists and feminist theory around the world, has now reached its 14th year of publication?
n = noun , para = beyond, doxa = taught or accepted opinion.
In 14 years n.paradoxa has published over 250 articles and interviews on the work of contemporary women artists in more than 50 countries in the world!
Contents are listed in Art Bibliographies Modern; Art Index; and Wisconsin-Madison University Library Feminist Periodicals. A comprehensive index to Volumes 1-27 is now available at www.ktpress.co.uk.
This lists all authors, artists, and works covered in the last 14 years.
Each printed journal is structured around a particular theme with international contributions from 10 –12 countries. In addition to articles, interviews and features, n.paradoxa reviews websites by women artists and books on feminist theory and feminist art.
Editor: Katy Deepwell
Editorial Board Renee Baert (Canada); Joanna Frueh (USA); Hagiwara Hiroko (Japan); Janis Jefferies (UK); Hilary Robinson (USA); Olabisi Silva (Nigeria/UK).
n.paradoxa was established online in December 1996 went into print as a bi-annual in January 1998.
n.paradoxa is published in print twice a year in January and July.
The online and print editions publish separate content, different material and have separate ISSNs.
Volume 27
*Gabrielle Moser “Working-through” public and private labour Sophie Calle’s Prenez soin de vous
*Andrea Liss Memory Work, Trauma and the Maternal
*Ewa Malgorzata Tatar Interrogating “postfeminism”: Women artists from Poland
*Meredith A. Brown The Balance Sheet: A.I.R. Gallery and Government Funding
*Reiko Kokatsu Mitsuko Tabe: Beyond Kyûshû-ha
*Patricia Karetzky Gao Yuan’s “Precious Little Angel”
*Kanitra Fletcher Up for Review: Re-presentations of Black Women’s (Art)work
*Heike Friauf On the ‘grotesque working conditions’ of women artists
*Amy Budd Reinterpreting the Mannequin: Allen Jones, Cathy Wilkes and Morag Keil
*Christine Wertheim Craft-Work: A sampler of musings on art and labor in the Information Age or how to make alterations in global financial fabrics
*Katy Deepwell ‘The relationship between big and small things’
Interview with Tsaplya and Gluklya, Factory of Found Clothes
ISSN: 1461-0434
Each volume: 96 pp. 40+ b & w illus., 8 colour pages
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Libraries £16 (UK/Europe) or £25 (USA/Canada/RoW)
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Future planned volumes
Volume 28 Bio-politics (July 2011)
Volume 29 Trans-Asia (Jan 2012)
Location
Type of project: Art Magazine
Topic: Activism |
The Rogue Film School will be in the form of weekend seminars held by Werner Herzog in person at varying locations and at infrequent intervals. The number of participants will be limited to a maximum of 65. Locations and dates will be announced on this website and Werner Herzog's website: www.wernerherzog.com approximately 12 weeks in advance. The Rogue Film School will not teach anything technical related to film-making. For this purpose, please enroll at your local film school. The Rogue Film School is about a way of life. It is about a climate, the excitement that makes film possible. It will be about poetry, films, music, images, literature. The focus of the seminars will be a dialogue with Werner Herzog, in which the participants will have their voice with their projects, their questions, their aspirations. Excerpts of films will be discussed, which could include your submitted films; they may be shown and discussed as well. Depending on the materials, the attention will revolve around essential questions: how does music function in film? How do you narrate a story? (This will certainly depart from the brainless teachings of three-act-screenplays). How do you sensitize an audience? How is space created and understood by an audience? How do you produce and edit a film? How do you create illumination and an ecstasy of truth? Related, but more practical subjects, will be the art of lockpicking. Traveling on foot. The exhilaration of being shot at unsuccessfully. The athletic side of filmmaking. The creation of your own shooting permits. The neutralization of bureaucracy. Guerrilla tactics. Self reliance. Censorship will be enforced. There will be no talk of shamans, of yoga classes, nutritional values, herbal teas, discovering your Boundaries, and Inner Growth. Related, but more reflective, will be a reading list. Required reading: Virgils Georgics, Ernest Hemingways The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, and Baker's "The Peregrine" (New York Review Books Edition published by HarperCollins). Suggested reading: The Warren Commission Report, The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M. Hollander (in particular The Prophecy of the Seeress), Bernal Diaz del Castillo True History of the Conquest of New Spain. Required film viewing list: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, dir. John Huston), Viva Zapata (1952, dir. Elia Kazan), The Battle of Algiers (1966, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo), the Apu trilogy (1955-1959, dir. Satyajit Ray), and, if available, Where is the Friends Home? (1987, dir. Abbas Kiarostami). Follow your vision. Form secretive Rogue Cells everywhere. At the same time, be not afraid of solitude. |
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Jerusalem-based journalist Hana Mahamid said Saturday that she would take further legal action after Israel’s Justice Ministry closed the case into an Israeli police officer who threw a stun grenade at her during clashes last October in occupied East Jerusalem.
The Justice Ministry’s Police Internal Investigations Department (Machash) closed the case because they claimed they were unable to identify the policeman responsible for The Justice Ministry’s Police Internal Investigations Department (Machash) closed the case because they claimed they were unable to identify the policeman responsible for shooting and injuring Mahamid in the face with a stun grenade on Oct. 5, 2015, due to the large number of officers in the area and the fact that grenades do not leave ballistic evidence like bullets do.
The incident occurred when Mahamid was filming a report in the Issawiya neighborhood of East Jerusalem during clashes between Israeli forces and local Palestinian youth gathered outside of the home of The incident occurred when Mahamid was filming a report in the Issawiya neighborhood of East Jerusalem during clashes between Israeli forces and local Palestinian youth gathered outside of the home of 19-year-old Fadi Alloun, who was shot dead by Israeli police the day prior , after he allegedly attempted to stab a group of Israelis -- though witnesses said he had been walking home after performing dawn prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In a video of Mahamid covering the clashes for the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV channel, she suddenly stops talking during a live report and begins screaming after being hit in the face with shrapnel. In a video of Mahamid covering the clashes for the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV channel, she suddenly stops talking during a live report and begins screaming after being hit in the face with shrapnel.
She was wearing a flak-jacket with “PRESS” marked clearly on both sides. She was wearing a flak-jacket with “PRESS” marked clearly on both sides.
She claims that Israeli forces fired a stun grenade directly at the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV team. She claims that Israeli forces fired a stun grenade directly at the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV team.
“Machash’s decision wasn’t surprising to me,” Mahamid told Ma’an on Saturday, noting that Israeli authorities and the police investigations department in particular “do not carry out impartial and objective investigations.” “Machash’s decision wasn’t surprising to me,” Mahamid told Ma’an on Saturday, noting that Israeli authorities and the police investigations department in particular “do not carry out impartial and objective investigations.”
The complaint had been filed on her behalf by Yousef Jabareen, a member of the Joint Arab List of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. In late May, the Justice Ministry informed Jabareen that it was closing the case. The complaint had been filed on her behalf by Yousef Jabareen, a member of the Joint Arab List of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. In late May, the Justice Ministry informed Jabareen that it was closing the case.
“Unfortunately, and despite our efforts, we were unable to identify the perpetrator of the crime against the complainant,” “Unfortunately, and despite our efforts, we were unable to identify the perpetrator of the crime against the complainant,” the ministry’s statement wrote, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Under these circumstances, there is no choice but to close the case on the grounds of ‘perpetrator unknown.’” Mahamid said the fact that the her complaint was eventually dropped was emblematic of the fact that Israeli police investigations routinely close cases in which Palestinians are victims of misconduct, excessive use of force, and even death. Mahamid said the fact that the her complaint was eventually dropped was emblematic of the fact that Israeli police investigations routinely close cases in which Palestinians are victims of misconduct, excessive use of force, and even death.
“But I had to submit a complaint to them because that is the only path available to me,” Mahamid said. “But I had to submit a complaint to them because that is the only path available to me,” Mahamid said. |
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— Hundreds of people marched in downtown Durham Friday evening, and 31 were arrested, in another round of protests against what demonstrators call over-aggressive police tactics.
Crowds and cops converged outside the Durham Performing Arts Center just before 10 p.m., where one show was letting out and another was about to begin.
When police asked protesters to keep moving, a few refused, and they were taken into custody, according to Police Chief Jose Lopez.
"We are using the tactics that we know to keep our officers safe, to keep the protesters safe and also the community," Lopez said. "This disruption is neither civil nor is it right."
Officials at the Durham County jail said the protesters were released early Saturday.
Nineteen of the protesters were from Durham. Others arrested were from Chapel Hill, Apex, Raleigh, Hillsborough, Graham, Carrboro, Concord and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Charges included failure to disperse and impeding the flow of traffic.
Chelsea Amanda Flowers, 29, of Durham, was also charged with resisting, delaying or obstructing officers.
