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UK set to sell sensitive NHS records to commercial companies with no meaningful privacy protections - UPDATED
The UK government's Health and Social Care Information Centre quietly announced plans to share all patient records held by the National Health Service with private companies, from insurers to pharmaceutical companies. The information sharing is on an opt-out basis, so if you don't want your "clinical records, mental health consultations, drug addiction rehabilitation details, dsexual health clinic attendance and abortion procedures" shared, along with your "GP records, HS numbers, post-codes, gender, date of birth," you need to contact your doctor and opt out of the process.
This is a complex issue. Large data-sets are the lifeblood of epidemiology and evidence-based care and policy, and the desire to extract useful health information from this data is a legitimate one.
However, it's clear that no one involved in the process gives a damn about privacy. These data-sets -- which will be sold on the open market to commercial operators -- are "anonymized" and "pseudonymized" through processes that don't work, have never worked, and are well-documented to be without any basis in reality.
And that's the thing that brings the whole enterprise out of the realm of legitimate scientific project and into the realm of corporatist hucksterism. Once the architects of this project announced that its privacy protections would be based on junk science, they lost any claim they had to operating in good faith.
Effectively, the managers of this programme have said, "We can't figure out how to protect the most private, potentially damaging facts of your life, so we're not going to try." It is pure cynicism, and it makes me furious. It brings the whole field of evidence-based medicine into disrepute. It is a scandal. And as it goes ahead, it will spectacularly destroy the lives of random people in the UK through the involuntary, totally foreseeable disclosure of health information, in ways that make the general public leery of any participation in this kind of inquiry.
If you set about to discredit the open data movement, you could do no better than this.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Noemi adds, "The contract for handling and managing the care data has been given to ATOS . This is the same company whose disability benefit assessment has been found to be flawed and unacceptable in 40% of cases by the Audit Commission ." Here's more
HSCIC's own guide to confidentiality points out the potential for messy dilemmas. For instance, the guide mentions that "removing the individual's name, age, address and other personal identifiers may not be sufficient to effectively anonymise the information." Therefore, even so-called "green" data can leak personal health information. And while HSCIC attempts to fix legal issues by stating the information should always be shared in accordance with the law and organisations must abide by legal provisions which may ban or limit attempts to re-identify confidential information, plans for HSCIC to publicly track client compliance are yet to be revealed. The types of privacy and legal issues that the Spine database creates are immense. For instance, under Section 33A and section 41 of the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, any disclosure of information relating to assisted conception (for example information about gamete donors and people receiving treatment) is usually a criminal offense. How exactly this information would be safeguarded is currently unknown. Though privacy advocates have bemoaned the lack of public clarity and transparency over exactly which organisations will be able to buy particularly sensitive datasets, two companies may already have a head-start to the treasure trove: MedRed and BT.
Care.data and the murky US partnership that puts your health data at risk [Asher Wolf/Wired UK] |
Red Dwarf has been commissioned for a new series that will hit TV screens in 2012, but it seems Twitter and other social-networking sites may scupper plans to film the show in front of a live audience.
Robert Llewellen, who plays Kryten in the show, is a massive advocate of Twitter but he fears the site will fuel spoilers and the like if the show is shot in front of a live audience.
On his blog, he raises the concern by saying: "The plan at the moment, and this could change, the plan is that we record the new series in front of an audience.
"Now, this is a complicated issue. The last time we recorded a show in front of an audience was in 1998. Anyone remember 1998?
"No YouTube, no Facebook, no Twitter, no broadband, no HD video cameras in mobile phones. Okay, a few people had e-mail. I had a crude web page already, but it really was basic."
Stopping spoilers
"So when the audience came in the producers would ask them politely not to reveal any spoilers 'on the world wide web' as we referred to it then. I'm sure some people did, but so few people would have seen anything it really didn't matter."
The last Red Dwarf show was aired in 1999. Dave resurrected the show in 2010 with a special double episode, which was shot without a live audience.
Via SlashDot |
Today we're beginning the "inspired by" looks in the #31DC2015 challenge. We're supposed to be inspired by a color today, but I was having trouble choosing. So I asked my husband for help. Watching him gingerly dig through my polish drawers was hilarious. Eventually he landed on a glitter topper, Polish M At the Lake (formerly Lacquerlicious). So I took the polish he chose and rand with it. Since it's a beautiful blue glitter topper I chose a shimmery bright blue polish for the base. Urban Decay Chaos is a stunner. I can't believe it took me this long to use it.
*self purchased
Polish M
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Urban Decay
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I then went in withas a topper on all nails. Once that was done I stamped on a shape (it went a bit cock-eyed but EHH!) on my middle finger from theandI really like the end result.That's where I ended up. Tomorrow is Inspired by a song. I've got a plan, we'll see where I end up.Enjoy & Until next time, Amy Lee |
Two years ago, the Seventh Midtown proposal caused a stir by having the audacity (and financial backing) to be for-sale condos in a Midtown dominated by new rental towers. Now, the nine-story Peachtree Street building has delivered, and only two of 20 units remain unfilled — both of them pricey and big.
The listing photos are duplicated, so it's hard to know if this is the $1.59 million Unit #802 or its slightly cheaper unsold counterpart; both are three-bedroom, three-bathroom condos with more than 2,700 square feet, a study, and that stupendous perk that is a double-sided fireplace.
They've clearly gone for the blank-slate motif here. It lends a starkness that a few giant, mixed-media abstracts and bombastic curtains should cure.
Highlights include the Pedini cabinetry, Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, Waterworks fixtures, and proximity to the fancy-pants Starbucks Reserve down below. And the terrace is so big it's stubbed for a kitchen. But at this price-point, that seems like a bit of a tease. |
BETHESDA, MD—Confirming accounts handed down among townsfolk for generations untold, a report released Wednesday by the National Institutes of Health has revealed the top cause of death in the United States is still venturing beyond the pines.
The report, which analyzed the nation’s mortality data from the past decade, found that wandering past the tree line and entering the shadowy depths that lie therein results in approximately 650,000 deaths each year. Researchers noted that the risk of meeting a mysterious and deadly fate beyond the pines remained high across all demographics, from the purest-hearted children to the most revered town elders.
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“Our findings indicate that forces unknown lurking among the black pines account for one in every four American deaths,” said report co-author Shannon Reid, noting that the survival rate for individuals who set foot upon the forest floor and allow the darkness below the boughs to envelop them has held steady at just 2 percent. “Merely straying close to the pines is dangerous, but once you pass beneath the thick, misty canopy through which no beacon of light can penetrate, your risk of death increases dramatically.”
She added, “Such fatalities continue to occur regularly, in part because we have seen no decrease in the number of people hearing otherworldly voices that beckon them into the woods with whispers of ‘This way; follow me.’”
According to the report, 43 percent of pines-related fatalities are the result of people losing their way on a foggy night, 39 percent can be traced to individuals attempting to find a shortcut despite warnings from all those they pass, and 18 percent occur when people suddenly awaken in the dead of night, walk straight out the door in their bedclothes, and pace blindly through the moonlight in the direction of the trees.
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Researchers warned that since 2010, there has been a startling increase in beyond-the-pines deaths of children under the age of 6, particularly among those who have gone out looking for flowers to make a daisy chain.
Most fatalities reportedly occur just before dawn, at which time the deceased’s clothing is often discovered neatly laid out at the edge of the woods, or a small wooden doll depicting their likeness suddenly appears in their bed. The NIH study confirmed that a very small fraction of those who wander into the pines return alive, but experts said these individuals typically remain mute for the rest of their lives, and are forever marked by spells of wide-eyed paralysis and a shock of prematurely white hair.
“There does appear to be a hereditary risk—people with close relatives who have gone where the tall pines grow are more likely to disappear into the trees themselves,” Reid said. “So it is important to know your family history and disregard any dreams you have in which a departed loved one calls out for you to join them in the forest. Doing so is not safe under any circumstance.”
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Reid told reporters the NIH has undertaken several new initiatives in an attempt to curb the number of deaths in the pines, such as stationing old, cloaked figures at forks in the road to warn travelers about the strange malevolence that dwells in the heart of the woods, and launching an educational campaign to dispel the common misconception that treading into the forbidden grove was perfectly safe under a harvest moon when the light is near bright as day.
She also recommended that Americans clip a lock of hair from a young child, tie it with a silk ribbon, and leave it several paces from the edge of the forest to help ward off the deathly menace.
“It’s the kind of thing you never think can happen to your family until one day it does,” said Brenna Ayers, whose daughter chased her paper kite into the pines last year and never returned. “I miss Maddy every day, and the haunting sound of her voice softly reciting nursery rhymes that I hear whenever the wind blows through the trees is no replacement.”
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Reid added that those looking for more information could visit www.NIH.gov or ask the old woman who lives among the hills. |
Quote Hey Liam,
Thank you for your message! Sadly, there are currently no plans to support Linux. I'll check in with the development team about this. Aside from Mac and Windows, the plan is to release complements to the game through VR and mobile.
Please let me know if you have any more questions!
Quote Hey Liam,
I checked in with the team, and I have too apologize for speaking too early. The game will also be released for Linux. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Confusing as always, it seems Neil deGrasse Tyson's Space Odyssey will apparently come to Linux after the developer claimed it wouldn't be.For those not keeping up: The initial website setup for Neil deGrasse Tyson's Space Odyssey clearly mentioned Linux as a release platform. Now that website is no more and simply redirects to their Kickstarter, which only mentions Windows & Mac.I spoke to the developer last week with this question:: "Hello, when your website originally launched it listed Linux support. This has now been removed since the Kickstarter was put up. It now only says Windows & Mac.Is there a reason Linux is no longer mentioned?"Their reply was this:I was a bit confused about it, so I poked further with another question and pointed out how they did claim it was on their site:: "Then why did the official site (before it redirected to Kickstarter) very clearly list Linux as a platform?See an example here from Google's cache: http://imgur.com/a/pTWsa Their reply now:I've asked them to clarify it in an update on the Kickstarter page.I still have a lot of concerns about the project, although they did release an update to clarify some points. Part of my issue, is that Neil himself apparently doesn't want to promote anything. His name is attached to it though, so he should be part of it, so giving even a single tweet or Facebook post to confirm it's real would give it some more credibility.It's not just that, it's the fact that this is clearly something still in the early stages of prototyping (maybe even earlier) as they have literally nothing to show for it. Considering how grand a game it sounds, with nothing to show for it right now, it screams risk.To me, it just seems too risky and the developers lack of proper confirmation in public about Linux is concerning. |
Landing on black 26 times in a row? It’s bound to happen sooner or later.
Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images
The newspaper notice said that Frank Hughes, of Hilda Street, Darlington, in the United Kingdom, had died on Aug. 1 at the age of 80, and gave the time and place of the funeral ceremony. Several of his friends and workmates turned up to pay their respects, and they joined the family and other mourners afterward.
So imagine the shock Frank’s friends must have felt when, just an hour later, they saw him walking along the street toward them.
It turned out that the newspaper notice announcing 80-year-old Frank’s funeral wasn’t referring to the retired bus driver and D-Day veteran his friends thought it was. It was actually referring to another Frank Hughes of the same age and from the same town. That Frank Hughes was an ex-merchant-seaman, which explained why the family members weren’t surprised to see people they didn’t recognize at the funeral.
And then there were the two Franz Richters, both 19, both volunteers in the Austrian Transport Corps after World War I, both born in Silesia, and both suffering from pneumonia, who were admitted to the same hospital at the same time.
At a more elevated level, in the 1700s, when Samuel Johnson (who’s been described as “arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history”) was invited to write a translation of a volume on the administrative apparatus of the Roman Catholic Church, it was found that another Samuel Johnson, this one the Librarian of St. Martin’s in the Fields, had also been invited to translate the work. A literary skirmish took place between the two Samuel Johnsons, with the unfortunate consequence that neither carried out the translation.
Extraordinary coincidences, perhaps. But highly unlikely? Not when looked at from the right perspective. And that perspective is given in my new book, The Improbability Principle. It tells us that extremely improbable events are commonplace. Since that may sound like a contradiction, let’s take a closer look.
The improbability principle is composed of five laws, analogous to the four laws of thermodynamics or Newton’s three laws of motion. These laws, the law of inevitability, the law of truly large numbers, the law of selection, the law of the probability lever, and the law of near enough, explain exactly why we should expect to encounter highly unlikely events, and indeed why we should expect to do so on a regular, even frequent, basis. Any one of the laws acting by itself can lead to a highly improbable event—like people winning the lottery twice, or 26 black numbers coming up one after another in roulette. (The details of these as well as many other apparently extraordinarily unlikely events are given in my book.) But the impact of the principle gets even stronger when the laws intertwine and work together.
When that happens, we see people being struck by lightning—not just once but, despite the old adage, twice and then time after time. We see the same lottery numbers coming up in two consecutive weeks. We see apparent manifestations of extrasensory perception, people narrowly avoiding disaster after disaster, financial crashes that shouldn’t happen in a billion years, and countless other extraordinary events. We also learn how tipsters correctly predict stock market moves, how you can increase your chance of winning the lottery, why the student who comes out on top today is less likely to do so tomorrow, and how psychics can make correct predictions. They are all a consequence of the solid mathematics embodied in the improbability principle.
Let’s take my opening theme of name coincidences further. In fact, let me make it personal.
In 2012, when I checked into my hotel for the Royal Statistical Society’s conference in Telford, United Kingdom, I found that I was the second David Hand to check in. It wasn’t that I’d accidentally registered twice—there really was another David Hand in the hotel.
Now, most of the Google generation knows that there are others with the same name out there. After all, who among us has not succumbed to the temptation to search for our own names? I already knew of David Hand the former bishop of Papua New Guinea, and David Hand the former Disney animator. But I also knew that both of them were dead, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to meet any of my namesakes. So, when I checked into the hotel, my first thought was that such encounters between people with the same name must be incredibly rare. Highly improbable events, right?
But then I recalled the improbability principle.
That strand of the principle that I call the law of near enough says that events that are sufficiently similar may be regarded as identical. So how does that increase my chances of meeting other people with my name? After all, however you cut it, surely I don’t have many opportunities to meet other David Hands?
Well, actually, I didn’t meet someone else with my name. It was the hotel receptionist who spotted the identical names. So it wasn’t quite me meeting them, but it was near enough to be identified as a coincidence. The difference between me meeting him, and the hotel receptionist spotting the names, is dramatic. Suppose I check into hotels 20 times a year, and that over the course of a week 400 people check into each hotel. That’s 8,000 opportunities for a receptionist to spot the match. That’s far more than the relatively few new people I meet personally each year.
What if we combine this with the law of truly large numbers? This says that, given enough opportunities, the probabilities of even very unlikely events can mount up to be almost certain. I’ve been attending conferences for several decades now. The number of opportunities for such an encounter is starting to build up.
The law of truly large numbers is amplified by a subsidiary law, the law of combinations. I’ve been talking about the chance that another guest would have the same name as me. But what’s the chance that some two or more guests in the hotel will have the same name as each other? The answer depends on how many people there are with each name. In the United States, for example, there are some 50,000 John Smiths, about 1,000 James Bonds, and approximately 100 Harry Potters. And, for the record, about 300 with the name David Hand. Just to show how the law of combinations can have a huge effect, I’ll simplify and suppose there are 50,000 names in the population, and that the same number of people have each name. Calculation shows that if just 263 check into a hotel, then it’s more likely than not that at least two of them will have the same name. No wonder highly improbable events are commonplace!
Things are further amplified by another manifestation of the law of near enough. Sure, I knew of two other people who had been named “David Hand,” but were they David J. Hand? In fact, the Disney animator was David D. Hand, and the former bishop of Papua New Guinea was G. David Hand. Not an exact match, but near enough for me to be struck by the coincidence. Indeed, no doubt the hotel receptionist would also have noted it if the other David Hand checking into the hotel had been David Hands, not David Hand, or if he’d been Daniel Hand or Donald Hand. In each case it would have been near enough to make the receptionist sit up and take notice—to regard it as a coincidence. Every time the law of near enough comes into play, it increases the chance of a (near) match, and makes it more probable that one will see a coincidence.
So the various laws of the improbability principle work in concert to make it quite likely that encounters between two people who have the same name will occur. It’s not surprising at all: Extremely improbable events are commonplace.
That’s all very well, but it’s a bit harder to explain the coincidence of the two Dennis the Menaces.
On March 12, 1951, issue No. 452 of the British comic The Beano appeared on the streets. Inside it was the first appearance of Dennis the Menace.
A few hours later on the same day, but on the other side of the Atlantic, a syndicated comic strip was launched in American newspapers—you may see it even today. The character was called Dennis the Menace.
Fair enough, you may say: a simultaneous (allowing for time differences) launch of the same cartoon character—except that the British Dennis the Menace was drawn by David Law, and the American one by Hank Ketcham, and they’d never heard of each other’s creation before.
The two Dennis the Menaces could hardly be more different. The British one has spikey black hair, an evil grin on his face, wears short trousers, and causes all sort of mayhem. You will get the picture when I tell you his dog (who joined Dennis in 1968) is called Gnasher. The American one has smooth blond hair, wears long trousers, and often embarrasses adults by virtue of his innocent honesty. His dog is called Ruff.
The simultaneous but unconnected appearance of these two characters, with the same name on the same date on opposite sides of the Atlantic, seems to be just one of those extraordinary coincidences. Except … when such coincidences occur, out of the countless billions and billions of things going on around us every moment, we notice them. We abstract them from the boiling noise of random events and say, “Hey, look! What an extraordinary coincidence!” Coincidences are as much a feature of the human mind as of the external world.
All this talk of matching names reminds me of the old joke about the controversy of who actually wrote Shakespeare’s works. It’s been suggested that it wasn’t William Shakespeare at all, but another person with the same name … |
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
In the present study, we further explored the role of NAc in sleep-wake cycle and sleep homeostasis by ablating the NAc core and shell, respectively, and examined arousal response following modafinil administration. We found that discrete NAc core and shell lesions produced 26.5% and 17.4% increase in total wakefulness per day, respectively, with sleep fragmentation and a reduced sleep rebound after a 6-hr sleep deprivation compared to control. Finally, NAc core but not shell lesions eliminated arousal effects of modafinil.
We have previously shown that modafinil promotes wakefulness via dopamine receptor D 1 and D 2 receptors; however, the locus where dopamine acts has not been identified. We proposed that the nucleus accumbens (NAc) that receives the ventral tegmental area dopamine inputs play an important role not only in reward and addiction but also in sleep-wake cycle and in mediating modafinil-induced arousal.
In the present study, we selectively lesioned NAc core and shell in rats, and examined their basal sleep-wake changes and sleep rebound after 6 hrs sleep deprivation (SD) and arousal response following modafinil administration. We found that both NAc core and shell lesions increased wakefulness but core lesions had a bigger arousal effect, and that both lesions reduced sleep rebound after 6-hr SD. NAc core lesions but not NAc shell lesions blocked arousal response to modafinil.
Modafinil is one of most popular stimulants [13] , [14] . Dopamine transporter (DAT) knockout mice show elevated extracellullar dopamine and a blunt arousal response following modafinil but not caffeine administration [15] , indicating that dopamine system mediates arousal effects of modafinil. Our recent study further demonstrated that both dopamine D 1 and D 2 receptors were involved in regulation of modafinil-induced arousal [16] . However, the neuronal circuitry that mediates arousal of dopamine and modafinil has not been identified. We hypothesized that the NAc innervated by the ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopaminergic neurons mediates arousal induced by modafinil.
Our previous lesion studies showed that NAc lesions by ibotenic acid caused a significant increase in the amount of wakefulness by an average of 27% across day-night. The wake increase was accompanied by sleep fragmentation (frequent sleep-wake transition and short sleep bout duration) [11] . These results reveal a novel role of the NAc in sleep-wake regulation. However, because the NAc lesions were mostly confined in the NAc core and in light of a recent study showing that NAc shell adenosine A 2A receptors mediated arousal effects of caffeine [12] , it is crucial to investigate if the NAc shell is also involved in sleep-wake regulation.
The nucleus accumbens (NAc) located in the ventral striatum is a part of the basal ganglia and limbic system. The NAc plays an important role in reward and addiction as well as aggression and fear [1] – [3] . Based on the neural make-up, projections and functions of the NAc [4] – [10] , the NAc is divided into the core and shell.
The data were presented as the mean ± standard error of mean (SEM). The statistical significance of time course data for sleep–wake profiles, sleep amount, stage transition, the number of each stage bouts and mean duration were assessed by two-tailed unpaired t-test or one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s post hoc test. In all cases, P<0.05 was taken as the level of significance.
Animals were deeply anesthetized with 500 mg/kg of chloral hydrate and transcardially perfused with 50 ml saline, followed by 250 ml of neutral phosphate buffered 10% formalin. The brains were removed, cryoprotected in 20% sucrose at 4°C overnight and then sectioned at 30 µm on a freezing microtome in four series. One series of sections were processed for Nissl staining as described previously [11] to evaluate the extent of the lesions.
Modafinil (Sigma-Aldrich) was dissolved in sterile saline containing 10% DMSO and 2% (w/v) cremophor immediately before use and administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) at 9 A.M. on the experimental day at a dose of 90 mg/kg. For baseline date, rats were injected i.p. with vehicle at 9 A.M.
Rats were adapted in recording chambers for 3 days, and monitored for EEG and EMG for 2 consecutive days. The first day served as the baseline day; and on the second day the animals were subjected to a total sleep deprivation for 6 h (from 13∶00 to 19∶00) by lightly tapping via a soft tissue ball [21] .
The recording of EEG and EMG were performed by means of a slip ring, designed so that behavioral movement of the animal would not be restricted. After a 7 d recovery period, the animals were housed individually in transparent barrels and habituated to the recording cable for 3 d before polygraphic recordings. EEG/EMG signals were amplified and filtered (EEG: 0.5–30 Hz, EMG: 20–200 Hz), then digitized at a sampling rate of 128 Hz, and recorded using SLEEPSIGN software [19] . When completed, polygraphic recordings were automatically scored off-line by 10 s epochs as wakefulness, REM, and NREM sleep by SLEEPSIGN according to standard criteria [20] . As a final step, defined sleep-wake stages were examined visually, and corrected, if necessary.
Rats were chronically implanted with EEG and EMG electrodes for polysomnographic recordings. The implant consisted of 2 stainless steel screws (1 mm diameter) inserted through the frontal (AP = +2 mm, ML = +3 mm) and parietal bones (AP = −4 mm, ML = +3 mm), and a stainless steel screw (1.5 mm diameter) inserted on the left frontal bone (AP = +3 mm, ML = −3 mm) as a reference electrode. Two wire electrodes served as EMG electrodes were placed into the neck muscles. All electrodes were attached to a connector and fixed to the skull with dental cement.
Under chloral hydrate anesthesia (10% in saline, 360 mg/kg), a burr hole was made and a fine glass pipette (1 mm glass stock, tapering slowly to a 10–20 micron tip) containing 1% ibotenic acid (Sigma, St Louis, MO, USA) was lowered to the NAc core (AP = +1.2 mm, ML = ±1.8 mm, DV = −7.0 mm) and NAc shell (AP = +1.6 mm, ML = ±0.7 mm, DV = −7.0, −6.6, −6.2 mm), as per the atlas of Paxinos and Watson [17] . Then the toxin (0.4 µl per side) was injected with nitrogen gas pulses of 20–40 psi using an air compression system previously described [18] . Control animals were injected with saline into NAc core or shell. After two additional minutes, the pipette was slowly withdrawn and the animals were then implanted with electrodes for recording electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG).
Pathogen-free adult male Sprague Dawley rats (275–300 g) were obtained from the Laboratory Animal Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China). The animals were housed in individual cages at a constant temperature (22±0.5°C) with a relative humidity (60±2%) on an automatically controlled 12∶12 light/dark cycle (light on at 7 A.M.), and had free access to food and water. The experimental protocols were approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of the University of Fudan, Shanghai medical college (Permit Number: 20110307-049) and the Animal Research Committee of Osaka Bioscience Institute. Every effort was made to minimize the number of animals used and any pain and discomfort experienced by the subjects.
The net wake increase in two hours after modafinil injection vs vehicle injection were 59±4.0 min in control group ( ). The percentage increase of wakefulness after modafinil over vehicle injection was 116.8±12.1% in control group and 12.3±10.9% in NAc core lesioned group ( ).
In order to determine whether the NAc core or shell mediates arousal effects of modafinil, we injected vehicle or modafinil (90 mg/kg) at 9∶00 A.M. in three groups of rats. shows examples of polygraphic recordings and corresponding hypnograms for a rat of each group treated with vehicle or modafinil. To our surprise, vehicle injection in NAc core lesioned animals significantly induced more wakefulness than the control rats (83.7±8.2 versus 51.4±2.5 min in the control group, p<0.05, ). Modafinil induced continuous wakefulness for about 2 hrs in control and NAc shell lesioned rats ( ; ), which was significantly longer than vehicle injection. In the NAc core lesioned rats, modafinil produced about 1.5 hrs continuous wakefulness, and which was not significantly different from its vehicle injection ( ; ). Next, we investigated the sleep latency in rats injected with modafinil. Sleep latency was defined as the time from the injection of modafinil or vehicle to the appearance of the first NREM sleep episode lasting for at least 20 s [22] . As shown in , modafinil significantly prolonged the NREM sleep latency in control group. In core lesioned group, sleep latency of modafinil was significantly decreased. Interestingly, vehicle injection also produced similar sleep latency as the modafinil injection ( ) in core lesioned group. Shell lesion did not affect the effect of modafinil on sleep latency ( ).
To better understand sleep-wake profile following SD, we calculated distribution of NREM sleep bout duration ( ). Control group showed less in the number of bout duration range of 30–60 and 60–120 sec but more in the range of 120–240 and 240–480 sec during the 6-hr sleep recovery period than that of the baseline. NAc shell lesioned group showed similar changes as control group, while core lesion group showed reduced effects.
During the 6 hrs after SD, compared with their own baseline EEG, the bouts of each stage were not changed ( ), while in control rats, the mean duration of wake episodes was decreased 25.3% ±9.1% (p<0.05), meanwhile the mean duration of NREM sleep episode was significantly increased by 51.1% ±13.3% (p<0.01). The NAc shell lesion group showed similar but less changes than the control ones. NAc core lesion group did not show changes in mean duration of wake and NREM sleep episodes ( ).
We further analyzed the EEG power spectra during NREM sleep in 6 hrs after SD among control, core lesion and shell lesion rats, The power of each 0.5 Hz bin was first averaged across the sleep stages individually and then normalized as a group by calculating the percentage of each bin from the total power (0–24.5 Hz) of the individual animal. As shown in , following SD, EEG power density significantly increased in the frequency range of 1–2.5 Hz in control rats, and in the frequency range of 1–2 Hz in shell lesioned rats, whereas core lesioned rats did not show a significant change.
To determine whether the NAc is involved in sleep homeostatic regulation, we performed a six hour SD from 13∶00 to 19∶00 in NAc core, NAc shell lesion group, and control group. The sleep time, EEG power spectra and the changes of characteristics of sleep-wake episodes during NREM sleep in 6 hrs after SD over the baseline of the same period of prior day were used to determine and quantify the sleep rebound. summarized the time-courses of the hourly amounts of NREM sleep, and the cumulative amounts of NREM sleep for two hours after SD. Control rats, following the SD, showed a marked increase in NREM sleep in first two hours ( ). NAc core lesion group showed significant NREM sleep rebound in the first two hours (p<0.05, ), but this NREM sleep increase was significantly lower than the control ( , middle panel). Similarly, the NAc shell lesion group showed a significant sleep rebound, but the increase was significantly less than the control (p<0.05, ). The percentage increase of sleep rebound in the first two hours was 119.9±0.12% (p<0.01) in control group, 53.7±0.37% (P<0.05) in NAc core lesion group, and 79.6±0.14% (p<0.01) in NAc shell lesion group ( ). Of these changes, NAc core lesion group showed the least rebound ( ). REM sleep did not increase during the first hour after SD in control rats.
NAc shell lesion group (n = 9, typical photographs of histology of NAc shell lesions were shown in ) showed a 17.4% increase in wakefulness (820.6±9.2 versus 699.0±10.2 in the control group, p<0.01) ( ), accompanied by a reduction in total NREM sleep. NAc shell lesions caused sleep fragmentation, more NREM sleep bouts with shorter average duration than control ( ). However, REM sleep change in term of duration and bout number did not reach statistical significance.
Consistent with our previous data [11] , we observed that cell-specific lesions confined to NAc core (N = 10,typical examples of coronal sections photographs were shown in ) produced a robust 26.5% (838.9±89.7 versus 663.2±113.1 min in the control group, p<0.01) wake increase accompanied by a reduction in REM and NREM sleep per day ( ), especially during the light period. NAc core lesions also disrupted sleep pattern, resulting more frequent sleep-wake state transition ( . A), or more wake and NREM sleep bouts and shorter duration of NREM sleep ( ). The mean duration of NREM sleep was 28.5% (106.1±8.0 versus 148.5±4.5 sec, p<0.01) shorter than the control ( ). Although the mean wake duration showed a tendency in lengthening, it did not reach statistical significance (p>0.05). We further calculated the distribution of NREM sleep and wake bouts and found that NAc core lesions particularly had more NREM sleep bouts in the ranges of 30–60 and 60–120 s but less in ranges of 240–480 and 480–960 s during the light period than control ( ). The distribution of wake bouts did not show significant changes.
Discussion
In the present study, we demonstrated that lesions of both NAc core and shell produced a significant wake increase, and reduced sleep homeostatic response, with NAc core lesions showing a strong effect. NAc core lesions but not NAc shell lesions blocked arousal response to modafinil.
Our previous observation [11] showed that bilateral striatal lesions resulted in a significant reduction in time spent in wakefulness, as well as fragmentation of both sleep and wakefulness. However, when the striatal lesions include the NAc, their effect on wakefulness is attenuated. Consistent with this observation, lesions restricted to the whole NAc produce an increase in wakefulness and a reduced duration of bouts of NREM sleep. These findings suggest that the dorsal and ventral striatum play opposing roles in sleep–wake regulation: the caudate–putamen (or dorsal striatum) enhances wakefulness whereas the NAc (or ventral striatum) promotes sleep. The present study aimed to elucidate the role of core or shell in sleep-wake regulation. We used a low concentration of ibotenic acid (1.0%, 400 nl per side) to make the core lesion more restricted, whereas the former study used a high concentration (10%, 45 nl per side) of ibotenic acid which made core lesion to partially damage the shell. In general, NAc core and shell lesion rats exhibited a similar phenotype in increased wakefulness, and sleep fragmentation (more sleep-wake transitions, reduced NREM sleep mean duration, and increased episode numbers for wake and sleep). These changes mainly occurred during the light period, indicated that NAc core and shell lesions resulted in the instability of NREM sleep under baseline conditions, especially in their inactive period.
After a 6-hr SD, the control rats showed a significant sleep rebound as indicated by an increase of NREM sleep amount with enhanced delta EEG power and increased mean duration and the number of long bouts during the first 6 hr period post SD, However NAc core lesioned rats did not show the prolongation of NREM sleep and enhancement of sleep intensity and consolidation. NAc shell lesion group showed similar but less prominant changes, compared with the control ones. The reduced sleep rebound after SD in NAc core and shell lesion suggests that NAc is involved in sleep homeostatic regulation.
Unlike psychostimulants such as methamphetamine, modafinil does not have strong psychological dependence and abused tendency [23]–[26]. On the other hand, like pyschostimulants, modafinil’s arousal property depends on the dopamine system [27], [28]. Mice with DAT knockout that have high extraceullar dopamine do not produce a wake response following modafinil administration [15], and dopamine D 2 receptor knockout mice treated with a D 1 receptor antagonist abolish the arousal effects by modafinil [16]. Although orexin and histamine systems are activated by modafinil [29], [30], they may not be essential for the arousal effects of modafinil as orexin and histidine decarboxylase (an enzyme for histamine synthesis) knockout mice have a normal arousal response to modafinil [15], [31], [32]. Core lesion but not shell lesion abolished the arousal effects of madafinil, suggesting that dopamine receptors expressed in the core are essential for the arousal effects of modafinil.
The NAc core mediates arousal effects of modafinil. Interestingly, adenosine A 2A receptors in the NAc shell but not in NAc core play a pivotal role in regulation of caffeine-induced arousal [12]. It has been established that caffeine induces arousal via adenosine system, but not dopamine system [12], [15], [33], [34]. Thus the NAc may be the hub that mediates multiple neurotransmitters including adenosine and dopamine for sleep-wake control [12], [35], [36].
How the NAc regulates sleep is not completely clear. The NAc has GABAergic projections to a wide range of targets, including the ventral pallidum, the lateral hypothalamus, the parabrachial nucleus and the VTA, that may contribute to wakefulness [37]. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that NAc activation exerts inhibitory effects on important arousal systems and promotes sleep. Although both core and shell are important in sleep-wake regulation, the mechanisms on different roles of these two parts in homeostasis regulation and in the arousal effects of modafinil/caffeine remain to be elucidated. |
Republican Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander is on a "rescue mission" to address in a bipartisan manner the problems of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, despite the challenges, wranglings and criticisms he will most undoubtedly receive in the process, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Alexander, a former lawyer and state lawmaker who has been in the Senate since 2003, chairs the Senate Health Committee, and is working with the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, to find answers to a current healthcare program facing serious trouble.
"This won't be easy to do," Alexander told the Times in a podcast "The New Washington," adding, "We are going to do our best to do it."
It was the latest failed vote by the Senate that prompted Alexander to work with Democratic senators to address the most pressing problems facing Obamacare.
In the past, Alexander has voted repeatedly to repeal Obamacare. But now, he's working with Murray to convene hearings in September when the Senate returns. That's no small task in itself, since his committee also includes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who have their own diverse notions of what a healthcare program should look like in the nation.
Should Alexander and Murray succeed at the Senate level, challenges remain as legislation would move on to the House and ultimately to President Donald Trump's desk. The president has staunchly promoted a full repeal of the law and recently suggested he would let the law "implode."
Alexander's vision centers around a plan that would stabilize the program, perhaps by a year, by guaranteeing consumer subsidies to insurance companies and giving states more flexibility to offer a greater number of insurance options to consumers.
"It has to be simple if we are to get bipartisan agreement by mid-September on an issue that has divided the parties so much," Alexander said.
Stabilizing the markets for a year, he added, would provide breathing room to "tackle bigger issues" on health care.
Many lawmakers, who ran for office on a platform of a complete repeal of Obamacare, object to what they see as an attempt to prop up Obamacare and offer a bailout to insurance companies.
Yet Alexander remains "undeterred," the article explained.
"You are not going to think very much of me if I come up here and all I do is argue and never get a result," he said. "The job is to get a result that can last and people respect that when we do."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who voted against the Senate's latest failed "skinny" repeal bill, said he had "great faith" Alexander and other senators could succeed.
Alexander has forged relationships with leaders of each party, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. Conservative critics are already targeting Alexander over his bipartisan approach, the article explained.
"The Senate's inability to produce 51 votes for a piece of legislation that delivers on a seven-year campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare is not license for a bipartisan bailout of a failing law," said Michael Needham, head of conservative advocacy group Heritage Action. "Obamacare is becoming a zombie law, and throwing more taxpayer money at Zombiecare is unacceptable."
Should Alexander be successful, he is hopeful the bipartisan approach on healthcare could translate to other legislation.
"We have got a fractured country," he said. "This is the most important institution for creating a consensus on tough issues like health care, like civil rights, like elementary and secondary education." |
White Gold: Returning
Cold. Not the cold of a life spent alone amongst others. But the cold of a journey among people both foreign and familiar. Pyrrha walked amongst her friends, her team, and her love. But she also walked alone, a solitary figure defying history's own devices. She wore the trappings of a hero, masterful armor passed down to her from time immemorial to mark her coming. Pyrrha was no longer who she thought she was, no longer the gifted student who held girlish fantasies of grandeur. She was a legend in her own right, brought back for a purpose that was only vaguely known. As surrounded by love as she was, alone was still the foremost feeling to Pyrrha Nikos.
"Still no Grimm in the area. Why do you suppose that one attacked yesterday?" a young girl draped in red piped up to her right. Ruby Rose, a tight ball of energy held back by the limits of her station, walked with her and was the first to truly accept her return. Pyrrha's chest tightened, it wasn't that long ago that she was alone watching her whole world walking by her. "It isn't like we are the scariest group of people walking in the snow covered forest. Just the only ones."
"Sometimes it's better not to question what's been given to you and simply accept gifts you didn't ask for," Ren, capable and calculating as always. He never seems fazed by the trials of life, though there was a deeper side that Pyrrha hadn't discovered yet. "Let's just keep moving forward, we're bound to find another village along this road."
"We don't all have that flair to accept any hammer thrown at us with a smile."Ruby remarked, turning her head toward Ren to give him an exasperated look.
"I only throw them out of concern. And besides, when have you seen him smile?" Nora wryly questioned. She was the emotional volcano to Ren's placid sea, a proper fit only in a mad man's dreams.
"I don't think I'd want to make you concerned then Nora," Ruby intoned, veering away from the energetic woman slightly.
Pyrrha's last colleague was still quiet, perhaps with good reason. Directly to her left walked Jaune, the man she had come to place her entire trust in, everything that was to be her foundation in this new journey in life. He was sturdier than she remembered before the incident, perhaps owing to him preparing for this journey for a month. He was much the same as the day she left, still trying his best to be a good leader to his team. But there was a difference now, an innocence lost that could never be replaced. Pyrrha walked uneasily next to him, replaying the morning in her head and trying to make sense of it all.
A cloud, perhaps a haze lay in front of Pyrrha's gaze. She hadn't felt so much clairvoyance in purpose as now yet she still couldn't see the path in front of her. The taste on her lips had not yet vanished, as dry as her mouth had become for the coming task. She walked up the steps toward the tower, firm and steady in her heart and in her purpose. Inside the lobby was dark, the elevator too damaged to be of any use. Pyrrha stretched her mind, feeling the unseen tendrils of her semblance probe the metal box. A one way trip with destiny by my side, she thought walking into the elevator. Focusing her mind, she propelled the contraption with a mighty thrust, sailing toward her fate with an iron heart. You'll live to see the sunrise this day, that's all I can do for you all.
Jaune had lain awake for a few minutes, staring at the woman just a few feet away from him tossing in her sleep. Pyrrha, is this what you've been going through since you've been back, he thought with a heavy heart. There wasn't a day that he hadn't woken up in a sweat, and even now he didn't sleep as well as before that fateful day despite having one of his life's shattered pieces back. They lay in a tent to themselves, Pyrrha using an extra bed roll he had brought on a feeling. She was still as wondrous as the day he met her, still someone who took her own stories and put them to shame with her actions. His heart was still burdened with how he hadn't stayed, hadn't forced his way to be by her side in that final moment.
Pyrrha began tossing violently for a few moments before springing upright and wildly looking around the tent. Jaune had no time to react before she locked eyes with him, hers dilated and intense enough to bore holes through his head. Pyrrha rolled out of the bed toward him, snatching her blade up and flinging the blanket the opposite way. Jaune had just gotten upright when he found the deadly edge of her blade to his neck, feeling a light pressure under his chin. His mind raced, trying to piece the evidence together, trying to ignore the obvious that this was an elaborate trap to kill him and his friends.
"Who are you!" Pyrrha said with steel in her voice, "Why are you here next to me!" She began to look frantically at her surroundings again. "I shouldn't be here, not with you, not now."
Jaune slowed his breathing, watching the woman he'd come to love panic at the mere thought of being here in this place, perhaps even at being alive. I don't know what to do, what to say, even if I should do anything at all. His mind raced with options, whether he could accomplish any of them being far from his thoughts. Pyrrha began shaking her head, as if trying to ward off the dread that had overcome her. She stopped, and began focusing more intently on Jaune, scrutinizing every detail of his face. Her eyes had grown cold, like the hunter stalking an especially hated prey.
"This isn't the Jaune that I knew, he wouldn't be this hard, he was always a kind and gentle person," Pyrrha began tensing as she spoke, "you are nothing like that, an imposter to confuse me and further any schemes you may have." She began tipping the blade toward the point, preparing to stab the prey that she so loathed. "I have to protect everyone, it's all I can do."
Jaune had reached a point of clarity, understanding a little of Pyrrha's burden. The last few months had been such a tumultuous time for him he hadn't stopped to think what she had wanted, why she pushed him away at the last minute. His life had meant more to her than anything. Slowly he reached up, placing his hand on her cheek to calm her broken mind. The moment he did clarity returned to Pyrrha's eyes as she glanced down to the blade prepared to end his life. She dropped the weapon, horrified at her own actions. She tried to pull away, but Jaune kept his hand to her cheek and slowly she collapsed into his arms, spent from the maelstrom of emotions.
"I-I'm so sorry, I had no idea this... this isn't how it-," Pyrrha began murmuring.
"It's ok, nothing heals overnight. Just take your time, I'm still here, all of us are," Jaune felt the tension leave her as he spoke.
"It's just that I've been traveling alone for so long, I thought... I thought that the mornings were just a flash, just a brief disorientation. Not... this."
That had been his morning, and now he walked beside the woman who held a blade that had kissed his throat. She hadn't spoken to anyone since, and he'd made no motion to bring up the incident with anyone else. It didn't feel like something that should be shared at the moment. Looking over to the others Jaune could tell their spirits were sailing higher than just the other day. Ruby was suspiciously walking just outside of Nora's reach, while Ren had a half grin he was failing to hide. The sound of snow crunching beneath their feet was a constant companion to the quintets ponderous travels. Nora was slowly pulling her hammer free of its carrier, extending and letting it drag on the snow covered road beside her. As she walked, a small mound of snow was forming in front of the hammer that Nora was molding into a ball shape.
"Y'know Ruby, sometimes you just need to chill," Nora warned as she wound up for a full swing at the snowball she'd formed. Ruby had turned around just in time to witness the hammer connect and send a frozen bullet straight for her. Under a cover of rose petals Ruby jumped to the side and unhooked her scythe, using it to sweep the ground of snow around her into Nora's face. With her enemy blinded, she sped around her to scoop up a handful of snow and deposit it in the hood of Nora's rough cloak. Running over to be beside Pyrrha, Ruby waited as Nora shook the snow loose from her hair and face before beginning to feel the cold settle in. She reached for her hood to warm up and was greeted with an icy gift.
"I'd rather stay warm if it's all the same to you Nora," the ball of whimsy proudly replied. Jaune turned to see Ren beaming in pride at the exchange, taking in the sight of a defeated and cold Nora. As Ren turned back to revel in his joy Nora tipped her hammer and swung the shaft up to his neck, halting his progress with a grin.
"Something funny Ren?" she said with a devil's smile, "or maybe you're just happy you're off the hook?" Jaune turned back to Pyrrha as Nora began eying up her next victim, finding the woman still in her own thoughts. He could guess what she was worrying over, and found his thoughts drifting toward the darker outcomes that could have been. No, it wasn't going to happen that way, no matter what. He reached over and grasped her hand, trying to take some of the pain away with his touch. Her green eyes came up to meet his, speaking words of anguish and pain that her mouth would never form.
"Don't worry, we're all still here. I said it would take time, but that doesn't mean it's going to be time alone," his voice had the timbre of someone he didn't recognize. A survivor's, but also a fighter's, Jaune felt that it was appropriate. Pyrrha's expression softened, letting out some of the ails of her long journey. She leaned into him, letting him carry some of the weight for a time. He welcomed it, a piece of himself finally letting go and returning to form a new whole within his being.
Qrow strode the forest, keeping his eyes steadily scanning the farthest reaches for threats to the group he followed. There hadn't been a sighting since yesterday, an omen he hadn't the foggiest idea to its meaning. The man traveled in the same manner he had always traveled, light and intent on his goal. His sole extra baggage being a memento of a friend long since gone. A fate he wished was false, a fate he searched for the final answer to. His gaze drifted out once more, touring the trees and shadows for anything that could be a danger. Nothing, not even a rogue fox wandering in the cold, he thought before turning his gaze back to Ruby and her friends.
Ren and Nora were walking like two strange wolves forced to travel to the same destination. No, not quite that far, as an undercurrent of friendliness marked the two out as playfully ignoring each other. Ruby walked at the far end of the group, peering over at Nora in the same way she had peeped at Yang when she'd left a "present" for her in her shoes. Never did like to stay out of trouble that one, not like I can say any different. Nora shot a look that would shatter wood into splinters with its intensity, and Ruby retreated to her own jaunt, playing innocent at all costs.
In the center of the group was the most disturbing revelation that Ozpin had ever made to Qrow; even now he couldn't quite take the sight in completely. Pyrrha Nikos, the candidate to receive the remainder of a Maiden's power, the woman who had given her life to try and stop a demon in female form. And here she walked with his niece, with a team reborn from the ashes of disaster. Ozpin had told him that even if they failed she had every hallmark to be the reborn champion from the legends. But, of course, she had to die first.
By her side was a young man, a charlatan who had snuck his way into a prestigious academy and blended in with the elite. Jaune Arc had no notable skill in combat, no recorded use of a Semblance, he wasn't going to last without swiftly shaping up. And so he rose to the occasion, leading his team to success and glory. You saw something there Ozpin, said he'd be great and would be needed in the coming days. That's why you let him stay, let him grow, Qrow hashed out the thought and decided to trust his friend of so long. Taking a long pull from the flask he kept on him, feeling the warmth surge through his throat and down the limbs of his body, he went back to the task of keeping them safe.
Walking with people had been a pleasure she'd been denied for so long that when she had it back, it felt uncomfortable to enjoy again. Pyrrha hadn't thought about the small joy she took for granted before losing and regaining it. What else would she discover that had been important to her daily life, that hadn't been foremost in her mind until it was too late? She walked hand in hand with Jaune, still feeling shamed over her actions this morning, but also knowing that she was just returning to her old life, and her wounds needed time to heal. Pyrrha squeezed Jaune's hand, eliciting a slight cry from the man. He's still just the boy I'd loved before, even if he tries to hide it behind a tough exterior, she mused as he tried to hide his pain behind a goofy smile.
They'd walked for hours, passing much of nothing on the way toward the next town, and eventually Haven. She didn't quite know what to expect when she eventually had to rejoin a normal group of people, people who would question her and demand of her. For now, only the ache in her feet and the chill of the air on her face mattered. The trees off to the right began thinning as they walked, eventually giving way to a large placid pool of water. It looked like a pristine place to rest and regroup for, what she hoped was, the last leg of the trek.
"We've been walking for quite a while, why not take a break over by that pond?" Pyrrha asked. She was surprised when everyone else turned to her with slight wonder and amusement in their eyes. After a second she realized it was the first thing she'd said all day and let out a small smile, trying to hide the discomfort.
"Might be a good idea, let's get unpacked," Ruby agreed.
"I'll take a look around, make sure we've got no unwelcome guests," Jaune added, handing his bag to Pyrrha before taking off toward the opposite treeline. Pyrrha walked with the others, taking in the calm atmosphere around the pool. Taking her time, she wandered the shoreline toward a group of fallen trees and stumps. So much has happened and I've finally found a way through life with someone, she found her mind wandering. A lightness enveloped her chest while she walked toward the trees and her friends. Taking a wide stump for her own, she dropped off Jaune's bags and her own light travel gear.
"So here we are again," Nora breathed, letting the miles fall from her shoulders, "another day on the road, how are you taking it Pyrrha?"
"Honestly, I'd just like to wash some of the grime off from the road. I didn't take the same path as you, didn't stop at any villages," Pyrrha admitted. She hadn't really given much thought about the haste she had used to make her way back to her team.
"As good a reason as any to stop over here. It really is beautiful out here, not something everyone is privileged to see."
"Of course. I think I'm going to go wash up then." Pyrrha left them to shake off their fatigue and prepare some of the food remaining in storage. Taking a look over the water to the other shore she spotted the trotting figure of Jaune searching the tree line. The lightness in her chest returned and she couldn't help but notice her hands coming back together in front of her. So this is why everyone always said I should have just told him. Turning back to the pool itself, Pyrrha walked up to the waterline and peered in. The face staring back wasn't hers, at least not the face she'd gone to the academy with, not the one she'd eventually met her fate with.
So this is what people will see now, what they have to believe in? She bent down to examine herself further and see if the old her was still in there somewhere. The hole in her chest hadn't closed and was still tender to the touch. A reminder of what was. But then the armor she wore gleamed in the afternoon sun with an air of rightness, a beacon for weary eyes to rest and regain their dignity. A symbol of what will be. And yet, her face fit the new life she'd been gifted with. The harsh reality of a coming war that had been lain at her feet. Pyrrha felt a tremble, she felt fear at the daunting task that whispered in the back of her mind and was only hinted at by Glynda. Still, she washed her face and took another look. Fear was nothing to be ashamed of, it was only human to worry a little about the future. The face staring back was just somewhat different, closer to her own if only a little.
Stepping away from the pool, Pyrrha sat and collected her thoughts, reminding herself that she was still human and still able to feel everything her friends felt. She gazed out over the reflecting pool, taking in the tranquil scene that made a mockery of this cruel world. Almost like it spit in the face of a vicious beast ready to make its kill. Pyrrha turned her thoughts toward her self and for the first time began to truly examine the gifts she wielded and wore. White with a tint of yellow. Once, before the people around her had begun taking an immense interest in her, in the early days of her childhood she saw the weapons of a huntress. Bronze, beaten and polished to a sheen, it looked like gold to the young girl's eyes.
An imperfect gold, just as she wore an imperfect white to a war that could only lead to a darker time. Pyrrha turned her gaze to her weapons. They were so like Milo and Akouo that she couldn't believe she hadn't copied the design from them. Just like that time so long ago her old weapons were gone and she had been gifted a new extension to herself.
"So much has been determined for me, given to me, expected of me. My life feels like someone else's tool, a plaything in some grand game being played just out of sight," Pyrrha began murmuring to herself. She hadn't taken the time to question her actions, just followed the piercing commands that had shouted inside her skull. "But these? They were given no significance, no grand explanation of symbol to endure. Just a weapon to kill, and a shield to protect." She turned the blade around, scouring it for any identity and only found the same intricacy matching the shield and her armor. "I may not be my own person now, but you are mine. And you will not be faceless."
Pyrrha sat in thought for a time, pondering a name for a weapon she had only used to fight a dying Grimm and a grieving man. The word formed in the back of her mind, and she shuddered at the feel of it. As if it pulled at the very existence she was clinging to with every fiber in her being. "Thnitos," she uttered, touching the hole in her chest and turning away from the violent instrument to her shield. It was solid, and wore with a heft that felt like the weight of a titanic beast on her arm, on her shoulders. It protected and allowed her the life she needed to accomplish such eclectic goals. "Athanatos," she proclaimed, allowing the name to reverberate around her with a pressure unlike the airy Aura she and all humans were accustomed to. Pyrrha sighed in relief, feeling more grounded and assured that everything would turn out for the better.
"So that's when we ended up on a speeding train, running straight into Vale at full bore. Not what I'd call a pleasant trip," Ruby recounted, leaning away and stretching out. It was good to be able to finally talk about more trouble free times. Despite the attack that had happened after the ride. Looking back over to Pyrrha she felt the same swell of emotion as that day on the tower, bubbling just at the edge of control. Why did it have to happen like this, with so much pain and loss? "And... I'll finish that up in a minute, I need to take care of something," Ruby stated, shuffling away uneasily.
"It's ok, take all the time you need," Ren offered.
Nodding, Ruby turned to confront the disquiet in her heart. She watched the woman while marching toward her, noting the way she looked over her weapons. Almost like she was searching for something to grab hold of. Ruby walked quietly toward her, replaying yesterday over in her head, trying to forgive herself for the callousness she had been forced to wear. I don't want to become someone I wouldn't recognize, even for everyone else, she grimly thought. Stopping just within earshot, Ruby prepared to announce herself and face her own inner demons.
"Thnitos," a word that Ruby shied away from exited Pyrrha's mouth. It felt familiar, like the touch of cold steel to bare skin. Unwanted, but used. "Athanatos," Pyrrha stated, louder than before and pulling Ruby more upright, filling her with a warmth akin to her closest companions. She stood there as Pyrrha sat back and gazed across the pool, staring into the expanse of the forest before them. How could she always stay so strong when the rest of it was crumbling? Ruby found an envy of somebody that she only passingly knew and wished was more a part of her.
"Hey, mind if I join you?" Ruby asked as she stepped up. The white clad woman looked at her with a soft expression, letting warmth flow from her face as she nodded her answer. Ruby took up a seat on a nearby rock, settling with a thump. "I... wanted to talk about what's been happening. All of this madness, everything that's gone wrong."
"I'm not sure what I can tell you that you don't already know, but I'll try," Pyrrha had a downcast look as she spoke.
"Jaune spoke of... a pod. And a woman inside another one connected to it?"
"Yes, I'd been there before and it wasn't supposed to be something anyone knew about."
"Why were you there in the first place?" Ruby felt a flush on her face as she spoke.
"It was supposed to be Ozpin's ace, his trump against whatever Cinder was planning. But I... I didn't know what to do, if I would still be me afterward," the woman was holding herself and fighting back tears, "I couldn't do what was needed."
Ruby sat and let Pyrrha regain her composure, rolling over the events in her mind. She'd been in the thick of the fighting and only broke off for her, so why did it feel so futile? "So why did we fight at all? Why didn't he tell us this was coming?" Ruby felt her emotions boiling over, "Why did my sister have to lose an arm and a friend?" She was staring into Pyrrha's eyes, searching for answers to the questions she found she hadn't come to peace with. "Why did you have to die?"
The white warrior looked past and through Ruby. She had the look of pain coursing along her face and resonating in her eyes. Ruby got up from her seat, walking to the water's edge, trying not to let the force ruminating inside her escape her grasp. Looking out onto the pool, she could see her own frightened visage gazing back at her. Then, for a brief second she could see the friends, her team, behind her smiling like before.
"Why did I die?" Pyrrha said with new found authority, "for the same reason you came on this journey. I gave my life willingly to slow a monster. I'd wager, given the need, you would do the same." Pyrrha stepped up beside her, adding her reflection to Ruby's own. "We chose this calling, to protect everyone. The same calling that drove you up the tower to my side." Ruby could make out the people in the pool once more, this time broken and beaten while she stood like a bastion before them. A life she would gladly give for them, she thought to herself.
Pyrrha turned to walk back to the circle where the smells of food, wafting from a travel pan, began stirring more base desires. "Pyrrha," Ruby mustered. Turning to look the champion in her eyes, taking in everything that she would one day embody, only a simple thing remained.
"Thank you. For coming back."
A rumbling sound, the momentum of an unseen call pulling the beasts toward one point, one purpose. Grimm for a time, not fighting, not searching, simply traveling. It was an elder seeking a new berth to produce, making its way by the call pulsating in the distance. Unheard, still felt. Over by it was a herd of younglings, swiping outward every so often to the tune of baited calls. Miserable, the little things would most likely die, and still the elder would follow the call. Across cold and wet, moving without fatigue or end. It wasn't far now.
The road wandered on in front of Ruby, she felt the bulk of this journey standing on her back and weighing her down with the very nature of times persistence. But the journey wasn't hers alone, and she took solace in the people she had come to trust, to treasure. She marched beside Pyrrha, the two listening to the inane conversation Nora was holding between herself and the two men. A light breeze whistled through the woods to take what little heat was available. Ruby shifted her gaze over to the rest of the team and tentatively felt at the pressure emanating within her. They are my charge, and I'll die before anyone of them falls, she vowed. Ruby turned her gaze back toward the road, but caught a light smile out of the corner of her eye from Pyrrha. A small weight lifted from her, knowing that Pyrrha had truly returned.
After a time the breeze stopped bringing fresh scents, instead transferring only the stale air that had been so common around Emerald Forest back during Ruby's initiation. An uneasy quiet fell among her friends, even the normally casual walk Nora had became measured and controlled. It wasn't right, there should have been some stray Grimm around. The knot in Ruby's stomach hadn't loosened since they'd last been on the road. Nothing was at the farthest expanses of the woods, yet she still felt that knot working its way through her.
"Hey, hold up," Ruby called, stopping to take a more commanding position. The group slowed and turned to her with knowing eyes, feeling the same dread that had persisted since yesterday's attack. "Let's take a minute and look around. I don't think it's a coincidence we haven't seen anything for so long now."
Pyrrha stepped up with Ruby, letting her presence be felt in the cold air. "I agree, while I was traveling to catch up to you I ran into nothing along the way, save for some animals." The statuesque woman motioned toward the wider area, "we need to make sure there isn't a greater horde of them waiting for us to stumble on." Letting her words steel the group, she focused on Jaune. "Are you sure there was nothing out there when you searched by the pool?"
"Positive, no tracks, not a single Grimm even at the very reaches of the forest."
"Alright, then we need to stay on guard," Ruby let the air settle before turning to Jaune. "Your judgment will do better here than mine, how should we go about this?"
"We're gonna need to fan out, the road being our center point." Jaune motioned for a wide V, shifting his focus to Nora. "We'll need someone who can hold their own in the center, think you can do it Nora?" The vivid Huntress nodded her agreement, letting a grin creep across her face. "Good, you'll also be in charge of signaling the opposite side if someone runs into something." Jaune brought his gaze over to Ruby and Pyrrha. "You two will be on the ends, move back toward the center if anything turns up."
"We'll go like this for half an hour, move fast and steady. If it's safe, well, let's just thank the lucky stars that got us this far." Jaune unhooked his shield and sword and, looking straight at Pyrrha, motioned his team forward. "Stay safe everyone," Jaune commanded. Ruby watched as the object of his words sprinted off in the opposite direction. Pulling herself inward, Ruby tapped into the well that was her Semblance and pushed outward. The feel of wind on her face soothed her as she sped forward toward her position. Jaune was running with the same purpose to her right, keeping a surprising pace from what she remembered of his abilities. He'd come so far since the tournament and she felt a sadness for the loss of the goofy boy he was. That time was long gone.
Fifteen minutes of loping through the forest, keeping a weather eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Pyrrha let her mind run blank, feeling the simpleness of purpose guide her as she moved through the forest. He wears leadership well, a vagrant thought skittered off the calm. But it was true, he had come to this conclusion without any second guessing. The forest still smelled of a staleness reminiscent of the empty halls she'd wandered. That time's grim reverie to the land rang out in her mind like a wail in the dead of night.
When did she wander empty halls? Was her head playing tricks on her again? Pyrrha kept her pace even and her eyes peeled for the obstacles that could creep up and grab her. When was I in an empty hall in an empty nation? The thought of an empty kingdom chilled her to the core, letting out the basest fears she held. A world like that was what she wanted to fight back against, what Ruby wanted to fight against, Jaune as well. Something that Cinder had worked her entire life to bringing about. And yet, Pyrrha didn't blame the woman, something that escaped reason itself. But in her final moments she thought she saw the hint of doubt, a will to rebel against the fate she had been dealt.
A whiff of dampness brought her out of her head. To her right three black shapes were running with her, tracking by the look of it. This was what Pyrrha was looking for, secretly hoping to let out some of the pent up anger since her awakening. Taking a quick look to her left, marking that the way to Ren wasn't yet blocked with anything, she pivoted her arc toward the shapes. Making a straight line toward what she could now tell were Beowolves, she unhooked and readied her shield. A hundred paces away, she skid to a halt on one knee and brought up her blade shifted to a rifle. Thnitos spat death at the beasts as they scrambled to adjust course.
A round fell to the flank of the smallest creature, yet it shrugged off the strike and charged with its comrades to the waiting woman. Pyrrha let fly with a handful more rounds, before taking a stand against the charge. Catching the claw of the first Beowolf she swung up the side and sprang off its back. Back to a blade she slashed at the two underneath her while she flew through the air. The blows glanced from armored hides, not quite precise enough to sink deep and sure. Twisting in the air, Pyrrha planted her feet into the landing and launched herself at the trailing monster. Instinctive muscles grasped for the piece of her that was sealed away, her Semblance still outside the fingers of her mind. No matter, this isn't anything I can't handle. She launched into a series of strikes, swinging in close arcs to remain inside the beast's reach.
On she went, lavishing more intricacy into the attack, sneaking a thrust into the movements that had defined her for so long. And still, it was imprecise and less effective than normal. Finishing with a stab under the jaw, she retracted to watch the creature slump downward and moved her focus to the other two. They shuffled around, keeping an eye on her but clearly distressed at something. Pyrrha dourly walked forward, shield raised to deflect any would be opponent. The Beowolves snarled and slunk back before turning tail and breaking away from her. Pyrrha lowered her guard, letting it sink in that she'd been able to at least cope without her Semblance.
A flicker of white at the edge of her vision caused her to turn, briefly seeing the dissipating Grimm corpse. Then the feel of claws and fur struck her shoulder, and she found herself flung to the ground. Gasping, Pyrrha looked up to stare into the maw of a massive Ursa intently moving to continue the onslaught. It's figure was covered in chitinous growth, and the scars of survival were rampant along the thing's body. Hefting Athanatos, she gathered herself up to defend herself. The monstrosity before her stepped up and hefted a massive paw with murderous intent. Pyrrha slid close in and , pulling back with her now shifted spear, plunged the tip into the minimal gap between hairy armored plates.
The spear bounced off the rightmost plate, gouging the elder monstrosity along countless other grooves. Her shield still up, Pyrrha narrowly caught its claw with the balance of the shield-face. Retreating with a parting stab, she circled the Ursa trying to pinpoint an angle of attack. Wait, this isn't what we agreed. I was just supposed to find them, not try and fight the whole world. With a wrathful snarl resonating throughout her body the beast leaped forward, sensing her doubt. Pyrrha spun out of the way, leaving her parting gift of another two scars along its carapace. Turning toward the point she'd marked earlier she took off running toward Ren's path.
The sound of crunching snow was all the warning she received. Monstrous claws filled her vision moments before instinct kicked in and she caught the blow along Thnitos' shaft, flinging Pyrrha and the weapon away. Red filled her vision followed by shining stars as the impact to her head made its presence felt. Her eyes clearing partially, she could see the Ursa striding over to her with a self-confident gait. Can't run, need to get to Ren, this thing is too tough to finesse, she ran through the list as she stumbled to her feet. Pyrrha could see that the monstrosity was closing for a kill, and gripped the haft of Thnitos. It wasn't there.
Too late had she realized her hubris, thinking that she could fight the world alone with nothing more than her skill. A quick glance revealed her spear laying a short distance away, between her and the shambling obstacle. The pull of sleep eternal tugged at Pyrrha, demanding to be noticed and acknowledged. She tensed, ready to spring forward and make a break for her weapon to put up the last of her resistance.
Shots rang out. Ricochets sprayed off the hide of her opponent, throwing the cocksure beast off balance and shifting its attention away from her. Pyrrha leaped to her side, scrambling toward the tool that kept her life her own. Grabbing the spear, she spun around to confront her foe, to finish this game she'd begun. Ren was there, ducking, weaving in between the enemy's claws, taking any small strike he could. Pyrrha sprinted to the opposite side, drawing the monster's gaze off of Ren. Her partner laid into the Ursa's flank, carving away at the plates that had deflected Pyrrhas best efforts.
On they fought, dividing the monster's attention and chipping away at its considerable defense. Ren rolled underneath a deadly swipe coming up beside Pyrrha. He jammed both blades of Stormflower into a tiny crevice on the creature's hide. Pyrrha saw the opportunity they needed, and reeling back, thrust with every ounce of strength left into the gap he'd created. The spearhead disappeared into black fur, then the haft driving further in until it stopped with a clank. The Ursa straightened and let out a final snarl before toppling over trying to turn on them. Pyrrha wrenched Thnitos free, letting the fatigue settle into her body from the fight.
"Are you ok?" Ren asked with critical eyes.
"Yeah... sorry. For not trying to follow the plan."
The man simply took her arm, draping it across his shoulder and bearing the bulk of her weight as they began moving toward the center of the line. Pyrrha let herself be pulled along, finding her solace in the rhythm of travel. A blast in the air took her out of her own mind, as she looked up to where it had originated. A pink cloud hung in the air a fair distance away from where she and Ren were. Looking back toward Ren, they shared the weight that came with their shared profession. Pyrrha shrugged off Ren's help, opting to ignore her body's protests and push ahead. Taking the lead, she began to trot after the site of the smokey cloud. Behind them a mist of white flecks floated gently up to the sky, seemingly at peace.
Jaune kept his eyes set forward as he traveled over rough terrain, keeping up a heady pace to try and get back to Nora. She's fine, she said she'd be. Nora's signal could mean one of two things, either she's in trouble or someone found something. They'd been searching for nearly the entire thirty minutes, and nothing. Ruby hadn't come over to his path and he'd been about ready to pack it in when the grenade burst forced his attention back to his team. He glanced behind him, searching for the sprightly young girl who'd be able to relay anything he could think of.
Searching in vain, Jaune turned back to his thoughts. At the very least we know where the end of this trek is. A village, big one by the look of the wall. He wasn't sure whether it was ill timing or providence that he'd spotted the wall moments before the signal had sounded. His grip tightened on the hilt of his sword, preparing for the inevitability of conflict. Closing in on the road, Jaune let his mind empty and burst from the treeline. Frantically running his eyes up and down the road, he set his sight on the scene he'd honestly expected.
Standing with a grin plastered from ear to ear, Nora was surrounded by craters dotted in a semi circle pattern. Her hammer held aloft on her shoulder, Jaune managed to catch her eyes sparkling with a joy more common with children than Huntresses. Sheathing his weapon, he took a more relaxed look around. Ruby was off to the side of the road, several hundred yards ahead of his own position. Ren and Pyrrha both had exited near Nora and were taking their time to inspect the newly minted road modifications.
"Jaune! You should have seen it, these two Beowolves came flying out of the woods. Well, they came out right in front of me and just froze when they saw me." Her expression began to worry him as she got back into the frenzy of explaining the encounter. "So I decided it was a good time to play a game, whack-a-grimm. The first was a bit of a pushover, but the second decided to put up quite a fight, darting every which way." She was getting extremely worked up by this point, coming close to reenacting the tirade in earnest.
Jaune couldn't help but smile, being drawn in with the enthusiasm his companion had for "squishing" her unwitting prey. Ruby had finally walked the distance back, wearing the same look of concern that told Jaune she'd seen the wall in the distance. Looking over to his two other comrades, his good mood faded as it became clear that they had found something more than a couple of Beowolves. Steeling himself for the worst, he made his way over to the two haggard warriors. At least sanctuary wasn't far away.
"So, what happened?" Jaune started in. Pyrrha had a look of pain strewn across her face that told much of the story. Nora huffed in annoyance at the interruption of her tale, not wanting to go back to the drudgery of reality.
Ren broke in before he could press further. "We found a stray Ursa, not a young one either. It had to have lived through a large number of fights before we came across it." The man didn't have the same calm, casual way of speaking he normally did. "It must have caught Pyrrha off guard as I arrived with her fighting it to a standstill."
Putting aside the issue of what it was doing there, Jaune mulled over the implications of an older Grimm wandering around alone. "You said it came from out to the far right of the road, then there must be some larger group around close by."
"We need to get to the next village then. I saw the wall out in the distance, we should be able to get there before an hour or two," Ruby chimed in, and Jaune nodded in confirmation. "Alright, I'll take the lead, let's get going before any more strays show up."
Ruby Rose had chosen this life, chosen to become something more and something less. She hadn't really thought about the consequences of her choices until lately, letting the decisions of her elders push her along. As she ranged ahead of her team, her mind jumped from one event to the next tying herself to the fabric of history. The wall loomed ahead of her, not far to run now. Ruby scanned the forest to her right, looking past the treeline into the distance. An inky black line marred the picturesque view, marking out the path of an enemy she'd known her whole life.
On she went, leading her team, keeping them safe from the evils in her own way. Before long she was standing at the edge of the clearing and the run up to the village gate. The tops of buildings, tiled and well built, peeked over the wall like a child making sure his closet is safe at night. On a prominent hill just a little ways to the left of the gate stood a tower with two bowl like protrusions pointing in nearly opposite directions. The wall itself was in fine shape, weathered by the test of time but not deteriorated like something abandoned and left to rot.
Ruby heard the footsteps behind her slow up and casually walk up to her back. Turning, she looked at the weary but ready eyes of her team. So much to take in, and now it looks like this'll be a short stop with that black plague in the distance, she grimly accepted. No matter, it was what she'd chosen, and the consequence was hers to own and triumph over. "Let's go, not much further before we can rest."
Walking out of the treeline, Ruby could feel her chest tighten as she took in the imposing sight of the wall. This village was important, too much had been settled here out in the open for it to be anything else. Approaching the fortification, small figures began moving up above with alarming alacrity.
"What's your business here?" a voice called down from above.
"We're Huntsmen, making our way to Haven," Ruby called back, "We need to rest and replenish our supplies."
"Hold on for a moment," one of the figures on the wall shuffled out of sight. A moment passed, then another. Yelling broke out, the kind that felt like an argument but had the air of someone simply trying to make someone understand. A new figure appeared, waving at the others. "Open the gate!" came the call. Creaking filled the air as weary gears sprang into action, leveraging the slabs of metal banded wood inward.
Inside stood a very world weary woman, leaning on a rifle the height of a man plus some. She wore a white half coat, or rather a coat with her right arm entirely exposed up to the clavicle. To her left side the coat ended in a collar high enough to cover her mouth and nose should she look in that direction. Walking up to Ruby in jackboots to the thigh, the woman gave her a stern once over, taking in the tired frame she'd been pushing to arrive here. Giving a similar time to each of her comrades, the woman pirouetted around and walked a short distance into the threshold.
"Well, better get in here then, don't want this door open all day long now." The sharp remark had Ruby walking lightly into the village as helmeted men scrambled around greasing the gears of the great door. Guess that comment wasn't just for us, Ruby gratefully realized. With the gate closing up behind them, the woman spun around again to level her gaze at Ruby's entire team. "Alright, seeing as you all are traveling together, must be a full team moving out. Who speaks for you lot, who's leading?"
"I-I am, ma'am," Ruby heard herself say, trying not be intimidated by the woman's brash tone, "I'm Ruby, and this is Pyrrha, Jaune, Ren, and Nora." Her team made their pleasantries with the same nervous uncertainty. Save for Nora, who seemed to be eying up the mystery woman as competition in the future.
"Well my name's Marly. Marly Gideon, though most everybody just calls me Gideon. So I'm guessing you've got orders to move out to Mistral and figure some of this mess out? Probably come from Beacon itself if you're on foot." The woman called Gideon gave Ruby a grin revealing the top of a scar marring the left side of her mouth downward to her chin.
"Well, we're not really, uh, our mission is..." she didn't quite know how to say they were on their own if Gideon's first expectation is an order. The gnarled woman's grin seemed to stretch into a scowl. "We're... we..."
"We're going to Mistral to link up and receive our orders there," Pyrrha burst in. Ruby looked over and gave her her best serious face, trying to impart as much authority and thanks as she could.
"Right, we're taking a boat over since airships are out of the question with all the Grimm around Beacon."
Gideon eyed her again, before taking the edge off her gaze and welcoming fellow warriors. "Well, you didn't have to be all nervous about that. Must be fairly new to running around out here if I'm making you nervous." Taking a step to the side, she swept her arm over the street in front of her. "Welcome to Passage, the most important rat hole you've ever lain your eyes on. Save for Atlas itself of course." Gideon turned toward a fairly large building and started to walk, striding with the self-importance only a veteran of many experiences could hold.
"We're heading toward the inn right now, you'll do best to remember its spot because I've got things to do. Not gonna stop mind, just making sure you know the place a bit." Her clip was fast enough that Ruby had to keep her head straight and focused to keep up. "It's good you showed up, I can get some new info from HQ... Beacon that is. Our connection with the port and Vale city are just fine, but aside from our local data, nothing is going through on the CTS."
Ruby's heart felt gripped by a fist of ice, realizing so much hadn't been told to everyone. "Gideon, there's... there's been an attack. The relay tower is down. Destroyed." Her eyes watered at the thought, of her home being so crippled.
The woman didn't miss a beat, keeping the imperious pace she'd adopted. "Well then, wouldn't want that getting out to everyone would we? Might cause a mass panic, and then we'd be up a proper creek." She snapped her head over to a younger boy carrying several crates. "Hey! Those go to the eastern block, they have plenty up north." Returning her attention to Ruby, Gideon swept her arm to the side at an intersection. "Up that way is market street, tell 'em you've got official business and they'll cover most of the cost."
"Thank you, for your hospitality. But, why are you here? It isn't often a Huntress stays in one spot like this for long, not when it seems like they've got things so well prepared."
This time, Gideon did miss a beat, stumbling slightly at the words Ruby had innocuously spoken. Her grimace was plain as day behind the blank face she put forth. Still, she kept up her march down the street, pointed straight toward the northern wall. Ruby peeked back at her team to seek any help with the situation they found themselves. Only commiseration and concern reflected back at her, letting her know that they had as much knowledge here as she.
They moved through the town, passing people on their way to mundane or important jobs, living life without a care to the greater ills of the world. The northern gate loomed in front of them, decidedly worse for wear than the southern barrier. A staircase lay next to it, and Gideon began climbing up with a lack of the enthusiasm she'd shown earlier. Following her in silence, Ruby couldn't help but smell the stale air as she ascended to the wall precipice.
Cresting the battlements, she stood in horror at the scene before her. The run up to the wall was scarred with the marks of firearms, and pieces of wood and shrapnel littered the ground all around. But out in the distance was the true nightmare that had come true too many times in recent months. A line of Grimm, marching in one direction, the same direction Ruby and her friends had intended to go. Gideon stood beside her, a scowl touring her face like a scared traveler in dangerous lands. She clenched her rifle, holding back anger and sorrow over what Ruby had confirmed for her. No one could call for help to the outside world, and the Grimm were moving en masse toward a lifeline of the kingdom.
"This is why I'm still here, because these good people are right in the warpath. No one can hear them except for the target of that deadly horde." Gideon's face emanated the rage she'd held in check for so long. "And if you five want to make it to Mistral before the port town collapses you're gonna have to move tomorrow. Take a long rest, and savor the fact that we haven't seen anything really nasty yet. Stray Deathstalker was the last thing we took care of." She adopted a wry grin, stating, "now that was a small bit of fun."