Those arrested included:
Austin Marie Bouton, 24, of Durham
Susan Catherine Edgerton, 32, of Durham
Adrienne Liege Harreveld, 21, of Durham
Tamika Monique Heard, 21, of Durham
Aaron Alexander Caldwell, 21, of Raleigh
Susan Anne Pietroluongo, 23, of Apex
Akeem Zarhar Cheek, 29, of Durham
Morgan Anne Brooks, 25, of Raleigh
Sara Taylor, 26, of Durham
Allison Charlotte Swaim, 26, of Durham
Kathleen Rebecca Yow, 28, of Hillsborough
Kellie Ann Grubbs, 28, of Graham
Alexandria Leigh Stewart, 22, of Durham
Masha Taskindoust, 21, of Durham
Dominique A. Beaudry, 21, of Concord
Gabrielle Karine Beaudry, 18, of Concord
Laurin Michelle Gioglio, 29, of Carrboro
Natalie Frances Smith, 33, of Durham
Kenneth M. Strickland, 29, of Durham
John Charles Thornton, 28, of Durham
Crystal Larence Eatmon, 19, of Durham
Rachel Anna Cotterman, 26, of Hillsborough
Danielle Katherine Nelson, 22, of Durham
Lauren Brooks Parker, 30, of Durham
Erin Bree Heuerman, 32, of Durham
Asha Renee Godfrey, 22, of Graham
McKenna Elizabeth Ganz, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colorado
Abigail Victoria Harris, 25, of Chapel Hill
Lydriquez Blount, 26, of Durham
Charles William Soeder, 28, of Durham
Overall, the protest was peaceful, with officers on foot and bicycle tracking along as the march left CCB Plaza and headed along Mangum Street to the Durham Freeway. No one was hurt and there were no reports of significant property damage.
Two miles of the highway were closed for about 20 minutes as some people laid on the asphalt, some held hands to form a barrier across the traffic lanes, and others approached police cars with their hands in the air. Drivers were advised to use Interstates 40, 85 and U.S. Highway 15/501 to go around the area.
Deputy Durham Police Chief Larry Smith said his officers balanced the right of the public to demonstrate with the need to keep law and order for others.
But Lopez said his patience with protesters is wearing thin.
"It’s putting people in danger at this point and time," he said. "It’s not sending a message. If they need to speak, we’re here and we are ready."
Protests – ranging from peaceful processions to riotous arson – have taken place across the country over the past two weeks, first in reaction to a grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo., and then linked to a similar case in New York City. In each case, a young black man died in a confrontation with white police officers. And in each case, a grand jury declined to recommend criminal charges for the officers involved.
Hundreds rallied in both Raleigh and Durham Thursday, often chanting "Black lives matter." At North Carolina State University Friday afternoon, students laid on the floor in a "die-in" and shouted at passing traffic on Western Boulevard. Overall, protests in the Triangle have been vocal but not disruptive. |
PHOENIX -- With Philip Rivers entering his 14th NFL season, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn told reporters at the AFC coaches breakfast that it’s time for his team to bring in an eventual replacement for his veteran signal-caller.
Rivers turns 36 at the end of the year, and his backup, Kellen Clemens, is 33.
Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn on Philip Rivers: "I don't think he's going to ever retire. He's the ultimate competitor. And that's how you like it." Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire
"I think we do have to get a young quarterback on campus and start to develop someone, because we have two veteran quarterbacks and both of them are long in the tooth," Lynn said. "I think they have some good years left in them, don’t get me wrong, but you have to start thinking about down the line, too.
"I would love for a young quarterback to get in here and learn from Philip. Philip is the ultimate pro in my opinion, so it would be a good situation for a young quarterback that doesn’t have to come in and play right now, but can sit, watch and learn."
The Chargers already have been doing their work on this year’s draft. Along with offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and quarterbacks coach Shane Steichen, Lynn attended a private workout in Lubbock, Texas, for Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Whisenhunt attended Pittsburgh quarterback Nathan Peterman's pro day, and the Chargers also worked out Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer and Tennessee's Joshua Dobbs.
The Chargers have selected just one quarterback in the draft under general manager Tom Telesco -- Brad Sorensen in the seventh round of the 2013 draft.
"He has the talent to play at the next level," Lynn said about Mahomes. "He’s a very skillful young man. He’s raw a little bit, like most college quarterbacks, but he’s definitely one that you want waiting on the runway.
"The things that you heard about him -- it didn’t matter if you talked to the intern, the trainer, the athletic director or the head coach -- you heard heart, work ethic and compete. They all said those things about him, and that’s what you look for in a quarterback."
Lynn said the most important characteristics he values in a quarterback are accuracy, leadership and taking care of the football. Rivers totaled a career-high 21 interceptions last season, but said one of his goals for 2017 is curbing turnovers.
"Philip is the type of guy I think we’re eventually going to have to run off," Lynn said. "I don’t think he’s going to ever retire. He’s the ultimate competitor. And that’s how you like it. Guys that start talking about they want to play one or two more years, those aren’t the type of guys I want to coach. I want to coach the ones that want to play forever."
Keenan Allen making progress: Lynn said Allen is making progress from an ACL knee injury that the Cal product suffered in the season opener last year against the Kansas City Chiefs. Lynn said he doesn’t know if Allen will be full-go once the team’s offseason program begins next week. It’s been only been seven months since Allen’s surgery. "He’s doing good," Lynn said. "He’s working every day. I see him down in the weight room all of the time and out on the field. He’s doing well."
Offensive line competition: Lynn said the addition of Russell Okung should improve the play up front along the offensive line. However, Lynn said there will be competition at the guards and center, with the possibility of Matt Slauson moving to his more natural guard position. Second-year pros Max Tuerk and Spencer Pulley will get an opportunity to compete for starting jobs, along with incumbents Orlando Franklin at left guard and Slauson at center. The Chargers' starting right guard is vacant because D.J. Fluker joined the New York Giants in free agency.
"Pulley and Tuerk are two interesting, young and developing guys," Lynn said. "I’m interested to see how they come along, because that could change the whole dynamic of that line. Slauson could go to guard, his natural position. One of those guys could take over at center. We just don’t know yet."
Andre Williams could make an impact: One the practice squad for most of last season, Boston College product Williams rushed for 79 yards filling in for Melvin Gordon in the Chargers' last game of the 2016 season against the Chiefs. The Chargers brought back Williams in free agency, and Lynn will give him a chance to compete for the backup job behind Gordon. Lynn said he liked Williams coming out of Boston College and wants to teach Williams some stuff in the receiving game so he can get more touches. Williams has 19 career receptions in three NFL seasons. "It’s harder to teach a guy that during the season," Lynn said about pass-catching for running backs. "Now is when you teach him. So we’ll work at that this offseason very hard. ... Receiving is a skill. It’s like a golf swing, something that can be developed. So there’s no excuse for not being able to catch the ball." |
Everyone’s sending this around today. It’s part of a fundraising memo for Michelle Nunn’s campaign for Senate in Georgia, published at Vox. Say the right thing on Israel and you can raise a quarter-million dollars.
Matthew Yglesias says we all know about this, but journalists are inhibited to describe the importance of this money because it’s an “anti-semitic trope.”
To anyone who’s familiar with Democratic Party fundraising — particularly for non-incumbent underdogs, who typically have trouble raising money — this won’t be too surprising. Jewish donors are very important to Democratic Party finances, some of these donors have strongly held hawkish views on Israel, and the financial clout of AIPAC is the stuff of legend. At the same time, talk of rich Jews throwing their financial muscle around to influence policy in favor of Israel touches far too many anti-semitic tropes to be regularly mentioned in political discourse. But the concrete world of political fundraising doesn’t leave a ton of time for beating around the bush, so we get a little window here into how it looks to the finance people: if Nunn wants to maximize her donations, she needs to take the right stance.
Right. Everyone knows it, no one can talk about it. It’s been estimated that on the Democratic side at the congressional level on up, Jews account for half to two-thirds of the funding.
Now here is the same story told in a different way. Tim Mak at the Daily Beast asked some leftleaning congress-people why they weren’t reflecting the grassroots outrage over Gaza:
Democrats, when asked a question about Israeli operations in Gaza, had two standard responses: irritation, or else a statement of their broad support of Israel, without going into specifics. It was as if the very mention of Israel turned the question into a hostile interview. “Look, man, I’m a politician, with multiple constituencies. Why should I alienate one just so that you can write a story?” Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison angrily told The Daily Beast. Ellison, a stalwart progressive, was the first Muslim-American elected to Congress…. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a darling of the left who identifies as a democratic socialist, was curt. His tone changed suddenly when the topic shifted from the Veterans Administration bill that he had been shepherding through Congress to Israel’s operation in Gaza. “That’s not where my mind is right now,” he told the Beast. Democratic Rep. Sandy Levin said he was on his way to a meeting and didn’t have time to discuss the issue. (He did, however, stop for another reporter, who asked about transportation funding.) When Rep. Krysten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, was approached, she simply repeated that she supports the right of Israel to defend itself. There has been essentially no congressional criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
As I wrote six years ago when an acquaintance at Harvard was scolding Stephen Walt to me for his alleged naivete in having written The Israel Lobby:
[Acquaintance’s scold:] “Walk around Harvard and the Kennedy School, what are the names on the buildings? Taubman, Rubenstein, Belfer, Weiner. Where do you think the money is coming from in academia?” This is a reminder that you cannot honestly describe the formation of Middle East policy without acknowledging that Jews are principals in the establishment, and Jewish wealth is a significant factor in public life.