It wasn't going to end, they'd chosen to fight and a fight was staring them in the eye. Ruby had her fill of chaos today, and decided that now was the time to look forward to the morning after, to let her team rest and recover for the arduous journey. Turning back, she caught Pyrrha's eye gazing out at the death that marched silently before them. "Don't worry, we may be the only people going that way. But we're also going to be the last one's they ever see," Ruby declared, refusing to let the alternative live in her mind. |
Place in Andalusia, Spain
Júzcar ( Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxuθkaɾ]) is a village and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is situated in the east of province in the Valle del Genal. The municipality is situated approximately 22 kilometres from Ronda and 113 from the provincial capital of Málaga. It belongs to the comarca of Serranía de Ronda.
Júzcar, painted blue
The village had been one of the White Villages of Andalusia, with buildings traditionally whitewashed. In spring 2011, buildings in the village (including the church) were painted smurf-blue by Sony España to celebrate the premiere of the Smurfs movie.[1] 4,000 litres (880 imp gal; 1,100 US gal) of paint were used. While the original agreement with Sony España included painting the village white after its promotional ended, in December 2011, the village hall organised a special referendum vote for the village residents to determine if the village would remain blue or revert to white; the referendum results indicated the village would continue as blue with no date for reverting to white. One indication as to why might be that an estimated 95,000 tourists visited the village in the six months following the blue paint job and that the village had previously seen about 9,000 tourists annually.[2][3]
Climate [ edit ]
Climate data for Júzcar Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °C 16 17 19 20 23 26 28 29 26 22 19 17 22 Daily mean °C 10 9 11 13 15 24 24 24 21 18 13 11 16 Average low °C 11 12 13 14 16 18 20 21 19 17 14 12 16 Average precipitation mm — — — — — 10 5 5 — — — — — Average high °F 61 63 66 68 73 79 82 84 79 72 66 63 71 Daily mean °F 50 48 52 55 59 75 75 75 70 64 55 52 61 Average low °F 52 54 55 57 61 64 68 70 66 63 57 54 60 Average precipitation inches — — — — — 0.4 0.2 0.2 — — — — — Average precipitation days 13 11 10 10 9 3 2 2 6 13 12 15 106 Source #1: World Weather Online [4] Source #2: spanishweather [5]
References [ edit ] |
•Coming off an 11-6 victory over Dartmouth on Tuesday evening, Navy returns to Patriot League action on Saturday when it plays host to Lehigh. Faceoff is set for 11:30 am at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Mids, who enter the game 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the Patriot League, are led by sixth-year head coach, while the 4-3 Mountain Hawks are under the direction of 10th-year head coach Kevin Cassese. Saturday's contest marks the 37th meeting in a series that dates back to 1910.•Saturday's contest will be televised live via CBS Sports Network with Ben Holden and Sheehan Stanwick Burch calling the action. Additionally, Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller will provide the call on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV. Radio coverage begins with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show at 11:15 AM. The game will NOT be streamed online due to television coverage, however live stats will be available at NavyStats.com.•Don't forget Navy is holding its annual Meet the Mids event following Saturday's game against Lehigh. Members of the lacrosse team will be available for autographs on the Blue Concourse, with the first 300 kids in line for the postgame autograph session receiving a Navy lacrosse "Meet the Mids" t-shirt, compliments of Annapolis area Papa John's and Chick-fil-A.•Senior Brady Dove is the only player in program history to win 100 or more faceoffs in a season four times. FACT! Dove owns the #2 (163 in 2014), #3 (158 in 2016), #6 (147 in 2015) and #13 (101 in 2017) single-season faceoff marks in Navy's record book.•Two records are on the verge of being broken heading into this weekend. After picking up five ground balls against Dartmouth, senior faceoff specialist Brady Dove heads into the Lehigh game with 298 ground balls. With two more, he will become the first player in program history and just the fourth in Patriot League history to reach the 300 milestone. Meanwhile, senior long pole Matt Rees needs just one caused turnover to tie and two to set the Navy career record currently held by former teammate Pat Kiernan (2011-14) who amassed 73.•Midfielder Colin Flounlacker came into the season with 23 points on 16 goals and seven assists. This season he has nearly matched that total with 21 points on 15 goals and six assists as a starter. He has produced a goal or an assist in seven of the nine games, including a career-high six points against Penn where he scored a career-best four goals.•Today's game day sponsor is Navy Mutual.• Lehigh enters Saturday's contest with a 4-3 record overall and a 2-2 mark in Patriot League action. Its wins are over NJIT (1-5), Jacksonville (13-12), Colgate (11-5) and Lafayette (15-7). Meanwhile, the Mountain Hawks have losses to North Carolina (15-8), Holy Cross (14-8) and Army West Point (6-4).• The Mountains Hawks are averaging 10.57 goals per game which stands 34th nationally and fourth in the Patriot League.• The three-headed monster at attack is led by sophomore Andrew Pettit who has a team-high 29 points on a team-best 22 goals and 7 assists. Three of his 22 goals have been scored a man up. He stands sixth nationally, averaging 3.14 goals per game.• Second-year attackman Tristan Rai has 24 points on 11 goals and 13 assists, while senior attackman Matt Raposo has 23 points on 11 goals and 12 assists.• The Mountain Hawks are ranked 23rd nationally and third in the Patriot League with their 9.14 scoring defense. Sophomore Chris Kiernan anchors the defense between the pipes where he owns an 8.85 goals-against average and a 51.7 save percentage.• Sophomore Craig Chick has emerged as one of the best long poles in the biz, leading the country with three caused turnovers per game.• Rookie Conor Gaffney has provided Lehigh's faceoff game with a huge boost as he stands ninth nationally with his 63.3 winning percentage (93 of 147). As a team, Lehigh is ranked sixth (61.6). Gaffney also leads the team with 67 ground balls and is #2 nationally averaging 9.57 ground balls per game.• Lehigh's extra-man unit has scored on 8 of its 20 opportunities (40.0), while the man-down unit has given up 6 goals on 28 chances (78.6) and stands fifth nationally.• Today's contest between Navy and Lehigh marks the 37th game in a series that began in 1910. The Mids own a decisive 30-6 series advantage.• Navy won the first three contests before suffering its first loss in the series, a 4-3 decision in 1913. The Mids had won 25 in a row against the Mountain Hawks until Lehigh dealt Navy a 14-10 loss in Bethlehem in 2011. That win sparked a five-game winning streak by the Mountain Hawks over the Mids and none of the four games were closer than four goals. Navy snapped that five-game skid in 2015 when it outscored Lehigh 4-2 in the final quarter to score a 13-12 victory in Annapolis.• The Mids have now won two in a row after scoring a 12-7 win against the Mountain Hawks in Bethlehem last spring. It was Navy's first win in Bethlehem since March 2, 2010, when the Mids earned an 8-3 victory over Lehigh.• Navy owns a commanding 22-2 series advantage in games played in Annapolis. Lehigh's two wins in Annapolis came in 1913 (4-3) and again in 2012 (9-4).• Since Navy joined the league in 2004, the Mids have scored double-figure goals in eight of the 16 contests. Navy has produced nine goals in three of the other eight games during that stretch.• Navy and Lehigh have met three times in the Patriot League Tournament. The Mids won in 2005 and '06, while the Mountain Hawks claimed the 2014 contest. |
AP and Corey Nachman The young Tampa Bay Buccaneers are an innovative bunch both on and off the field.
The Bucs are among the first professional sports franchises to replace the old-fashioned style of playbooks with iPads.
According to this report by Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times, 34-year-old Bucs coach Raheem Morris convinced the team brass to buy every player on the team his own iPad 2.
He got the idea earlier this year when he started using an iPad to scout potential draftees.
Morris told co-chairman Bryan Glazer, son of billionaire owner Malcolm Glazer, that not only do the iPads allow for the entire contents of a playbook to be easily accessible on-the-go, they also can provide an outlet to watch game film, practice films, and situational films for all thirty-two NFL Franchises.
Glazer agreed to this idea after only two-minutes of discussion.
Tampa Bay's roster is mostly comprised of twenty-somethings who aren't foreign to the concept of new technologies, so the idea has already more than taken off with them. Regarding the iPads ease of use when it comes to studying, second-year safety Cody Grimm said, ""It's convenient. It's fast. I was snacking out on the couch and watching some film, and realized I was, like, two quarters through [a] game already."
It looks like Steve Jobs has had an impact on the intricacies of the sports world too. |
By now, just about everyone on the planet has heard the term “Apple Fanboy.” If you’ve ever said anything good about an Apple product, you’ve likely been called one. But a new class of fanboy has emerged — one that, amazingly, may be be equally as passionate. The Android Fanboy. And it’s actually a good thing.
In case you missed my review of the new HTC EVO 4G phone yesterday, be sure to read some of the comments. As stated, I was coming at it from the perspective of a dedicated iPhone user. Long story short, I don’t really like the device. To the Android lovers, I might as well have killed Bambi.
Never mind the good things I said about the phone, or Android in particular. Never mind that I said that if you’re looking for an Android phone, try the Nexus One or Droid Incredible, because they’re both better devices. Never mind that almost none of the commenters had actually ever used the EVO (it’s not out yet), and plenty of them even admitted that. None of that matters. All that matters is that I said something bad about an Android device. RAGE!
In the Android Fanboys’ minds, I had just slandered the latest reincarnation of their savior. They had to respond. And they did. Hundreds of them. It was quite impressive.
So why is such zealotry a good thing? Because passion is important. If people actually care about Android that much, Google is clearly doing something right. Windows Mobile has never instilled this type of passion in anyone. Nor has Symbian. For a while, it seemed like the Palm Pre might. But it never did. But Android is.
As I described at length last week, the rivalry between Apple and Google is going to be a good thing for us all. Part of that is because the companies are largely equals, so the fight will be fair. But don’t underestimate the importance of fanboys in this equation. For too long, Apple has gotten a massive amount of free fanboy publicity while many of their rivals have gotten none. Android is now starting to get that kind of free publicity too. All of this plays into the idea that the two companies will push one another to make better products, because again, they’re on equal footing.
And Android Fanboys will make the Internet more balanced because they almost exactly counter the ideals (and now passion) of Apple Fanboys. Android Fanboys care about openness and choice. iPhone Fanboys care about presentation and experience.
The iPhone will likely never be able to match Android phones in their integration with Google products such as Gmail and Google Voice. Simply put, the integration is stellar and in my mind, the number one reason to use an Android phone. Something like Google Voice integration is powerful because you feel in control of your device in a way that you’ll never be able to with an iPhone.
But Android phones will likely never be able to match iPhones in seamless user experience because Apple, unlike Google, controls the entire ecosystem from the hardware to the software. As an iPhone user, when I switch to Android, something just feels off. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is it because it’s dozens of little, subtle things that Apple is able to do because they have the luxury of knowing you’re going to be using their software on the one iPhone form factor (which, again, they also make).
Again, it’s a great rivalry because the two sides offer two completely different executions of the same idea. And they have legions of fans who are positive that each way is the right way. This balance is good for us all — even if individual fanboy comments read like they’re from bat-shit crazy zealots.
[image via AndroidGuys – credit for it goes to AndroidSWAG.com] |
After losing two statewide races in Florida and changing his party affiliation twice, former Gov. Charlie Crist announced Tuesday that he was running for Congress in a recently redrawn district, but he may face a stiff challenge from a former mayor of St. Petersburg.
Mr. Crist, now a Democrat, is running in a district that is expected to lean Democratic and include all of St. Petersburg, though its final shape has not been determined. But former Mayor Rick Baker, a Republican who has a record of winning support from Democratic voters, told The Tampa Bay Times that he was considering getting into the race, too.
Mr. Crist was a Republican when he was the state’s attorney general and then governor from 2007 to 2011. But when he began a 2010 run for the United States Senate, he was derided by fellow Republicans as too close to President Obama, and it appeared that he would lose the primary to Marco Rubio. Mr. Crist left the party and ran instead as an independent, losing badly in the general election. In 2014, running as a Democrat to reclaim the governor’s office, Mr. Crist lost by just 1 percent of the vote to Rick Scott, a Republican. |
About
HELLO! If you are here then it means you care enough spend time checking out what this is all about.
We are a progressive/metal/heavy band from all over the US, but we met each other studying music and recording at Purchase College in NY. We are a fairly new band, but all have a love for heavy music and a really strong urge to push ourselves as far as we can musically. The purpose of this kickstarter is to give all of you an introduction to who we are, and to start a relationship with everyone that is kind enough to support us.
We started recording of this EP in spring of 2011, and it has been a long road getting to this point. The goal is to have these tracks mixed and mastered to have them sound the best they can, followed by professional duplication because we believe music and art go hand in hand.
We are using this money SOLELY for the funding of this EP and all of the fun stuff we are doing for our supporters and friends (That’s YOU!!). Anything above what we are asking for is going directly back into this project.
Here’s a break down of what we’re spending:
$1000 – Mixing
$600 – Mastering (masterdisk mastering services)
$600 – CDs w/ artwork (http://www.bandsonabudget.com, http://support.bandsonabudget.com/customer/portal/topics/209093-cds/articles)
$200 – t-shirts and supplies
$400 – stickers, posters, guitar picks, artwork
$600 – shipping, Amazon’s cut, taxes…you know, miscellaneous stuff we hate but can’t ignore.
I know it seems like a lot, but music doesn’t seem to be free these days. As much as we all might like to think. Our plans are straight forward, and we plan on executing them exactly as stated.
WE’LL KEEP YOU UPDATED!
Throughout this whole process we will be posting videos and pictures from the recording process as well as personal updates from the members of the band about all kinds of stuff!
Expect them at the dollar amounts of 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 AND……….. If we make achieve our goal then on top of all of the other prizes we will film ourselves singing “I’m A Little Teapot” in our underwear in a public place. Links:
Video by: Phil Ashby - http://vimeo.com/skateshredwrite/ |
SUNNYVALE (CBS SF) — Fire crews in Sunnyvale have extinguished a 3-alarm fire that tore through two homes Wednesday morning, one of them a home daycare center.
The fire was reported around 9:25 a.m. on the 900 block of Lantana Drive, a neighborhood not far from Ponderosa Elementary School.
Capt. Jeffrey Hunter of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said the fires were controlled about 11:00 a.m. but that firefighters still had work to do to clear hot spots.
A tree-trimming crew which saw the fire early on was able to knock on doors to alert people their houses were on fire. At least one toddler at the home daycare was safely removed from the burning home.
No one was reported injured in the blaze and its cause has not been determined yet, Hunter said.
Residents from both homes that caught fire safely evacuated, Hunter said.
One man who lived at a neighboring home took a garden hose, climbed onto the roof and started spraying water to protect his home, according to Hunter.
Fire officials do not advise people to do that and the man complied with a request to come down from the roof, Hunter said.
TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News Service contributed to this report. |
The Letv Max Pro is the world's first Snapdragon 820 phone. And yes, I know: many of you have no freaking clue what Letv is, and until recently, I was just like you. Letv is a Chinese consumer electronics and software company, kind of similar in some ways (though very different in others) to Xiaomi. They've built smartphones before, but the Letv Max Pro is easily the most internationally paid-attention-to device they've produced.
The reason for that has literally nothing to do with Letv: it's all about Qualcomm. The Max Pro is the first phone with a Snapdragon 820 processor, a chip enthusiasts have been eyeing intently after a dismal year, in large part, for Qualcomm's Snapdragon portfolio. The 808 wasn't very fast, the 810 tended to get hot and also wasn't very fast, and even the company's mid-range chips (like the 615 and 410) just felt like they under-delivered.
The big change in the 820 is that Qualcomm is back in the CPU core design business, with their Kryo quad-core processor at the heart of the SoC. That's far from the only big change in the 820, but it's the one that's really got a lot of people interested.
So, is the Max Pro fast? Sure, I guess. Here's the thing: in the way we were allowed to use it, speed was basically impossible to measure. We weren't allowed to run benchmarks (I'm not saying others haven't, though), and there were no known particularly performance-intensive apps there to mess with (this phone doesn't have the Play Store).
Aside from the 820, the Max Pro has a 6.3" QHD LCD display, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, up to 128GB of storage, an infrared blaster, Qualcomm's Sense ID ultrasonic fingerprint tech, MHL, USB type C (2.0), a 3400mAh battery, and runs a heavily modified version of Android 6.0.
Will the Max Pro ever come to America? Realistically, that seems very unlikely, but the company wasn't willing to rule it out by default.
As a note, I'm sorry about the ghastly colors in some of these photos - Letv had some rather... interesting lighting in their booth. |
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Police were called today after fifty children were sent home on their first day back at school for wearing the wrong uniform.
Students were left 'stranded' outside the gates of Hartsdown Academy in Kent after being turned away under the new headmaster's policy.
One furious mum, Latasha Whiting, told Mirror Online that kids were 'in the road', with cars 'beeping and swerving', as the 'ridiculous' rule was enforced.
She added that her own daughter was sent home by staff for having a 'short' skirt - while a young girl knocked on her husband's window to ask for a ride home.
She said: "It was ridiculous. There were kids in the road, cars beeping and swerving. They [staff] didn't let them into the school to make calls.
(Image: SWNS)
What to do if your child is disciplined for wearing the wrong uniform - especially if you can't afford it
(Image: Facebook/Latasha Whiting)
"A 12-year-old girl knocked on my husband's window and asked him to take her home because she couldn't get in touch with her parents.
"She didn't even know him. He told her to go and ask a teacher but she said she had and she'd been dismissed."
Have you had a similar issue at your child's school? Tell us about it using the form below or email [email protected]
(Image: Facebook/Latasha Whiting)
Latasha said her 15-year-old daughter, who is 5ft 10ins and has ADHD, was turned away from the school gates for having a 'short' skirt.
She said: "She's 5ft 10ins with very long legs. To find a skirt that's not short on her is almost impossible. I got hers from the adult range at New Look."
The angry mum travelled to Hartsdown Academy herself after hearing from her husband how the teenager had been sent home.
She said that, when she arrived, she asked headteacher Matthew Tate to give her the details of the exact skirt she should purchase for her child.
(Image: Sian Williams)
(Image: Sian Williams)
However, he apparently refused to do so.
She added that another mum was told her child's trousers were too tight - so 'shoved her hand up them' to prove to staff that they weren't.
In total, around 50 pupils were turned away from the school in Margate this morning for a variety of uniform infractions.
Outraged parents protested for two hours outside the building before police stepped in to try to diffuse tensions.
Mr Tate, however, claims to have warned parents this would happen before the summer holidays.
He said: "We wrote to parents to say we would be ensuring our uniform policy is adhered to and that if children were not in perfect uniform today they would be sent home.
"The majority of our parents are pleased with that.
(Image: Hartsdown.co.uk)
(Image: Facebook/Latasha Whiting)
"They feel the school needs to be better for their children and I've had several parents tell me how pleased they are that they can see that actually we want to be different.
"We want to be a school that they can be proud of sending their children to.
"There is a minority of parents who are not happy with that and I understand it has inconvenienced some.
"A few have lost their temper.
"The parents who have been here protesting for two hours when they could have popped home and got things sorted."
The academy's on site police community support officer called in colleagues to help resolve the conflict.
Mr Tate added: "The police were passing by and dropped in to help us encourage parents to go home and get the uniform sorted."
(Image: SWNS)
(Image: SWNS)
This afternoon, some social media users defended the uniform policy.
Paul Imms wrote on Facebook: "Good on the head. People moaning because they don't want to follow rules."
Meanwhile, Stephen Groom said: "Good!!! Proper uniform should be enforced!!!!"
A third user added: "Other schools need to take note of Hartdowns new head teacher, someone who's willing to enforce rules properly."
However, mum Sharon King lashed out at the policy after her young son, William, was turned away because of his shoes.
William, 11, was involved in a car accident last year, and had to have a hip replacement, which causes him pain and leaves him needed physiotherapy.
Sharon sent her son to school in all-black Nike Air Max trainers, on the advice of his doctor, but the new head teacher told her the shoes were unacceptable.
(Image: Facebook/Latasha Whiting)
Sharon said: "William has to wear trainers because of his hip, wearing normal shoes really hurts him.
"My daughter in Year 11 has been wearing the same trainers as William was in for three years as she has joint pain.
"I sent my daughter home to get William's scruffy old shoes because they wouldn't let him in wearing trainers.
"Mr Tate said he'd rather William was in pain and wearing school shoes than wearing trainers in front of other parents, but then afterwards said to me that my kids would be okay in trainers.
"Now he's lost respect before he's even started - it's his first day, and he's backed himself into a corner and done the damage.
"It was Year Seven's first day and loads of them were in floods of tears, sobbing outside the gates.
(Image: Google)
"He should have been lenient for their first day and just sent them home with a letter of what was wrong for tomorrow.
"I had to take my daughter and buy her a new skirt because they don't have a standard one but hers wasn't suitable.
"When I took her back to school, the kids were outside chanting because the teachers wouldn't let them through the gates.
"Driving back through the town centre two hours later I saw at least a few hundred Hartsdown students walking around - not from any other schools.
"The issue isn't the uniform, because I totally agree with it.
"The problem is that he handled it like a gestapo." |
Remember the drama centered on Junsu and the construction companies regarding his Toscana Hotel on Jeju Island? Two construction companies, A and B, had filed a lawsuit against the idol, claiming that he had failed to pay 5 billion KRW (~ $4.5 million USD) for the building.
However, it now appears that they have withdrawn their lawsuit. Junsu's legal representative, Yoo Hyun Joo, revealed on November 10, "After a police investigation, the opinion that Junsu should be acquitted in the litigation was dispatched to prosecution. After the prosecution put together the plaintiff's statements, they judged that this was a false charge.
"Afterwards, the plaintiff acknowledged [it was a false charge] and withdrew the lawsuit around the end of October. It appears that the prosecution's side will soon form a conclusion regarding the false accusation and fraud. As it is a situation that has been acknowledged to be a false charge, we predict that there will no acquittal from a charge of fraud."
Looks like everything wrapped up nicely for Junsu! |
When there are nine
Sara Haider Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 2, 2016
You can’t be what you can’t see, and I see a lack of women leaders in my industry.
Despite good intentions from most people, unconscious bias and structural inequality still leads us to a world where women and minorities are extremely underrepresented in Silicon Valley. We can do better.
After being in this industry for almost a decade, I’ve learned that given the existing inequalities, the only way to make real change is to go out of your way to do so. It’s important to acknowledge that there is already bias in your criteria, whether for hiring, promoting, or investing. So you must go out of your way to champion women and underrepresented minorities.
I don’t tweet about it a lot, but I’m an active angel investor. In the last three years, I’ve made nine investments, and three of them were in companies with women CEOs. 33% doesn’t feel good enough, though sadly this is likely higher than the ratio for most venture firms and angels. So I’ve decided to take it one step further.
I’m committing that the next nine angel investments I make will only be in companies run by women CEOs, without exception.
Recently, I’ve become a Sequoia Scout, so some of my investments will involve Sequoia’s capital. But my promise to only invest in women stands whether or not the funds are from my personal capital or Sequoia’s.
I think Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg sums it up quite nicely: |
First base prospects are hard to come by. Well, legitimate ones, anyway: oftentimes if you're a first base prospect, it's because there is nowhere else on the diamond to go, so if the bat doesn't pan out, neither does the prospect. You can feel a little more comfortable with them as they climb the organizational ladder, at least, and that's what is happening with Red Sox prospect Sam Travis.
MLB ranked Travis as the number 10 first base prospect in the game, and that's a good spot for him. He has real potential, but he also has real risks, and neither has outweighed the other quite enough at this point to shoot him up any further in the rankings.
Jim Callis would like to see a little more power out of Travis, but otherwise, he's looking good:
Travis is a gifted hitter who makes consistent hard contact to all fields and manages the strike zone well. He hit just nine homers in 2015 despite possessing the bat speed and strength to at least double that total if he were more aggressive at the plate. Travis doesn't swing for the fences, but he may need to do so more often to fit the power profile at first base.
Travis adjusted quickly to his ascent to High-A Salem to begin 2015 -- Travis was drafted in 2014, so High-A was an aggressive assignment -- and then found himself in Double-A around midseason. While, as Callis mentioned, the homers just weren't there, the 21-year-old still managed to bat .300/.384/.436 overall in his first taste of the upper minors, then continued to hit well in the Arizona Fall League, where he finished at .344/.394/.505 in 23 games.
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He's probably never going to hit for a ton of power, but as he moves up to Triple-A and the majors, he might have to adjust a bit and let some of that patience translate into aggressiveness so as to avoid having pitchers control his plate appearances too much. He could lose a little batting average and on-base percentage in the process, but if he replaces it with loftier slugging, it'll more than even out.
It'll have to, as well, because Travis is stuck at first, as was alluded to earlier: if he can't make it at first, there might not be anywhere for him to make it. With Hanley Ramirez moving to designated hitter for 2017, though, there will at least be a spot for Travis available should his bat help him earn it this summer. Remember, he's just 22, and he's already successfully hitting at Double-A, so this isn't that aggressive a thought for him. |
#FireMarshals: 4 alarm fire @ 636 E235 St in #Bronx today caused by children playing with fire on a stovetop. pic.twitter.com/swsxO6nvhU — FDNY (@FDNY) August 10, 2016
A 4-alarm fire in the Bronx Tuesday left three firefighters hospitalized in critical but stable condition.The fire was caused by children playing with fire on a stovetop, authorities say.The fire broke out at about 12:30 p.m. in a two-story occupied private dwelling on East 235th Street off Carpenter Avenue in the Wakefield section.The FDNY said the fire spread to four other structures. One hundred seventy firefighters from 40 units responded.34-year-old firefighter Patrick Morello was diagnosed with heat stroke.His job was to cut a vent hole in the roof to prevent the fire from spreading, and when he came down from the roof he collapsed outside, the FDNY said.Another firefighter, 44-year-old Sean O'Rourke, was hurt in an accident driving the fire truck from Queens to the Bronx.The third firefighter, 51-year-old Joseph Brady, suffered a heart attack.All three are in critical but stable condition at Jacobi HospitalOne lieutenant, 54-year-old Joseph Martorell, suffered serious burn injuries but was treated and released.The three are expected to survive.No residents in the buildings were hurt."When I came out I saw the black smoke coming down the stairs," said Sharon White, who lives in a first-floor apartment. "We ran out, they were trying to get the grandmother out, she's sick. And they were trying to get her out, and they fell down the stairs."NewsCopter 7 was over the scene of the fire:The Red Cross is working with eight families to provide emergency housing and other immediate needs. |
Re: Trafficking//Loretta Lynch
Okay. Guess it's not the place for abortion talk. Sent from my iPhone > On Mar 16, 2015, at 9:34 AM, Kristina Schake <[email protected]> wrote: > > Yes, that's the plan. > >> On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 9:33 AM, John Podesta <[email protected]> wrote: >> Can't we just tweet this and do iran dig at Irish- American event. >> >>> On Mar 16, 2015 9:29 AM, "Jake Sullivan" <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Yes, of course - silly me. Wasn't thinking of venue. Makes sense to me. (Although this Catholic crowd ain't your typical Catholic crowd!) >>> >>> >>> >>>> On Mar 16, 2015, at 9:25 AM, Mandy Grunwald <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> Good call. >>>> >>>> Mandy Grunwald >>>> Grunwald Communications >>>> 202 973-9400 >>>> >>>> >>>> ----- >>>> From: Kristina Schake <[email protected]> >>>> To: Jake Sullivan <[email protected]> >>>> Cc: Jennifer Palmieri <[email protected]>; Huma Abedin <[email protected]>; John Podesta <[email protected]>; Jim Margolis <[email protected]>; Joel Benenson <[email protected]>; Mandy Grunwald <[email protected]>; Jesse Ferguson <[email protected]>; Robby <[email protected]>; Dan Schwerin <[email protected]> >>>> Sent: Mon, Mar 16, 2015 9:22 am >>>> Subject: Re: Trafficking//Loretta Lynch >>>> >>>> Should we be bringing up trafficing/choice piece at all to an audience of all catholics? Maybe we do Lynch/trafficing just in a tweet, and leave the Iran topper only in the Irish speech? >>>> >>>>> On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 9:18 AM, Jake Sullivan <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> + Schwerin who can add something to the lunch. >>>>> >>>>> Seems like it's a dual message of confirm a qualified nominee and pass a crucial trafficking bill without trying to wage ideological war against a woman's right to choose, right? >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Mar 16, 2015, at 9:10 AM, Jennifer Palmieri < [email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Oh, shit. I thought it was a dinner. I would recommend she say something at lunch - is it too late to do that, Huma? >>>>> >>>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>>> >>>>> On Mar 16, 2015, at 9:07 AM, Huma Abedin < [email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> HRC on camera with Irish Americans for a lunch today >>>>> >>>>> On Mar 16, 2015, at 9:06 AM, "Jennifer Palmieri" < [email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Yes, need to do something on her and trafficking which is also hung up. She could also raise one or both of these tonight. >>>>> >>>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>>> >>>>> On Mar 16, 2015, at 8:52 AM, Huma Abedin < [email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> She knows Loretta. Not an extremely close relationship and don't remember last time they connected. >>>>> She was in running to be Spitzer LG years ago. Hrc wanted Leecia Eve, others pushed Lynch. Regardless, definitely a cordial relationship. >>>>> I would vote for a tweet. >>>>> From: John Podesta <[email protected]> >>>>> Sent: Monday, March 16, 2015 8:35:43 AM >>>>> To: Kristina Schake >>>>> Cc: Jim Margolis; Joel Benenson; Mandy Grunwald; Jesse Ferguson; Jennifer Palmieri; Robby Mook; Jake Sullivan; Huma Abedin >>>>> Subject: Re: Trafficking//Loretta Lynch >>>>> >>>>> Pretty sure she knows her, but not certain. +Huma >>>>>> On Mar 16, 2015 8:32 AM, "Kristina Schake" < [email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> We weren't planning to, but with the new development think we should. We could do a tweet today. Does she know Lynch? If so, we could make it more personal or do it as a statement . Copying in Jesse too. >>>>>> >>>>>>> On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 7:55 AM, John Podesta <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>> We doing anything on this today? > |
Rome: Over 400 migrants were believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean on Monday after four boats capsized and another began to sink, according to reports.
BBC Arabic cited Egyptian reports as saying over 400 mainly Somali migrants had drowned when four boats capsized after leaving Egypt.
The migrants had set sail from Egypt on Thursday and were heading for Italy, according to reports circulating on social media.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said there had been a "migrant tragedy".
Speaking at a prize giving ceremony in Rome, Mattarella said Europe needed to reflect in the face of "yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean in which, it seems, several hundred people have died".
He did not give any further details.
Survivors were taken to a Greek island, according to the unconfirmed reports.
The Italian Coast Guard said they knew nothing about the reported disaster.
However, they were involved in the rescue of 108 migrants from a semi-submerged rubber dinghy off the coast of Libya on Monday. Six people died in the incident, according to the organisation SOS Mediterranee.
The boat had been drifting for nine hours in choppy seas, was partially deflated, taking on water and its engine was broken, SOS Mediterranee said.
They were citizens of several African countries including Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria and Ethiopia, SOS Mediterranee said.
Around 800 migrants and refugees drowned in April last year when the overcrowded fishing boat they were in capsized in waters between Libya and the Italian island of Lampedusa. |
Billionaire futurist space explorer Elon Musk has a new project: a "medical research company" called Neuralink that will make brain-computer interfaces. Musk's projects are frequently inspired by science fiction, and this one is a direct reference to a device called a "neural lace," invented by the late British novelist Iain M. Banks for his Culture series. In those books, characters grow a semi-organic mesh on their cerebral cortexes, which allows them to interface wirelessly with AIs and create backups of their minds.
Having a neural lace, in Banks' fiction, makes people essentially immortal—if they die, they're revived from the last backup. Musk isn't seeking immortality just yet, however. Though he has said publicly several times that he would like to upload and download thoughts, possibly to fight against evil AI, he imagines that Neuralink's proof-of-concept products will be implanted electrodes for treating epilepsy and depression. They will be much like current implants for treating Parkinson's, which work by regulating electrical activity in the brain.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the company will likely be funded entirely by Musk or by the Founders Fund, a VC firm founded by Peter Thiel. The Journal also reports that the company has hired three people already: "Vanessa Tolosa, an engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and an expert in flexible electrodes; Philip Sabes, a professor at the University of California in San Francisco, who studies how the brain controls movement; and Timothy Gardner, a professor at Boston University who is known for implanting tiny electrodes in the brains of finches to study how the birds sing."
Their work will build on over a decade's worth of successful brain-computer interfaces (BCI), beginning with BrainGate, an early BCI tech that allows people to type messages on a computer by picking out letters one by one on a screen. It works by connecting to the brain's motor cortex: when the person thinks about moving, that thought is translated into movements of a cursor. But this method is still quite slow, and Musk's company hopes to speed things along.
Other BCI experiments have involved using computers to control the movements of insects and rats. The infamous "Robo Rat," developed in 2002, could be made to turn right or left while walking by stimulating brain regions related to right and left whisker sensations as well as its reward centers. Today, this kind of technology is so commonplace that there is a science kit aimed at children called the RoboRoach, which allows kids to put a brain implant into a cockroach to control its movements.
It's not clear how well the Robo Rat and RoboRoach scenarios would work in humans, whose brains are far more complex and still poorly understood. But that's not stopping Musk, who is known for making prototypes first and asking questions later. He told Vanity Fair that "we're already cyborgs" and "a meaningful partial-brain interface" is just "four or five years away." |
For the park in Runcorn, see Phoenix Park, Runcorn
Phoenix Park (Irish: Páirc an Fhionnuisce[1]) is an urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying 2–4 km west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its 11 km perimeter wall encloses 707 hectares (1,750 acres); it is one of the largest enclosed recreational spaces within any European capital city.[2][3][4][5] It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since the 17th century has been home to a herd of wild fallow deer. The English name comes from the Irish fionn uisce meaning "clear water".[6] The Irish Government is lobbying UNESCO to have the park designated as a world heritage site.[7]
History [ edit ]
After the Normans conquered Dublin and its hinterland in the 12th century, Hugh Tyrrel, 1st Baron of Castleknock, granted a large area of land, including what now comprises the Phoenix Park, to the Knights Hospitaller. They established an abbey at Kilmainham on the site now occupied by Royal Hospital Kilmainham. The knights lost their lands in 1537 following the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII of England. Eighty years later the lands reverted to the ownership of the King's representatives in Ireland.
On the restoration of Charles II of England, his Viceroy in Dublin, the Duke of Ormond, established a royal hunting park on the land in 1662. It contained pheasants and wild deer, making it necessary to enclose the entire area with a wall.
The park originally included the demesne of Kilmainham Priory south of the River Liffey. When the building of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham commenced in 1680 for the use of veterans of the Royal Irish Army, the park was reduced to its present size, all of which is now north of the river. It was opened to the people of Dublin by the Earl of Chesterfield in 1745.
In the nineteenth century the expanse of the Park had become neglected. With management being taken over by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, the renowned English Landscape architect, Decimus Burton, was retained to design an overall plan for the public areas of the park. The execution of the plan which included new paths, gate-lodges, levelling and tree planting and relocating the Phoenix Column, took almost 20 years to complete. See especially the architecturally significant, "Chapelized" Gate Lodge.[8] The Park's official site states:
Burton’s involvement for nearly two decades represents the greatest period of landscape change since the Park’s creation by the Duke of Ormond.[9]
Deer resting in Phoenix Park
In 1882, it was the location of the Phoenix Park Murders. The Chief Secretary for Ireland (the British Cabinet minister with responsibility for Irish affairs), Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under-Secretary for Ireland (chief civil servant), Thomas Henry Burke, were stabbed to death with surgical knives while walking from Dublin Castle. A small insurgent group called the Irish National Invincibles were responsible.[10]
During the Emergency thousands of tons of turf were transported from the bogs to Dublin and stored in high mounds along the main road on the park.[11][12][13]
Features [ edit ]
The park is split between three civil parishes: Castleknock to the north-west, Chapelizod to the south and St James' to the north. The last named is mainly centred south of the River Liffey around St James' parish church. The park has its own piece of legislation the Phoenix Park Act, 1925 which includes giving powers to park rangers to remove and arrest of offenders who disobey its bye-laws, which include "No person shall act contrary to public morality in the park".[14][15]
Áras an Uachtaráin [ edit ]
The residence of the President of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin, built in 1754, is located in the park. As the Viceregal Lodge, it was the official residence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland until the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922.
Dublin Zoo [ edit ]
Dublin Zoo is one of Dublin's main attractions. It houses more than 700 animals and tropical birds from around the world and was founded in 1830[16] and opened to the public on 1 September 1831, with animals from the London Society, making it the third oldest zoo in the world. Within a year the zoo housed 123 species.[17]
Papal Cross [ edit ]
Deer grazing near the Papal Cross
The Papal Cross at the edge of Fifteen Acres was erected as a backdrop for the outdoor mass celebrated there by Pope John Paul II on 29 September 1979, the first day of his pastoral visit to Ireland. The congregation numbered over one million, equal to Dublin's population. The white Latin cross, which dominates its surroundings, is 35 metres (115 ft) high and was built with steel girders. It was installed with some difficulty: after several attempts, the cross was eventually erected just a fortnight before the Pope arrived.[18] When John Paul died in 2005, devotees gathered at the Papal Cross, praying and leaving flowers and other tokens of remembrance. Pope Francis celebrated mass here on the final day of his 2018 visit to Ireland.