Walt wasn’t naive; he was brave, he had tenure and decided that the cost to his ambition was worth his freedom to state his beliefs. Maybe Yglesias and other MSM journalists should emulate him now that another 1000 Palestinians have been slaughtered.
Andrew Sullivan agrees the subject is important, and says the internet has liberated us to say so.
not so long ago, anyone saying that Jewish donor money made an even-handed approach to Israel-Palestine a pretty dead letter would be deemed ipso facto an anti-Semite. More to the point, such a view would not be allowed into print in any mainstream outlet. It would be regarded as an anti-Semitic trope – even if it were factually true.It’s as if a libel law did not allow for the truth as a defense!.. It’s also a matter of record, I think, that there is no way I could have written or published anything along these lines before the blogging era. Having my own space to think out loud, outside the parameters of an existing institution, without all the caution around the subject that was baked deep in Washington journalism, was critical to my changing views in response to changing facts. The intimidation had an effect. It was designed to.
The good news is that America is finding a way to talk about this, and American Jews, confident and unthreatened, are participating in the conversation. |
Supreme Court case documents will soon be made available for the first time online.
The court announced Thursday that it will launch an electronic filing system on Nov. 13 that will make "virtually all new filings" accessible to the public via the court’s website for free.
Court documents for the lower courts are typically available online through the Public Access to Court Electronics Records, which charges a fee per page.
The court’s announcement comes just days after the high court unveiled a newly designed website.
Court watchers say it’s a surprising, but welcome, jump into the 21st century for a court that’s been reluctant over the years to advance its technologies.
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“Anything that makes the court more accessible to the American people is a positive development,” said Dan Goldberg, legal director for the liberal Alliance for Justice.
“Look, there’s no reason in 2017 the American people should not be able to go on the court’s website and view filings and court documents that will directly impact millions of people without a cost to the public or the legal community.”
In its release, the Supreme Court’s press office said that initially filings will need to be made in paper in addition to the electronic version.
But in a fact sheet, the court said it expects the e-filing system to become the official means of filing once the system has operated effectively for some time.
"I think that is a wonderful idea," said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.
"Enhancing transparency and smooth, inexpensive public access should increase public comprehension of SCOTUS and its critical role in the justice system," he said. |
A+E Networks and 21st Century Fox may refrain from filming future projects in North Carolina if the state does not repeal a controversial law that bars local LGBT anti-discrimination ordinances.
The companies have stopped short, however, of withdrawing current projects from the state. Principal photography on “Shots Fired,” a drama series for Fox Broadcasting produced by 20th Century Fox Television, began yesterday in Charlotte, with production expected to continue through July. Production in the state is also already under way on “Six,” a History miniseries about the U.S. Marines who killed Osama bin Laden, produced by A+E Studios and the Weinstein Company. There are no plans to relocate either project.
Fox indicated Wednesday that it would “reconsider” shooting future productions in North Carolina. A+E has ruled out future shoots in the state.
“Production on ‘Six’ is already under way, however we will not consider North Carolina for any new productions,” an A+E spokesperson said in response to a question about whether the company had considered withdrawing the production from the state in response to public outcry over the law.
Related VideoAmp, Fox, FreeWheel Publishers and Omnicom Media Group Discuss TV Advertising 'Late Night's' Megalyn Echikunwoke Joins Fox's Annie Weisman, Jason Katims Pilot
Twenty-first Century Fox responded to a question about “Shots Fired” with a statement: “On behalf of our creative partners and colleagues who made commitments to shoot in North Carolina prior to this bill being signed, we join the growing coalition of businesses that hope to see this act repealed. In addition, we will reconsider future filming commitments in North Carolina if the Act is not repealed.”
The MPAA last week expressed opposition to the anti-LGBT legislation, shortly after it was signed into law by the state’s Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Filmmaker Rob Reiner also last week said that he would not shoot any future priojects in the state unless the law was repealed.
Following pressure from the entertainment industries and other businesses, Georgia’s governor this week announced that he would veto a religious-freedom bill that would allow businesses to refuse to serve customers based on sexual orientation. |
Remote control Windows, Mac, and Linux computers with TeamViewer: Remote Control within seconds. Provide spontaneous support for friends and family, or access applications on your home computer while on the go. The TeamViewer app allows you to accomplish all of this as if you were sitting right in front of the remote computer. Find out why more than 200 million users put their trust in TeamViewer! TeamViewer is free for personal use. App Features ----------------------------- • Windows, Mac or Linux --- Remotely control any computer within seconds • Highest security standard --- 256 Bit AES Session Encoding and 2048 Bit RSA Key Exchange • Integrated computers & contacts list --- See the online status of your partners and connect to them via quick access • No configuration --- Effortless access to remote computers even behind firewalls and proxy servers • Wake-on-LAN --- Switch on your computer remotely • Simple reboot --- Reboot remote computers or servers from anywhere • Multi monitor ---- Switch between multiple screens easily |
New Year’s Eve celebrations cancelled in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş
ISTANBUL
New Year’s Eve celebrations in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district have been cancelled due to security concerns.
The Beşiktaş Municipality on Dec. 25 said New Year’s Eve activities planned to be held at Barbaros Square in Besiktaş would not be allowed due to security concerns and the area’s limited capacity.
“Considering the circumstances in our country, the events planned to be held in Barbaros Square will not allowed,” the municipality said in a statement.
It added that the district would be packed if celebrations were held on Dec. 31 as Beşiktaş is also a transportation hub for many Istanbul residents.
Security measures in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, including in the central Taksim Square area, have also been doubled up in preparation for New Year’s Eve on the first anniversary of the bloody attack on Istanbul’s Reina nightclub.
“Measures for the New Year will be at the highest level,” Beyoğlu district police chief İsmail Kılıç said on Dec. 20 in a meeting in Istanbul, quoted by state-run Anadolu Agency.
Celebratory gatherings will not be permitted in Taksim Square this year, while precautions will be taken at the entrances of Cihangir, Karaköy, Tarlabaşı and Talimhane, all popular hang-out destinations in the Beyoğlu district.
“Celebrations will not take place so people will be able to enter the new year peacefully,” Kılıç added.
In order to help monitor the Taksim area, older traffic surveillance cameras (MOBESE) have been maintained and fixed where necessary, while new cameras have also been installed on poles in the area.
Security measures have been tightened this year after at least 39 people, including a police officer, were killed and 79 people were injured when 34-year-old Uzbek citizen Abdulkadir Masharipov opened fire on revelers at the Reina nightclub in the Ortaköy neighborhood in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2017.
Of the 39 killed, 27 were foreigners including citizens from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iraq and Morocco, who had gone to the club to celebrate the new year.
“The Reina attacker initially came to film Taksim last year. He then changed locations after seeing the security measures in Taksim. That is why we will double up on security this year,” Kılıç said. |
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GOP strategist Rick Wilson appeared on CNN’s CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello and had some very unfavorable comparisons to make between Breitbart and a notorious Nazi newspaper which was very popular during the Third Reich. According to Wilson, Breitbart is “acting like Der Stürmer in Germany in the 1930s more than actually a legitimate conservative media outlet.”
Just to give you an idea of what this means, above is a photo of a group of Germans reading a billboard in Worms, a German city located in the Rhineland, in 1933, which reads, “With the Stürmer against Judea.” The caption underneath reads, “The Jews are our misfortune.” This phrase was adopted from Heinrich Gotthard von Treitschke, an anti-Semitic German politician of the 19th century.
Watch courtesy of Media Matters for America:
CAROL COSTELLO (HOST): Add Fox News’ Sean Hannity to the list of advisers for Mr. Donald Trump. He joins Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon as CEO of Trump’s campaign.
[…]
John, what do you make of Sean Hannity like I guess informally advising Trump’s campaign along with Breitbart’s editor? What should we make of that?
JOHN BRABENDER: Well, I think what it says is that Donald Trump realizes that he needs to listen to a broad group of people. And look, we know he listens to Rudy Giuliani. We know that he listens to a lot of other the presidential candidates. We know that he goes and does all these town hall meetings, basically. And so, I think it’s actually admirable that he’s not afraid to listen to people. And some don’t even always have the same view that he has. And I think that’s what you want as a president.
COSTELLO: Well, Rick, it almost seems like the conservative media is running Trump’s campaign.
RICK WILSON: Well, look, Trump is the human avatar of the Breitbart comments section: stupid, vulgar, racist, anti-Semitic, vile in almost every aspect. This is a guy who now has Steve Bannon around him, a guy who’s the architect of a news outlet, “news” outlet, that is incredibly racially divisive, that is incredibly intolerant. They have attacked on a consistent basis Muslims, and now Mormons. And they’re acting like Der Stürmer in Germany in the 1930s more than actually a legitimate conservative media outlet. So Bannon’s band of misfit toys is still going to be pumping out this kind of very vile propaganda. Steve is now the right hand of Donald Trump. And he plays to Trump’s worst instincts. He plays to the most divisive, nasty aspects of Trump’s personality.