Monuments [ edit ]
Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park
The Wellington Monument is a 62 metres (203 ft) tall obelisk commemorating the victories of the Duke of Wellington. It is the largest obelisk in Europe and would have been even higher if the publicly subscribed funding had not run out. Designed by Robert Smirke, there are four bronze plaques cast from cannon captured at the Battle of Waterloo—three of which have pictorial representations of Wellington's career while the fourth has an inscription at the base of the obelisk.
A second notable monument is the "Phoenix Column" (shown in the header photograph above), a Corinthian column carved from Portland Stone located centrally on Chesterfield Avenue, the main thoroughfare of the park, at the junction of Acres Road and the Phoenix, the main entrance to Áras an Uachtaráin.[19] A contemporary account described it in the following terms:
"About the centre of the park is a fluted column thirty feet high, with a phoenix on the capital, which was erected by the Earl of Chesterfield during his viceregality."[20] (1747)
There is also a monument to commemorate Lord Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke, who were killed in the park by the Irish National Invincibles. It is a 60cm long cross, filled with a small amount of gravel and cut thinly in to the grass.[21]
Deerfield Residence [ edit ]
Deerfield Residence is the official residence of the United States Ambassador to Ireland
The Deerfield Residence (previously the Chief Secretary's Lodge), originally built in 1776 was the former residence of the Chief Secretary for Ireland and before that was the Park Bailiff's lodge. It has been the official residence of the United States Ambassador to Ireland since February 1927, and was until the early 1960s the Embassy of the United States in Dublin.[22]
Phoenix Park Visitor Centre and Ashtown Castle [ edit ]
The oldest building in the park is Ashtown Castle, a restored medieval tower house dating from the 15th century. Restoration began in 1989 and it is located beside the visitor centre which houses interpretive displays on the 5,500 years of park and area history.
People's Gardens [ edit ]
The gardens, located close to the Parkgate Street entrance, comprise an area of 9 hectares (22 acres), and were re-opened in 1864. These gardens were initially established in 1840 as the Promenade Grounds. They display Victorian horticulture, including ornamental lakes, children's playground, picnic area and bedding schemes. A statue is in the gardens dedicated to executed Easter Rising leader Seán Heuston. There is a plaque in honour of the Irish sculptor Jerome Connor on Infirmary Road, overlooking the gardens which he frequently visited. The opening hours are 8.00am till dusk. Closing times vary during the year.
Magazine Fort [ edit ]
Magazine Fort in the south-east of the park
The Magazine Fort in the south east of the park marks the location where Phoenix Lodge was built by Sir Edward Fisher in 1611. In 1734 the house was demolished when the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset directed that a powder magazine be provided for Dublin. An additional wing was added to the fort in 1801 for troops. It was the scene of the Christmas Raid in 1939.
The magazine fort has been satirically immortalised in a jingle by Jonathan Swift who wrote:
"Now's here's a proof of Irish sense,
Here Irish wit is seen,
When nothing's left that's worth defence,
We build a Magazine."
Other places of interest [ edit ]
Furry Glen, sunset, 3 January 2015
A lake in Dublin's Phoenix Park
Environment [ edit ]
Phoenix Park in the summer
There are 351 identified plant species in the park; three of these are rare and protected. The park has retained almost all of its old grasslands and woodlands and also has rare examples of wetlands.[28] Deer were introduced into the park in the 1660s; the current 400–450 fallow deer descend from the original herd.[29] 30% of the park is covered by trees, mainly broadleaf.
A birdwatch survey in 2007–08 found 72 species of bird including common buzzard, Eurasian sparrowhawk, common kestrel and Eurasian jay. The great spotted woodpecker, Ireland's newest breeding bird, has been seen in the park several times,[30] and the long-eared owl has recently been confirmed as a breeding species.[31]
The park also holds several brooks, tributaries of the River Liffey.
In July and August 2006, the then Minister for Health, Mary Harney, issued three orders exempting two new community nursing units, to be built at St. Mary's Hospital in the park, from the usual legally required planning permission, despite the Phoenix Park being a designated and protected national monument. The Department of Health said the decision was made because of what it called the department's "emergency response to the accident and emergency crisis at the time", although the nursing units, in use since 2008, are mainly for geriatric care.[32]
In a 2009 conservative management plan for the park, the Office of Public Works (a Department of Finance agency) commented, "...the erection, without the necessity of resorting to normal planning procedures, of two major developments in St. Mary's Hospital illustrates the vulnerability of the Phoenix Park to internal development, which impacts significantly on the essential character of the park and its unique value as a historic designed landscape." In a section entitled Pressures and Threats on the Park, subsection Planning Issues, the document expressed concern that, "Without appropriate planning designation, there is a risk that development can take place which is not in line with the co-ordinated vision of this Plan." The document warned of similar risks to the integrity of the park such as "uncoordinated building and construction...and the current condition of certain historic buildings such as the Magazine Fort, the farm buildings below St. Mary's Hospital and Mountjoy House in the Ordnance Survey Complex."[19]
Events [ edit ]
Motor racing [ edit ]
Mountjoy House in Phoenix Park, Dublin
Automatic lighting gas street lamps line the main avenue of the Phoenix Park
Motor racing first took place in the Phoenix Park in 1903 when the Irish Gordon Bennett Race Speed Trials were held on the main straight for both cars and motorcycles. This was followed in 1929 by the Irish International Grand Prix; the first of three Irish motor racing grands prix.[33] Racing took place from 1932 until the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 and was revived again in 1949 with a sprint on the Oldtown circuit[34] followed the next year by a full racing meeting again and has been used virtually continuously until today. Over the years seven different circuits have been used, two of which are named after the famous Ferrari World Champion racing driver Mike Hawthorn.
Phoenix Park Motor Races [ edit ]
After the Grand Prix events, Motor racing continued at the park though the 1980s and 1990s and up to 2012, with many events broadcast live on RTÉ. It featured many drivers including Eddie Jordan, Eddie Irvine and Tommy Byrne. However, it has been announced that the Phoenix Park Motor Races are once again set to go ahead during 2016, on the 30 & 31 July. This is expected to attract huge crowds as being a free entry event no tickets are required.
Great Ireland Run [ edit ]
The Great Ireland Run, a 10 km running competition, has been held annually each April in Phoenix Park since 2003. It includes races for professional runners and the public and the 2010 edition attracted over 11,000 participants.[35][36] Athletes such as Sonia O'Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan are among the race's past winners.
Concerts [ edit ]
Music concerts have been performed in the park by such acts as Coldplay, Duran Duran, Robbie Williams, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ian Brown, Justice, Kanye West, Arcade Fire, Tom Waits, Snow Patrol, Florence and the Machine, Swedish House Mafia, Snoop Dogg, Tinie Tempah, Calvin Harris, the Stone Roses and Ed Sheeran.
Phoenix Park free festivals [ edit ]
Ubi Dwyer organised one-day free events between 1977 and 1980.[37] As 'International Times' reported "The Hollow in the Phoenix Park spun and danced to the rhythms of the World Peace Band, Free Booze, the Mod Quad Band, Frazzle, Speed, Stryder, Axis, Tudd, Skates to name but a few. The whole thing was organised by gentle Ubi Dwyer who was formerly involved in the Windsor affair of rock and the rest in England. Certainly the Irish version was pleasantly good-humoured even if the amplification was too much for squares. A few chappies near the bandstand almost whipped themselves to death with their long hair as they responded to the bio-rhythms of the scene."[38] U2 played at the 1978 festival.[39]
Phoenix Cricket Club [ edit ]
Phoenix Cricket Club is the oldest cricket club in Ireland. Founded in 1830 by John Parnell, the father of Charles Stewart Parnell, the club is located in the park. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1970s, it was the dominant club in Leinster cricket.[citation needed]
Exhibition [ edit ]
In April 2017 the Hearsum Collection, in collaboration with The Royal Parks of London and Ireland's Office of Public Works, mounted an exhibition at Dublin's Phoenix Park entitled Parks, Our Shared Heritage: The Phoenix Park, Dublin & The Royal Parks, London, demonstrating the historical links between Richmond Park (and other Royal Parks in London) and Phoenix Park.[40] This exhibition was also displayed at the Mall Galleries in London in July and August 2017.[41]
Popular culture [ edit ]
View From Phoenix Park
The park is featured prominently in James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake and tangentially in Ulysses.
In general, Dublin postal districts on the Northside are odd numbers, while Southside codes are even. One exception is the Phoenix Park, which is on the Northside but forms part of an even-numbered district (Dublin 8).
See also [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
The Phoenix Park: Conservative Management Plan: Consultation Draft, Office of Public Works, March 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2010. Contains detailed history and description of the Phoenix Park, its amenities, landscapes, fauna and flora, archaeology, architecture, and other Park matters. |
Controversial public housing 'three-strikes' eviction policy working, WA Government says
Posted
A continued decline in the number of public housing tenants falling foul of the Western Australian Government's controversial "three-strikes" policy is a sign of the approach's success, the Housing Authority says.
Figures provided to a budget estimates hearing showed a downward trend in the number of strikes issued against tenants had continued this financial year.
The policy, introduced by the Barnett Government in 2011, means public housing tenants who accumulate three strikes for anti-social or disruptive behaviour face eviction.
In 2013-14, 179 third strikes were issued and in 2014-15 the total was 170, but with little over a month remaining this financial year, that figure is down to 105.
There has also been a notable decline in the number of first strikes issued, from 1,410 in 2013-14 to 964 so far in 2015-16.
The three-strikes policy sparked strong criticism from housing advocates and welfare groups, some of which warned its introduction would have a particularly devastating impact on Aboriginal families.
But the Housing Authority said the decline in the number of strikes being issued was encouraging.
"First to second to third strike and ultimately to eviction is starting to trend in the right direction, so ultimately we think the methods we've put in place are ensuring tenants are understanding the consequences," Housing Authority's general manager of service delivery Greg Cash told the hearing.
"You do notice a significant reduction, but there are still problems and we continue to manage them as effectively as we can."
Income inclusions questioned
Labor used the estimates hearing to attack the Government for its move announced earlier this year to include some Commonwealth allowances in income totals used to calculate public housing rents.
Labor frontbencher Paul Papalia questioned why the Government had excluded some payments, such as pensions given to veterans, after a strong public backlash but did not apply that to other benefits.
But Nationals leader Terry Redman, representing Housing Minister Colin Holt in the hearing, said the changes were driven towards trying to ensure tenants paid 25 per cent of their income as rent.
"Twenty-five per cent is the threshold for what is considered to be fair and reasonable for the price of social housing," Mr Redman said.
Mr Redman was also quizzed about the status of reform for funding of services to remote Indigenous communities.
"Both myself and the Minister for Child Protection are in the final throes of getting endorsed through the sub-committee of Cabinet a roadmap for where Government sits on both infrastructure investment and service provision," Mr Redman told the hearing.
"We're expecting that to be made public in June ... but that will be subject to a Cabinet process as well."
Topics: housing, state-parliament, wa |
CBS
On the eve of Cyber Monday, Jeff Bezos conveniently created some buzz for Amazon with his "60 Minutes" reveal of Amazon Prime Air, an eight-propeller drone that will carry packages from the company's fulfillment centers to customers' doorsteps within 30 minutes of order placement.
Amazon drones aren't going into service anytime soon, if ever. The Federal Aviation Administration will take years to sort out the rules and regulations for commercial drones. Bezos is known for taking the long view, and he will continue to invest in turning what looks like a promotional gimmick into a business differentiator.
A fleet of drones at Amazon's more than 100 fulfillment centers around the world could eliminate more costly ground transportation and offer more timely service for some items. But as in other things Amazon does, Bezos may have a bigger ambition for drones than just package delivery.
As the technology evolves, drones will become smaller, faster, smarter, and cheaper -- just like computers, tablets, and phones -- leading to an era of personal drones. Amazon could pivot its drone development into a consumer product -- a Kindle Fire Drone, for instance -- that provides a number of functions that make it as useful as other computing devices.
For example, a Kindle Drone the size of a baseball and loaded with sensors and a camera could act as sentinel, roaming the house sniffing for trouble and sending data and imagery when necessary to alert the owner. The same drone outfitted with a simple robotic attachment could be used to retrieve objects, intersecting with the Internet of Things and beacons. If you leave your phone in the bedroom, just say, "OK Kindle, bring me my phone." Or it could deliver cupcakes or old-fashioned magazines to the neighbor down the street.
Of course, a personal drone doesn't quite fit into Amazon's goal to funnel people into its shopping vortex. But there are futuristic scenarios where a personal drone, or robot, makes perfect sense. A Kindle Drone could accompany you to stores, quietly hovering on your shoulder like a hummingbird, responding to natural language commands, automatically identifying objects via its camera, checking prices to see if Amazon offers a better deal, and even placing orders. A tablet, phone, or Google Glass-like device can offer similar functionality, but it can't be in two places at once. You can send your drone on reconnaissance missions.
Not everything Amazon does is related directly to shopping. Amazon Web Services grew out of the company's need to super-scale its infrastructure, and it now contributes about 10 percent of its $75 billion in revenue. That's not to say Amazon will get into the personal drone or robot business, but Bezos has a keen interest in disruptive technology of the future.
In a 1997 letter to shareholders, Bezos wrote that Amazon's management and employees "are working to build something important, something that matters to our customers, something that we can tell our grandchildren about." Becoming the Boeing of personal drones, in addition to the Internet's superstore and infrastructure provider, would be something amazing to tell his grandchildren. |
WASHINGTON — A group of black congresswomen is asking Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to take another look at a revised Army uniform and appearance regulation they say contains “discriminatory” rules governing African-American women’s hairstyles.
In a letter to Hagel on Thursday deriding the new rules, the 16 members of the Congressional Black Caucus also called the use of words such as “unkempt” and “matted” when referring to hairstyles traditionally worn by black women as “offensive and biased.”
“Though we understand the intent of the updated regulation is to ensure uniformity in our military, it is seen as discriminatory rules targeting soldiers who are women of color with little regard to what is needed to maintain their natural hair,” wrote the group, which is chaired by Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, D-Ohio.
Pentagon officials said the Defense Department had received the letter and would respond promptly. Army officials meanwhile said restrictions on dreadlocks and twisted hair were not new, but carried over from the previous 2005 regulation.
Development of the revised policy was done carefully over three years and was based on broad input, Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Alayne Conway said in an emailed statement.
“African American female Soldiers were involved in the process of developing the new female hair standards,” she wrote. “Not only were nearly 200 senior female leaders and soldiers (which included a representative sample of the Army’s populations) part of the decision-making process on the female hair standards, but the group was also led by an African American female.”
The last major revision of the Army’s uniform regulation provided broad guidance, but largely left it to leaders to judge which hairstyles were acceptable. Released in 2005, it dedicated fewer than 500 words to women’s hair and noted that “It is not possible to address every acceptable hairstyle, or what constitutes eccentric or conservative grooming.”
By contrast, the Army’s new rules dedicate more than 1,300 words to women’s hair, many of them very specific. However, not all of the provisions now under fire are really new or even unique to the Army.
Most of the “new” hair rules in the Army regulation appear to have been cribbed directly from rules enacted by the Marines in 2007.
And since 2005, the Army has explicitly prohibited the wear of dreadlocks, described as “unkempt, twisted, matted individual parts of hair.” Twists, which the policy defines as “two distinct strands of hair around one another to create a twisted ropelike appearance” are likewise banned.
Conway added that soldiers who want the policy modified can submit written suggestions to the office of the Army G-1 (the Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of personnel policy) through their chains of command.
[email protected]
Twitter: @ChrisCarroll
[email protected] |
Richard Sherman's large-scale evisceration of Michael Crabtree on Sunday night made the Seahawks cornerback the most popular watercooler subject in America.
Sherman didn't exactly back down in subsequent interviews, on Twitter or in his own column. But Monday brought some distance -- and a fresh perspective -- for the All-Pro.
"I apologize for attacking an individual and taking the attention away from the fantastic game by my teammates," Sherman told ESPN's Ed Werder. "That was not my intent."
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll later offered his own take on Sherman's instantly iconic interview with Fox's Erin Andrews.
"This is a very emotional kid, and this is what drives him," Carroll said Monday. "And I understand that. We did sit down and talk about it because I want him to present himself in his best light. He's an incredible kid. ... So when he puts out those kind of thoughts he has to know what he's saying and understand."
"I think he's very understanding at this point he caused a stir that took something away from the club."
Sherman has made himself the story of Super Bowl week. He can apologize from now until Feb. 2, but do you really think he'd take back anything if he could? This is the stage he's always wanted.
The "Around The League Podcast" recapped all the Conference Championship week action. |
The Linux default industry standard
Robert Orzanna Blocked Unblock Follow Following Aug 15, 2017
Upon reading Open Source Application of the Week: Openshot Video Editor, I am wondering where I should put my stand on software diversity. There is one side that argues diversity of projects is important. The more alternatives we see, the healthier the Linux open source environment. The other side says, the more similar projects you get, the more you are at the risk of not channelling all your efforts into a single good one.
Let’s take the above link as an example. It announces the progress done on the Openshot Video Editor. If you want to promote Linux widely, you can say that Linux needs an excellent and compelling video editor for people to switch from Windows or MacOS to Linux. Aside this background, is it good to focus efforts on the progress of Openshot and other related (minor) video editor projects, or is better to channelise all energy on the quasi standard project with the most probability to compete with the mainstream, i.e. Kdenlive?
Other prominent examples where this puzzles me:
Desktop environments, i.e. GNOME?
Web browsers, i.e. Firefox?
Office suite, i.e. LibreOffice?
What do you think? Where do you draw the fine line between helping the most mature and most likely contestant in the ring while diversifying the ecosystem? How can smaller projects feed back with their ideas to the quasi standard? |
Our willingness to believe just about anything when it comes to Tiger is probably the reason why journeyman golfer Dan Olsen was able to start a small brushfire this past Friday via his spot on a local Michigan sports radio station . There, Olsen claimed that Woods was serving a secret, month-long suspension from the PGA Tour.
Let’s get one thing straight right off the top: One has to work really hard to make up a ridiculous story about Tiger Woods. Why, exactly? Because when it comes to Tiger, everything is believable. If I read tomorrow that Tiger was retiring from golf to launch a record label, start a clothing line, and join a standup comedy tour with Dave Chappelle , I’d have to at least consider the possibility. After all, how much stranger would these scenarios be then what’s actually happened?
The statement was quickly met with denials from Tiger’s agent, Mark Steinberg, as well as Ty Votaw, executive Vice President of the PGA Tour, and before you know it, every sports media outlet under the sun was on the story. When you think about it, however, calling Olsen’s assertion a “story” is probably not quite accurate. Better to label it “rumor,” or “gossip,” or, better yet, “bizarre conspiratorial ramblings of a marginally connected party who offered no actual information to back up his accusations.”
In the end, Olsen retracted his claims, telling ESPN’s Michael Collins that, “it was only my opinion.”
Except here’s the thing, Mr. Olsen … you’re allowed to have an “opinion” on Tiger’s swing coach, his putting stance, or whether he should have carried a 9-iron is his bag, but going on the radio, in this day and age, and claiming you had “a strong witness, a credible person who is telling me this,” well, that goes well beyond “opinion.”
To quote from the great Inigo Montoya, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Then again, perhaps we should cut the esteemed Mr. Olsen some slack. After all, irresponsibly trafficking in unsubstantiated rumors is pretty much how the media rolls these these days, anyway. Look no further than last week, when, for days on end, one of the biggest stories in sports surrounded the purported existence of a video that, as far as anyone knows, may or may not even exist. Yes, the so-called “Dez Bryant Tape” has taken over the conversation — right behind the color changing dress and the llamas, of course.
(Mike Francesa is right… February gets slower each and every year.)
So, what do we know about the tape that might shape the future of Bryant’s career? Well, we know it contains … something. Something bad. Something “worse than Ray Rice”. Something that happened in a Wal-Mart parking lot, maybe? Something that everybody has heard about, but nobody appears to have actually seen for themselves. Something that reportedly has the Cowboys concerned enough to avoid a long term contract with their All-Pro receiver, but not so concerned as to forego placing the franchise tag on him.
(Although how much is $13 Million to Jerry Jones, really? The Cowboys owner probably spends that much on Rockwell paintings. No, seriously.)
Is it all a little bit absurd? Undoubtedly. But make no mistake, #DezGate is no laughing matter. It’s entirely possible that all of this amounts to more than just a rumor, and that at some point in the near future, Bryant will be forced to explain … something. |
Italian police who arrested a crew attempting to smuggle desperate migrants to Europe on a luxury yacht have estimated their illegal cargo was worth $800,000.
Police in Ragusa, a Sicilian port town, arrested three Syrian men who were at the helm of the Turkish-flagged yacht attempting to reach the Italian coast.
It is thought the smugglers had charged each person $8,500 (£5,700) to make the crossing, with police saying the total earned by the organisers was somewhere in the region of £536,000.
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The luxury yacht, which was flying a Turkish flag, was stopped as it approached Europe with a 'cargo' which is thought to have been worth $800,000 - or £536,000 - to the organisers
This is far more than the usual cost of between 1,000 and 1,500 euros - £720 to £1,080 - to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
However, the boat was far more seaworthy than some of the other vessels used, which can be anything from wooden fishing vessels to old cargo ships.
Yet even the yacht failed to make the journey in its entirety: the attempt was discovered when two merchant ships were called out to aid a boat in distress.
Selfies and other photos snapped by the Syrian and Palestinian passengers helped police identify the smugglers, police said in a statement.
Police also revealed there were 23 children on bard the yacht.
Harroum Almotassem Billah, Haj Slima Moustafa and Sabaj Ahmmed were all arrested for allegedly being part of the crew.
Harroum Almotassem Billah , one of the three Syrians that were taken in custody by police for allegedly being part of the crew which was at the helm of the yacht
Haj Slima Moustafa was also taken into custody after the yacht - filled with Syrian and Palestinian migrants who paid $8,500 each for the journey - called for help as it approached the coast
Sabaj Ahmmed was the third member of the alleged crew attempting to bring the migrants, including 23 children, to Europe
The boat is the latest vessel to be stopped making the dangerous crossing from north Africa to Europe, packed with migrants desperate to start a new life.
But many of the trips end in tragedy: so far this year, 1,776 have died, according to the U.N. refugee agency, which estimates that 219,000 people made the crossing in 2014.
On Sunday alone, 900 men, women and children are believed to have died after their boat got into difficulty and overturned off Libyan waters, south of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
There were only 28 survivors.
These infrared images show the rescue operation after migrant ship capsized on Sunday
Survivors said they resorted to clinging to floating corpses until coastguards came to their rescue
Surviving immigrants who escaped the boat that capsized in the Mediterranean Sea killing up to 900 people appear deep in thought as they arrive in the Sicilian port city of Catania this morning
Doctor Giuseppe Pomilla, of the Order of Malta, described the three hours he searched for the living among hundreds of dead floating corpses. |
by
It is the start of Ramadan and Muslims in many parts of the world begin their month-long fast. Most of them are not aware that 1500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are on a hunger strike that began almost six weeks ago.
These prisoners have undertaken a hunger strike to protest the denial of their basic human rights in prison. When they began their strike, they were only drinking salt water to survive. It is reported that many have stopped drinking water altogether. Their health is deteriorating rapidly. They are in dire straits.
Their hunger strike is not just about prison conditions. In a larger sense it is against the occupation of Palestine and the oppression and injustice that have occurred through the decades. It is a strike for liberation from Israeli domination. It is a strike for human dignity. This is why the strike has been described as the Dignity Strike.
The world has to all intents and purposes ignored this mass strike partly because the media both mainstream and alternative have given so little coverage to it. It is a reflection of Zionist power over the global media.
Faced with this situation, civil society groups with a conscience should speak up. They should use the channels available to them to express their support for the Dignity Strike. As more and more groups and individuals take a stand, the Israeli authorities will be forced to respond.
By giving support to the Strike those of us who are fasting will be enhancing the meaning of our own fast. For our fast is also about dignity and justice. It is not just Ramadan that carries this meaning. In the Jewish tradition itself exemplified by the teachings of the Prophet Isaiah fasting is also about justice. |
Travellers are left to buy expensive and wasteful plastic bottles of water after passing through security, says consumer website MoneySavingExpert.com
More than half of the UK’s international airports do not have free drinking water fountains installed in their departure lounges, a leading consumer website has revealed.
As a result, thirsty travellers are being left to buy expensive bottled water from airside retailers or forced to ask for water at bars and restaurants, according to MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE).
A million bottles a minute: world's plastic binge 'as dangerous as climate change' Read more
MSE asked 30 UK international airports if passengers can fill up free of charge at a water fountain after going through security. While many of the bigger airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, do have fountains on the airside, 18 said they did not.
The website is now calling on the bosses of these airports – which include Cardiff, London City, London Southend, Liverpool John Lennon and Newcastle – to introduce this “basic” but important facility.
For more than a decade – as a result of tougher security rules – passengers have not been allowed to take liquids of more than 100ml through security at airports.Passengers are also routinely encouraged to throw away bottles before security checks, although the Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that they are allowed to take an empty bottle through security to fill up before getting on the plane.
“It can be infuriating for passengers to have to abandon bottles of water before going through security, then shell out for pricey bottles in the departure lounge,” said Steve Nowottny, news and features editor at MSE.
“Taking an empty bottle through security and then filling it up at a water fountain is the simplest answer – we’ve had a massive response from users since publishing a list of airport water fountains earlier this summer. We’re now urging airports that don’t already have fountains to take action and install them as soon as possible, ensuring all passengers can fill up for free.”
The Guardian has recently highlighted the scourge of single-use plastic drinks bottles, fuelled by consumers who are too embarrassed to ask a pub or restaurant for a glass of tap water or a refill of their empty bottle. |
TV man Jimmy Fallon had impacted molar Donald Trump on his program Thursday night, where Fallon proceeded to act like this whole thing is a fucking joke. The gentle, baby-soft interview included a little bit of joshing about Trump’s “bromance” with Vladimir Putin, then culminated with him playfully ruffling Trump’s hair. Of course you did, Jimmy Fallon.
If there was a time to pander to Trump or treat him like an ordinary candidate, it passed several hundred comments about banning Muslims and Mexicans ago. But Fallon being what he is—a fumbling deer who’s most famous for breaking character on purpose and hurting himself a lot --Trump got a chance to brag unchallenged about how big and strong he is. We also got some newsworthy thoughts about how McDonald’s is good.
Trump also got a chance to do a (second) “mock job interview,” with hard-hitting questions like “Why do you want to leave your current job?” (“I’m sort of looking to make a lot less money,” Trump quipped.)
Here’s Fallon’s version of being topical, a question about Donald Trump’s remarkably warm, admiring, ongoing embrace of Vladimir Putin.
“Everyone is saying, oh, is there a bromance between Vladimir Putin and all this stuff,” Fallon began, looking down at his desk. “And what is the celebrity nickname for you guys? Vlump, I thought of Vlump.”
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“I don’t know him,” Trump replied, contradicting previous statements. “I know nothing about him really. I just think if we got along with Russia that’s not a bad thing.”
It was an extraordinarily low and depressing display of pandering, and it was tough to figure out. Did Fallon think being polite to a guest meant ignoring his past year of racist, sexist, Islamophobic rhetoric? Did he just not care? The jokes weren’t even good.
Anyway, it culminated with Fallon asking to play with Trump’s hair, while they’re both still “civilians.”
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“The next time I see you, you could be the president of the United States,” Fallon noted, a smooth, untroubled expression on his face.
For a reference on how this can be done far better, here’s an old Letterman clip going around, in which he reflects on the fact that Trump is a racist and how it’s time to stop making lighthearted quips about his hair. |
Matt “The Immortal” Brown took to Twitter a few months back to announce he would end his career after his 37th professional fight. On Saturday, the resilient welterweight will square off with Diego Sanchez in the co-main event at UFC Fight Night 120 in Norfolk, VA, for that final effort.
Brown has claimed this will be his last fight, but in his recent interview with FloCombat’s Top Turtle MMA Podcast, "The Ultimate Fighter" alum didn't seem quite sold on the matter.
“I guess originally when I announced [my retirement], it was pretty much a final decision. [But] I look at it like I still have a lot more to do. I’m not really content with everything that I’ve done,” Brown says when asked about his past accomplishments.
While his wars with Robbie Lawler, Stephen Thompson, and Johny Hendricks would be hallmark moments for any fighter's career, Brown sees more to it.
“When you’re on the outside looking in, it’s easy to look at that stuff. When you’re on the inside, it doesn’t feel like I’ve done anything,” he admits.
And it’s this fact that leads to doubts over whether this will actually be Brown's last fight.
“In a perfect world, I’m able to retire and the decision can be made based on whether I want to or not,” he says with a sigh. “The reality is there may just be more to it than that. I may come back to fight just because I want to fight.”
He also notes that although his love for fighting might be what draws him back, Brown recognizes the chance that other, less fortunate factors are typically what bring retired fighters back.
“I may come back to fight for money, which is really what I want to avoid. I don’t want to come back to fight for money,” Brown says. “I want to pursue other things, and if I come back to fight, I want it to be because I’m looking for a championship — pursuing great things.”
The weight of this decision though, is not heavy on the mind of Brown. His focus is locked on what is immediately ahead of him, a date this weekend with Sanchez.
“I’m not thinking about November 12 or what I’m going to do after this fight. I’m 100 percent focused on this fight,” Brown says. “We’ll see how everything plays out on November 12, but for now it’s November 11.” |
Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz responded to fellow candidate Donald Trump stressing flexibility by arguing “Flexibility is Washington code word for he’s getting ready to stick it to the voters” on Thursday’s “Kelly File” on the Fox News Channel.
Cruz stated, [relevant remarks being around 4:30] “Donald stressed flexibility, he kept saying he’d be flexibly, in fact, on the stage, he said he agreed with [fellow candidate Florida Senator] Marco Rubio’s decision to be flexible and negotiate the gang of eight amnesty bill. Flexibility is Washington code word for he’s getting ready to stick it to the voters, and break his word, and that is — that ought to be a real warning sign to the voters.”
Earlier in the interview, Cruz said Trump gave money to the people who gave the country Obamacare.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett |
Every political analyst, every political observer, every politician is absolutely sure that Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee for president in 2016. And we’re all absolutely sure that Donald Trump is not going to be sworn in as president on January 20, 2017. Could we all be wrong?
So far, every poll seems to only be giving him more strength. Who would have thought even a month ago that as we enter the first GOP debate of the presidential election that Donald Trump, The Donald Trump, would be the leader in every single national poll and gaining strength in all the early primary and caucus states? Time and time again, in just a few weeks, his candidacy seems to have survived what we professional political observers all think are obviously fatal gaffes and flubs. Could this be the rare instance when politics is actually about to go haywire?
If you threw a ball up in the air and it didn’t come down, what would you think? Maybe it landed on the roof or got stuck in a tree. You would not think that the law of gravity had been repealed.
So if you’re trying to figure out why Donald Trump has so far left the political class in a state of stunned disbelief, it might be wise not to abandon every assumption about politics, but to ask a different question: When and why do voters behave in ways that seem to break the rules? When are bedrock assumptions about campaigns rendered at least temporarily inoperative? In this context, poll numbers taken months before an election don’t count; while they can measure a public mood, the choice of a candidate is something like a customer in a store trying on hats. The more telling question is: When do voters actually cast their ballots in ways that upend core premises?
One answer, based not on guesses about what might happen, but on what has happened in America’s political past, is that when disaffected voters discover a power that they did not realize they had, highly unanticipated consequences may follow.
For instance, if you were choosing a state that would abandon the two major parties and elect as governor a one-time professional wrestler, Minnesota might not be high on your list. It’s among our most literate states; its voter turnout is always at or near the top. But in fact, Minnesota has a historical appetite for alternatives. The Farmer-Labor Party elected governors, senators and House members back in the ’20s and ’30s (it merged with the Democratic Party in 1944).
Moreover, in Jesse “The Body” Ventura, voters saw something more than the flamboyant showman who proclaimed, “Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!” He’d been a talk show host with a gift for asking smart, probing questions, and mayor of a fair-sized town (Brooklyn Park was the sixth biggest city in the state).
That recognition was enough to put his poll numbers above 20 percent as the fall election began—and those poll numbers had two critical consequences. First, it gained him entry into the gubernatorial debates, which put him on an equal footing with his major party rivals. Second, it all but guaranteed that under the state’s campaign finance laws, Ventura would receive significant funds after the election—which in turn enabled his campaign to borrow hundreds of thousand of dollars for a highly effective advertising campaign. The ads featured Ventura in the pose of Rodin’s “The Thinker” sculpture, and a plea for voters not to vote for “politics as usual.”
Since voters had the chance to see Ventura as a viable candidate, the normal falloff for a third-party candidate did not happen; instead, he won a narrow victory over St. Paul Mayor (and future Senator) Norm Coleman and Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III. Enough voters decided: “Hey! We can do this!” to shock the political establishment.
“Frankly,” said Chris Gilbert, chairman of the political science department at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, “we the analysts and the media, we regarded Ventura as a cute curiosity.” And, in a comment that resonates powerfully with today’s Trump phenomenon, consider what 28-year-old aircraft mechanic Greg Uken told the New York Times about why he was voting for Ventura: “I don’t put up with a lot of stuff, and neither does he.”
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In California, voters had had a long history of using the ballot to enact laws and even constitutional amendments, on their own—a legacy of early 20th century progressives like Gov. Hiram Johnson. They were comfortable using that power to turn disaffection into action: repealing the state’s Fair Housing ordinance in 1964; imposing sharp limits on property and other taxes in 1978; venting their anger about crime by removing three Supreme Court Justices in 1986. But for more than a century, they had never recalled a sitting politician at the ballot box, even though there had been 117 efforts to do just that.
In 2003, it looked as if yet another effort might fail, despite the fact that discontent was at a high boil. The energy crisis, triggered in good measure by the machinations of Enron, had sent electricity costs through the roof; a proposed hike on vehicle licenses was a serious hit in a state with more cars than people. The political “pay to play” culture had almost cost Gov. Gray Davis reelection a year earlier. (He’d won in part because he got to cherry pick his politically inept opponent.) But the requirements for a recall election were daunting; supporters had to collect well over a million signatures to ensure meeting the threshold.
Then, in May, Rep. Darrell Issa, one of the richest members of Congress and someone who harbored gubernatorial ambitions of his own, decided to put his own money—$1.7 million of it—behind the recall effort. With paid TV and radio ads and an army of paid signature gatherers, the recall election was slated for October. For voters aggrieved by economic woes, and fed up with the political movers and shakers, a weapon they barely knew existed had been placed in their hands. By overwhelming numbers, they voted Davis out and replaced him with Arnold Schwarzenegger—a candidate who symbolized in every conceivable way the rejection of the political class.
Here again are significant precursors to the Trump furor. Had Schwarzenegger never held public office? Look at what the career politicians had done. (He had in fact chaired the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and was active in a variety of philanthropies.) Is he a political neophyte? He’s married to a Kennedy, for heaven’s sake. Did he speak with an accent and use catchphrases from his movies? At least we know what he’s talking about, and he’s not using evasive, namby-pamby political talk. Had he harassed women in his past? Well, isn’t his wife standing by him? In essence, the recall tool had added a crucial element to the words made famous in Paddy Chayefsky’s “Network”: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore, and now I can actually do something about it!”
For those now supporting Trump—and they are a minority of a minority as of now—his nascent campaign seems to be acting as the Ventura campaign and the California recall did: providing a mechanism to turn a fever of disaffection into action. And from that sense of possibility, the chance to redefine what political plausibility means, comes an overt, enthusiastic rejection of the “norms” of politics. Does he flaunt his wealth? Then he doesn’t have to suck up to rich, powerful influence-buyers. Does he hurl insults left, right and center? Like the Minnesotan said about Jesse Ventura, “I don’t put up with a lot of stuff, and neither does he.” In fact, most of us have to put with a lot of stuff—from bosses, bureaucrats, family—which makes Trump an object of admiration, for his ability to tell pretty much everyone to go to hell. Does he blatantly contradict his past views? Hell, every politician lies, or tells us what they think we want to hear. He’s smart enough not to take all that stuff seriously. If all of his fellow candidates disowned him, if established conservative voices tried to read him out of the movement, as William F. Buckley did to the John Birch Society, it would only be proof that they are resistant to an honest outsider. If a modern-day equivalent of Joseph Welch asked Trump, as Welch did of Joe McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency?” Trump would likely respond, “I don’t need any lectures from a stuffed shirt wrinkled old geezer!” And his backers would cheer him on.
That’s why fellow billionaire and TV reality star Mark Cuban was dead on when he said: “I don’t care what his actual positions are. … I don’t care if he says the wrong thing. He says what’s on his mind. He gives honest answers rather than prepared answers. This is more important than anything any candidate has done in years.”