This isn’t good for Trump’s cause, except among white nationalists. As historian Richard J. Evans (The Coming of the Third Reich, 2003) describes it,
“In 1923 [Julius] Streicher founded a sensational popular newspaper, The Stormer (Der Stürmer), which rapidly established itself as the place where screaming headlines introduced the most rabid attacks on Jews, full of sexual innuendo, racist caricatures, made-up accusations of ritual murder and titillating, semi-pornographic stories of Jewish men seducing innocent German girls. So extreme was the paper, and so obviously obsessive was its brutish-looking, shaven-headed editor, that Streicher never acquired a great deal of influence within the movement, whose leaders regarded him with some distaste, and the paper was even banned for a period under the Third Reich.”
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The whole distaste thing. And let’s face it: it wasn’t easy to offend a Nazi.
So yeah…
If Trump wants to be compared to Hitler, and his “movement” to the Nazi movement, he couldn’t be doing a better job of it. With this sort of media attention, it will take the Republican Party a long time to dig itself out of the Trump quagmire.
Top Photo: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 133-075 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5338071
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Nevada U.S. Attorney’s Office says collections exceed appropriated budget
The Nevada U.S. Attorney’s Office collected $10.9 million in criminal, civil and asset forfeiture cases for the 2014 fiscal year, the office announced Wednesday.
According to a news release, the office collected about $4.6 million in criminal actions, $1.4 million in civil actions, and $5 million in criminal and civil forfeitures.
In collaboration with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Department of Justice, the office also collected $14 million in other, mostly civil, cases, according to the release.
The office’s total collections exceeded its appropriated budget for 2014, the release said.
“The collection of monetary penalties in federal litigation is a critical aspect of our work that frequently gets overlooked,” U.S. Attorney for Nevada Daniel Bogden said in the release. “These collections are used to help crime victims and for a variety of other law enforcement purposes."
The U.S. Attorney’s Offices collect civil and criminal debts owed to the government as well as restitution owed to federal crime victims.
The U.S. Justice Department collected $24.7 billion in civil and criminal actions during the fiscal year, the release said. |
- SATURDAY:
St. Cloud Police say the suspect responsible for stabbing multiple people at Crossroads Center Saturday night has been shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. The off-duty police officer was not from the St. Cloud police department.
Police responded to Crossroads Center around 8:20 p.m. Saturday where eight people were attacked by a man with a knife.
In a press conference, St. Cloud Police Chief William Anderson said the suspect was wearing a private security uniform and carrying a knife. Police believe the suspect acted alone and could not say whether the incident was a terrorist attack or not.
Based on witness accounts, the suspect made reference to Allah and asked at least one of the victims if they were Muslim before he assaulted them.
SUNDAY:
The off-duty police officer who shot the suspect has been identified as Officer Jason Falconer, a part-time police officer with the Avon Police Department. He is the former chief of police in Albany.
In a press conference, Mayor Dave Kleis called Falconer a hero, saying he put his own life at risk to prevent anyone else from getting injured.
As of 10 a.m. Sunday, the Associated Press is reporting an Islamic State-run news agency claims the man who stabbed and wounded eight people was a "soldier of the Islamic State." The AP reports the IS-run Rasd news agency reported the claim, saying the attacker had heeded calls from the extremist group for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. It's not clear if the extremist group had planned the attack or even knew about it beforehand.
"I want everybody in St. Cloud to know, we will get to the bottom of this." Anderson said.
Police have had contact with the suspect before for minor traffic violations.
Crossroads Mall will be closed until further notice. Chief Anderson said the incident took place in multiple areas and the entire mall is an active crime scene.
Governor Mark Dayton will travel to St. Cloud on Monday, according to a statement.
I am appalled at the terrible attacks on innocent Minnesotans in St. Cloud last night. If true that they were motivated by religious bigotry, I condemn them even more strongly. There is no place in Minnesota for intolerance of all Americans’ constitutional right to worship according to their beliefs.
I am deeply grateful to the heroic law enforcement officer, whose swift response prevented an even worse attack. And I extend my very best wishes to the victims for their swift and complete recoveries. I ask everyone in the St. Cloud area and throughout Minnesota to rise above this atrocity and act to make religious and racial tolerance one of the ways in which Minnesotans again lead our country.
Tomorrow morning, I will travel to St. Cloud to offer my support to city officials and its citizens.
As of 12:30 a.m. Sunday, witnesses were still being interviewed by police.
Senator Amy Klobuchar released this statement,
Everyone should feel safe in their community -- whether they're at school or a movie theater or a shopping mall. Last night that feeling of safety was greatly shaken when an assailant stabbed eight people at the Crossroads Center Mall in St. Cloud. I have visited the mall many times, and I can't imagine the horror experienced by those visiting and working there. My heart goes out to the victims and all those who were there last night.
While we will learn more about the facts surrounding this horrific attack today, one thing we know for certain this morning: Due to the courageous actions of an off-duty area police officer, the good work of first responders, and the reaction of those present at the mall, lives were saved.
I have spoken with both Mayor Kleis and Chief Anderson in St. Cloud. They are both strong leaders, and I know they will do everything necessary to investigate this stabbing and get all the facts out to the community. Citizens and civic and religious leaders in St. Cloud have worked hard over the years to bridge divides and come together.
Over the next few days we will learn the facts. But today there is one thing we all share: We are thankful for the bravery of the off-duty officer and first responders who went beyond the call of duty to save lives.
Statement from Hillary Clinton,
I strongly condemn the apparent terrorist attacks in Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York. I pray for all of those who were wounded, and for their families. Once again, we saw the bravery of our first responders who run toward danger to help others. Their quick actions saved lives. Law enforcement officials are working to identify who was behind the attacks in New York and New Jersey and we should give them the support they need to finish the job and bring those responsible to justice - we will not rest until that happens. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack in Minnesota, and this should steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups. I have laid out a comprehensive plan to do that. This includes launching an intelligence surge to help identify and thwart attacks before they can be carried out, and to spot lone wolf attackers. We also need to work with Silicon Valley to counter propaganda and recruitment efforts online. Americans have faced threats before, and our resilience in the face of them only makes us stronger. I am confident we will once again choose resolve over fear.
Fox 9 will bring you the most up to date information as we receive it.
VICTIMS:
During a press conference Mayor Dave Kleis released the ages of the victims:
22-year-old male from Big Lake, 24-year-old male from Willmar, 53-year-old male from Albany, 45-year-old male from St. Cloud, 20-year-old male from St. Cloud, 15-year-old female from Big Lake, 50-year-old woman from Kimball, 29-year-old male from St. Cloud, 31-year-old male from Avon. |
Image copyright Not specified Image caption A mobile scanning unit was used
Offshore workers are now almost a fifth heavier than in the mid-1980s, a study into their changing shape has found.
A team at Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University spent two years assessing measurements of hundreds of workers.
Twenty-six measurements were compared with figures from 30 years ago. The average weight now of men offshore is about 14st 3.5lbs, a 19% increase.
It has been done to help inform the future design of offshore installations and safety kit.
Well-equipped gyms found on most platforms were thought to have played a big part in the weight increase.
Another factor was said to be the increased ethnic diversity of the workforce.
Workers are now also taller, by about 3.5cm on average.
A mobile scanning unit was used to scan the bodies of the volunteers, producing a three dimensional picture.
Image caption New rules are designed to improve safety for those flying to and from oil and gas platforms
Dr Arthur Stewart, of RGU, said: "We now have a unique insight as to how the shape of offshore workers has altered profoundly since the 1980s.
"Compared with that of a generation ago when many of the North Sea installations were constructed, the size of today's workforce, together with the size increase imposed by different types of clothing, will enable space-related risk to be managed and future design for space provision optimised.
"In addition to the data on offshore workers, the study has generated an on-going capability for measuring the size and shape of the offshore workforce in the future.
"Despite challenging times for the oil and gas industry, this is good news for the offshore workforce and provides valuable information which will inform operational decisions and aspects of offshore installation and safety equipment design."
'Hugely beneficial'
Robert Paterson, of industry body Oil and Gas UK, said: "This has been a hugely beneficial collaboration between academia and industry.
"Data collected will inform all aspects of offshore ergonomics and health and safety, from informing seat design for use in helicopters and lifeboats, survival suit design and space availability in corridors and work environments offshore."
It was announced last year that new rules were to be introduced on the size of oil workers travelling to and from offshore installations by helicopter.
Passengers with a shoulder width of 22 inches or more would be classed as "extra broad" and would have to sit next to a similarly large helicopter window.
It followed a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) review of helicopter safety.