The gambler in me still says that Trump falls to earth—maybe with a crash by virtue of his own hand (or mouth) or with a slow fade to the margins. All I mean to do here is to note that there are times in politics when the Black Swan shows up; when a highly unlikely, highly improbable event shatters years worth of assumptions; when voters see—and then grasp—an audacious possibility. Before offering up any certainties about what might happen to Trump, it might be useful to use a tool that Trump himself has never employed: humility.
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This piece is written in response to queries sent by some activists about international gatherings and conferences that are being organized to address BDS-related issues without acknowledging the Palestinian leadership of the movement.
When we, Palestinian Civil Society, issued our 2005 BDS call, we were counting on people of conscience, rather than governments and complicit corporations. Most of us argued that we needed to address ordinary people buying goods in supermarkets, artists, cultural figures, academics, athletes, etc. We, in fact, had our own definition of the “International Community” as opposed to that of the traditional leadership, be it on the right or on the left. Our “International Community” consisted of civil society, churches, pension funds, municipalities, clubs, music bands and universities.
We wanted to isolate Israel’s regime of oppression as well as corporations and institutions that are implicated in its denial of Palestinian rights under international law. We made it absolutely clear that we wanted the movement to be inclusive and be anchored in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Based on this, we were confronted with questions about what would be considered normalization and what not? We, therefore, worked on what has become the anti-normalization criteria that were adopted by a near-consensus of the largest Palestinian civil society entities since November 2007, at the first national BDS conference. We specifically called for “boycotting events and activities that portray the relationship of colonial oppression, which is inherently abnormal, as if it were normal.” We argued that this kind of activities contribute to whitewashing Israel’s crimes—occupation, apartheid, and settler colonialism– against the Palestinian people.
Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid model, we went further and issued what became the boycott guidelines to guide people who have heeded our call all over the world, and to counter 14 years of the façade of the “peace” industry and its culture of normalization. Those projects had to some extent given a false impression of symmetry/parity between the oppressor, Israel in this case, and the oppressed, Palestinians. Fourteen years of “negotiations” between the two parties had obfuscated the line separating colonizers and colonized and made them both look equally responsible for the “conflict!” So, Israel’s multi-tiered system of oppression, namely occupation, colonization and apartheid had been reduced to a “conflict!” This, for Palestinian Civil Society, is “intellectually dishonest and morally reprehensible,” and any project that promotes them “ought to be boycotted.”
BDS is, nevertheless, undogmatic, as claimed by a minority of “liberal” voices. It made it absolutely clear that it welcomes cooperation with those Israelis who recognize our basic rights under international law, including right of return and involves a common struggle, “co-resistance,” against Israel’s oppression of the entire Palestine people, whether in the 67 occupied territories, or the Diaspora, or the 3rd class citizens of the state of Israel. |
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
Last updated at 21:12 07 February 2008
Imprisoned in a tank hundreds of miles from a mate, Ibolya the female shark resorted to desperate measures. To the astonishment of her keepers, she spontaneously produced a perfectly healthy pup.
The virgin birth is making biologists think again about one of the oldest and - in evolutionary terms - most successful creatures.
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"When I saw the baby shark lying on the bottom of the tank I thought it was a joke," said Attilia Varga, the director of the Nyiregyahaza Centre in Hungary. "I was amazed when I realised it was a real shark."
Ibolya, a white-tipped reef shark, has been with the aquarium for seven years. In that time, she has never shared water with a male.
The pup has been a hit with visitors - but has left keepers looking for a bigger tank. They also plan to find a male so Ibolya can breed conventionally next time.
Virgin birth - parthenogenesis - happens when an egg begins to divide without being fertilised. Common in insects, it is rare in vertebrates such as fish, birds and reptiles.
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Scientists believe that sharks use it as an emergency survival mechanism. Normally animals rely on genetic diversity - the interplay of genes from two parents - to evolve. However, reproduction without sex is a useful stopgap.
Sharks are one of Nature's great survivors, appearing in the oceans 400million years ago - before the dinosaurs. Normally their eggs are fertilised inside the female.
In the white tip and most other species, the female gives birth to live young. |
Image copyright AP
The Queen's Speech sets out the government's legislative programme for the next year. Here is a guide to all the bills in it.
Immigration Bill
This bill is designed to make it easier to deport people who do not have the right to stay in the UK, and to prevent immigrants accessing services to which they are not entitled. Businesses that use illegal labour will face increased fines, and private landlords will be required to check the immigration status of their tenants. The right of appeal against immigration decisions will be restricted, and immigration officers will be given more powers. Foreign nationals who commit serious crimes will be deported except in extraordinary circumstances, and the law will be changed so this principle is reflected in the courts. The bill will apply to all of the UK.
Read more: The Queen's Speech targets immigration
Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill
This bill will include measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, forced marriage, dangerous dogs and illegal firearms. The offence of being in charge of an out-of-control dog will be extended to cover private property, including people's houses. Forced marriage will become a criminal offence, as will a breach of a forced-marriage protection order. The police will be able to prosecute uncontested minor offences of shoplifting, and the witness-protection scheme will be extended to other vulnerable individuals. Magistrates will no longer have the power to reduce the victim surcharge by giving additional days in prison as a substitute. The police will also be reformed, with a new Police Remuneration Review Body replacing the Police Negotiating Board. This bill applies mainly to England and Wales, with some provisions extending to the rest of the UK.
Read more: Anti-social behaviour changes proposed
Pensions Bill
This will introduce a single-tier state-pension system, replacing the current basic state pension and earnings-related top-up. It will be implemented from April 2016. The bill will also bring forward the increase in the retirement age to 67 by eight years, so it will now come in to force between 2026 and 2028. It also makes provision to continually review the retirement age in light of the increase in people's life expectancy. It will make it a legal requirement for the pensions regulator to consider minimising the economic impact pension provision has on a company that provides it for its employees. The bill will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.
Read more: Plan to simplify pensions and rights
Care Bill
This bill will introduce a cap on the cost of social care, and give carers the legal right to support from their local council. It will provide protection to people whose care provider goes out of business and give everyone a legal entitlement to a personal care budget, which they can receive as a direct payment to spend as they wish. The bill will introduce an Ofsted-style rating system for hospitals and care homes and give new powers of intervention to the chief inspector of hospitals. It will create two new public bodies, Health Education England and the Health Research Authority. These will provide additional training and support for health professionals. The bill will apply to England only, although the Health Research Authority will co-operate with organisations across the UK.
Read more: Extra investment 'needed to make care cap work'
Offender Rehabilitation Bill
Offenders who serve custodial sentences of less than a year will be put under supervision for 12 months after their release. At the moment, they receive no supervision, and it is hoped this measure will reduce re-offending. The six month supervision period that currently applies to people who serve between one and two years in prison will be extended to a year. This bill will apply to England and Wales.
Read more: Probation extended to all offenders
National Insurance Contributions Bill
This bill is designed to reduce the cost to small businesses of employing people. If it passes, from April 2014 every business and charity will be entitled to a £2,000 employment allowance. It also aims to stop the use of offshore companies that are sometimes used by companies to avoid paying their National Insurance contributions. The bill will remove the presumption of self-employment for limited liability partnership members. It will apply to the whole of the UK
Defence Reform Bill
This bill will increase the size of the reserve forces so they can play a greater role in the country's defence. The measure was first outlined in the Strategic Defence Review 2010, and the government believes it will save a significant amount of money. The bill will also change the way defence equipment is purchased by the government. It will apply to the whole of the UK.
High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill
This bill will give parliamentary authorisation for the government to spend the money necessary to build the new rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. It will allow the government to pay for the preparatory work needed before construction begins, for example ecological surveys and ground investigations. The government needs to pass this before it can pass the High Speed Two Hybrid Bill. This bill will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.
Read more: High speed two legislation outlined
High Speed Two Hybrid Bill
This bill will give the government the legal power to compulsorily buy the land needed to construct the proposed high speed rail line linking Britain's biggest cities. Those affected by the bill will have the opportunity to petition Parliament and have their case heard by the bill select committee. It will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.
Intellectual Property Bill
This bill is designed to simplify patent and design protection laws. It will implement the Unified Patent Court, which will mean that a single patent application will be valid in almost all EU countries. The bill will introduce criminal penalties for breaching UK protected designs, and bring in measures to speed up the patent-application process. It will apply to the whole of the UK.
Local Audit and Accountability Bill
This bill will close down the Audit Commission and replace it with a new local audit framework. The government estimates this will save £1.2bn over ten years. It will allow local council taxpayers to veto rises in council tax caused by bodies such as waste disposal authorities and integrated transport authorities. The bill will also cut down on the amount of council-funded newspapers produced. It will apply to England and Wales.
Read more: Council spending watchdog abolished
Water Bill
This bill will change the way the water industry works. It will allow all business, charity and public-sector customers to switch their water supplier, in order to increase competition, and make it easier for new companies to enter the water market. It will also become easier for water companies to trade water with each other, which should help manage drought situations better. The bill will apply to England and Wales, and a small number of provisions will extend to Scotland.
Mesothelioma Bill
This bill is designed to help people who suffer from Mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos. It establishes a payment scheme for those people who cannot trace their employer or their employer's insurance company, where the employer was responsible for the asbestos exposure. Anyone diagnosed with mesothelioma from 25 July 2012 will be able to make a claim. The bill will be funded by a levy on insurance companies, and it will apply to the whole of the UK.
Northern Ireland Bill
This introduces technical changes to the way the politics and institutions in Northern Ireland operate. It will increase the transparency of political donations, and will prevent members of the Northern Ireland Assembly also being members of parliament in the House of Commons or the Dail, the lower house of the Irish Parliament. It will change the way Northern Irish elections are administered, following recommendations by the Electoral Commission and the chief electoral officer for Northern Ireland. Although the bill is specific to Northern Ireland, as a technical matter it applies to the whole of the UK.
Gambling (licensing and advertising) Bill
This was not mentioned in the speech, but does appear in the briefing notes attached to the speech line "other measures will be laid before you". This bill will mean that gambling operators based overseas will be required to hold a licence from the UK Gambling Commission. At the moment they are regulated in the jurisdiction in which they are based. This will also apply to operators who advertise in the UK. Because this will mean that overseas operators will be required to inform British authorities of suspicious betting patterns, it should help prevent corruption in sport. This will apply to Great Britain, with some provisions extending to Northern Ireland.
European Union Approvals Bill
This also appears in the briefing notes attached to the line "other measures will be laid before you". It is a technical bill which allows the UK to take part in EU measures against counterfeiting the Euro, allows us access to historical archives and makes us a part of an EU-wide civic education program called Europe for Citizens. The bill extends to all of the UK.
Draft Consumer Rights Bill
This proposed bill would update consumer-protection laws so they cover digital purchases such as downloaded music and e-books. Trading Standards will be granted new powers, such as being able to get a court to order a trader to pay compensation when consumer law is breached. The bill would apply to all of the UK.
Read more: New laws are planned for faulty apps
Draft Wales Bill
This is a proposed bill to alter the way elections in Wales work. Candidates would be able to stand on both a regional list and in a constituency, but would no longer be able to sit as an MP in the House of Commons at the same time. It would also move the Welsh assembly on to sitting for fixed five-year terms, reducing the likelihood of assembly elections clashing with parliamentary elections. Although the bill would be specific to Wales, as a technical matter much of it would apply to the whole of the UK.
Read more: Assembly election reform plans outlined in Queen's Speech
Draft Deregulation Bill
This draft bill lays out how the government intends to reduce the amount of regulation with which businesses, individuals and public bodies have to comply. Measures include exempting from health-and-safety legislation people who are self-employed and whose work poses no risk of harm to other people, and removing the ability of of employment tribunals to make wider recommendations in successful discrimination cases, which they were granted in the Equality Act 2010. The whole bill would apply to England and Wales, and some parts of it would apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Energy Bill (carried over from previous session)
The government is going to continue with the legislation it started in the last Parliament to reform the energy sector. It is designed to ensure there is always enough capacity to generate the amount of electricity the UK needs, and that this is done in a low-carbon way. It also contains measures to ensure people are always on the best energy tariff for their needs. It will apply to all of Great Britain, with some measures extending to Northern Ireland.
Things which were not mentioned in the speech...
The speech contained no mention of new bills to bring in plain packaging on cigarettes, or a minimum price for alcohol, which were both changes that had been mooted. According to the BBC's Robin Brant, ministers say some of the public health issues are being consulted on, that they haven't been abandoned. Although the communications data bill was dropped from the speech after Lib Dem opposition, the government still wants to take action against cyber-crime. |
Thomas Andrews was born on this day in 1873. He died in 1912, when the ship he had designed sank, after encouraging the Titanic’s passengers to get off the ship if they could.
Today the Titanic’s sinking is the poster-child for human hubris, but it’s also a cautionary tale about the need for emergency preparedness to be built into design. Andrews had argued for the ship having more lifeboats and for other safety measures, writes William Henry Flayhart III for Scientific American. His proposal would have resulted in there being enough lifeboats for everyone on the ship, he writes, but the president of the White Star Line, Bruce Ismay, “protested that they already had more than the legally required number of lifeboats (16) and the extra boats simply would clutter up the beautiful open expanse of the upper deck, where first-class passengers would want to stroll.”
The result: the Titanic infamously set sail with only enough lifeboat room for 1178 people out of the more than 2200 on board. Among that number were Thomas Andrews and a group of men who had worked on the ship at his naval design firm. This “guarantee group” was there to look for any issues with the ship and help iron out kinks, writes the BBC. “All lost their lives.”
When the ship struck an iceberg, it was Andrews who evaluated the damage it had caused and went to tell the captain, the BBC writes. One of the final telegrams sent by the ship described his actions, according to a different BBC article. After the accident, he looked at the damage and advised passengers to get into heavy clothing and prepare to leave the ship, it reads. Many people were skeptical that the “unsinkable” ship had been seriously damaged, it reads, but Andrews convinced them to leave. In the shortened telegram language, it confirms his attention: “When last seen, officers say was throwing deck chairs, other objects, to people in water. His chief concern safety of everyone but himself.”
A young survivor of the sinking confirmed in a memoir many years later that he remembered Andrews telling him and his parents that the ship would sink in an hour. “We could hardly believe it, and yet if he said so, it must be true,” he wrote. “No one was better qualified to know.” In the end, only just over 700 people survived the ship's sinking, writes Flayhart, and the lifeboats had been rowed away while not at capacity because people chose not to get in.
“A steward was the last person to see him,” writes the BBC. According to the Encyclopedia Titanica: “He was last seen staring into space by the painting in the first class smoking room, his lifebelt discarded.” |
Bank manager jailed for stealing millions
Updated
A former bank manager has been jailed for nine years for stealing almost $3 million from the Bendigo Bank at Atherton in far north Queensland.
Colin John Carleton, 56, was arrested at a campsite in the Daintree, north of Cairns, in in July 2010, a fortnight after he admitted to bank investigators he had been defrauding customers.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of stealing as a servant over a 16-year period.
The District Court in Cairns heard he had been with the bank for 19 years and began stealing small amounts from pensioner and term deposit accounts.
This escalated and began feeding a gambling addiction and an almost daily compulsion to buy hardware and other items Carleton did not need or use.
The court heard Carleton hid his offending by sending false bank statements to customers.
His crimes were discovered when he stopped sending the statements.
A psychiatric report said Carleton developed bipolar two disorder about eight years ago and his offending was in sharp contrast to his high standing as an active member of the Atherton community.
Carleton did not offer restitution but apologised for his actions.
He will be eligible for parole after he serves 17 months.
A Bendigo Bank spokesman says the bank has reimbursed Carleton's victims.
Topics: courts-and-trials, fraud-and-corporate-crime, banking, atherton-4883, cairns-4870
First posted |
On November 18th, the much-anticipated trailer for the sequel to Ben Stiller’s hit film ‘Zoolander’ was released.
In the "Zoolander 2" trailer, an androgynous character played by Benedict Cumberbatch is asked by Zoolander and Hansel if he is a ‘male or female model’, and if they ‘have a hot dog or a bun’. Additionally, Cumberbatch’s character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals. This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority.
If the producers and screenwriters of Zoolander wanted to provide social commentary on the presence of trans/androgyne individuals in the fashion industry, they could have approached models like Andreja Pejic to be in the film. By hiring a cis actor to play a non-binary individual in a clearly negative way, they film endorses harmful and dangerous perceptions of the queer community at large.
Tell Paramount Pictures, Ben Stiller, and Benedict Cumberbatch that mocking transgender/androgyne/gender fluid individuals is not okay - sign this petition to pledge to boycott the film! |
This is the story of Rosemary, Michael, and their wedding planner, Desana Turner!
I have some experience with weddings. I stopped counting how many weddings I've attended, but the number is up there. I've seen weddings run as smooth as silk, and I've seen wedding disasters.
What is a wedding disaster? Flowers and cake that get delivered to the wrong address. Flowers that are the wrong color. The band shows up to the wrong wedding venue. A DJ that doesn't show up or call. Wedding guests arrive at the reception venue, and it's locked up. (These stories are all true). Catering is a whole different level of disaster. I understand that catering a large event is a tricky logistical undertaking. But you don't want to have 200 hungry guests, and the food is an hour late coming out, and when it does come out, it's over-cooked, burnt, or worse, they run out of food.
See what I mean by disaster? The difference between a smooth wedding, and a disaster is planning. I'll admit, some brides can do it. I've seen a bride and mother combination that could coordinate supplies for an invading army and not have one glitch. It can be done, but not everyone has the time, or the OCD skills to do it well.
I've always given advice to brides that having a wedding planner.... (and the caveat is a "GOOD" wedding planner) will save you time, blood, sweat and tears. Lots of tears. One of those really good wedding planners that I've worked with is Desana Turner. That woman pays attention to details. On March 1st, I photographed Rosemary and Michael's wedding. It was complex. A lot of planning, decorating, and coordinating with dozens of vendors. It still went smooth. I tip my hat to Desana. She was on top of things. I think I almost heard her use profanity when she found out the horse drawn carriage wasn't going to make it,... but otherwise, she never even breaks a sweat. The flowers, the food, the music, was perfect.
Rosemary's dress was beautiful. The groomsmen looked sharp. It was a gorgeous wedding. The venue was the famous Woodward House mansion. Built in the 1880's, the hand carved wood, and atmosphere in this beautiful venue added to the romance of the evening. |
If you've been following the World Junior Championship, you're probably already pretty familiar with the 3-2-1 point system that the tournament uses. If the 3-2-1 system sounds like a foreign concept, it essentially awards three points if you win in regulation, two if you win in OT and one if you are defeated in OT.
Should the NHL adopt the 3-2-1 point system?
The 3-2-1 system was first used at the World Championships back in 2007. Immediately it was met with praise and criticism. Fans of the system noted that a team that requires extra time to win a game should not be rewarded the same amount of points as a team that only needs regulation to win. The 3-2-1 format would be a way of punishing the teams that need more time. However, critics of the system argue that a "win is a win" no matter how long it takes to get it. They also note the issue of parity, as the 3-2-1 format creates more separation between teams, for better or worse.
With all that in mind, here's why the NHL should adopt the 3-2-1 system.
It makes the most sense. That's pretty much the only argument you need for the 3-2-1 system. It rewards teams for winning in less time. The NHL's current system is severely flawed. Look no further than the 2011-12 standings to see what I'm talking about. The Florida Panthers won the Southeast Division with a record of 38-26-18. If you stop and combine the losses with the OT losses, you'll find the Panthers won 38 games while dropping 44. Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals won 42 games and lost just 40, but they finished second in the division.
Clearly, as seen in the Washington/Florida debacle, the current system is flawed.
Fellow PDL writer Jeffrey Kleiman offered his opinion on why the NHL should adopt the 3-2-1, noting that:
"There isn't much of an incentive for teams tied in the 3rd to win the game in regulation because they'll gain two points regardless for a OTW. It'll change the strategy for teams in situations like that and make playoff races down the stretch much more enjoyable."
Jeffrey makes a good point. Teams would have to adopt a different strategy late in the third period in close games. I'll touch on the playoff race aspect more in a bit, but it is safe to say that the incentive of an extra point being dangled in front of teams should open up close games as the third period winds down.
Now for the other side. Here are a few reasons on why the NHL should not adopt the 3-2-1.
Honestly, it's pretty hard for me to talk about this stance as the positives and common sense outweigh the arguments against. That being said, I was able to find one pretty sound argument against the 3-2-1.
Money.
As we've seen with the current lockout, the NHL is purely focused on making money and they'll go to some pretty extreme means (like not playing) in order to ensure future profits.
The 3-2-1 system would separate the good teams from the bad. While on the surface this is how it should be, the NHL might be hesitant to endorse a system that puts the bad teams out of the race earlier in the year. Former PDL writer and friend J.P. Quayle noted on Twitter that the 3-2-1 would create greater distances between teams, and thus, cost teams revenue as they would be "out of the hunt" earlier in the year. While playoff races between certain teams would be enhances under the 3-2-1 system, they would involve fewer teams as different clubs would be mostly eliminated earlier in the schedule.
Financially, and purely financially, the 3-2-1 system wouldn't do the NHL any favors. The cream would rise to the surface but the bad – and there's plenty of bad teams in the NHL – would sink like a stone to the bottom. Attendance would probably sink right along with it as would any hope for team profits from the teams that are eliminated earlier in the year.
I suppose you could also toss in the argument that any idea that's grounded in common sense is one that the NHL would firmly reject, but that's neither here nor there.
There you have it.
It boils down to an argument between the integrity of the game and finances. Would the NHL take the risk of a potential yet realistic loss of profit to try and improve their flawed and mostly broken system? It seems highly unlikely but then again, stranger things have happened. |
In 2008, the Center for Urban Economic Development surveyed 4,387 low-wage workers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. They wanted to determine the extent of violations of employment laws in core sectors of the US economy.
They discovered that:
76% of those who worked more than 40 hours were not paid the legally required overtime rate.
68% of the sample experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week.
The average worker lost $51 of his or her weekly earnings of $339 due to wage theft. This loss translates to over $2,652 in losses over one year (out of a total average salary of $17,616).
Furthermore, this study estimates that workers across the country lose a collective of $50 billion per year due to wage theft.
Even though this study was conducted eight years ago, the findings are still relevant: the majority of low-wage workers are the victims of wage theft. If they want to recover their lost wages, they must turn to the courts. Because so many low-wage workers work in exploitative situations, their employers fail to keep the required records that would show the number of hours that a worker may have worked or the pay that the worker received each week. Without these records, workers must rely on their evidence as to their work hours and pay.
Frequently, lawyers must rely on the clients to remember and then construct a schedule of their whereabouts for several months, which makes for a weaker case. That is where this story begins.
Over the past semester, my team and I at Hack4Impact had the opportunity to work with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS), a pro-bono legal clinic which has served over one million low-income Philadelphians since its founding in 1966.
We were tasked with creating a website to analyze a client’s Google Location History and create a timesheet for all the times a client entered and exited a user-inputted workplace. The intention was to use the worker’s google location history to supplement their own testimony to provide a more solid case as to how much the client is owed. Since most potential clients carry low-cost phones (typically Android) and do not location history tracking, this solution would prove to be incredibly helpful as a starting point for reconstructing a client’s court-admissible time sheet for their case, giving CLS lawyers + paralegals a completely new source of evidence from a reliable source.
Community Legal Services Offices
Project User flow:
Our optimal user flow worked out to the following (note, I am putting pictures of this from our live product for you to better visualize these requirements):
A user should be able to add their LocationHistory.json file (downloaded from Google Takeout).
A user should then be able to have their location data processed and displayed on a map
A user should then be able to select a bounding box area containing the rough area of their work place.
A user should then be able to select a start day for the week and submit the file for processing.
The location history should then be processed into a .csv file. This file should have rows containing the amount of time a user spent within a bounding box for a workplace (along with start and end times).
If a user leaves and then enters a workplace, these should appear as separate rows. At the end of a week, the total amount of hours should be tabulated and displayed in a separate column.
On top of everything, all of this had to be done on the front end to avoid privacy issues with storing location data on our servers. These requirements alone seemed to be relatively easy to do. Little did I realize that parsing and displaying a LocationHistory.json file would probably be the most challenging task.
Google LocationHistory.json Structure & First Attempt At Loading:
In case you did not know, Google keeps an eye on almost everything you do. More specifically, they do keep track of your Location History if you have an android phone and have not turned it off by now. If you want, you can download your history to date by going to takeout.google.com/settings/takeout and downloading your file in JSON format (be warned…it can be enormous).
My LocationHistory.json alone was about 59.9 MB in size (I had an Android phone for about two years), but some of the clients who would be using our system could have location histories a few hundred megabytes in size. Trying to just load the whole JSON file into memory causes the browser to hang for approximately 30 seconds before triggering the classic “Aw Snap” error on chrome (usually indicating an out of memory error).
In fact, when running this on a more powerful machine, we can take a memory snapshot and try and see what is going on. For reference, I used a 59.9 MB file that I loaded into memory.
Here, we see that the resulting JS Heap size is nearly triple the actual file size. But in reality, we don’t need to store the whole array in memory, parse it for location data points, and then feed those points into a function that displays them on a map. We could just do this all on the fly…however, that is easier said than done.
Chunking & Oboe:
The first solution I thought of was to try and split the file into more manageable chunks of 512 kilobytes at a time. However, this has some inherent flaws with it, mainly that the file that I am trying to load in contains a large “string” that has the format of a JSON object (but isn’t an object yet). Thus when I decide to split and process the file in sequential pieces that are 512 KB long, I can easily run into a situation where I cut an “object” in half.
Exaggerated example of how chunking can split structured text
So now I needed a way to keep track of half completed objects/objects that were cut off and prepend/append them to the following chunks accordingly to make sure that everything would parse correctly. Though the Google LocationHistory.json file is relatively uniform, the way that chunks can be split is not. Luckily there is an existing library to help take care of all the edge cases that can arise. Enter Oboe.js.
Origin 1 and 2 are streaming JSON sources and the Aggregator is Oboe which sends complete constructed JSON objects
Oboe.js is built for dealing with JSON coming from a streaming source. Additionally, it can load JSON trees larger than the available memory on the client as it only processes one JSON node at a time and then drops the node from the memory tree. However, I do not have a streaming source of data. Luckily, after looking around the Oboe codebase for a bit, I found that oboe can be instantiated and passed data through an emit event.
The oboe code itself is relatively easy to set up. The JSON file we are looking at has the general form of the following.
{
"locations": [ {
"timeStampMs": ...,
"latitudeE7": ...,
"longitudeE7": ...,
"accuracy": ...
}, {
"timeStampMs": ...,
"latitudeE7": ...,
"longitudeE7": ...,
"accuracy": ...
},
...
]
}
Per Oboe documentation, the locations node should be targeted and any sub object of that will be passed into the callback function as shown in the code sample below.
Next, we need to figure out a way to pass in chunks to this function. The chunking function itself is a little bit more complicated, but the main functionality is to process the file in 512 KB portions at a time. The function takes in the file itself (from an input) and the instance of oboe.js (in our case the os variable).
Note on line 11 the following:
oboeInstance.emit('data', chunk);
That line contains the crux of the processing by oboe. The chunk will be sent to our oboe instance in the os variable as a quasi-stream of data.
Displaying the Points:
The last thing to take care of is displaying the data. We chose to use leaflet.js because it was fairly simple to set up and it has a much more diverse 3rd party library ecosystem than Google maps (or any other map library out there that I know of).
Initializing the map on a div with id='mapid' is fairly straightforward:
However, displaying over 1 million location data points requires much more than what the base leaflet.js library can handle. Fortunately, many open source solutions utilize Hierarchical greedy clustering to cluster points at low zoom levels and de-cluster them as the zoom level increases. Vladimir Agafonkin from Mapbox wrote an excellent blog on the algorithmic side of how this process works, and I would highly encourage you to check it out.
An existing implementation of marker clustering for leaflet exists already with the PruneCluster library. This library sets itself apart from the others because it has no real upper limit to how many points it can process (it is only constrained by the computing power of the client). The resulting render and update times are amazing.
PruneCluster update times. src: https://github.com/SINTEF-9012/PruneCluster
Going back to our oboe.js instance code, we can edit it slightly to account for the PruneCluster library addition:
Results:
After making all the changes above, I was finally able to do some basic tests to see if whether all these optimizations would be worth it. Below are the results (at each file size five trials were done and the time is the average).
The results were stunning. Although loading the file straight into memory was faster for smaller files, the chunking with oboe stream paid off in the end and gave a nearly linear correlation between load time and file size! In the end, we attached a loading bar to the analyzer to give the user a sense of progress and attached some load time statistics to it.
And there you have it. Parsing of Google Location History on the frontend. No server needed. In fact, I am hosting the website on github page right now at hack4impact.github.io/cls.
Overall, this project was a huge success. During the semester, I interacted with some of the incredible people at Community Legal Services to create this product which will aid many legal workers for years to come. I would highly encourage those who know how to program to volunteer their skills to assist community organizations better achieve their mission. It is an incredibly rewarding experience for both parties and will challenge you to apply your skills towards creating sustainable and functional products.
You can find the source code for the project at our repository.
My full team is: Product Manager: Krishna Bharathala, Team Members: Katie Jiang, Daniel Zhang, Santi Buenahora, and Rachel H. |
Posted by Jacques Rousseau on Feb 2, 2014 in Featured, Skepticism |
Faith healers and medical deceivers
On the last night of January, I participated in a rather interesting hour of radio, during which Hlomla Dandala hosted a interview with me and someone claiming to be a faith healer. The faith healer’s name is Pastor Louisa, and you can find some information on her ministry – which includes curing people of AIDS – on her website.
I do have a recording of the show, but haven’t yet found a way to convert it into something that plays outside of the TuneIn Radio app on my phone (informed advice on this is welcome) – if I do get it converted, I’ll be sure to post it here.
What became clear fairly on in the show is that Louisa is not a charlatan, in the sense that she’s knowingly exploiting others. She was desperately sincere, and also, unfortunately, sincerely confused. When invited to facilitate a miracle over the phone to someone who called in, she engaged in a few minutes of shouty, enthusiastic prayer and exhortations to be confident and inspired, after which she asked the caller whether she “felt better”.
Yes, said the caller. I then asked – “so, does that get added to your list of miracles performed?”. Yes, said Pastor Louisa. On those weak standards, all of us perform dozens of miracles every day – just figure out what language people like to hear, or what buttons they like pushed, make them happy, and then claim to have performed a miracle!
Also, she made it clear that she never tells people to stop taking their medicine. Dandala asked her how she knows whether it’s the prayer or the medicine that heals… and the predictable answer that she gave was that she “just knows”. As far as I can determine, then, she gives her god the credit for the job performed by modern medicine.
You’ve heard how this (faith healing) works before, I imagine, or rather, how it doesn’t work. On the recommendation of Dan Dennett, I watched the documentary Marjoe a few years back, and it’s a wonderful expose of charismatic preachers and healers, involving Marjoe Gortner taking a documentary crew behind the scenes of his final revival tour, held after he had already lost his faith. Watch it if you can, but basically, if people want to believe something strongly enough, it’s difficult to stop them doing so.
The difficulty in talking to Louisa was in resisting the impulse to mock, but instead to feel sympathy for her confusion, and the desperation of those who take her seriously. I failed in this effort at least once, when she spoke about how she had to stop talking to us because she was out in the open, under a tree, and it was cold (this was late at night). I suggested that a miracle might sort this out – after all, if she could cure Aids, what’s the problem with a little heating?
Failures of good grace aside, these people can be dangerous, especially in communities we don’t often hear about, where faith healers and other quacks can do their thing without being exposed to scrutiny. Communities like the Amish are a similar problem. And the overarching problem we all have in a constitutional democracy is in striking the balance between objective application of the law and respecting the various freedoms we believe people are entitled to, like subscribing to and practicing a religion.
For adults, there’s less of a concern regarding people being free to harm themselves than there is for children, who can’t be expected to know any better. But desperation, and poor educations, mean that adults are also sometimes more gullible than one would like, which is why it’s incumbent on all of us to speak out against quackery where we find it, while still trying to avoid being gratuitously cruel to those we criticise.
And those of us in positions of authority should perhaps be most careful, because their trust is vested in us, and they spend money, time and attention on us.
Someone getting a lot of attention right now is Professor Tim Noakes, as he goes around South Africa giving talks and radio interviews to promote the book he’s recently co-authored, The Real Meal Revolution. During a recent interview with Redi Tlhabi, he informs listeners (at 38m40s) that there is “absolutely no risk” involved in cancer victims trying the ketogenic diet, because it’s proven that starving cancer of carbohydrates is an effective treatment.
Well, yes, it can be. But as he so often does, he’s cherry-picking, or simply believing in the version of “science” that suits his agenda. Because according to the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, and other sources,
Many scientists have tried killing tumors by taking away their favorite food, a sugar called glucose. Unfortunately, this treatment approach not only fails to work, it backfires–glucose-starved tumors get more aggressive.
This is only true for some glucose-starved tumours, to be sure, but it still means that saying “absolutely no risk” is absolutely untrue, and that Noakes is giving advice – to an audience of thousands – that stands a good chance of harming a listener who happens to have the sort of cancer that responds aggressively to a low carbohydrate diet.
As I’ve said many a time, this isn’t the approach of someone who is a responsible scientist. But, just like the faith-healer, I think he’s utterly sincere, and utterly committed to fostering our good health. More the pity, then, that he’s unable to see how his religious fervour might end up achieving the opposite goal, at least for some. And how – consistently – he’s wreaking havoc on basic principles of critical reasoning, and setting a terrible example for budding scientists everywhere. |
Intelligence, cognitive ability or cognitive performance is usually measured by a battery of tests that aim to quantify skills such as memory and analytical ability. There is loads of variation between people in how they perform on such tests, and these differences can be due to genetic and environment factors, and their interplay.
In research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) today, we show three genetic variants in humans that can account for a couple of IQ points – but before you get excited, these are only three variants out of likely thousands.
The genetics of cognitive performance
While a measure of “intelligence” can be controversial, cognitive performance scores are widely used because of their predictive ability. Educational attainment, income, job performance and health are all correlated with cognitive performance.
By comparing the cognitive performance between family members, including comparisons between identical and non-identical twins, scientists are able to quantify the contribution of genetic and environmental causes of individual differences.
Decades of research have shown that genetic factors account for about half of the causes of individual difference in cognitive performance, and recent studies using unrelated people have confirmed that a substantial proportion of individual difference is due to genetic factors.
So, we know now that cognitive performance is heritable, but where are the genes? Despite considerable attempts to find genes for cognitive performance, no specific genes had been found and replicated.
One reason for this puzzle is that there are a lot of genes involved – thousands, even – and their individual gene effect sizes are tiny. Past studies couldn’t find them because sample sizes were not large enough to detect genes with statistical significance.
So how did we overcome this problem?
Last year, a huge international collaborative study of more than 126,000 people correlated millions of genetic variants with educational attainment and discovered three genetic variants associated with it.
Education attainment is correlated with cognitive performance, so given these two observations, we tested the genetic variants for education attainment with their associations with cognitive performance, which we report in PNAS today.
We tested 69 genetic variants from the educational attainment study (of almost 107,000 people) in independent samples of 24,000 people who had a cognitive performance score. This two-stage strategy is called a “proxy-phenotype method” since educational attainment is a proxy phenotype (an observable characteristic or trait) for cognitive performance.
The essence of this design was to piggy-back on a much larger study from a correlated trait (educational attainment) to pre-select a small number of genetic variants. These were then tested for association with cognitive performance – a bit like leveraging a large study on the genetics of weight to find genes for diabetes.
Three genetic variants (out of thousands)
Previously, using a genome-wide study in a sample of 18,000 individuals, we could not identify a single genetic variant associated with cognitive performance. Using the new proxy strategy, though, we identified three genetic variants associated with cognitive performance. As expected from the calculation, the effects of these variants on cognitive performance are tiny.
A copy of each variant accounts for only 0.3 points on a standard IQ test (with a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15). A person who inherits all six copies (note: one genetic variant has two copies) of increasing variants differs by 1.8 points compared to individual who inherits none. That’s a small difference.
Another interesting finding from our study is related to the potential relevance to our health. A combination of genetic effect calculated from 60 education attainment-associated variants is correlated with memory and absence of dementia in an independent sample of almost 9,000 individuals.
While it is premature to suggest the biological function of the genes identified, our additional analysis suggests that the genes are related to synaptic plasticity – the main mechanism in the brain for learning and memory.
The take-away message
This study of normal variation in cognitive performance confirms that there is no gene with a large effect on this trait. There is no “gene for intelligence” – instead, cognitive performance is likely to be influenced by thousands of genes, each having a small effect.
While the individual effect of the genetic variants are extremely small, their identification may lead to knowledge of the biological pathways involved in cognitive performance and cognitive ageing. This insight may eventually lead us into a better understanding of the mechanism involves in memory loss and dementia.
Finally, because individual gene effects are small, an implication of the study is that even larger studies, for example on millions of people, will lead to the discovery of many more gene variants. |
The end of summer is fast approaching, but there’s plenty more heat to come from Gears of War 4 this September! This month, we’ve got news on the latest maps, major matchmaking improvements and a look ahead to the future of the game. Let’s get to it.