Concerns were raised about larger passengers being able to escape from a crashed aircraft quickly. |
On the suddenly hot topic of the Traveling Salesman Problem (see here and here), this week’s Car Talk puzzle is a TSP-like problem (though it is really a graph theory problem: the hamiltonian path problem to be exact).
The company that Bobo works for just finished a new product. They wanted to promote it across the country. Bobo was asked to travel by car to each of the 48 contiguous U.S. states to promote the product. He was told that he could visit each state in whatever order he chose, but the company wanted him to start in Delaware, at their headquarters. They asked that he visit each state only once. He could not go back into a state he had already visited because this was the “Don’t Look Back” product tour. So, Bobo sat down at his desk and began to plan his trip. He realized immediately that it was going to be one long car trip. At that moment, his boss stopped by and said, “Hey, I’m going to join you when you reach your last state. I was born there and I’ve been looking for a reason to go back and visit. You can leave your rental car there, and I’ll fly you back in my private jet.” Since Bobo hadn’t planned his trip yet, how did his boss know which state was going to be Bobo’s last state? And, which state would that be?
That question is not hard (I won’t ruin it by giving the solution here: call the state X); the key is the statement about the flight back from the final state.
But it is strange that Delaware was given as the starting state. Does it really matter? Well, if you start in State X, you can end up in many (but not all) of the other states. But it if you start in some other states, there is no path through all the other states without repeating a state. I count seven starting states that preclude paths through all the other states by road without repeating a state. Which can you find? The following map is just for illustrative purposes: the question refers to the “real” United States state structure (so you might need to check a more detailed map to see what states connect directly to others).
NOTE ADDED 1/17/2012. Reddit’s lordlicorice has drawn the graph underlying the States:
Thanks to @wjcook for pointing out the Car Talk problem. |
An American family have revealed the extraordinary email which has convinced them that their pilot father is alive years after vanishing in Africa without trace.
US pilot Jerry Krause was at the controls of a routine flight from South Africa to the West African country of Mali where he was working as a missionary on April 7, 2013 when he simply disappeared.
The last message from his Beechcraft 17 1900C 17-seat passenger plane was to a control tower on the tiny island of São Tomé, saying he was nine miles from its shore. Then he vanished.
But now his family have received an email from one of his friends - who they believe is a former U.S. intelligence officer with high-level contacts in the government - saying that he is definitely still alive.
They told DailyMail.com that now they fear he is being held hostage by a criminal gang and used to smuggle weapons and drugs around Africa against his will.
The astonishing claim turns what had seemed like a routine tragedy into a mystery which spans two continents, five countries and involves claims of a U.S. government cover-up.
Missing: American missionary and pilot Jerry Krause (pictured with his wife Gina) disappeared during a routine flight from South Africa to the to Mali where he was working on April 7, 2013
The last message Jerry ever sent from his his Beechcraft 17 1900C 17-seat passenger plane before vanishing was to a control tower on the tiny island of São Tomé, saying he was nine miles from its shore. The small aircraft had no black box and he did not send out a mayday call
Krause was working as a pilot for an aviation company in Mali when his job took him to South Africa where he was to pick up an aircraft and fly it back to Mali for refurbishment.
After he vanished his family organized a search in the area around San Tome, São Tomé and Príncipe, an island country about 350 miles off the coast of the African country of Gabon, but were left with nothing: there was no debris, no May Day call, and no black box. His emergency transponder had never been triggered.
They also commissioned air crash investigator Phil Schlener to retrace every step that Krause had taken searching for clues.
According to Schlener he is 99 per cent sure Krause's aircraft crashed into the Gulf of Guinea due to 'heavy thunderstorms' and that the plane plummeted into the ocean some 20 miles off the shoreline.
But he said he had to maintain a one per cent possibility that Krause was hijacked due to his 'cell phone apparently ringing in Angola', absolutely no trace of his or his aircraft whereabouts, and the fact that he seems to have flown this flight in an uncharacteristically 'not by the book' manner.'
That seemed so improbable as to be impossible; the devastated Krause family was accepted that their husband and father was gone and they began to mourn his death and rebuild their lives.
But that was not to be the end of the matter.
DailyMail.com has learned that the family was approached by a U.S. government source in 2014 claiming to have information about Krause's disappearance.
Krause's family organized a search in the area around San Tome, São Tomé and Príncipe, an island country about 350 miles off the coast of the African country of Gabon, offering a $5,000 reward
Jerry was on a routine flight from South Africa to Mali and last heard from near Sao Tome. After his disappearance there were claims he was seen in Namibia and that his cell phone rang in Angola
The source, who the family are calling Sydney, was a former government operative who worked in the intelligence community in West Africa at the time Jerry vanished and a friend of his before he vanished.
The family know her identity, but are choosing not to name her. The following year Sydney said Krause was alive - but the shocking information was scant and there was little the family could do.
Then in 2016 - three years after the disappearance - the case took another bizarre twist.
The family was contacted by someone else who had taken an interest in Krause's disappearance.
They said they were aware of an accident report compiled by the South African government and had emailed the South African Civil Aviation (SACAA) asking why the report wasn't online.
A reply from Albert Phuti Morudi, a senior official at the SACAA and who had cc'd three other people working at the authority, said: 'The accident in question is in a process of being re-opened as a result if (sic) new evidence which was provided to us, it is for that reason it was removed from our website.'
The official said he would re-post the report after they get approval from 'our minister' to review it.
The Krause family saw this as a significant development but when they asked the SACAA to see it, the authority denied it existed.
The authority's spokesman, Kabelo Ledwaba, told DailyMail.com that the email was been sent in 'error', with the official confusing Krause 'crash' with a separate crash investigation.
He added: 'The South African Civil Aviation Authority also wishes to take this opportunity to clarify that at no point did its investigation team produce an accident report relating to this particular accident; meaning that our investigators were not part of the investigation and therefore could not produce any accident report.
'Comments that indicate that the SACAA had published an accident report are therefore inaccurate.'
Gina Krause, 58, is said to be 'up and down' with her emotions and the family have launched a Facebook page called Help Find Jerry
Jerry's family remains hopeful that they will see their father again but say 'there's no way he will come back the same person, there's no way,'
The family then turned to respected private investigator Logan Clarke for more assistance.
Clarke reached out to contacts at the Pentagon and in other departments in Washington.
'The message came back that they had found information on Jerry Krause but they weren't authorized to provide the information, they were shut down,' said Clarke.
The family also reached out to a senator and a congressman who informally approached to the State Department - but that also failed.
'They were told they didn't have the right level of security clearance to access the information they were looking for,' Clarke said.
'They did a favor in checking on this and were totally shut down. This isn't a straightforward disappearance, something else is going on here.'
But the intrigue was reopened, not ended, when 'Sydney' emailed the family in September to say that her associate had traveled to Ondangwa, Namibia where the pilot was last seen.
The email states: 'It was during this time that it was learned that while Jerry was dealing with mechanical issues that someone could have easily gained access to the airplane, hidden themselves and taken over the plane while the storm was oncoming to make it look as if Jerry had crashed.'**
Private investigator Logan Clarke reached out to contacts at the Pentagon and in other departments in Washington and was told they weren't authorized to provide the information
The source said their investigation found a lot of activity from Krause's cell phone in Northern Angola.
They tracked the activity to Ambriz airport, which is a private airport with minimal security in the Bengo providence of Angola.
'Sydney' wrote: 'It was there, where we came in contact with a source that was linked to an organization that had been targeting the west coast of Africa.
'It is with is (sic) information we had learned that a plane and a pilot matching Jerry's description had been seen at Ambriz. It is here where we knew Jerry was still alive.'
Sydney said the belief is that the organization had taken Krause to 'transport items and people back and forth', adding: 'We knew he was still being forced to fly.'
She added: 'As I said on the phone with you, I have seen for my own eyes that Jerry is still alive. As more information is released I will keep you informed.'
A close friend of Krause, Jim Vanderburg, believes he is still alive and was kidnapped. He described Jerry as a 'practical' guy and a 'conservative' pilot who did not take risks'
DailyMail.com is unable to verify any of the information offered to the family by Sydney.
Clarke said: 'She says she saw a picture of Jerry taken in the last year and she knows for a fact he is alive.
'She has access to some sort of government file on this but there's only so much she can say.
'I tried going through my government connections but they have been shut down.
'Somebody does not want this out and our only option is to go public, I'm gonna keep poking this bear until it gets really loud.'
A close friend of Krause, Jim Vanderburg, is also convinced he's still alive: 'For the last four years I believed Jerry was dead, I was convinced of it.
'But when I realized there was a cover-up I knew there was more to it and after looking deeper into it I'm convinced he's alive.'
Jim, 61, from California, who is also an experienced pilot who flew with Krause for five years in Africa, said the new information is compelling and he believes the theory that Krause has been kidnapped.
He described his friend as a 'practical' guy and a 'conservative' pilot who did not take risks.
'Jerry was in Africa because of his Christian faith like I was, he wanted to help people, he was one of the missionaries, that was his heart,' he said.
'His disappearance has left a vacuum in everyone's lives. It is a huge blow to all of us.'