This Month’s Maps
Mercy
The classic Gears of War 3 battleground set in the hometown of Dominic Santiago’s wife, Maria, makes its much-anticipated return in Gears of War 4!
Now set in the end stages of winter, the fights you know and love are all here – including the close-quarters pew battles inside the church and the fight to dominate the high ground in the center of the map – playing just like you remember.
Harbor Haze
Prepare for nerve-shaking combat in Harbor Haze! This new take on Harbor is set during the day, and introduces a brand-new mist mechanic that envelopes the battlefield.
The mist can roll in from the sea at any time, dramatically reducing visibility and providing the perfect opportunity for surprise attacks or sneaky flanks. The mist changes the dynamics combat drastically – if you’re brave enough to find out how.
Both of these maps are available now in the Developer Playlist with Double XP and 20% Bonus Credits for Season Pass holders. Look for them in Public Matchmaking for all players beginning on September 12th!
New Achievements
This month, we’re adding 500G of new achievements to Gears of War 4! After the hardcore Horde and Campaign achievements included with Rise of the Horde, this new list introduces 20 new achievements focused on your first moments with the game. For many of you, you’ll have these new achievements instantly awarded the day you turn on the game.
If you’re new to Gears 4, these achievements are the perfect on-ramp for your first 10 hours in the game. Yet to jump in? Stay tuned for news on our Game Trial returning September 14th!
Matchmaking Improvements
This month also brings major improvements to your matchmaking experience in Gears of War 4! In the coming weeks, we’ll be switching from Region Locked matchmaking (matching you only with players in your choice of Region) to a new Quality of Service matchmaking system.
What does this mean for you? We’ll match you on local data centers with players of similar connection quality more often, resulting in fairer and better quality matches every time you play.
On top of this new system, we’ve also improved the Skill Based Matchmaking to give you better quality skill matchups on top of better network quality, arriving mid-September with…
More to come this September
…ranked Season 2! In Mid-September, we’ll be ending the first Ranked Season and handing out those glorious Reward Weapon Skins for eligible players. Ranked Season 2 resets the playing field, and you’ll need to go back out there and earn your Ranks again in each playlist.
We’ll also have two new Gear Packs this month beginning with the return of the Locust Sniper. On top of that, we’ll have a brand new special event for Versus and a Bonus Loot Drop event in our 25 wave Horde experience – Horde Frenzy!
The Future of Gears of War 4
Next month marks the first anniversary of Gears of War 4 (can you believe it?!) and the arrival of the final two maps in our 24 map plan for the first year of Gears of War 4. We’ve come a long way since October 2016 – here’s just a few stats on our journey so far:
Released 22 additional maps, with two more yet to drop, for a total of 34 maps in Gears 4!
Added new multiplayer characters and weapon skins to earn and show off your skills
Delivered new game-changing features including Competitive Lobby, Rise of the Horde and a whole lot more!
18 special events across Versus and Horde including holiday-themed favorites
Added 38 achievements and 1000G to showcase your Gears skills
Stats aren’t the only story of this journey though. You – our amazing fans – have played more than 10 BILLION minutes of Gears of War 4. You’ve helped us refine the game with valuable tuning feedback, entertained us with your streams and videos, and humbled us with your stories of friendship, competition and even love over the past 11 months. All of this drives us every day at the studio and we want to thank you for the incredible support so far.
So does this journey end with our final map drop in October?
Not at all. Though October may signal the end of our monthly maps and feature updates for Gears of War 4, we’re far from done.
We will continue to support Gears of War 4 with a wealth of new content, events and more throughout 2018! Here’s just a few of the ways Gears of War 4 will continue to grow over the next year:
Our Xbox One X Enhanced Update, featuring support for 4K, HDR, Dolby Atmos and new graphical enhancements
New Gear Packs containing characters and weapon skins to add to your collection.
Monthly Versus and Horde events with exclusive challenge-based rewards
Major Seasonal events like ‘11 Years of Gears,’ ‘Gearsmas’ and – yes – ‘Thanksgibbing!’
Ranked Seasons with skill placement rewards
Gears of War Esports Season 2 kicks off with the Mexico City Open on October 13 th , so mark your calendars and catch up on all the event information here
, so mark your calendars and catch up on all the event information here Continual balancing improvements to Versus and Horde
Refinements to ‘Casual’ mode in Campaign with increased player health and damage dealt
New achievements
We’ll have a lot of news to share about our huge multi-month anniversary events, like ‘Thanksgibbing,’ ‘Gearsmas’ and more in the coming months. We’re also working on additional benefits for our Season Pass holders as we move into Year Two – look out for news coming in October.
Thank you for all your continued support, feedback and passion. Here’s to another year of Gears of War 4!
-TC |
Trump’s critics are throwing a party for a rogue Twitter employee who made the President’s Twitter account temporarily disappear.
His posts keep the world posted and on edge, but for more than a few minutes Thursday night, his account disappeared before it went back to normal. Trump has used his Twitter account to share announcements, unload off-the-cuff commentary and notoriously, to issue incendiary strikes.
Later Thursday evening, Twitter posted a message from its Government and Elections team sharing that the president’s account was deleted “due to human error by a Twitter employee.” According to the tweet, Trump’s @realDonaldTrump was down for 11 minutes before being restored to its former status.
Twitter’s government account later shared an update. “A Twitter customer support employee who did this on the employee’s last day.”
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For Trump’s part, on Friday morning, he responded about the “rogue employee.”
With that tweet, Twitter served up an irresistible meal for his critics who gleefully snapped up the opportunity to celebrate the mystery employee, spreading praise through pop culture memes.
Many championed this mystery employee and imagined what it looked like when he or she rode out of the office that day.
Peggy Olsen’s infamous Mad Men power walk was a popular choice.
A resistance account invoked Beyonce.
And there were several other takes that referenced pop culture walking out moments.
Someone worked in a joke about a certain opponent.
Write to Ashley Hoffman at [email protected]. |
Using playing cards to store hidden data: The Implied Card Method for
Encoding Data Into Playing Cards.
Introduction:
How it works:
The Basic Implied Card Method:
The Basic Method used to encoding letters of the alphabet:
The Recursive Implied Card Method:
Encryption:
Using the methods outside of the world of cards:
Points about the methods:
Here I explain my method of hiding messages and data in a deck of playing cards. The method encodes binary bits into the cards, usually resulting in many more bits of data being stored than there are cards. Depending on the nature of the particular bits being encoded, it can store from 52 to 1,378 bits of data. I have no idea if this method already exists, but I haven't seen it anywhere else. The method can also be used to encode letters of the alphabet (English or otherwise) in a way that, on average, fewer than two cards are needed to represent one letter. In more straightforward methods these would be impossible. My method also means that the data can be encrypted within the cards to the security level of a one-time pad. The concept can be used outside of the world of cards in any collection of items that has a set order, such as numbers or the alphabet.[Note from 2016: When I first thought of the idea, I didn't really put much thought into the non-card uses of the Implied Card concept. Now I think that that using it with plain numbers is actually the most interesting aspect. See the last section for this, here .]Having a vague understanding of binary will help in understanding the following explanations. The basis of my ideas here treat each card as a binary "bit". In this way each card represents either a one or a zero.There are two related methods: the Basic Implied Card Method and the Recursive Implied Card Method. The Basic Implied Card Method is more straightforward to encode and decode with, but has a slightly lower capacity for storing data.This method involves having a set order for a pack of cards. Each card's position in the pack represents a 1 or 0. If the card is absent from its position, then there is an implied 0; if the card is present then it represents a 1. As we know the order of the pack we can tell if a card is absent. As an example, if the second card of a pack is absent, but the first, third and fourth are present, then the binary bits represented are 1, 0, 1, 1.If we put the removed cards at the back of the pack as we do the encoding, then we can use those cards again when they next come around. The previously absent cards will have their own calculable order and we can continue to know which cards are absent from their correct position all the way through the pack.The more 0s in our binary number, the fewer cards we will need to encode it. A 0 bit doesn't reduce the number of cards available for further numbers.If we map the 26 letters of the English alphabet ordered by frequency onto 5-bit binary numbers ordered by the number of 1s in them, then we can encode text fairly efficiently. To start with, the letter "e" will be represented by 00000 and so every "e" won't reduce the number of cards available to encode further letters. The next most common letters will use the fewest amount of cards. Paradoxically, if we use 7-bit binary numbers to encode cards, despite using longer numbers, we will end up using fewer cards and being able to store longer messages. This is because all the letters of the alphabet can be represented by binary numbers containing two or fewer 1s in them. All the zeroes will be reused for later letters.This is an addition to the Basic Method which can encode even more binary numbers. It takes advantage of the fact that it's possible to deduce which cards were used to represent 1s in the first part of an encoded pack before the point where the "absent" cards were reused, by looking at the state of the pack later on. As we can work this out, we don't actually need those cards to be in the final pack for it still to be decoded correctly. These cards can therefore be used again to represent more binary numbers. A proportion of *these* reused cards can again have their existence and position deduced from later cards, which again means they don't need to be there, and they too can be used again. We can keep reusing cards in this way for several iterations depending on the nature of the binary numbers being encoded into the cards.The two methods can be decoded by anyone who understands the encoding method, however any decoding relies on knowing the original order of the pack of cards. Without knowing the original order of the cards, it would be impossible to decode them. If the cards are shuffled before the encoding starts, the encoded data will end up encrypted to the level of a one time pad. The only way to recover the data would be to know the original order. One way of keeping a record of the original order is to duplicate it with a second pack of cards before the encoding begins.The methods work not only with playing cards, but also with any series of items that have an implied set order. For example: numbers, the alphabet, alphabetised words, piles of coins and so on.- There is only a set number of possible permutations of cards in a pack (the factorial of 52). Some people have suggested that the maximum theoretical number of bits that could be encoded into a pack of cards is 225 (actually 225.581 = log2(52!)). However the Implied methods' ability to encode data varies greatly according to the nature of the bits being encoded. Without recursion, this varies from 52 bits (resulting in the pack of cards being in its original order) all the way up to 1,378 bits (resulting in the pack being in reverse order).- If the number we are encoding consists entirely of 1s then the pack can only contain 52 bits. As there are no 0s, no cards can be reused. We can't use the Recursive Method either as there is nowhere to split the pack.- I'm only aware of two proper flaws where the basic or recursive methods will fail:1: If there are multiple 0 bits encoded at the very end of the pack, then these can end up being decoded as nonsense or not decoded at all. If there are ten cards left in the encoding and we want to encode 10 consecutive 0 bits then we would pass them all to the back of the pack where they would end up in exactly the same position as before. Therefore to avoid this, the encoding sometimes has to stop while there are still unused cards left.2: If there are cards that remain unused at the end of the pack, then they will be decoded as 1s. When decoding text, it is obvious that we have reached the end of the message, but when decoding binary numbers of an uncertain length, there are situations when it might become confusing - it might not be clear if the end of the message is all 1s or if we have finished the message. One way to reduce this problem is to work in 4-bit (or higher) groups rather than with individual bits. If we work with 4-bit numbers and there are three cards left at the end of the pack, then we know for sure to ignore them. Another option, if we are using set bit length numbers, is to select a particular number to act as an escape character.- On various websites linking here, people have mentioned Bruce Schneier's " Solitaire " idea as featured in the book "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson. My and Bruce Schneier's methods are unrelated, save for the fact they both use cards and can be used for encryption. My method stores data *within* a deck of cards, whilst his uses the deck as a key to encrypt data kept elsewhere. His method is more useful if you want to encrypt a lot of data, while mine could be more useful if you want to smuggle a shorter hidden message without any possibility of detection. Although I was aware that Bruce Schneier had invented a card encryption system, I didn't really understand what it did until after I had thought this up and decided to make sure I wasn't just copying him.The rest of these pages give a thorough explanation of the Implied Card Method with various examples. |
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This is an opinion piece by MLive.com reporter Kyle Meinke.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Rick Wagner was limping through the locker room. So was Graham Glasgow, who had a wrap on his left knee. In the far corner, Ameer Abdullah wasn't moving so great after rolling his ankle. And T.J. Lang was leaning against his locker as he held court with a small group of reporters.
Perhaps that's just how he wanted to stand. Or, perhaps, it had something to do with getting speared in the back so hard that the officials upstairs thought he might have sustained a concussion.
After watching him dip into the trainers' room after his chat, that seems like a good bet.
Minnesota features one of the most violent defensive lines in the game, and everyone except Greg Robinson appeared to be dealing with some kind of injury on Detroit's front. The Vikings took their best swing, and punched Detroit right in the face.
Just ask Matthew Stafford. He was sacked six times, something that hadn't happened since back when Detroit was trying to install the Cooter Ball offense on a flight to Europe. This might have been his worst game of 2017.
According to ProFootballFocus, he was Detroit's worst player on the field.
Yet the Lions won. Again.
"The biggest thing coming off today's performance is, obviously, you know, a good win for us on the road against a division opponent," Lang said after the 14-7 win. "But I don't think anybody's sitting in here celebrating. Guys know we have a lot of work to do, especially on offense, to get to where the rest of the team is playing at. And once we do that, we'll kind of separate ourselves as a football team. A lot of good things will happen.
"It hasn't been pretty week in and week out, but we're sitting in here 3-1 and in a good spot."
Nobody in the Lions locker room has won more than Lang, a longtime Packer, so perhaps it should be no surprise that the offensive lineman is so good at putting wins into perspective.
Consider Detroit's last victory, in New York against the Giants. Lang was the last man standing in that locker room. Everyone else was long gone for the trainers room or the postgame spread or the team bus. And he stood there with one foot on a stool, arm resting on his leg, answering every single question put to him.
He just kept saying, over and over, the Lions had a hell of team. He said it at least four times. We kept asking different questions. He kept saying the Lions had a hell of a team.
And it's time we believe him.
The Lions are sitting atop the NFC North at 3-1. They're good enough to win the division too. They should at least make the playoffs, that much is clear. They could -- and I know this is sacrilege to say in Detroit -- but they could advance once they're there.
Look at the teams that compete for championships. They almost always have a good quarterback, almost always win the turnover battle, and almost always are good enough to win in different ways. And with a quarter of the season in the books, it's obvious Detroit is all of these things.
Watching the Lions every year has a way of conditioning people to be suspicious of nice things. Like last year, when the Lions advanced to the playoffs but then were immediately broomed by Seattle. But that team did almost all of its damage relying on Stafford. Without his fourth-quarter comebacks, Detroit would have been a losing team.
Just look at what happened here in Minnesota last year. The Lions were at their own 25-yard line with no timeouts, and trailing by three with just 27 seconds left. Their win probability was, literally, 1 percent.
They needed an actual miracle. So Stafford put on his cape, threw two perfect passes, then rushed to the line to stop the clock. And even after executing everything so perfectly, Detroit had only 2 seconds to spare as Matt Prater teed up the second-longest kick in team history.
He made it, of course, and the Lions won in overtime. Fun stuff. But hardly sustainable.
And that's what makes this team so different. They don't need miracles. They just punch back, often harder. They won their first two games by double digits, something only one other NFC team did. They went toe to toe with that one other team last week, and lost to the Falcons by about 6 inches -- on a day when they didn't force a punt until late in the fourth quarter.
Then they went back on the road to face the co-division leading Vikings, and watched their most important player turn into their worst player on the field. And they never even trailed in the fourth quarter.
Yeah. This team is different.
The Lions squeezed just 14 turnovers out of last season. They already have 11 this year, including two that turned around Sunday's game. Anthony Zettel and Tahir Whitehead hopped on fumbles to open the second half, which flipped a 7-3 deficit into a 14-7 lead.
Minnesota kept punching. But Detroit kept punching harder. When the Vikings drove to the goal line late in the fourth, Zettel crushed the scoring opportunity by dropping Case Keenum for a sack. When the Vikings got a quick defensive stop and one more shot, Glover Quin stripped Adam Thielen from behind and Whitehead pounced on another ball.
Oh yeah. This team is different all right.
This is what good teams do. They turn people over. They win games when they're not at their best. They win games in different ways. One week, it's the safeties. Another week, it's Stafford. This week, it's Zettel.
Next week, who knows?
Nobody is suspicious of nice things more than Lions fans. Six decades of getting your ears kicked in will do that. But this team is different. It's OK to believe in them. It's OK to admit they're good, because that's exactly what they are. The only question is just how good.
Just take it from the dude who knows good football better than anyone else in that locker room. Take it from Lang, once again the last man to head for the bus because he wanted to tell anyone who would listen, yes, it's OK to believe.
"When your defense is playing elite football, and your special teams are keeping you around in games, I think we all kind of understand when our offense gets to that level, we won't have to make every game close," Lang said. "We're a dangerous football team."
Indeed. |
San Bernardino, California (CNN) As federal authorities attempt to piece together the circumstances surrounding last week's terrorist attack in San Bernardino , their far-flung investigation has taken them as far away as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
But they have also returned, again and again, to a much closer source of clues: The house next door to the boyhood home of killer Syed Rizwan Farook
Their efforts there are focused on a bespectacled former Walmart employee, Enrique Marquez, and his purchase of a pair of rifles used in the attack that claimed 14 lives
Marquez has acknowledged that he bought the two AR-15s for Farook several years ago.He's also told investigators about a 2012 attack plot that he says he and Farook conceived but did not carry out , U.S. officials told CNN.
Marquez told investigators that part of the reason the two abandoned their plans was that around that time, they were spooked by unrelated FBI arrests of four people charged with attempting to travel abroad to carry out jihad.
Investigators are still trying to corroborate information provided by Marquez and haven't verified details of the alleged plot. Officials caution that Marquez's claim of a 2012 attack could turn out to be false and an attempt to deflect his role in helping buy weapons that Farook later used in the San Bernardino shootings last week.
Marquez, 24, has not been charged with any crime and has told investigators he didn't know about the plans for the San Bernardino attack. Since the shootings, he has waived his Miranda rights, cooperated with investigators and provided information, according to the officials.
Marquez could not be reached for comment. No attorney has come forward.
Mother: He is a good person
Marquez's mother, Armida Chacon, told reporters outside her home Thursday she had no knowledge of her son's involvement in events leading up to the shooting. A sobbing Chacon said: "He was a good person. How would I know? I didn't know," adding that she has not been interviewed by investigators.
"He was a good young man. Whatever I asked him to do he would do. He watched over his brothers. He helped me a lot. He was my right hand around the house," she said after requesting that journalists turn off their cameras before she would speak.
"I want to be left in peace. When I am ready, I will sit down and talk to you. My life changed since Wednesday," Chacon said. "My son is a good person. A good person. The rest, I don't know how it happened. I want to see him."
Authorities initially said they did not believe Marquez had any involvement in the San Bernardino shooting plot carried out by Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik , law enforcement officials said. But his role is continuing to be evaluated as he cooperates with investigators and they assess his information, officials said.
FBI Assistant Director David Bowdich was tight-lipped when asked about his status in the investigation at a news conference earlier this week. "I'm not prepared to discuss Mr. Marquez at this point," Bowdich said.
Related by marriage
According to county records, Marquez and Farook are related by marriage, and the address on his marriage license is the current address of Farook's father. Marquez was married last year with Farook's brother as a witness.
He converted to Islam several years ago and attended the same mosque as other members of the Farook family.
Marquez, who was a state licensed security guard until his license expired last year, checked himself into a mental health facility in the wake of the attacks, according to law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
According to officials, Marquez told investigators that he and Farook were on the path to radicalization as early as 2011. That same year, Marquez bought the first of two rifles for Farook.
Marquez gave the rifles to Farook shortly after purchasing them but did not report the transfer of ownership, two law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
Such transactions could be a violation of California law, the officials said.
Home raided, job terminated
Heavily armed FBI agents descended on his home on Tomlinson Avenue in Riverside early Saturday to serve a search warrant, waking neighbors with a bullhorn announcement for the occupants to come to the door. Agents ultimately forced entry through the garage. They returned a day later for a consensual search to retrieve items not covered in the scope of the warrant, according to a law enforcement official.
Agents also visited the Walmart store in Corona where Marquez worked. A spokesman for the retailer said Marquez has worked for Walmart since May, but "the decision has been made to terminate him."
A co-worker who asked not to be named said she was twice interviewed by FBI agents earlier this week. They asked about Marquez's personality and interests, the co-worker said.
In a brief interview with CNN, she said she told investigators she had no knowledge of Marquez using weapons or of having any link to the killers, whom she did not know. She did not associate with Marquez outside of work, she said.
Neighbors and car-work buddies
JUST WATCHED Where were San Bernardino suspects trained? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Where were San Bernardino suspects trained? 02:30
Neighbors of the Tomlinson Avenue homes where Marquez and Farook lived next door to one another recalled the two working on cars together but did not know whether their relationship extended beyond that shared interest.
One neighbor, who asked not to be named, said Marquez seemed like a nice young man. "He was a good guy," the neighbor said.
Another neighbor, Freddy Escamilla, said he'd recently run into Marquez on the street and that he was typically subdued, nodding hello but not saying much.
"He never really talked to anyone," Escamilla said, adding that he was "really introverted. Very introverted."
Marquez converted to Islam and attended mosque sermons on and off for a couple years, said Azmi Hasan, who has served as facility manager of the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco since 2000.
Hasan said Marquez acted goofy, describing one instance when he saw him outside the mosque laughing out loud to himself. When approached by Hasan about what was so funny, Marquez said he wasn't laughing.
Hasan said Marquez attended sermons by himself but stopped coming about two years ago. He said he ran into Marquez, who he recalled as quiet and introverted, at a party and asked why he hadn't been coming to sermons more often.
When questioned about why he wasn't coming to sermons, Marquez would say he was busy, according to Hasan. At one point, Hasan said, Marquez responded that Islam was not working for him.
Hasan said Syed Rizwan Farook's sister and brother-in-law also attended the mosque but that he'd never seen Marquez in their company. |
The seeding for the NCAA women's water polo tournament turned out to be quite accurate: The top-seeded Stanford Cardinal took home the 2014 NCAA championship with a win over No. 2 UCLA, and Pac-12 representatives finished in first through fifth place. Here's how the final competitions of the season went on Sunday at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
The Cardinal trailed the Bruins 5-2 with seconds left in the first half before a shot by Anna Yelizarova went into the goal with a second remaining before the intermission. That was the first of seven consecutive scores for Stanford, which outscored UCLA 6-0 in the second half to win, 9-5, giving the program its third national championship in four years. Annika Dries led the Cardinal with three goals while Maggie Steffens got involved with a single score to go with three assists.
National Champs! Stanford beats UCLA, 8-5, for NCAA title #4! #gostanford — Stanford Water Polo (@Stanfordh2opolo) May 12, 2014
The Bruins' hot first half wasn't enough. They got 21 shots on the goal for the day and held strong with goalkeeper Sami Hill recording nine saves, but the attack couldn't get decent enough looks at the goal in the second half. Kelly Ronimus scored a goal for UCLA and also had an assist each to Alexa Tielmann and Kodi Hill.
Last season's NCAA champion USC Trojans couldn't overcome the second-seeded UCLA Bruins on Saturday, but they recovered on Sunday to take third place in an 11-8 win against the California Golden Bears. Monica Vavic and Eike Daube did the heavy lifting, scoring three times apiece. Kaleigh Gilchrist added a score and three assists, and goalkeeper Flora Bolonyai had 10 saves on the afternoon.
Congrats to the Women of Troy! 11-8 win against the Bears! USC claims the 3rd place spot in the @NCAA_Water_Polo Championship #FightOn — USC Water Polo (@USCWaterPolo) May 11, 2014
Ashley Young and Roser Tarrago led the No. 4 seed Golden Bears with two scores apiece, but Cal struggled to keep pace with the Trojans. The Golden Bears trailed 10-4 until a 4-1 scoring frenzy in their advantage in the final 2:30 of the fourth quarter.
Arizona State's Petra Pardi scored two goals and assisted Ao Gao for another score to push the Sun Devils past the UC Irvine Anteaters, 6-5, on Sunday to finish the season in fifth place. ASU had some catching up to do by falling behind 3-0 before Pardi found Gao for the first of three consecutive scores. The victory, which came a day after the Sun Devils' first NCAA win, finished off the team's first NCAA tournament appearance on a high note. |
So-so
How good is British TV? No, I'm really asking.
Okay, guys… I'm sorry, this might not be warranted but I'm doing it anyway: what's the big deal with British television? Yes, I love Sherlock and the episodes of Doctor Who I've seen have been fun, but are they really the best shows ever?
I mean, I feel like everyone takes a dump on American television because of Two and a Half Men and Jersey Shore, but honestly, has Great Britain ever turned out anything as well-constructed and engaging as Breaking Bad, or anything as heartbreakingly realistic as The Wire? And, guys, I'm seriously asking here. Please, tell me that they have and I'll shut up. I don't have a HUGE all-encompassing knowledge of British TV.
But I also think that's part of the problem. Yes, if there were thousands of British TV shows and they were all as good as Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Downton Abbey, but there's gotta be more out there that doesn't make it across the pond, right? And, let's be honest, the third season Downton Abbey was pretty crummy.
Yes, I'm overstating my point because it's easier to start a lively that way, but I really want to know, what am I missing about Anglophilic television tastes?
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The Berkeley School Board voted Wednesday to scrap the name of LeConte Elementary School, which was selected more than a century ago in honor of racist conservationist Joseph LeConte.
The unanimous vote sets in motion an effort to select a new name for the South Berkeley school, sometimes spelled “Le Conte,” by summer.
Berkeleyside reported earlier this week on the parental and staff campaign to discontinue the name LeConte after it was discovered that the accomplished UC Berkeley geologist and conservationist not only owned slaves in Georgia, but continued speaking and writing about the inferiority of black people — and the “blood purity of the higher race” — for decades after the Civil War.
In a presentation to the board Wednesday, BUSD community relations director Natasha Beery noted that LeConte built explosives for the Confederacy during the war. When the war ended, he was an outspoken critic of the suffrage of emancipated slaves and later of women, out of step with many in Berkeley at the time, said Beery, who studied the namesake in preparation for the vote.
LeConte Elementary parents, many of whom signed a petition in favor of a name change, urged the School Board to act quickly.
“It’s clear Joseph LeConte was an outspoken white supremacist who likely would not have been in favor of educating many of the students — the majority of students — that walk the halls of our school, simply because they’re children of color,” said PTA president Leah Martens at the meeting.
School Board members also spoke passionately about their belief that LeConte was not an appropriate namesake for a school. The elementary school is in the process of becoming the district’s fully bilingual immersion campus, and parents and board members said the name was especially unreflective of the school’s new identity.
Board member Josh Daniels, a Berkeley native, said it is important to reckon with past decisions.
“It’s really interesting to learn about the history and the place I’ve called home my whole life, and for many reasons I’m very proud of, but also to not try to hide from the fact that there was redlining in Berkeley,” for example, he said.”We, like the rest of this country, have a history we cannot ignore and should not always be proud of.”
Board president Ty Alper read from passages of LeConte’s writings he had found to be egregious, as well as from an email sent to him Wednesday by a woman whose ancestors were enslaved on LeConte’s plantation. She wrote that she has documentation showing LeConte bought her relatives for $25-$500, and that his botanical garden in Georgia was built with their free labor.
“It has made me sick to my stomach to see his name on schools,” she wrote in the email Alper read aloud.
Nobody at the board meeting spoke in favor of maintaining the name, but some neighbors expressed their frustration with the process that led up to the vote. Some said that despite what the district has said, they were not notified about a community meeting on the issue that was held in October.
The board’s fairly new policy on renaming facilities does not require the district to involve the community outside of the school walls in the de-naming effort — which is a mistake, said Mark Coplan, former BUSD spokesman and LeConte neighbor. He said at the board meeting that he pleaded with the board to include mandatory input from neighbors in the policy when it was being drafted.
“Please let’s have a community process,” said Gianna Ranuzzi, president of the LeConte Neighborhood Association. “This is a very good educational opportunity… I don’t see why we can’t wait.”
“I respectfully disagree with the assertion that the neighbors have an equal stake with the students, staff and families” of a school, Daniels said in response. If there were physical changes to the facility that affected neighboring households, that would be a different story, he said.
Board member Judy Appel said the district could do a better job of including the neighbors in the selection of a new name, as schools are “part of the fabric” of a neighborhood.
“This is a lesson that we need to make sure to really include the neighborhood in the recommendations that are going to come to this board for renaming the school,” she said. The board’s policy on renaming a school requires three community meetings.
In other forums, some residents have said they are concerned the name change will begin a trend wherein the many complex and problematic namesakes of institutions in Berkeley will all be questioned, leading to the methodic erasure of history. Columbus Elementary was already renamed Rosa Parks Elementary in 2000.
Board members said they think all de-naming proposals should be considered with skepticism and on their individual merits. The board policy prevents multiple renaming efforts from occurring simultaneously and calls for a review of the effectiveness of the policy before a new effort is initiated.
“We’ve built into this process a sort of moratorium,” Alper said at the meeting.
But, he said of the LeConte decision: “This was an easy case.” |
By Sandipan Sharma
Jaipur: If you want to find out what is wrong with the Congress in Rajasthan, spend some time in Mandawa, nearly 200 km from Jaipur.
State Congress chief Chandrabhan is the party’s candidate in Mandawa. The talk here is not if Chandrabhan would win. Everybody is keen just to find out if the Congress stalwart would be able to save his deposit. In a quadrangular race, Chandrabhan is currently the favourite among voters and bookies to hobble home last.
Mandawa is busting every poll myth build and destroying the Congress party’s rural legend. For decades it has been a Congress bastion. The electorate is dominated by Jats and Muslims. The BJP has not won even once from here. Ergo, for Jat leader, PCC president, chief Raje basher, secularism posterboy Chandrabhan the Mandawa contest should have been a walk in the park. Or so he would have thought before the interest shifted to his pecking order among losers.
In Mandawa, Jats have deserted the Congress and Muslims are divided between two rebels and BJP candidate Salim Tanwar. The Congress votebank has gone bust. In a desperate bid to survive, Chandrabhan is asking people to read between the lines. Chandrabhan is insinuating that he, a Jat, could be the chief minister if the Congress wins. But voters say this is a stale joke.
Mandawa, in essence, explains why Ashok Gehlot is in trouble. Just like in Mandawa, almost everywhere in Rajasthan, the traditional Congress voter is deserting it.
Jats are not just upset. They have become mutinous. Muslims are either silent or putting up their own candidates. Add to this the ongoing polarization of urban votes and youth because of Narendra Modi’s influence and appeal. No wonder, even die-hard Congress fans are predicting that the party would win around 80 seats and then enlist others to form the government.
Chhaju Bhansali, 55, runs a small business in Shekhawati. In local parlance he is called a chunavi keeda, a colourful expression for election addicts. An inquisitive crowd gravitates towards Chhaju as he rattles off trends and satta rates in a busy Mandawa market. Somebody asks him how many seats the Congress will win. "Dhoondte reh jaoge," he replies tersely and dismisses the conversation.
Many chunavi keedas like Chhaju are predicting an anti-Congress wave, something that Modi is helping the BJP ride. With the poll scene becoming clear after the last date for withdrawal of names, the momentum has shifted towards the BJP and Kirori Meena’s NPP in eastern Rajasthan.
The fact that people are moving towards candidates who are best placed to beat the Congress is a clear indicator of the strong anti-incumbency mood. Out of the six major regions of Rajasthan, the Congress is perceived to be in the contest in just two—Mewar (Udaipur) and Hadauti (Kota).
Everywhere else its candidates are just completing the chorus. BJP, rebels, NPP, BSP, CPM and other small parties have pushed the Congress out.
"The Congress can still win the election," says JP Sharma, 50, of Sirsila village in Churu. "It should get TV coverage of Modi rallies banned immediately. Gaon ka chhora bawla hora hai Modi ke peeche (Rural boys are crazy for Modi),” he argues in the local dialect.
But a ban on TV wasn't the Congress’ last wish. Gehlot and his men were hoping that the BJP would flounder during ticket distribution and its rebels would help the Congress.
There were muted celebrations in the Congress camp for a few days as many powerful BJP rebels jumped into the fray. But the BJP contained the mutiny by making most of them withdraw. There are still many in the fray. But the revolt has turned into a minor protest.
Gaurishankar Mandawewala, 65, is a former chairperson of Churu municipality. At a meeting of BJP workers in Churu, he gets to speak with Vasundhara Raje, after she addresses the gathering on her cellphone. "She was laughing uproariously. I can sense she is brimming with confidence," says Mandawewala after his chat.
Raje has managed to get her act together just in time for a blitzkrieg across Rajasthan. Her election rallies, combined with the nearly two dozen meetings Modi is scheduled to address, may strengthen the fire building up against the Congress.
To his credit, Gehlot made every attempt to turn the tide. He gave more tickets to candidates from castes that form the loyal base of the party. He allowed CP Joshi, Sis Ram Ola and Bhanwar Jitendra Singh to field their supporters. He preferred many fresh faces. But with the anti-Congress mood becoming the common denominator, his arithmetic has failed.
With just a fortnight left for elections, both on paper and in the field, Gehlot’s chances of becoming the chief minister again look slimmer than those of Sachin Tendulkar reconsidering his retirement.
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Washington, DC: Fifty-five percent of Americans favor making cannabis legal for adults, according to the findings of a CNN/ORC International survey released this week. The percentage is the highest ever reported by the survey, which has been tracking public opinion on the issue since 1973, and marks a 12-point jump in support since the last time pollsters posed the question in 2012.
Respondents' support for legalizing marijuana was influenced by age, gender, political affiliation, and place of residence. A strong majority of self-described Democrats (62 percent) and Independents (59 percent) favored legalization, but not Republicans (36 percent). Male respondents (51 percent) favored legalization at greater percentages than did women (49 percent). While support rates for people in the northeast (60%), the west (58%) and the midwest (57%) were similar, support among those in the south was lower (48%).
In response to a separate question, only 35 percent of those polled responded that consuming cannabis was "morally wrong" -- down from 70 percent in 1987, the last time pollsters posed the question. Nearly three-quarters of respondents also said that they believed that alcohol posed greater dangers to the consumer than did cannabis.
The CNN/ORC poll surveyed 1,010 Americans and possesses a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
The survey's findings are similar to those of a fall 2013 Gallup poll that reported nationwide support for legalizing marijuana at 58 percent, the highest level of support ever recorded in a national scientific poll.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, or Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director, at (202) 483-5500. |
Says Marco Rubio believes the earth is 9,000 years old and that humans hunted dinosaurs to extinction; says Rand Paul believes the earth is 10,000 years old and God removed dinosaurs "to make space for humans."
A new Facebook meme paints two leading Republicans as anti-science because of their alleged views of the age of the Earth.
The Facebook group Being Liberal posted a picture March 10, 2014, featuring side-by-side images of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., looking somewhat sheepish. Bolded text under the images describes the senators’ views on the age of the Earth and the extinction of the dinosaurs.
According to the meme, Rubio "believes Earth (is) 9,000 years old," and "humans hunted dinosaurs to extinction." Paul, the image proclaims, says the Earth is 10,000 years old and believes "God made dinosaurs disappear to make space for humans." The post received about 5,500 likes and was shared more than 4,000 times.
Upon seeing this, we couldn’t resist digging in and finding out just what these two senators believe about the age of the Earth and the demise of the dinosaurs.
Rubio
It seems the backing for the claim about Rubio comes from a November 2012 interview with GQ magazine, when Michael Hainey asked, "How old do you think the Earth is?"
Rubio didn’t directly answer the question, instead saying, "I'm not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians, and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States."
He later called the planet’s age "one of the great mysteries."
The comment drew criticism around the Internet, sparking a string of opinion pieces from blogs and mainstream news organizations alike. Commentators specifically wondered about Rubio’s answer because of his position on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
Rubio clarified his answer in another interview, this time with Politico on Dec. 5, 2012.
"First of all, let me tell you about the answer I gave. The answer I gave was actually trying to make the same point the president made a few years ago, and that is there is no scientific debate on the age of the Earth. I mean, it’s established, pretty definitively. It’s 4 and a half… at least four and half billion years old. I was referring to a theological debate, which is a pretty healthy debate," Rubio said.
So, Rubio didn’t actually peg the age of the Earth at 9,000 years in the GQ interview, and even gave the widely accepted scientific answer in the later interview with Politico.
Paul
We had to go all the way back to 2010 to find a statement from Paul about the age of the Earth. It turned out to be even more vague than Rubio’s answer to GQ.
In June 2010, Paul gave a speech at a Christian Homeschool Educators of Kentucky meeting, after which he took questions from the audience.
One audience member asked the then-candidate for Senate, "Was there a point in life that you became Christian that you recognized? And also, how old is the world?"
Paul joked at first, saying he was only taking "easy questions," and then described the origins of his faith. He then said he would "pass" on the question concerning the age of the Earth.
Other than that, Paul hasn’t made public comments on his opinions about when the Earth came to be.
Our ruling
Being Liberal’s Facebook post claimed Rubio and Paul believe the Earth is 9,000 and 10,000 years old, respectively. While both men have made vague statements concerning their beliefs about the age of the Earth, neither has publicly cited the figures claimed in the post, and Rubio has even given the widely held scientific answer to the question.