Krause's youngest daughter, Jessica, who lives in Indianapolis, said her family had contacted the president and other senior government figures for help, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
The dream of bringing her father back home is still very much alive, however.
'To be honest there were so many things that didn't add up when my dad went missing, all these little details that were red flags,' she explains.
'It all led us to cling to the belief that our father was still very much alive and we haven't lost that hope.'
Krause had worked in Mali with his wife Gina since 1996, first as a pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship, a religious group that flies aid to people in need, and then as the director of a for-profit aviation company.
Jessica said that he had in fact previously been held captive.
'He's had a gun held to his head before, this is not the first time his life has been in danger,' she said.
'My family was living in the Congo when a war broke out and my dad was part of an evacuation, he ended up landing at an airport when he shouldn't have and he was held hostage there for three days. He was eventually let go.'
Her mother Gina, 58, is 'up and down' with her emotions.
'It's hard, your imagination runs wild,' she explains. 'It's been very tough for my mom, for all of us.'
Jessica and her two siblings, Nathan, 29, and sister Alyssa, 27 are realistic about the difficult times ahead even if their 59-year-old dad is found.
'After four and a half years as a hostage there's no way he will come back the same person, there's no way,' she said.
'My dad was the glue for the family who brought us all together.
'He's super smart and he really cares about people, with us kids he always made sure we tried our hardest and did our best.
'He is a really laid back guy, he doesn't get stressed out easily and he's a tough character, if anyone can handle this my dad can. He thinks on his feet, calculates risk and really is able to work through high stress situations and come out on the other end.
'I suppose the unbelievable part is how he has not been able to escape after all this time.' |
During a recent trip to Copenhagen, I quickly became aware of Denmark’s ubiquitous coed, communal bathrooms. These typically consist of a large room of stalls that both men and women can use freely. This bathroom style is so common and accepted that even the local McDonald’s sports them. The United States should also adopt the coed, communal bathroom because they are a step forward not only for feminism, but for gender relations in general. If, as a country, we are going to get anywhere near perfect gender equality, then it is important for women to be seen as equal to men, both in society’s private spaces as well as in its public ones.
After my initial awe, I became impressed with how progressive these bathrooms were. They were totally natural. Nobody made it awkward or weird. The idea of men and women needing different bathrooms is more arbitrary than we’d like to admit — it is a result of tradition than anything else. People don’t need to be shielded from each other’s bodies anymore — as a society, we’ve moved past that long ago.
Another benefit of coed bathrooms is that they would help relieve the long lines that often plague women-only bathrooms. It is a tremendous waste of space to have two nearly identical bathrooms next to each other instead of one large one. In coed restrooms, more stalls can be installed in coed bathrooms than in gender-separated bathrooms, thereby cutting the waiting time.
The coed arrangement would also eliminate the question of restroom availability for transgender and genderqueer people. In a system where everyone uses the same bathroom, there is no longer any potential for the discomfort that typically accompanies the traditionally-gendered bathroom experience. When bathrooms are communal, nobody would be forced to choose from one bathroom or the other.
Common complaints about the coed bathroom typically relate to privacy — the fact that women might feel uncomfortable around men in a bathroom, or vice versa. Frankly, these complaints are not based in any sort of logic or reason. Men and women typically do not find it uncomfortable to wait behind each other in line at a store, so it doesn’t make sense for them to feel this way when they wait in line for a stall in a bathroom. The issue of privacy is ultimately moot in a bathroom where single-occupancy stalls prevail.
It is logical to want privacy, but not logical to want privacy only around one’s own sex. Ideas about gender are changing rapidly, and it is high time that bathrooms kept up. With coed bathrooms, women and men are given the opportunity to share a private space, and feminism and gender equality can finally take a meaningful step forward.
Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.
Email Adrian Zarif at [email protected] |
*** THESE COINS WILL NOT BE FOR SALE AT YOUR LOCAL OR ONLINE STORE UNLESS THEY BACKED US HERE ***
While we still have supplies you can find them on our website: http://www.MinionGames.com
NOTICE 1: We have a planning worksheet you can download here:
http://www.MinionGames.com/Kickstarter_coins_V7.xlsx
NOTICE 2: After this campaign has ended, you will get a survey from us and then a link to use BACKERKIT.COM which will collect your ala-carte and coin choices for us. You will be allowed to add any 50 coins if you backed the earlier Hegemonic campaign.
NOTICE 3: The collector set ala-carte option has become real attactive at this point getting you 1 of each of the 14+ coins added to your order for a simple $5 over-pledge. Consider doing this to help meet the stretch goals!
Final versions of the coins:
Many of the backers of our recently successful Kickstarter project Hegemonic have indicated they would like to see a new campaign to get more sets of coins.
So we bring to you this fast-tracked campaign to see if we can sell enough coins to make more and better ones. Help us get more and better coins!
They will be sure to add a great feel and glitz to any game. These wonderful futuristic metal coins/tokens measure:
32mm x 19mm and 2mm thick
These coins are made out of zinc and weigh about same as a USA penny. The coins are two sided with different images on 3 categories of coins. The images shown here are mostly complete designs but some aspects may change slightly.
50 comparable coins from another publisher would cost you over $37. We are making a low margin just so we can have these for our board game and thus only charging you $12 (less than half) for 50 coins!
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ALA CARTE MENU
The following items in this ala-Carte menu are items you can purchase with your coins to help us reach a higher total dollars pledged on this campaign which in turn will allow us to reach more stretch goals! To purchase anything from this menu, simply click on the MODIFY PLEDGE and add the $ amount extra to your pledge amount for the items you want. At the end of this campaign you'll get a survey request or be directed to a site that will ask you what all your over payments were for.
NOTE: The custom art sleeves are only for Hegemonic
Hegemonic 4x Space Board Game - Kickstarter
ABOUT THE COINS INCLUDED IN HEGEMONIC:
The base game of Hegemonic that will be able to be purchased in stores will contain around 100 cardboard coins. The Hegemonic game bought in the Kickstarter campaign will also include these 100 cardboard coins but you get the free 50 metal coins from the stretch goal. These 50 coins will be made of 1 CAP and 5 CAP coins and will NOT include any 10 CAP coins even if we make the stretch goal here. If you want 10 or greater CAP coins the ONLY way to get them is to pledge to this campaign.
UPDATE: Your Kickstarter copy of Hegemonic will ship with 35 x 1s and 15 x 5s unless you tell us to override that. The suggested complement to those coins is the 50 COIN reward with 10 x 10s, 15 x 5x, 25 x 1s. Thus, you'd get 6 bags of 1s, 3 bags of 5s, and 1 bag of 10s in your shipment.
At this level, we'll open up pledge reward levels that include a 10 CAP coin design. Reaching this goal would most likely make the 1 CAP coin copper, 5 CAP silver, and the new gold would be 10 CAP. If this level is reached we'll put in a reward tier that has a heavy amount of 10 CAPs for those who got their caps from the Hegemonic Kckstarter.
At this goal we will create a 25 CAP coin that is a bit longer then the other coins. We have yet to find out what color it'll be as China is on a 2 week break for the New Year. Here is a possible design:
DIFFERENT SIZED COINS
To help tell the coins apart we'll produce higher denomination coins in slightly large sizes. The 25+ CAP will be longer then the 1, 5, and 10 CAP.
34mm x 19mm and 2mm thick
This stretch goal will give the coins a head and tails. In other words a different image will be on the back side instead of just having the same image on both sides. Leading ideas are a galactic scene and something directly related to Hegemonic.
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At this goal we will create a 100 CAP coin. We have yet to find out what color it'll be as China is on a 2 week break for the New Year, more info soon...
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Colors and shape may change but this stretch goal gains us a 2 CAP coin.
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At this goal we will create a 50 CAP coin. We were told they could do any basic PANTONE color on the coins so we're testing response to some... Let us know your thoughts in comments. Here is another possible 'tails' side image too.
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Colors and shape may change but this stretch goal gains us a 500 CAP coin.
36mm x 19mm and 2mm thick
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Colors and shape may change but this stretch goal gains us a 250 CAP coin.
36mm x 19mm and 2mm thick
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Colors and shape may change but this stretch goal gains us a 1000 CAP coin.
36mm x 19mm and 2mm thick
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We will pack your new coins in a velvet bag! Only 1 bag is included for this stretch goal. That should hold about 150-200 coins.
+ BONUS SURPRISE 20 CAP COIN! +
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDERFUL SUPPORT!
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If you guys and gals are so crazy to get us to this stretch goal, I'm just out of ideas. No more coins, 15 is enough! So how about a second bag to hold all those extra coins in.
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OK, just kiddin' around!
What to do for a specail 100k reward? Well how could it be anything but a 100k coin? Now you can go buy that cool new space ship with CASH baby!
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We have successfully run 7 previous Kickstarter campaigns so please pledge with confidence.
SHIPPING EXPLAINED:
- If you pledged for Hegemonic kickstarter you do not have to pay any shipping unless we can't fit all your coins in the one box. This would be around 200+ coins. We will by default open your Hegemonic box to stuff coins in it and reseal it. You can opt out of that. So for larger coin counts added to Hegemonic please include a second shipping charge.
- If you are in only buying coins (and maybe a trinket or two in the ala-carte) you only need to pay the shipping price listed in the reward level. No second shipping charge is required.
- If you are in the EU or CANADA or MEXICO you pay $15 for each box shipped.
- If you are anywhere else in the world you pay $25 per box shipped.
COIN EXAMPLE
Here is an image of some coins made by the manufacturer we are using, they are not the same exact color or size or anything, just an example of their work:
Since people keep asking me, these Roman coins were made for this kickstarted game. I have them in my hands and they are nice. |
CLOSE IndyStar Insider Jim Ayello breaks down IndyCar's return to Long Beach.
England's Jack Harvey will drive for Andretti Autosport in May's 101st running of the Indianapolis 500. (Photo: Chris Jones/IndyCar)
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Jack Harvey knows he's in an enviable position. Driving for Andretti Autosport in the Indianapolis 500? A lot of drivers would kill to be in his spot.
"To have the opportunity to do this with one of the best teams on the grid — a team that has won two of the past three races there – is more than I could have dreamed of," the 23-year-old driver from England said in a news release. "We have been working incredibly hard over the last 18 months to make this happen, and it’s hard to put into words what this means to me. I want to thank the whole Andretti Autosport team for this opportunity."
Harvey is a two-time runner-up in the Indy Lights series (2014-15). He has six Indy Lights victories to his name, including the Freedom 100 and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and 18 podiums.
More:Sam Schmidt will race Mario Andretti in semi-autonomous cars at IMS
More:James Hinchcliffe returns to Hollywood, but does Hollywood care?
More:Indianapolis 500 car count: What does field look like?
“Jack is a rising talent in open-wheel racing,” Andretti Autosport’s Michael Andretti said in the release. “He’s had an impressive career in the Mazda Road to Indy ladder and the British F3 series and we’re really pleased to be able to give him a shot in an Indy car at this year’s Indy 500.”
While the 500 will be Harvey's first race in an IndyCar Series machine, it won't be the first time he has driven one. Harvey tested with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports at Sonoma in 2015.
This May, Harvey will join a pair of Indianapolis 500 winners in Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014) and Alexander Rossi (2016), as well as Marco Andretti and Takuma Sato on the Andretti team.
Follow IndyStar reporter Jim Ayello on Twitter: @jamesayello; and on Instagram: @jimayello. |
On the heels of the “Monsanto rider” inserted into the House Agriculture Appropriations Bill a few weeks ago, the Agbiotech Industry’s latest ploy has hit the House Farm Bill in the form of multiple hidden changes to the laws governing genetically engineered (GE) crop oversight. Together, these industry-promoting “riders” in the House seek to override judicial review of GE crops found to have been approved illegally, gut USDA analysis requirements, create a forced backdoor approval of “Agent Orange” corn and other GE crops and to compel a first-ever policy for allowable levels of transgenic contamination in America’s crops and food supply. If passed, these riders would undermine the few laws that are currently in place to protect farmers’ rights, our health and our environment from the many adverse impacts of GE crops.
Please Tell Your Representative Not to Let Agribusiness Write its Own Rules |
I’ve come to expect all sorts of things that have me scratching my head when I scan the morning headlines. Like many of you, when I get up each morning, I take time to check various media sites, both traditional and non-traditional, look at social media and let the brain start working. Almost every morning, at least one story strikes me in such a way that I wonder what sort of world we are going to leave our children and grandchildren. No, this isn’t another post about the bombing in Manchester.
This is a post about an example of going too far to make sure we don’t label someone. Fresh from the state of Washington, we have an internal memo from Acting Department of Corrections Secretary Dick Morgan renaming those incarcerated in the prison system there as “students”.
Yes, you read that right, people like Gary Ridgway, the infamous Green River Killer, are now “students” according to the DOC. Why? According to Morgan, “The term ‘offender’ does have a negative connotation and significantly impacts a broad group of people and communities.”
Wait, “offender” has negative connotations that impact a broad group of people because someone has been convicted of a felony. So, to avoid that negative connotation, you are going to call those convicted “students”. What about all those students enrolled in pre-k – college you are now lumping in under the same label as the convicted felons? Are we going to have to find a new name for them so they won’t be negatively impacted as a result of this idiocy?
Yes, it’s a stupid question but so is the ruling. Morgan is worried about communities being tied with a crime or criminal and the negative impact that has on the area or on families. Well, who is it hat propagates this connection? The media. In most cases, it is the media that gives a suspected serial a name, ie the Green River Killer. It is the media that focuses on the family and community instead of on the victims.
But it is soooo much easier to take the stigma away from the ones who were actually convicted of the crime. While Morgan might have nothing but good intentions with this idiotic memo, it is ill-conceived and will do nothing to deal with what he perceives as being a problem. What you call the criminal won’t matter as long as the media continues its circus-style coverage.
But it is all about the feels.
For once, I’d like someone to consider how their actions will impact others. Morgan wants to call those in the state penal system students to keep their families and communities from suffering ill-effects by being called “offender-communities” or “offender-families” (terms I’ve never heard used). Say the new DOC agrees and leaves this order in place when he or she takes office. Somewhere down the road, someone is going to walk into an interview, be it for a job or volunteer position or college admission interview. They sit down and across the desk from them sits someone who is looking at their resume/application.
“Mr. Jones, I see you were a student before you applied here. Tell me, were you a student in the state education system, home school or in our glorious penal system?”
Mr. Jones sits there, wondering whether the interviewer is joking or has lost his mind because he doesn’t know convicted felons were called “students” instead of prisoners or offenders or anything else. “Ummm, state education system.”
“Excellent. Did you attend x-district or y-penal institution?”
You get my drift. It’s silly and stupid and more than a little sad. Why not just call them what they are? Convicted felons. As for the impact on their families or communities, that’s on the media and, let’s be honest, on the felons themselves. Calling them “students” or “zebras” or anything else isn’t going to change that.
So, Mr. Morgan, apply a bandage to your bleeding heart and focus on real issues within the DOC instead of idiotic things like this.
Oh, and if that isn’t enough to make you wonder what the hell is going on in the state of Washington, a story from two days ago recounts how Seattle police are no longer allowed to refer to alleged criminals as suspects but must refer to them as community members. |
RFTools Control is an addon mod for RFTools which adds automation control using a visual grid based programming language. Using opcodes that you arrange in a grid you can move items around, control redstone, check energy (RF) and so on. You can access regular inventories but this mod also supports direct access to a storage scanner controlled system. In the future it will also provide a way to the storage scanner to autocraft items. This is not yet fully implemented however.
The two main blocks in this mod are the programmer which is used to create programs and the processor that executes those programs. Networking is also provided.