As for the senators’ views on the fate of the dinosaurs, we’ll take a page from Rubio’s playbook and call it one of the world’s great mysteries, because it doesn’t appear either has said anything in public regarding the issue.
So there are no public statements to back up the Facebook post’s claim, and Rubio has even said the direct opposite. We rate this claim Pants on Fire. |
Crime in Chicago has soared while other metropolitan cities have seen a major decline. To be exact, most crime in Chicago has not seen any major increases except for homicide. Homicides in Chicago in the first 8 months of the year have already soared beyond the sum of homicides in 2016. This begs the question of what is happening to cause this increase. In the months of both August and September, Chicago have more murders than LA and New York combined. If that is not disturbing enough. There were 10 murders in a single day in the month of September.
Where does this data come from?
This data set was sourced from Data.gov. You can find a list of data sets from both federal and local governmental bodies. Additionally, there are many scientific studies with live data sets.
How I built this Visualization
This was built using Tableau. I extracted the data from a giant excel and created 6 sheets and dashboard in Tableau. This was a pretty straight forward exercise.
This chart was built using two calculated fields that isolated 2015 and 2016 using a Boolean formula for the years, true or false. Then I put the crimes on the dimension shelf and number of records on the measures shelf. I chose a bar chart to represent the numbers. Then a sliding filter with types of crimes was added.
I
I used the latitude and longitude to produced to maps on two different sheets. I could isolate 2015 and 2016 using my calculated Boolean fields. Then I placed crimes on the filter and count of crimes on the details shelf and took off aggregation. This was repeated for another viz for 2016.
Daily crime statics was created using the date that was placed on the dimension shelf and number of records placed on the measures shelf. Types of crimes was added to the filters.
See More Vizzes
Notable Rappers Deaths
Fatalities by Dog Breed |
Numerous studies have shown the promising antibacterial effects of Melaleuca alternifolia, or tea tree essential oil. The study detailed here replicates in humans a 2004 in vitro study that used a dressing model over Petri dishes to determine the antimicrobial effects of the fumes of tea tree essential oil. The current study used the same dressing model with patients who had wounds infected with Staphylococcus aureus. Ten participants volunteered for the quasi-experimental study, and four of the 10 were used as matched participants to compare wound healing times between conventional treatment alone and conventional treatment plus fumes of tea tree essential oil. The results demonstrated decreased healing time in all but one of the participants treated with tea tree oil. The differences between the matched participants were striking. The results of this small investigational study indicate that additional study is warranted. |
“ Haven't you all felt it? She was never really gone. ” — Carla Grunwald [to the girls, about Alison]
Now You See Me, Now You Don't Season 4, Episode 12 Air Date August 27, 2013 Written by I. Marlene King and Bryan Holdman Directed by Norman Buckley Episode Guide Previous:
Bring Down the Hoe Next:
Grave New World
Now You See Me, Now You Don't is the twelfth episode of the fourth season and it marks the summer finale of Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars. This episode aired on August 27, 2013. The episode is referred to as "#WorldWarA" by ABC Family in its promos.
Contents show]
Summary
News of Travis’s testimony spreads through Rosewood and is seen by Aria, Emily, Spencer and Hanna in Spencer’s kitchen. It is revealed that the cops want Ashley to be in a lineup for Travis, and Hanna is worried about it.
A package addressed to the four girls is delivered to the house. Inside are Magic 8 balls for each of them, which spell out the phrase: “If she goes free, you’ll hear from me. Kisses —A”. They worry that if Hanna’s mom goes free, CeCe will come after them. Emily says to let her, but Spencer notes that she might have just declared “World War A”.
At the police station, Travis watches the lineup of women. At school, Ezra thanks Aria for stopping by the previous night. Aria says she is glad to be there for him as a friend, leaving Ezra looking disappointed. In the hall, Aria calls Jake and asks him if he wants to go to a poetry reading, but settles on a movie at her house instead.
After school, Hanna and Caleb go to the police station. Caleb sits with Ashley and she thanks Caleb for being there for Hanna. Caleb says that Hanna is a strong girl, and she gets it from Ashley. The district attorney arrives and breaks the news that they are clearing all charges against Ashley, and while Hanna and Ashley hug, Caleb nods a thank you to Travis.
Paige and Emily sit outside of the school. Paige says she is thrilled for Hanna and her mom, but is worried about Emily. Emily replies that A is a terrorist and it’s working on them. She says that they now know to look out for CeCe. Paige offers for Emily to stay with her at night, and Emily happily agrees.
At Hanna's house, Spencer worries about Toby, who has not been seen or heard from and has not been returning
her messages or calls. Ashley goes out to celebrate with Ted. Soon after, the girls receive another package.
They open it and find a small white coffin, and inside is a doll that represents Mona. They get a text from A, which threatens that if they don’t find Mona, the cops will think that they killed her. Hanna calls Radley to see if Mona is
still there, but in the meantime, Caleb stops by and they watch the news. A sketch of a blonde woman resembling CeCe is shown and wanted for questioning about the murder of Wilden. They are now all convinced that CeCe did, in fact, kill Wilden. Caleb notes that someone has to recognize her, and Emily says that they have to find Mona fast.
Off the phone with Radley, Hanna says that Mona is no longer a patient there and it is privileged information on whether she was released or moved elsewhere. Hanna, Paige and Emily go off to look for Mona while Spencer decides to ask Wren.
At Wren’s apartment, Spencer knocks but no one answers. It looks desertd inside. As she leaves, she sees Jenna’s old car, and looks back through the window, where someone has hastily stepped aside. It is Shana.
At school, Paige and Emily enter the French club and meet Jackie, a fellow student. Jackie says that Mona called the club and said that she would be there. She is surprised that Mona hasn’t shown up, since it was her welcome back party.
At The Brew, Toby cries while looking over memorabilia of him and his mother. He ignores another message from Spencer and comes across Shana, who gathers some papers and walks away. She drops a paper and he picks it up. It suggests that Melissa and Wren are moving in together despte being together before.
He goes to Spencer’s house and shows her the paper, while on the news, CeCe is identified and wanted for
Wilden's murder. Spencer tells Toby that she's angry that he didn't try to contact her and that he can't just disappear without a word, not after what happened the last time when she found who she thought was Toby dead in the woods. Toby apologizes and says that he stayed in Rosewood for her, and that breaking into Palmer’s car is the closest he wants to get to A, no longer wanting A's version of the truth.
Jake leaves from a movie date at Aria's house. Meanwhile, Hanna and Caleb sit in their car outside Mona’s house in case Mona arrives. Caleb still doesn’t trust her, but Hanna says that she stuck her neck out for her mom. Caleb says that if Mona is in trouble, it isn’t Hanna’s fault.
Emily is at Paige’s house, looking tense. Paige tells her not to worry and that she is safe here, but Emily says
she is worried about Mona. Paige says that she understands worrying about CeCe, but not Mona. Emily replies that they made Mona how she turned out to be, but Paige says that Alison did that. Emily says that they let her.
Aria runs into Ezra at The Brew, and they strike up a conversation about one of Aria’s poems about Ali amongst other pieces of literature. Meanwhile, the other liars and their respective lovers are shown. Aria kisses Ezra on the lips but they play it off. Red Coat watches from outside.
The next day, the four girls are gathered at Spencer’s house. None of them have found Mona and they are worried. Another package arrives; an empty black wooden box. However, Spencer opens it a certain way, thanks to her
expertise with magic tricks. A saw with a message appears in the box. "Watch me make a girl disappear. Kisses,
- A"
Toby and Caleb wait outside Mona’s house, noting that her parents are out of town. Caleb goes home while Toby stays. Back at Spencer’s, Hanna studies the box while the others go online to see if there are any magic shows going on nearby. They find one that is taking place in Ravenswood that very day, and they decide that it can’t be a coincidence. They head out for Ravenswood.
Outside Mona’s house, Jenna’s car, driven by Shana, pulls out of the driveway and Toby starts his car to follow it. He calls Spencer and tells her while the four girls pull into Ravenswood. Spencer tells the girls.
The girls find a sign leading them to Charlemagne’s Magic Show, an outdoor magic show hosted by a strange mime. The mime picks Aria for a disappearing act and after much hesitation, she agrees. The trick goes well, but afterwards, they notice that Emily is missing. They get a text from A that reads “leger de main”, which means “sleight of hand”. The girls realize that while they were distracted, A kidnapped Emily.
They call Emily’s cell, and she is awoken by the ringing, in a box. She tells the girls that she has no idea where she is and she begins to panic when she hears a saw coming for her. The girls turn and see Red Coat running away from them, turning a street corner.
The girls chase her into an old warehouse, and see a wooden coffin chained up on a conveyor belt, headed for an electric wood cutting saw. The girls race to the coffin and try to open it, with Emily screaming inside. They try to cut the chains, but it seems too late until Red Coat presses a button and stops the machine. The girls turn and see her leave the building, but there is another Red Coat heading up the stairs. The girls realize that there are two Red Coats, and while Hanna opens the coffin and gets Emily out, Aria chases one Red Coat while Spencer pursues the other.
Spencer follows her Red Coat down the street and into a building, while Aria chases the Red Coat that went up the stairs. On the upper floor of the warehouse, Aria’s Red Coat becomes cornered by Aria and a small fight ensues. Aria kicks her in the face, which dislodges her Ali mask to reveal CeCe's face.
“Give it up, CeCe!” Aria screams, but CeCe kicks Aria and climbs onto a rope hanging from the ceiling, before the rope snaps. Aria tries to save her, but her coat sleeve tears and CeCe falls ot the floor.
Spencer returns to the warehouse, breathless, and Aria gets downstairs. They are unsure if CeCe is unconscious or dead. Aria feels responsible for CeCe’s fall. The girls turn away from CeCe to console Aria, who wants to call the police. However, CeCe is still alive, and when the girls turn back, she's gone.
Spencer rushes the girls out of the warehouse quickly, saying that she needs to show them something. She says that the Red Coat she chased might have been Ali, because she waited for Spencer to catch up, as if making sure Spencer followed her.
They arrive at the apartment building Red
Coat brought Spencer to. They go up to the apartment and find the entire apartment filled with blown-up pictures of Alison— portraits, candid shots and more. In one painting, a small hole is cut out, and we see that someone, who is wearing mascara, is watching them.
There are whiteboards showing a timeline of each girl’s lives since the A text
messages began, reaching all the way back to Ali’s funeral. Hanna glances at some desks and sees a diary with a lock on it. She slides it into her pocket. The girls walk around the apartment and find a large computer system with multiple screens, all monitoring the police, the streets, and the girls’ alarm systems. They now know how A has been keeping tabs on all of them.
Toby follows Shana to River Valley Bed and Breakfast, which appears to be in Ravenswood. Mona knits on a porch and Shana approaches her. Mona asks if Shana is sure “she is okay with this”, but Shana says “she” doesn’t have a choice. She hands Mona an envelope. Toby watches the two talk.
Back in A’s lair, the girls try to hack A’s computer system. They call Caleb for help, who says that he will get on the next bus to Ravenswood.
Spencer finds A’s bank account, and it seems like A has formed a corporation. According to the document, CeCe is on the payroll. The girls wonder if A paid CeCe to dress up as Red Coat to lead the girls away from Ali.
Meanwhile, the person behind the painting continues to watch them.
Hanna opens a wardrobe and sees multiple men’s suits and shoes. “I think A is a guy,” she says. Emily picks up what appears to be a large scrapbook, filled with pictures of Ali posing, and she is wearing the same outfit in each one. Hanna says she remembered buying the shirt with Ali, and she had said that she'd needed it for a date that night with an older guy. Spencer guesses that it was Wren, but Aria doesn't think so, noticing that A has been keeping tabs on Wren, too.
Spencer insists that everything has to lead back to Board Shorts, and that the name of A’s company is the same name of Ali’s favorite beach in Cape May. The girls wonder if Board Shorts took these photos, and if that is who CeCe is working for. Meanwhile, Aria wonders off to another whiteboard, and sees a complete timeline for Ali. While Aria examines it, the girls find a letter to Board Shorts that reveals that Ali met him in Rosewood and she lied about her age — she had claimed to be eighteen, and she was planning on taking him to Cape May.
Aria calls the girls over to Ali’s timeline, and says that A hasn’t only been following the girls, but also Ali, too. He has pinned Ali to the fire at the lodge and has been following her trail to Ravenswood. The girls stare at it in shock, and Emily says, “If Ali has been alive this whole time, then whose funeral did we go to?”
They see a picture on the timeline of a gas mask costume, and they also see a flier for a World War I-themed celebration of Ravenswood later that night. On the flier, written in red, is a note that says:Tonight, Alison, 11 PM.
The girls realize that Board Shorts thinks Ali is going to be at the celebration. Spencer says that they need to find Ali first.
They walk out of the building. Night has fallen, and the celebration will be starting soon. They are approached by Mrs. Grunwald, who tells them that it is dangerous for them to go chasing after Ali. Spencer says that she thought she never knew Ali, but Grunwald says that she lied to protect Ali.
According to Grunwald, Ali called Grunwald that summer to find out who was stalking her. Mrs. Grunwald believes herself to be a psychic, which is why Ali called her. The night Ali went missing, Mrs. Grunwald had a bad feeling so she drove to Ali's house. She walked into her backyard and saw Ali's hand reaching up from the ground. She pulled Ali out, who was bleeding from the head and was very confused. She put Ali into the car and drove her to the hospital. When they got there, Mrs. Grunwald ran in to get help, but while she was gone, Alison ran away.
When the girls ask for confirmation that Ali is still alive, Mrs. Grunwald says, “Haven’t you all felt it? She was never really gone.” She says she hasn’t seen Ali since that night, and says she probably won’t until she finds someone that she can trust. The girls say that Ali can trust them and she knows that, but Mrs. Grunwald says she isn’t sure about that.
When asked why she didn’t go to the police, Mrs. Grunwald says, “She doesn’t want to be found!” When asked why she is telling them this now, she says that they are all being watched and they need to leave Ravenswood. She says that he (Board Shorts/A) is hoping that they will lead him to Alison. They hear laughter — the celebration is beginning. Mrs. Grunwald walks away, saying: “He’s here.”
Caleb heads for Ravenswood while the others resolve to find Ali before A does. Aria isn't sure she believes
Grunwald, but the rest do, so they buy costumes for the celebration to see if Alison is alive or not.
A figure dressed in black watches the girls from the shadows. He walks to A’s apartment and walks inside, and when he sees that someone was in there, he angrily slams his wardrobe shut. It is revealed to be A, Ezra Fitz.
In the final shot, a man dresses in the gas mask costume, apparently getting
ready for the celebration in Ravenswood.
Continuity
Alison is revealed to be alive meaning each of her visits to the liars were real:
In Moments Later where she visted Hanna in the hospital and said she had to see her despite the risk at when Hanna woke up she saw lipstick smudge on her glass.
Spencer in If These Dolls Could Talk where she talked to Ali during the night. Ali took prescription pills for the road and left the door open to indicate she was actually there.
indicate she was actually there. Emily in Over My Dead Body when she's saved from carbon monoxide poisoning in the barn, where Ali tells her she cannot tell her who A is "Because two can only keep a secret if one of them is dead." Ali kissed Emily and when Emily woke up and has been found by the Liars, she told them that Ali was alive for the kiss Alison and Emily shared felt real.
Aria in Misery Loves Company where Aria was sick with the flu and drugged by Meredith to find Ali's blackmailing diary pages. Aria woke up to Ali trying to find them and she attempts to ask who A really is, but Ali wouldn't disclose that to Aria, only saying that she sees A everywhere she is. When Aria woke up to reality, she saw the doll being placed on the table.
Title and Background
Aria falls victim to a "vanishing" magic trick while in Ravenswood. During this trick, Emily is kidnapped and knocked out by "A".
The title might refer to Red Coat, A, The Black Widow or Alison DiLaurentis. Alison often appears in the Liars' hallucinations and disappears without a trace. Red Coat and A often show up around the Liars and/or attack them, and quickly get away.
The title also might refer to the two Red Coats.
Main Cast
Guest Cast
Music
"This Isn't Control" by MS MR (Aria and Ezra at the brew talking, Emily and Paige watching a movie, Spencer and Toby cuddling, and Hanna resting on Caleb in his car)
(Aria and Ezra at the brew talking, Emily and Paige watching a movie, Spencer and Toby cuddling, and Hanna resting on Caleb in his car) "Shelter" by The Strange Familiar (Paige and Emily talking about Mona in her room)
(Paige and Emily talking about Mona in her room) "Yes It Do" by Chris Arena (Toby's looking through a box of thing from his mom)
RevelAtions
There are two Red Coats. One of the two are revealed in the finale. The first Red Coat is revealed to be CeCe Drake. The second Red Coat helps the Liars by leading Spencer to A's new lair and by saving Emily's life. Red Coat #2 will possibly be revealed in Grave New World.
Carla Grunwald is revealed to be a psychic and she pulled Alison out of her grave the night she was buried.
It is revealed/implied that Ezra Fitz is A and Board Shorts.
Inside A's lair are monitors so s/he can watch the Liars' every move as well as their alarm systems. A is also watching the police.
The Liars received three packages this episode from A: one having four Magic 8 Balls, the other a mini-coffin with a Mona doll in it. The third was a delicate black box with a saw inside of it, carrying the message "Watch me make a girl disappear. Kisses, - A".
The ending of this episode indicates that the Liars are still in Ravenswood since the Halloween episode will show the party that they are planning to "crash".
Ashley's charges are dropped as a result of Travis's confession claiming Ashley was not there when Wilden was shot.
Memorable Quotes
Hanna: That bitch has nine lives.
Ezra: Miss Montgomery, can I have a minute of your time?
Spencer: Or did she just declare World War 'A'?
A: If she goes free, you'll hear from me. Kisses, -A
Aria: Really, I - I just don't do boxes. Here, take her [points to Spencer], she loves magic.
Mrs. Grunwald: Haven't you all felt it? She was never really gone.
Hanna: I think A is a guy.
Aria: Give it up, Cece!
Gallery
Add an image |
The U.S. Army is administering a mental health and fitness test to soldiers that civil rights groups say unconstitutionally requires active-duty soldiers to believe in "God" or a "higher power" in order to rank as "spiritually fit" enough to serve in the military. The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) initiative, first used in 2009, is a "holistic fitness program" used to help reduce the number of suicides and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases among military enlistees. Suicides and PTSD cases among troops have reached epidemic proportions in the last year as a result of multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, and the poor quality of care soldiers get when they come home. The CSF test utilizes a "Soldier Fitness Tracker and Global Assessment Tool" that measures soldiers' emotional, physical, family, social and spiritual "resilience." Soldiers fill out a 100-plus question survey, and if poor results put them in the red zone in any area, they must take remedial courses in the discipline in which they received the low score. Over 800,000 soldiers have taken the test so far, and more than 100,000 of them have gotten remedial training. Non-religious soldiers say the test's spiritual component asks questions written predominantly for soldiers who believe in God, leading atheists and other non-believers to score poorly and be forced to take remedial courses which employ religious imagery to "train" troops up to a satisfactory level of spirituality. |
A man is in life threatening condition after he was hit by a vehicle on a southwest street on Thursday morning.
Emergency crews responded to the scene of a hit and run on 15th Avenue SW, near 4th Street, at about 9:30 a.m.
“There was a group of pedestrians walking westbound on 15th Avenue. A grey car then was travelling eastbound on the roadway, drove towards the group of pedestrians, striking one of them and then fled the scene. The victim was taken to Foothills Hospital with serious life threatening injuries and the suspect is still outstanding,” said CPS Acting Sgt. Dave Dentandt.
Winesses say a verbal altercation happened between the group of pedestrians and the occupants of the vehicle and police believe the vehicle returned and hit the victim before fleeing the scene.
Police are looking for an older model, grey or black sedan and say there may have been as many as three people in the vehicle.
“At this time, it’s still early to know if it was an intentional maneuver but that’s certainly an aspect that we’re going towards,” said Dentandt. “The other people did scatter, unfortunately one was hit."
Police are talking to a number of witnesses and have cordoned off the area to investigate.
Anyone who was in the area at the time of the collision is asked to contact police by calling the non-emergency line at 403-266-1234 or by contacting Crime Stoppers using any of the following methods:
TALK: 1-800-222-8477
TYPE: www.calgarycrimestoppers.org
TEXT: tttTIPS to 274637 |
We had the following schema in production.
CREATE TYPE IF NOT EXISTS discord_channels.channel_recipient ( nick text ); CREATE TYPE IF NOT EXISTS discord_channels.channel_permission_overwrite ( id bigint, type int, allow_ int, deny int ); CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS discord_channels.channels ( id bigint, guild_id bigint, type tinyint, name text, topic text, position int, owner_id bigint, icon_hash text, recipients map<bigint, frozen<channel_recipient>>, permission_overwrites map<bigint, frozen<channel_permission_overwrite>>, bitrate int, user_limit int, last_pin_timestamp timestamp, last_message_id bigint, PRIMARY KEY (id) );
And then we executed the following alter.
ALTER TABLE discord_channels.channels ADD application_id bigint;
And one row (that we can tell) got corrupted at the same time and could no longer be read from the Python driver.
[E 161206 01:56:58 geventreactor:141] Error decoding response from Cassandra. ver(4); flags(0000); stream(27); op(8); offset(9); len(887); buffer: '\x84\x00\x00\x1b\x08\x00\x00\x03w\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x0f\x00\x10discord_channels\x00\x08channels\x00\x02id\x00\x02\x00\x0eapplication_id\x00\x02\x00\x07bitrate\x00\t\x00\x08guild_id\x00\x02\x00\ticon_hash\x00\r\x00\x0flast_message_id\x00\x02\x00\x12last_pin_timestamp\x00\x0b\x00\x04name\x00\r\x00\x08owner_id\x00\x02\x00\x15permission_overwrites\x00!\x00\x02\x000\x00\x10discord_channels\x00\x1cchannel_permission_overwrite\x00\x04\x00\x02id\x00\x02\x00\x04type\x00\t\x00\x06allow_\x00\t\x00\x04deny\x00\t\x00\x08position\x00\t\x00
recipients\x00!\x00\x02\x000\x00\x10discord_channels\x00\x11channel_recipient\x00\x01\x00\x04nick\x00\r\x00\x05topic\x00\r\x00\x04type\x00\x14\x00
user_limit\x00\t\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x19\x8e\xf8\x82\x00\x01\xff\xff\xff\xff\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\xfa\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x00\x00\xfa\x00\x00\xf8G\xc5\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8b\xc0\xb5nB\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x08G\xc5\xffI\x98\xc4\xb4(\x00\x00\x00\x03\x8b\xc0\xa8\xff\xff\xff\xff\x00\x00\x01<\x00\x00\x00\x06\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x81L\xea\xfc\x82\x00
\x00\x00\x00$\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x81L\xea\xfc\x82\x00
\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x08\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x1e\xe6\x8b\x80\x00
\x00\x00\x00$\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x1e\xe6\x8b\x80\x00
\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x040\x07\xf8Q\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x1f\x1b{\x82\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00$\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x1f\x1b{\x82\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x07\xf8Q\x00\x00\x00\x04\x10\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x1fH6\x82\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00$\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x1fH6\x82\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x05\xe8A\x00\x00\x00\x04\x10\x02\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a+=\xca\xc0\x00
\x00\x00\x00$\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a+=\xca\xc0\x00
\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x08\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x8f\x979\x80\x00
\x00\x00\x00$\x00\x00\x00\x08\x03\x8a\x8f\x979\x80\x00
\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00 \x08\x01\x00\x00\x00\x04\xc4\xb4(\x00\xff\xff\xff\xff\x00\x00\x00O[f\x80Q\x07general\x05\xf8G\xc5\xffI\x98\xc4\xb4(\x00\xf8O[f\x80Q\x00\x00\x00\x02\x04\xf8O[f\x80Q\x00\xf8G\xc5\xffI\x98\x01\x00\x00\xf8O[f\x80Q\x00\x00\x00\x00\xf8G\xc5\xffI\x97\xc4\xb4(\x06\x00\xf8O\x7fe\x1fm\x08\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x00\x00\x00\x00'
And then in cqlsh when trying to read the row we got this.
/usr/bin/cqlsh.py:632: DateOverFlowWarning: Some timestamps are larger than Python datetime can represent. Timestamps are displayed in milliseconds from epoch. Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/cqlsh.py", line 1301, in perform_simple_statement result = future.result() File "/usr/share/cassandra/lib/cassandra-driver-internal-only-3.5.0.post0-d8d0456.zip/cassandra-driver-3.5.0.post0-d8d0456/cassandra/cluster.py", line 3650, in result raise self._final_exception UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0x80 in position 2: invalid start byte
We tried to read the data and it would refuse to read the name column (the UTF8 error) and the last_pin_timestamp column had an absurdly large value.
We ended up rewriting the whole row as we had the data in another place and it fixed the problem. However there is clearly a race condition in the schema change sub-system.
Any ideas? |
Montana’s Glacier National Park (AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) claims that climate change will cause the disappearance of the glaciers in Montana’s Glacier National Park in just 20 years.
“Climate change affects every corner of the American continent,” the DOI website stated. “It is making droughts drier and longer, floods more dangerous and hurricanes more severe.
“The glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park are melting so quickly, they’re expected to disappear in the next two decades,” the website stated, although no documentation is provided to substantiate that claim.
The section of the DOI website dedicated to climate change also reveals how much of the land in the United States and its resources are controlled by the federal government: “one-fifth of the land in the country, 35,000 miles of coastline, and 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf.”
“The impacts of climate change are forcing us to change how we manage these resources,” the website stated. “Climate change may dramatically affect water supplies in certain watersheds, impact coastal wetlands and barrier islands, cause relocation of and stress on wildlife, increase wildland fires, further spread invasive species, and more.”
The DOI’s National Park Service (NPS) website also described the more than one million acre park:
“Glacier National Park is not named so much for its small glaciers, but for the colossal work of colossal glaciers in the past,” the NPS website stated. “Ten thousand years ago, the topography of Glacier looked much the same as it does today.”
The NPS website also predicted the end of glaciers at the park in just 15 years.
“Since the last ice age ended, around 10,000 years ago, there have been many slight climate fluctuations that have been mirrored by the growth or recession of glaciers,” the NPS website stated. “Based on current trends, however, glacier recession models predict that by 2030, Glacier National Park will be without glaciers.”
The NPS website also credited weather for the diversity of plants and animals in the park.
“Glacier Park's varied climate influences and its location at the headwaters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Hudson Bay drainages have given rise to an incredible variety of plants and animals,” the website stated. “Its diverse habitats are home to nearly 70 species of mammals including the grizzly bear, wolverine, gray wolf and lynx.
“Over 270 species of birds visit or reside in the park, including such varied species as harlequin ducks, dippers and golden eagles,” the website stated.
The NPS website also tells potential visitors about how unpredictable the weather is at the park.
“Weather is always unpredictable in the mountains,” the website stated. “Be prepared for all types of weather!” |
It’s been a while between articles posts, let’s get straight into it:
Philosophy Bites – Links to the First 176 Episodes -Edmonds and Warburton.
LCA 2013: distributed democracy, speaking stacks, links -Sky Croeser.
Anti-Muslim hysteria in Australia -Russell Glasser.
We get email: Believers and their security blankets -Martin Wagner.
The Argument from “It Just Makes Sense to Me”
Atheist Arrested for Blasphemy, and How You Can Help
Mail bin: arguing with the FAQ
Good luck in Somalia– Ophelia Benson.
Egyptian atheist facing blasphemy sentence – Jacob Fortin.
Repairs under way -Ophelia Benson.
A fabulous “Manly Meal”-Ophelia Benson.
WL Craig on Morality and Meaning (Series Index) -John Danaher.
My Favourite Posts of 2012 -John Danaher.
Sexual Objectification: An Atheist Perspective -Richard Carrier.
Prototypical Sexist Atheist on Exhibit– Richard Carrier.
Atheism+ : The Name for What’s Happening-Richard Carrier.
Waldron on pornography -Russell Blackford.
Gay Bishop Comes Up With the Worst Argument to Support Same-Sex Marriage– Greta Christina.
My Letter to the Boy Scouts– Greta Christina.
Same-Sex Marriage Opponents Increasingly Desperate and Stupid – Greta Christina.
String of atheism signs vandalized, no real action taken by officials – Jacob Fortin.
Catholic Priest blames women for bringing violence on themselves – Jacob Fortin.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews harass sexually abused girl – Jacob Fortin.
Bill O’Reilly calls David Silverman a Fascist – Jacob Fortin.
Top 10 anti-Christian acts of 2012 -J.T Eberhard.
Most insulting fundraiser ever. – J.T Eberhard.
Don’t Say Gay legislator: being gay is like shooting heroin. -J.T Eberhard.
74 years of female slave labor in the 20th century, courtesy of the Catholic Church. – J.T Eberhard.
How often god’s moral decrees bear no resemblance to justice. -J.T Eberhard.
Gay friends? Me dear? How very dare you! You’re mistaking me for Muhammad – Barry Duke.
Investigation launched over nurse who allegedly told a family to put their trust in Allah – Barry Duke.
Only fools and Christians: ‘Born-again’ Tennessee man quits job over 666 tax code – Barry Duke.
Catholic meddling appears to have delayed Boy Scouts of America’s decision on gay inclusion – Barry Duke.
Danish police on the hunt for a gunman who tried to kill Islam critic Lars Hedegaard – Barry Duke.
Brazilian pastor is behind bars after telling his flock that his penis contained ‘holy milk’ – Barry Duke.
Another devastating week for the RC Church as more of its criminality is exposed – Barry Duke.
Craig’s Argument for God from Intentionality – Philosotroll.
Witch Hunts in Papua New Guinea – Leo Igwe.
Randal Rauser on William Lane Craig’s defense of the Canaanite genocide -Chris Hallquist.
More Powerpoint Slides from a Christian Pastor’s Anti-Gay Sermon – Hermant Mehta.
Woman Brutally Murdered in Papua New Guinea After Being Accused of Sorcery – Hermant Mehta.
Christians in Indiana Unite to Create a Prom That Gay Students Can’t Attend – Hermant Mehta.
Virginia Senate Approves Bill Allowing College Groups to Discriminate Based On Religious Beliefs -Hermant Mehta.
Who Still Thinks the Church Has Any Moral Credibility? -Hermant Mehta.
Christian Pastor: I’d Rather Experience Chinese Water Torture Than Listen to a Woman Argue With Me – Hermant Mehta.
Shells and switches -Deacon Duncan.
God and the PlayStation 3 -Deacon Duncan.
The Gypsy Curse -Deacon Duncan.
Religions will never be satisfied — they will always up the ante until they are in charge -Eric MacDonald.
-31.952222 115.858889
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Here is a look at the 222 inmates currently on Texas' death row. Texas, which reinstated the death penalty in 1976, has the most active execution chamber in the nation. On average, these inmates have spent 15 years, 7 months on death row. Though 12 percent of the state's residents are black, 44 percent of death row inmates are.
Young was convicted in the shooting deaths of two men for the use of their vehicles.
Williams was convicted in the murder of Cynthia McLelland, the Kaufman County DA's wife, during a burglary. He was also charged, but not tried, in the murders of District Attorney Mike McLelland and prosecutor Mark Haase.
Will was convicted in the shooting death of a police officer who caught him attempting to burglarize a vehicle.
Wheatfall was convicted in the killing of James M. Fitzgerald, 62, and his wife, L.B. Fitzgerald, 64, over a $50 debt.
Wells was convicted in the shooting deaths of his 22-year-old pregnant girlfriend, her 10-year-old brother, and her mother in Fort Worth.
Wardrip was convicted in the stabbing death of a 20-year-old woman. He is also serving three life sentences for three other murders.
Turner was convicted in the stabbing deaths of two women in their home.
Tong was convicted in the shooting death of an off-duty police officer during the robbery of a Houston food store.
Thomas was convicted in the murder of Dallas civil rights attorney Fred Finch during a burglary. Finch's wife was also murdered.
Tercero was convicted in the shooting death of an adult male in the presence of his 3-year-old daughter.
Storey was convicted in the shooting death of a man during a robbery at a miniature golf course.
Speer was convicted in the strangling death of a 47-year-old offender in his cell at the Telford Unit in Bowie County.
Sparks was convicted in the stabbing deaths of his wife's two sons, ages 9 and 10. His wife was also murdered.
Soliz was convicted in the shooting death of a woman in the course of committing or attempting to commit burglary or robbery.
Skinner was convicted in the murders of a woman and her two sons, ages 22 and 20.
Sales and two co-defendants were convicted in the fatal shooting of a 30-year-old male who was targeted so that he couldn't testify against them in another deadly conduct charge.
Runnels was convicted in the stabbing death of a supervisor at the prison boot factory while incarcerated in the TDCJ Clements Unit.
Rubio was convicted in the stabbing and beheading of three children he was raising with his common-law wife.
Rockwell and two other men were convicted in the shooting deaths of two men during a convenience store robbery.
Rocha was convicted in the murder of a security guard at an apartment complex in Houston.
Robertson was convicted in the shooting death of an 81-year-old woman during a robbery. He also received life sentences for the murders of the woman's grandson and a convenience store clerk, both 19.
Rivers was convicted in the sexual assault and stabbing death of an 11-year-old boy in Houston.
Ripkowski was convicted in the strangling death of a female and the smothering death of her 2-year old child.
Riles was convicted in the attempted robbery and murder of a 31-year-old used car dealer in Houston.
Ricks was convicted in the stabbing deaths of his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son.
Rhodes was convicted in the murder of two brothers while they slept.
Reynosa was convicted in the shooting of a woman he was attempting to rob.
Ramey was convicted in the shooting deaths of an 18-year-old woman and two men, ages 24 and 38.
Rabbani was convicted in the shooting death of 28-year-old Mohammed Jakir Hasan during the robbery of a convenience store.
Prible was convicted of shooting and killing a 34-year-old male and a 23-year-old female and starting a fire that caused the death of three children.
Panetti was convicted in the shooting deaths of his two in-laws inside their Fredericksburg home.
Ochoa was convicted in the shooting that killed his wife, his two daughters, ages 7 and 9 months, his father-in-law and his sister-in-law.
Murphy and five co-defendants were convicted in the shooting death of a police officer in Irving while on escape from the TDCJ Connally Unit.
Mooney was convicted in the shooting death of a 63-year-old man during the course of a robbery.
Medina was convicted in the shooting death of his two children, 3 and 8 months.
McFarland was convicted in the robbery and murder of Kenneth Kwan, the 43-year-old owner of C&Y Grocery Store in Houston.
Mays was convicted in the shooting death of Henderson County Deputy Sheriff Tony Ogborn. He was charged with the murder of a second deputy and attempted murder of a third.
Matthews was convicted in the shooting of a man who did not comply after Matthews demanded that he turn over his car keys.
Mason was convicted in the kidnapping and murder of his wife. He was granted a new punishment hearing and re-sentenced to death in November 2015.
Leza and a co-defendant were convicted in the murder of a woman who owed them money for drugs.
Lewis was convicted in the hanging death of his 16-month-old son. The child was found at the house of his grandmother, who was also killed.
King and two co-defendants were convicted in the abduction and murder of a 49-year old man by dragging him behind their pickup truck.
Kemp was convicted in the sexual assault and murder of a woman in the course of hijacking a bus.
Joubert and two co-defendants were convicted in the fatal shooting of a store clerk and a Houston police officer while robbing a check cashing business.
Jackson was convicted in the fatal shooting of a man whose vehicle he had just stolen.
Irvan was convicted in the stabbing death of a 24-year-old woman whose home he had broken into.
Irsan, a Jordonian immigrant, was convicted in the "honor killings" of his son-in-law and daughter's best friend. The state said the deaths were part of a plot to kill five people, including his daughter, after she left home, converted to Christianity and married a Christian man.
Hummel was convicted in the murders of his pregnant wife and father-in-law. He also was indicted for the death of his 5-year-old daughter.
Hudson was convicted in the the murders of six people on a camping trip. The victims' ages ranged from six to 76.
Holberg was convicted in the murder and robbery of an 80-year-old man in his home.
Harper was convicted in the murders of his girlfriend and her two daughters, ages 15 and 7.
Halprin and five co-defendants were convicted in the shooting death of a police officer in Irving while on escape from the TDCJ Connally Unit.
Hall was convicted in the murder of a 68-year-old man in his garage. The man's wife was also stabbed and survived her injuries.
Gutierrez was convicted in the fatal beating of an 85-year-old female in her home.
Guevara was convicted in the fatal shooting of two employees in a market he was trying to rob.
Green was convicted in the murders of his wife and her 6-year-old daughter in their home.
Granger was convicted in the shooting death of a bystander while he was retaliating against (and intending to kill) his daughter's mother for serving as a witness in a sexual assault case against him.
Gonzalez was convicted in the shooting death of Bexar County Sheriff Sgt. Kenneth Vann. Vann was shot more than 25 times with an AR-15.
Gonzales was convicted in the robbery and slaying of his elderly neighbors in Odessa.
Gonzales was convicted in the shooting death of an 18-year-old woman during the course of committing or attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, or robbery.
Gomez was convicted in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old male and two 16-year-old males.
Gobert was convicted in the stabbing death of a woman and attempted murder of her 5-year-old son.