Note! Comments have been disabled because it is hard for me to check for this on too many places. If you want to submit a bug report then go to the 'Issues' tab or here: RFTools Control Issue Tracker. If you want to discuss RFTools in general you can do that here: RFTools Control on MC Forums
Spotlight (one out of three): |
Advertisement Man sentenced to 3 years in prison for deadly hit-and-run Taylor Gaboury hit, killed in January Share Shares Copy Link Copy
An Industry man who hit and killed a woman in Farmington in January will spend three years in prison.A judge sentenced Tommy Clark, 25, on Monday.Under a plea deal, Clark pleaded guilty to operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.The judge accepted the plea deal, calling Clark a good candidate for rehabilitation.Clark stared at the judge throughout the proceedings and his hands were shaking as he listened to Taylor Gaboury’s family talk about how much she meant to the community.The judge weighed Clark’s alcohol level, the fact that he left the scene and the fact that Gaboury was walking on a dark road in dark clothing.The judge sentenced Clark to three years in prison for the OUI charge and three years for leaving the scene of the accident. The sentences will be served at the same time.Clark hit Gaboury, 21, of Wilton, on Route 2 early New Year's Day.Police said Gaboury was walking east on Wilton Road in Farmington when she was struck by a vehicle and landed in an embankment near Franklin Memorial Hospital.Clark fled the scene, and his vehicle was later found at a nearby hotel, police said.According to court documents, Clark admitted he had been drinking a short time before he hit Gaboury.The courtroom was filled with people wearing purple in honor of Gaboury.Her family members said they will continue to work together with the community to move forward.Family members said they were hoping for a maximum sentence.“It will never been enough for our daughter. Hopefully, he gets the message. Hopefully, others get the same message. Other than kill someone, you get a few years. I don’t think that’s a message anyone wants to send out,” said Ricky Gaboury, Taylor Gaboury’s father.“Taylor was one of the most forgiving people ever. She could probably forgive him a whole lot easier than I am going to be able to,” said Teena Trask, Taylor Gadboury's mother. “Since her death, I’ve lost all that I once had. I don’t know who I am anymore.”Family members said they want to meet with legislators to make changes in OUI sentencing.Clark apologized to the family for what happened.“I would trade my life in an instant to get her back,” Clark said. 9234908 |
"The basic impact of the experience is the same whether you believe in reincarnation or not: it is the discontinuity of what you are doing." Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche Recently I had the chance to put 25 years of Buddhist study and
practice to the test. After driving to Boston to attend the funeral of a friend, a dear man who died in the prime of life, I flew on to California because my mother was dying. Regular contemplation of death is part of Buddhist training. Various schools of Buddhism take different approaches based on the Buddha's insights, among which one of the most fundamental is that existence is marked by impermanence: everything put together sooner or later comes apart, including our precious lives. The word buddha means awakened one. One of the things the Buddha woke up to was the fact that most of us spend our lives trying to avoid reality--especially the grittier aspects of it such as sickness, old age and death-or manipulate it to get what we think we want, which often doesn't bring us the satisfaction we had hoped for anyway. The Buddha also woke up to his true nature, which is the same as that of every human being-open, compassionate, intelligent, self-existing energy-and saw that our sense of being separate from the world is an illusion. Having seen all this, the Buddha taught a technique, a tool for uncovering our basic nature, exploring experience and facing our lives. This tool is mindfulness/awareness meditation, and with it we can make a direct connection with the facts of life, including death. Meditation is a practice in how to let go, first of our thoughts, emotions and opinions; later, as we settle down and are able to be simply present, we let go of each moment, constantly moving into the next. Paradoxically, such relaxation, rather than spacing us out, brings us more directly in contact with what actually is, which might be called nowness or being awake in the eternal present. For this reason, the symbol for meditation is an endless knot, also called the knot of eternity. Training in such a way is, in effect, training for the ultimate surrender human beings encounter, letting go of this body at the time of death. My mother, having been raised a Southern Baptist, would certainly not have called herself a Buddhist. But she had to face her mortality more often than most of us ever will. Three heart attacks, two coronary by- pass operations, breast cancer, diabetes: these were some of the physical challenges she met with courage and grace. She also had, as a friend of mine put it in a eulogy poem about her, "the strength to raise three willful girls." This willful one, having given her a world of trouble, was delighted when she told me, after I had been practicing meditation for a number of years, that Buddhism seemed to be good for me. Could I recommend something she might read about it? Wanting something that made Buddhist teachings seem applicable to life in America and not just some exotic foreign philosophy or religion, I suggested several books by Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, my teacher and the founder of Karme-Choling in Barnet. My mother read them, incorporated from them what made sense to her, and even did some meditation practice. In the end, she taught me more about letting go than I ever taught her. When we die, according to Buddhist doctrine, the energy of our being continues, going into an intermediate state before reincarnating. If, during life, we have remained completely self-absorbed, caught up in our beliefs, concepts and habitual patterns, then according to the laws of cause and effect, or karma, we will be swept into a rebirth based on our karmic momentum. But if we have learned to rest in nowness and have realized our true nature, which is awake, then what continues is awareness, and we have some choice about what happens. Just as, when meditating, one can experience the continuity of discontinuity, or impermanence, directly, so it is possible, if one is aware and present at the moment of death, to understand what is happening, to rest in that basic nature which is not different from that of the universe and thus short-circuit the karmic cycle. However, as Trungpa Rinpoche said in a 1972 seminar in Barnet, "The basic impact of the experience is the same whether you believe in reincarnation or not: it is the discontinuity of what you are doing." Life as we know it stops. The Buddha's final instruction to his followers before he died was that they should diligently work out their own liberation. In the 2500 years since then, Buddhists have sought to follow that advice in ways as diverse as the cultures into which Buddhism has spread, such as India, China, Japan, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. Now these ancient teachings, transplanted again, flourish in the Northeast Kingdom; it was these teachings that I found myself remembering as I flew west. It is hard to let go of what we love. It is hard to live with uncertainty.
Yet we have no real choice if we are to face reality, for we will inevitably let go of all that we love, including our bodies, and the time when that will happen is uncertain. Whether my mother believed in heaven or reincarnation, I do not know. What I do know is that she recognized what was happening to her and she was ready for it. Talking, on the day before she died, to my sister whose five month old baby was the joy of her last days, my mother said, "I kind of hoped we'd have a little more time, but I guess we just get greedy." If we learn to let go into uncertainty, to trust that our basic nature and that of the world are not different, then the fact that things are not solid and fixed becomes, rather than a threat, a liberating opportunity. Then we are free to savor what life offers, to taste the texture of each moment fully, whether the moment is one of sadness or joy. There is a story of an awakened person who, chased off a cliff by a ravenous tiger, saved himself from immediately falling by clutching on to a cherry tree that had taken root on the side of the rocky precipice. Realizing the hopelessness of his situation, he picked a cherry and tasted it. "How sweet," he said, before he fell. You weren't greedy, Mom. You just had an appetite for the sweetness life offers. And as I sat with my sisters around your chair in your living room watching you while your generous heart finally gave up beating, as we encouraged you to let go of your ravaged body and assured you we would all be fine, I found myself savoring the sweetness of that situation. It was then that I was grateful for my Buddhist training. Text copyright © 1999 Carol S. Hyman
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Two leading European academics say Scotland could be a full member by 2023.
Brexit: The academics say Scotland could join the EU within three years of independence.
An independent Scotland could be "fast tracked" to full European Union membership by 2023, according to two academics.
European Union law lecturer Dr Tobias Lock, of Edinburgh University, and Dr Kirsty Hughes, a senior fellow at Friends of Europe in Brussels, have set out their analysis in a new report.
They say a mixture of "political goodwill" and Scotland already meeting much of the membership criteria could lead to a swift move into the organisation.
The academics say the EU "was negative and discouraging" about Scottish independence during the 2014 referendum but this has since been replaced with "political goodwill to Scotland in EU capitals since it is facing Brexit despite having voted to remain".
If Scotland voted for independence in autumn 2018 in a second referendum and became independent two years later, the country could be in the EU by 2024 or even a year earlier if the application was "fast tracked".
Former first minister Alex Salmond has also predicted a referendum will be held autumn 2018.
The academics said: "At the time of the 2014 independence referendum, the Brussels mood music towards Scotland was negative and discouraging.
"European Commission President José Manuel Barroso suggested it would be 'extremely difficult' for Scotland to join the EU.
"Now, the head of the European Commission office in London talks of a 'normal' accession process for Scotland."
They added: "There is considerable political goodwill to Scotland in EU capitals since it is facing Brexit despite having voted to remain.
"That political goodwill, on current trends, is likely to feed into an effort to fast track Scotland's EU membership in the event of a successful independence vote."
Possible EU membership timeline
Autumn 2018 - Scotland votes Yes to independence
March 2019 - Scotland, along with the rest of the UK, leaves the European Union
2020 - Scotland becomes an independent nation
2020 - Scotland applies to join the EU
2021 - The European Commission and the Council give the green light and negotiations begin
2023 or 2024 - Majority of MEPs, all EU member states and Scotland ratify the treaty of ascension and the country joins the EU
The pair has also questioned doubts over Spain vetoing an independent Scotland's EU membership bid saying it is "not obvious" the Spanish government would block it despite concerns it would encourage the Catalan independence movement.
Key points of the negotiations with the EU would include "Scotland's budget contribution, Schengen, justice and home affairs, and the euro".
They claim Scotland would "probably" have to commit to joining the euro but would be able to, like Sweden, continually "postpone" joining the single European currency.
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said: "This isn't about mood and goodwill, it's about hard legal and political reality.
"The argument has never been would a separate Scotland be granted membership of the EU, but on what terms. It could not assume it would be given the unique terms of the UK's membership.
"For instance, there would be an expectation to join the Euro, and if that was resisted, the process would take significantly longer."
Scottish Labour's Europe spokesman Lewis Macdonald described the report as confirming "a separate Scotland would have to reapply to join the EU" and shows an independent Scotland would be forced to "commit to using the euro and produce a plan to reduce the country's deficit - leading to even further austerity".
Scottish Greens external affairs spokesperson, Ross Greer MSP, said: "There are five million EU citizens living in Scotland, it's unthinkable that they will be told to join the back of a mythical queue.
"It's welcome to see an export report which shows Scotland would be able to transition quickly to EU membership, so rather than peddling myths and undermining efforts to keep Scotland in the EU, unionist politicians must accept the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland who voted overwhelmingly against being dragged along with the angry, isolated Britain planned by Theresa May. Voters in Scotland at least deserve a choice between these two futures."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The Scottish Government has a clear democratic mandate that the Scottish Parliament should have the right to hold a referendum on independence if Scotland is taken out of the EU against our will.
"People in Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU but instead of listening to Scotland as they promised, the UK Government now seems determined to impose a hard Brexit at any cost.
"The Scottish Government is therefore considering all options to ensure Scotland's continuing relationship with, and place in, Europe. Our priority is to protect Scotland's interests and it is essential that the UK Government establishes a position that reflects all parts of the UK ahead of Article 50 being triggered.
"Under any scenario the Scottish Government will work in a spirit of goodwill, co-operation and common purpose with our European partners."
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