Gardner was convicted in the shooting death of a 41-year-old woman whose home he was attempting to burglarize.
Freeney was convicted in the sexual assault and murder of two women in Houston.
Falk was convicted in the death of a correctional officer during an attempted prison escape. Susan Canfield was struck by a vehicle stolen by Falk's co-defendant while trying to stop the escape.
Escobedo was convicted in the fatal shooting of a male during a robbery at a bus stop in Houston.
Devoe was convicted in the shooting deaths of a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl. He also is accused of killing the 15-year-old's mother and the mother's boyfriend.
Delacruz was convicted in the death of his ex-girlfriend's 5-year-old daughter, whose throat was cut during a home invasion.
Davis was convicted in the murder of 31-year-old Michael Alan Foster, an intellectually disabled man, at his Humble apartment.
Davis was convicted in the murder of a 16-year-old female he followed from a party in El Paso.
Davis was convicted in the murder of a 16-year-old girl who had accused him of rape.
Cummings and co-defendant Albert Love Jr. were convicted in the murders of two men sitting in a vehicle.
Cargill was convicted in the murder of a woman who was set to testify against her in a child protective case.
Calvert was convicted in the murder of his ex-wife. After the murder, Calvert kidnapped his four-year-old son and fled the state.
Cade was convicted in the stabbing deaths of his girlfriend and her daughter.
Butler was convicted in the shooting death of a 50-year-old woman during the robbery of a cleaner's store.
Burton was convicted in the strangling death of a female whom he confronted while she was jogging through her neighborhood.
Brownlow was convicted in the murder of a store clerk in Terrell. He was indicted, but never tried, in the deaths of four other people on the same night, including his mother and aunt.
Brown was convicted in the shooting death of his ex-wife while she was in her car with their two children.
Bluntson was convicted in the shooting deaths of his 21-month-old son and his girlfriend's six-year-old boy.
Beatty was convicted in the strangling death of his mother, 62, during a burglary of a habitation.
Barbee was convicted in the murders of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old boy.
Ayestas was convicted in the strangling death of a woman whose home he was burglarizing.
Aranda was convicted in the shooting death of an undercover officer during a drug bust in Laredo.
Allen was convicted in the stabbing deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her daughter.
Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice | Developed and maintained by The Texas Tribune | Feedback
Note: The images in this app were released under the Texas Public Information Act. Conviction summaries are gathered from TDCJ records, court documents and news articles. These inmates are all classified as death row inmates by TDCJ, but some may be located in county jails if their case is being resentenced. |
3 Reasons Why Community-Involved KCITP Members Make Great Employees
I’ve been fortunate to interact with some incredibly smart people in the KCITP community over the years.
As such, I’m not surprised when many hiring managers & entrepreneurs tell me that some of the best hires they’ve made have been individuals engaged in this community.
Here are a few reasons why I believe that people who participate make great employees.
Reason #1: You’ve gone the extra mile
If you’re passionate about something, you’ll take every opportunity to get better at it. By participating in the KCITP community, you’ve illustrated an enhanced dedication to your technology career.
Whether it’s sharing content or answering questions on our Linkedin forum, interacting on Twitter, or attending events…you’ve made it clear that you’re motivated.
Through these community interactions, a potential employer might be able to see that you’re simply not interested in doing the bare minimum.
You want to excel. That matters.
Reason #2: You want to learn more
Some of the best people I’ve ever worked with know how to say these 3 words:
“I don’t know”.
No one has all the answers. So, it’s important to know how to ask for help. With over 6400 members, you recognize that KCITP has some of the best minds in Kansas City on a variety of tech topics.
By asking your tech questions on Linkedin or Twitter, you build relationships by working with others to find solutions.
This type of joint effort can lead to arriving at answers much more quickly than struggling on your own. Also, when surrounded by people of this caliber, you’re sure to learn new things at a faster rate.
Reason #3: You want to help others
As an experienced developer, sysadmin or other type of IT professional, you’ve solved many problems in different environments. So when you step up and answer a question by a community member, they benefit from your unique perspective & expertise.
In doing this, you show that you’re a team player & want to help others to be successful. Good collaboration helps to break down the silos and other barriers which can contribute to various inefficiencies within an organization.
Take your career to the next level
There you have it – 3 reasons why people engaged in the KCITP community make great employees. If you’re not participating yet, I highly suggest you do.
Here are some good ways to connect with us:
– Sign up for our Newsletter/Events invitations
– Join us for in depth tech discussions on Linkedin
– Follow us on Twitter for real time updates & interaction.
– Like us on Facebook
Did you enjoy this article? Stay in touch! Get the latest KC tech news, exclusive event invites/discounts & more! |
Prime Minister Tony Abbott expected to sign uranium deal during India visit
Posted
Prime Minister Tony Abbott will travel to India later today, where he is expected to sign a deal on uranium exports.
During his two-day visit to the country he will meet with newly installed prime minister Narendra Modi.
India is not a signatory to the Nuclear-Non Proliferation Treaty but Mr Abbott said Australia should be prepared to sell uranium to India under suitable safeguards.
"We want to put suitable safeguards in place," he told the ABC's 7.30 program.
"And I make the point that if we are prepared to sell uranium to Russia - and we've been prepared to do that in the past - surely we ought to be prepared to provide uranium to India under suitable safeguards.
"India is a fully functioning democracy with the rule of law and I think we should be prepared to support India and that's what my upcoming visit will be all about."
Mr Abbott will be travelling with a business delegation, which includes a representative from an Australian uranium company, to Mumbai and New Delhi in a bid to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.
The Prime Minister will also visit Kuala Lumpur on Saturday for talks with the Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
Topics: foreign-affairs, government-and-politics, federal-government, abbott-tony, uranium-mining, nuclear-issues, australia, india, malaysia, asia |
The number of infections Americans acquire during hospital stays every year has declined substantially over the last decade, federal health officials said in a report on Wednesday, as hospitals have worked to improve their practices and nursing homes’ role in medical care has grown.
Federal health officials said there were about 722,000 hospital infections in 2011, far fewer than past estimates, which put the number around 1.7 million a year. At the 2011 rate, one in every 25 patients contracted an infection while in the hospital; by previous estimates, about one in 20 did.
Officials emphasized that the old estimate, published in 2007 using data from 2002, was less precise.
The new figures were the result of the first nationally representative count of hospital infections. Under the new survey, which health officials put in place several years ago to gain a more precise understanding of hospital infections at a time when they were growing, surveyors randomly selected more than 10,000 patients at 183 hospitals, enough to draw a broad sample of infections. |
madals Profile Blog Joined June 2011 United Kingdom 623 Posts #1
Having just finished one of the most hectic, crazy and insane months EVER that has been filled with some up's and downs, I thought I would write a blog post to share some of my experiences. Not only on my eSports escapades but also on my day to day life - including clearing up some rumors / frequent questions I get in my stream chat. eSports life!
About a month ago, I decided to take a pretty big step in funding an event myself - just a $200 show match. The timing probably could have been better, as I had just purchased a new PC for streaming and gaming - didn't come cheap, but the price I pay to be ready to go to 4k when it is mainstream. Now a $200 event isn't going to break the bank, but from the outset I wanted it to become sustainable. Prior to the event starting, I did a lot of marketing and promo about the event and the aims to make it a regular thing. Things went well and I got a pretty fantastic turnout in terms of viewers. I learnt two things form this event:
Despite getting 10k views, I only gained a handful of new subs to my twitch channel, a few $ of donations and far too little ad revenue - the event ran at a big loss (which was more than expected)
Individuals really do save eSports - 3 generous donations were paid to me after the event in order to fund future show matches, 2 per month for the next 4-5 months!
It was intense! My aim before starting any of my own events was to be able to put on a show match twice a month. I achieved it pretty damn quick - not quite how I planned but it still is happening but happening non the less.
So from now, what am I planning?
Silly as it may sound, I am still pumping all donation / subscriber income into putting on more content. Ideally, I would like to get to the point I can support those 2 show matches per month with a regular eSports income (subs / donations / ad revenue). The reason being is that while a few substantial donations are great, they aren't fantastic to rely on for a long term series of content.
Next, I would love to get together funding to put on a mini-tournament around Sept / Oct time when the bi-weekly show matches reach their current financial end. Invite all the winners of the show matches to duke it out - again though, putting on an event like that for the level of players I am inviting to show matches would require about $2k for the prize pool. Hopefully I can get together the funds to start looking at that, either through viewership and sub/donations or via sponsorship.
Worth noting, all of this comes before turning anything in way of a profit from eSports on my side. I'm not a saint & in the future I certainly hope to make money from eSports but I am of the belief that if that day should come, it must be justified. I very much look to TaKeTV for inspiration, generate great content first and foremost. Only once I can sustain regular, high quality content would I look to generate an income - hopefully my ability as a caster and event organizer will grow to a level I am deserving of doing that
Now... onto my other life that many of you may not know about:
About a month ago, I decided to take a pretty big step in funding an event myself - just a $200 show match. The timing probably could have been better, as I had just purchased a new PC for streaming and gaming - didn't come cheap, but the price I pay to be ready to go to 4k when it is mainstream. Now a $200 event isn't going to break the bank, but from the outset I wanted it to become sustainable. Prior to the event starting, I did a lot of marketing and promo about the event and the aims to make it a regular thing. Things went well and I got a pretty fantastic turnout in terms of viewers. I learnt two things form this event:It was intense! My aim before starting any of my own events was to be able to put on a show match twice a month. I achieved it pretty damn quick - not quite how I planned but it still is happening but happening non the less.So from now, what am I planning?Silly as it may sound, I am still pumping all donation / subscriber income into putting on more content. Ideally, I would like to get to the point I can support those 2 show matches per month with a regular eSports income (subs / donations / ad revenue). The reason being is that while a few substantial donations are great, they aren't fantastic to rely on for a long term series of content.Next, I would love to get together funding to put on a mini-tournament around Sept / Oct time when the bi-weekly show matches reach their current financial end. Invite all the winners of the show matches to duke it out - again though, putting on an event like that for the level of players I am inviting to show matches would require about $2k for the prize pool. Hopefully I can get together the funds to start looking at that, either through viewership and sub/donations or via sponsorship.Worth noting, all of this comes before turning anything in way of a profit from eSports on my side. I'm not a saint & in the future I certainly hope to make money from eSports but I am of the belief that if that day should come, it must be justified. I very much look to TaKeTV for inspiration, generate great content first and foremost. Only once I can sustain regular, high quality content would I look to generate an income - hopefully my ability as a caster and event organizer will grow to a level I am deserving of doing thatNow... onto my other life that many of you may not know about: Paralympic Athlete for the United Kingdom
Proof:
This probably needs some background, so here is a quick timeline:
I was born with a genetic bone condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta - commonly known as Brittle Bones. This is why many of you who have seen me on WCS EU or other steams may have noticed I am not the tallest man in the world. It also means I have broken about 70+ major bones throughout my 22 years of life as well as have had to have my spine fused surgically in my teens. Despite that though, it has given me some amazing opportunities and many life skills that really have made me who I am today!
In July 2013 - I was scouted by the Olympic sport body in the UK to try out for a few different Paralympic Sports. I got this opportunity as I had played Wheelchair Basketball for many years to a high national level, but never international. Upon initial testing, the national Canoe / Kayaking team were very interested in me for kayak sprint (200m). At the end of Aug'13 I joined the Paralympic team and at the end of September moved permanently across the country to train 5 days a week.
Since then, I have been making steady gains, going from complete novice to getting times that would give me a good chance at a world championship medal. I can't give exact times due to them being somewhat secret until competitions, but in the time I have exceeded all expectations and am hoping to compete at this summers World Championships with the long term goal of the Rio 2016 Paralympic games. The biggest challenge I face comes from within the UK, only 1 athlete per event may go to the world and European championships per year, the other athlete for my event in the UK got silver last year (missing out only fractionally on gold) and is an incredibly talented and accomplished athlete!
The race that will decide if I go to the worlds this year in my main event is occurring on the 14/15th June, this weekend. Unfortunately, the week after last months race I injured my shoulder and had to take 2 weeks off of training while I was getting physio / medical treatment on it. This has meant I have had very little prep time going into this weekends race, certainly adding to the stress!
Proof: My GB twitter account This probably needs some background, so here is a quick timeline:I was born with a genetic bone condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta - commonly known as Brittle Bones. This is why many of you who have seen me on WCS EU or other steams may have noticed I am not the tallest man in the world. It also means I have broken about 70+ major bones throughout my 22 years of life as well as have had to have my spine fused surgically in my teens. Despite that though, it has given me some amazing opportunities and many life skills that really have made me who I am today!In July 2013 - I was scouted by the Olympic sport body in the UK to try out for a few different Paralympic Sports. I got this opportunity as I had played Wheelchair Basketball for many years to a high national level, but never international. Upon initial testing, the national Canoe / Kayaking team were very interested in me for kayak sprint (200m). At the end of Aug'13 I joined the Paralympic team and at the end of September moved permanently across the country to train 5 days a week.Since then, I have been making steady gains, going from complete novice to getting times that would give me a good chance at a world championship medal. I can't give exact times due to them being somewhat secret until competitions, but in the time I have exceeded all expectations and am hoping to compete at this summers World Championships with the long term goal of the Rio 2016 Paralympic games. The biggest challenge I face comes from within the UK, only 1 athlete per event may go to the world and European championships per year, the other athlete for my event in the UK got silver last year (missing out only fractionally on gold) and is an incredibly talented and accomplished athlete!The race that will decide if I go to the worlds this year in my main event is occurring on the 14/15th June, this weekend. Unfortunately, the week after last months race I injured my shoulder and had to take 2 weeks off of training while I was getting physio / medical treatment on it. This has meant I have had very little prep time going into this weekends race, certainly adding to the stress! So how do they tie together?
I am incredibly fortunate in that the two lives fit together exceptionally well, while I train 5 days a week for kayaking these are in a couple of hour sessions per day. Being a very physically demanding sprint sport, short intense sessions are the way to go. This leaves me with a decent amount of time during the day to relax / do eSports back end work and also leaves me with every evening free to stream / cast (I also live with my amazingly supportive and awesome girlfriend who can put up with my hectic work! Helps she loves SC2 and eSports too! :D).
Competing and training with the aim to be the best in the world, as a funded athlete also gives me a pretty unique perspective on eSports as a sport (to which I think it is) and also on pro players. While I never aim to be a super analytical caster, I can massively appreciate the psychological position of players - the stress they are under during competition and within their training & also the up's and downs they go through within their careers. There are many similarities to those I experience myself within my sporting career, the big difference though comes from support staff - pro players (especially semi-pro) have to do it all mainly alone. I get the benefit of MANY coaches, medical and psychological staff and mentors. It makes me admire all the more pro players who still compete with just as much (if not more in some cases) pressure with nothing but friends and family (which some do not even have).
I realise I have written quite the wall of text - if people are interested I am happy to write up some more blogs in the future + answer any questions people may have!
Thanks all those who have taken the time to read, hopefully catch you in my Twitch chat or YouTube comment section!
<3 Madals
I am incredibly fortunate in that the two lives fit together exceptionally well, while I train 5 days a week for kayaking these are in a couple of hour sessions per day. Being a very physically demanding sprint sport, short intense sessions are the way to go. This leaves me with a decent amount of time during the day to relax / do eSports back end work and also leaves me with every evening free to stream / cast (I also live with my amazingly supportive and awesome girlfriend who can put up with my hectic work! Helps she loves SC2 and eSports too! :D).Competing and training with the aim to be the best in the world, as a funded athlete also gives me a pretty unique perspective on eSports as a sport (to which I think it is) and also on pro players. While I never aim to be a super analytical caster, I can massively appreciate the psychological position of players - the stress they are under during competition and within their training & also the up's and downs they go through within their careers. There are many similarities to those I experience myself within my sporting career, the big difference though comes from support staff - pro players (especially semi-pro) have to do it all mainly alone. I get the benefit of MANY coaches, medical and psychological staff and mentors. It makes me admire all the more pro players who still compete with just as much (if not more in some cases) pressure with nothing but friends and family (which some do not even have).I realise I have written quite the wall of text - if people are interested I am happy to write up some more blogs in the future + answer any questions people may have!Thanks all those who have taken the time to read, hopefully catch you in my Twitch chat or YouTube comment section!<3 Madals Caster: @Madals91 http://www.youtube.com/Madals91 <-- |
This is Niche Imports. In this column, we regularly cover games that haven’t been announced for western audiences yet. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s something you want us to cover!
Bandai Namco is working on a virtual-reality version of Mario Kart, and it looks absolutely ridiculous.
The new game is titled Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, and we’ve gotten the first look at what it looks like in action – you can view that featured above.
Bandai Namco is launching the game under their new Shinjuku-based “VR Zone Shinjuku” event, where users don HTC Vive headsets and enjoy VR-based experiences.
It’s worth mentioning games found in Bandai Namco’s previous VR location test, VR Zone, will also be playable in this area. The VR center will open to the public tomorrow in Tokyo, Japan.
You can read more about the entire lineup of VR-based games on the event’s official website. |
Freezing temperatures, killer parasites, toxic chemicals: The plight of honey bees is getting worse in many parts of the world and no one seems to know precisely why.
This past winter was one of the worst on record for bees. In the U.S., beekeepers lost 31 per cent of their colonies, compared to a loss of 21 per cent the previous winter. In Canada, the Canadian Honey Council reports an annual loss of 35 per cent of honey bee colonies in the last three years. In Britain, the Bee Farmers' Association says its members lost roughly half their colonies over the winter.
"It has been absolutely catastrophic," said Margaret Ginman, who is general secretary of the Bee Farmers' Association. "This has been one of the worst years in living memory."
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"There are some beekeepers that have lost 70 per cent over the last winter, and you can't even make that up in one season," says Dan Davidson, president of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association. "That's a disaster."
Just why so many bees have died is far from clear. In Britain, many blame a wetter than usual fall and winter. Queen bees typically mate while flying and the wet weather kept them from moving around, resulting in lower colony populations.
In the U.S. and Canada, scientists have different theories, with some blaming the Varroa mite, which burrows into bees and feeds on their blood, and others pointing to disease and an increased use of pesticides by farmers. "The decline in honey bee health is a complex problem caused by a combination of stressors," the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report released last month.
There's no doubt bees are critical to humans. By some estimates, bees and other pollinating insects, such as butterflies and moths, contribute $200-billion to global agriculture every year. Almost one-third of the food we eat has been pollinated by bees and some crops, such as broccoli and almonds, are entirely dependent on bees for pollination.
David Schuit, a honey producer in Elmwood, Ont., had plans last year to expand his family's honey business when disaster struck. He runs 35 bee yards under the name Saugeen Country Honey with his wife and seven children in Elmwood, Ont. He says he had a healthy, robust crop of bees that had survived the winter, but one spring day in May of 2012, he found his bees in "terrible agony," going around in circles, venom dripping from their back sides. The bees were either staying away from their hives or unable to find their way inside.
"It hurts deep inside when you see your hives dying in this manner," he says.
The family ended up losing 90 per cent of the bees on their home yard alone. All in all, Mr. Schuit said they lost around 37 million bees, and the family produced barely half the honey they make each year. They were forced to give up their 100-acre organic cash crop farm because they could no longer continue making mortgage payments on it.
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The loss of bees was difficult to recover through the following winter, a time when bee populations generally decline because of the freezing temperatures, and this year, Mr. Schuit says bees are continuing to die en masse. "It's hard on us. We need help," he says. "I'm ready to throw the towel in."
The Schuits are among a growing number of beekeepers who are blaming sudden and massive bee deaths on neonicotinoid pesticides. These are nicotine-like substances that attack the nervous system of insects. They are also water soluble, meaning they can be added to the soil and taken in by the entire plant, making every part of it lethal to bugs.
Corn, soybean and canola farmers coat their seeds with the insecticides using a machine that needs to be lubricated with talc to push the seeds out. The talc absorbs some of the pesticide and bees get exposed to this toxic mixture when the machine blows the talc out.
Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency noticed that honey bee deaths in about 250 bee yards in Southern Ontario and Quebec coincided with the corn-planting season. They found neonicotinoids in 70 per cent of bee samples taken from these regions.
In April, the European Union passed a two-year ban on neonicotinoids because of the risk they pose to bees. Beekeeper associations in Ontario and Quebec are calling for a similar ban in Canada, but they will likely face an uphill battle against grain farmers, who say the pesticide has been crucial to their business since it was approved for use in 2004.
In July, the Grain Farmers of Ontario mailed out 28,000 postcards urging their members to call their local political representatives and oppose any kind of a ban on the neonicotinoids.
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"A knee-jerk reaction shouldn't happen until we find out more about what is actually happening from a bee-health perspective because there are are other issues that affect the bee populations," says Barry Senft, chief executive officer of Grain Farmers of Ontario. "If we start to move away from a science-based approval process, everything then is subjective."
The group says that a ban on neonicotinoids would result in a loss of three to 20 bushels per acre for Ontario farmers. For the average farmer with a 500-acre field, this would translate to a loss of two to 13 per cent of their gross income, making it difficult for them to compete with farmers in Western Canada and the United States, Mr. Senft says.
Health Canada says that more research needs to be done and continues to collect samples of affected bees this year. It says regulatory action to protect bees against neonicotinoids may be taken, if warranted, at any time during this review process.
Ernesto Guzman, head of the Honey Bee Research Centre at Guelph University, says the Health Canada data points to a definitive link between neonicotinoids and bee deaths, but says the pesticides are not the only cause of declining bee populations. It is also not known if the pesticides are the major cause of bee deaths. Mr. Guzman says that, during the winter, Varroa mites are the main cause of bee deaths. They came from Asia about 20 years ago and are found on virtually all bee colonies.
On average, bee keepers expect to lose about 10 to 15 per cent of their numbers in the winter because the cold makes it harder for the bees to survive. Paul Vautour, the Maritimes director for the Canadian Honey Council, says a drought last fall made it even harder for his bees to withstand the prolonged winter, causing him to loss 85 per cent of his bee colonies. He had 238 colonies at the start of winter, and by May, this number was down to 36.
Mr. Vautour says this was a "big loss" as a relatively small commercial beekeeper, and he had to spend $24,000 to buy 100 new colonies.
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Many beekeepers say they know how to manage their Varroa mites, however, and insist that they don't cause as much destruction as the neonicotinoids.
Mr. Guzman says it is important for the government to invest in independent research to help beekeepers facing significant losses.
"The beekeepers need help and they need help immediately," he says. "Research to find answers to the problem and to answer the question of how much pesticides are killing bees relative to other causes might take many years."
HONEY BEES BY THE NUMBERS |
In a ceremony honouring leadership on Indigenous issues at Rideau Hall, Gov. Gen. David Johnston has apologized for calling Indigenous people immigrants to Canada.
Johnston was referring to his comment during an interview with CBC Radio's The House Saturday. "We're a country based on immigration, going right back to our, quote, Indigenous people, unquote, who were immigrants as well, 10, 12, 14,000 years ago," he said.
A firestorm of criticism on social media ensued as some said the comment revealed a deep-seated colonial mentality.
On Monday, he addressed the controversial remark during his opening statement in Ottawa.
And I want to clarify a miscommunication. Our Indigenous peoples are not immigrants. They are the original peoples of this land. —@GGDavidJohnston
"The better country we desire is above all a more inclusive one that supports, encourages and acknowledges the contributions of all peoples, including Indigenous peoples, the original peoples of this land.
"Let me apologize for not expressing myself correctly on this matter recently. Indigenous peoples are the original peoples," Johnston said.
Governor General David Johnston apologizes for a statement he made on CBC Radio's The House, where he said that Canada "is a country based on immigration going right back to our quote indigenous people unquote." 0:38
Famous recipients
Some 30 recipients, including Mohawk activist Sylvia Maracle and Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, were honoured at Rideau Hall, as Johnston handed out honours such as the Order of Canada, the Meritorious Service Decorations (Civil Division), the Polar Medal and the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers.
Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie hugs Gov. Gen. David Johnston after receiving the Order of Canada. Downie, who announced last year that he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, has become a strong advocate for Indigenous people and issues. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Some of the recipients are well known, including actress and former Liberal MP Tina Keeper and Inuit NHL player Jordin Tootoo, while others have been change makers in their communities outside the national spotlight, including Jarret Leaman, who has supported LGBT Indigenous youth, Imelda Perley, an Indigenous languages teacher from St. Mary's First Nation in Fredericton, N.B, and Chief Bill Cranmer, from Alert Bay, B.C., who has sought to recover potlatch artifacts confiscated by the Canadian government in the 1920s. (The government instituted a ban on the ceremonies as they were seen as an impediment to assimilation.)
NHL player Jordin Tootoo is presented with the Meritorious Service Medal during the ceremony at Rideau Hall. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Others, including Hovak Johnston and Marjorie Tahbone, were celebrated for protecting Indigenous cultural practices by reviving traditional Inuit tattoo art and reconnecting Inuit women with an art form that was "on the verge of being lost."
Hovak Johnston is presented with the Meritorious Service Medal for her work with the Inuit Tattoo Revitalization Project to re-establish an Inuit art form that was on the verge of being lost. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
The three commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission — Wilton Littlechild, Senator Murray Sinclair and Marie Wilson — were also honoured by Johnston with the meritorious service award for shouldering the responsibility of the commission "with fortitude, compassion and perseverance." Sinclair was not in attendance and was to receive his honour at a later date.
Gov. Gen. David Johnston acknowledges Wilton Littlechild, centre, and Marie Wilson before presenting them with the Meritorious Service Cross for their work on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
"Over six years, they led the examination of the Indian residential school system, combing through myriad documents and witnessing the courage of survivors who shared their stories. Their final report invites all Canadians to confront the inequities of the past, and calls on governments and individuals alike to move forward, with greater understanding, towards reconciliation."
Actor Tom Jackson, a past recipient of the Order of Canada, brought Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, to tears after the formal ceremony with a moving call to action to improve the standing of the country's Indigenous people.
"I'm asked from time to time, 'would you like to see a better Canada?'" Jackson said. "I think if we want to see a better Canada we should maybe see Canada better."
Pointing at the Canadian flag, Jackson told the crowd that he believes the Maple Leaf is his "sister."
"I only want five seconds of your life to believe that just maybe I'm your brother," he said. "If that's my sister, and I'm your brother, now how do you see that flag?" |
Ford is electrifying its most popular vehicles to make them even more capable, productive and fun to drive.
Happy New Year!
As we kick off 2017, at Ford, we’re also looking further into the future. The era of more affordable electrified vehicles is dawning, and we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make people’s lives better by changing the way the world moves.
That’s why, today, we’re confirming seven of 13 new global EVs coming from Ford in the next five years as part of a $4.5 billion investment. They include our most popular trucks, commercial vehicles and performance vehicles. At the same time, we’re also creating new services and mobility solutions that will make it easy to use EVs.
Why this major investment in technology?
In the next 15 years, we see global EV industry offerings outnumbering gasoline-powered vehicles, as people around the world continue moving to cities, consumer preferences shift to greener transportation and battery prices fall — all making tomorrow’s EVs less expensive to own than today’s gas-powered vehicles.
These new Ford electrified vehicles will include full hybrids that never need to be plugged in, plug-in hybrids that can run on electricity alone or gasoline when the battery is almost empty, and full electric vehicles that make zero emissions by using only batteries and electric motors to move.
This kind of EV leadership is two decades in the making, starting with the introduction of the Escape Hybrid in 2004 — the first mass-produced hybrid built in the U.S. and the first SUV hybrid. Some are still being used as taxis today, moving passengers for more than 350,000 miles with their original batteries.
Last year, our C-MAX and Fusion Energi hybrids made Ford the best-selling brand of plug-in hybrid vehicles in America. Plus, we’ve sold more than 560,000 EVs globally since 2005.
More importantly, leading in electrification, autonomy and connectivity are critical to Ford’s expansion to an auto and a mobility company.
While some others are focused on marketing claims, we’re giving customers even more of what they love about their Ford vehicles. This means more capability for trucks, more productivity for commercial vehicles and more performance for sports cars, plus even better fuel economy.
To start, we’re introducing a hybrid version of our iconic Ford Mustang in 2020. The Mustang Hybrid will deliver V8 power and great low-end torque, making it even more fun to drive for customers starting in North America.
We’re also announcing a hybrid version of our best-selling F-150 pickup. This F-150 will make our truck customers even more productive, with strong work capability plus the new ability to double as a mobile generator capable enough to power a worksite.
For our law enforcement customers, we’re announcing two new pursuit-rated hybrid police vehicles that will be able to keep officers and K9 units cool at rest without the need to idle the gas engine.
For our fifth vehicle, we’re announcing the Transit Custom Plug-In Hybrid, available in 2019 in Europe. It’s engineered to help reduce operating costs in congested European cities. In addition, this year, we start testing 20 Transit Connect hybrid taxis and cargo vans around the U.S.
The remaining two vehicles we’re announcing today are even more exciting because they’re all-new and like nothing we have on the road today.
The first is an all-new fully electric small utility vehicle that’s expected to deliver at least 300 miles of range. It will be a breakthrough vehicle for Ford, given its extended range and the versatility people love about SUVs.
In addition, we will have a high-volume, fully autonomous vehicle — with no steering wheel, brake or gas pedal — for ride hailing and ride sharing in 2021, and it will be a hybrid.
In addition, we intend to be just as innovative in providing EV services and solutions as we are the electrified vehicles themselves. That’s why we’re developing the solutions that will make owning EVs simpler than ever.
Just recently, we announced a memorandum of understanding with several other automakers to create thousands of ultra-fast electric charging points across Europe. It’s something we’re interested in expanding around the world.
Today, we’re announcing that we will be kicking off a wireless charging pilot with vehicles in our Ford fleet. This is innovative technology makes charging a car as simple as parking over a charging pad. No cables or wires needed, so you’ll never forget to recharge.
In addition to our EV investments, today we also are proud to announce we’re investing another $700 million to transform and expand Flat Rock Assembly Plant to create a new Manufacturing Innovation Center.
At Flat Rock we will build our new autonomous and long-range battery electric vehicles, along with the iconic Ford Mustang and Lincoln Continental.
Even better, this expansion will create 700 direct jobs at the plant.
So, there you have it: A new hybrid autonomous vehicle, a long-range battery electric SUV, a Mustang Hybrid, an F-150 Hybrid, a Transit Custom plug-in hybrid, two new electrified police vehicles, wireless charging, a $700 million investment, 700 new U.S. jobs and the transformation of our Flat Rock Assembly Plant into one the world’s most flexible manufacturing centers for high-tech vehicles.
It’s all part of doing what Ford always has done best — using ingenuity, a passion for serving people and a commitment to making our vehicles and technologies accessible to millions of people to make people’s lives better.
As we like to say: We “Go Further” so you can. |
Mitt Romney, the twice-failed Republican candidate for president, has kicked off a weekend convention of fellow-minded “NeverTrump-ers,” hosting a retreat at a secluded Utah spot so they can gather and talk without worry of media coverage and condemnation about how they should proceed politically, if the billionaire businessman wins the White House.
It’s called the “Experts and Enthusiasts Summit,” or “E2” summit, and it’s set at the Stein Eriksen Lodge Deer Valley in Park City, the Washington Post reported.
The ‘Stop Hillary’ campaign is on fire! Join the surging response to this theme: ‘Clinton for prosecution, not president’
Reportedly, those in attendance will talk about their plans to take down Trump with a third-party candidate. Such talk was going strong in recent weeks, fueled by Weekly Standard neoconservative editor Bill Kristol. But Kristol’s top pick, National Review writer David French, opted against a run, sending the “NeverTrump” crowd back to square one.
The retreat is seen as a hopeful new stand against Trump, with about 300 of the party’s establishment attending, Breitbart said.
Like the reporting you see here? Sign up for free news alerts from WND.com, America’s independent news network.
“I am not expecting we will sit by the campfire singing ‘We Shall Overcome’ and group-hugging,” said Ana Navarro, a pro-immigration activist, to the Washington Post. “Mitt Romney and other like-minded leaders can have a big influence on the reconstruction of the post-Trump Republican Party. We need to start those conversations now.” |
Low poly is a great art style for games. It can look great and doesn't require a lot of details. Here's how I create low poly building art in Photoshop. Usually 3D software is usually used to create low poly assets, but for 2D games, we can get away with simply creating them in Photoshop.
Note: This article assumes you have a working knowledge of Photoshop
In Pocket City, all the low poly building assets were created in Photoshop. Here's the workflow that I use to quickly create pseudo 3D isometric buildings.
1. Create a simple object pallet
Make simple 3D shapes using plain Photoshop shapes in greyscale. This file will act as your "pallet" that you will select and copy shapes from. Keep everything on a single layer so that selecting and copying is fast.
Example of how to create a 3D object
Screenshot: My pre-built object pallet:
2. Use your objects to construct your 3D model
In a new file, copy and shapes you need from your "pallet" and move them around to create the object you need. You can modify your simple shapes by selecting and nudging them. Keep the simple shapes on different layers.
Screenshot: Combining primitive shapes
Combining primitive shapes Screenshot: Various groups/layers for organizing objects
3. Apply color to shapes with Color Overlay
Double click on the layer to open Blending Options on the simple shape you want to color. Enable Color Overlay and select a color to apply. I found that the Linear Light blend mode works best (though it needs darker colors to be selected).
Final Result:
Along with some additional detailing, shadows, etc, we have an asset ready for the game!
After some practice, this workflow allows me to quickly cut and paste together various buildings for Pocket City.
Screenshot: Various buildings in game created using this approach:
Important Tips: |
Shi'ite fighters fire artillery towards Islamic State militants during a battle with Islamic State militants on the outskirt of Tal Afar west of Mosul, Iraq, November 18, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer
By Isabel Coles
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Iraqi troops expanded their foothold on the eastern side of Islamic State's stronghold of Mosul on Friday, as the group pledged to mount more suicide attacks on their offensive to take the city.
The elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) stormed the Tahrir district on the northeastern edge of Mosul, the last major city under control of the Sunni hard-line group in Iraq.
A Reuters correspondent reporting from the CTS-held line in Tahrir saw civilians streaming out of the nearby Aden district where fighting blazed, pushing trolleys containing their belongings and carrying home-made white flags.
The women were still shrouded in black robes imposed by the militants but most had uncovered their faces as they fled intense fighting.
Militants have been steadily retreating from areas around Mosul into the city since the battle started on Oct. 17, with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition.
"The advance is slow due to the civilians," said CTS Lt. General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi, adding that the U.S.-trained unit aims to clear the rest of the neighborhood during the day.
A Friday prayer sermon referring to "mujahideen", or holy warriors, could be heard coming from a mosque under control of the jihadis in the vicinity. An armed man, possibly a sniper, was in the minaret of the mosque.
As the offensive entered its second month, Iraqi government forces are still fighting in a dozen of about 50 neighborhoods on the eastern part of Mosul, which is divided by the Tigris River that runs through its center.
Militants are dug in among the civilians as a defense tactic to hamper air strikes, moving around the city through tunnels, driving suicide car bombs into advancing troops and hitting them with sniper and mortar fire.
"READY FOR MARTYRDOM"
A loud explosion was heard several streets away from the CTS lines. An officer said it was a suicide bomber who blew himself up after being surrounded in a house. The CTS unit was using a drone to try to detect insurgents.
The number of fighters who are ready to blow themselves up is increasing, an insurgent commander told Islamic State's weekly magazine, al-Nabaa, published online on Thursday.
"We're giving you the good news that the number of brothers ready for martyrdom is very large and, with God's grace, the brothers who are demanding martyr operations are increasing," said the commander, who was not named.
The offensive to take Mosul, the largest city under Islamic State control in either Iraq or Syria, is turning into the biggest battle in Iraq's turbulent history since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The CTS became the only unit to have breached the city limits from the eastern side two weeks ago. Other army units have yet to breach the northern and the southern sides.
Iranian-backed militias earlier this week announced the capture of the Tal Afar air base, west of Mosul, part of their campaign to choke off the route between the Syrian and Iraqi parts of the caliphate Islamic State declared in 2014.
The base is located just south of Tal Afar, a mostly ethnic Turkmen town that Turkey would not want to fall under the control of the mostly pro-Iranian militia coalition known as Popular Mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi.
The Hashid plans to besiege the town for now, a spokesman of Kata'ib Hezbollah, one of the main paramilitary groups making up the coalition, told Reuters on Friday.
Iraqi military estimates put the number of Islamic State fighters in Mosul at 5,000 to 6,000. Facing them is a 100,000-strong coalition of Iraqi government forces, Kurdish fighters and Shi'ite paramilitary units.
DRAWN OUT BATTLE
Iraqi authorities have declined to give a timeline for recapture of the whole city, but the battle is likely to last for months. Militants have launched waves of counter-attacks against advancing forces, tying them down in lethal urban combat in narrow streets still full of residents.
The Islamic State commander cited in al-Nabaa said the battles with the Shi'ite paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation west of Mosul will continue "in long episodes".
Iraqi authorities have not published a casualty toll for the Mosul campaign overall - either for security forces, civilians or Islamic State fighters. The warring sides claim to have inflicted thousands of casualties in enemy ranks. |
Well we finally got what we asked for out of Star Wars Destiny! Drafting! And I wanted to touch on a couple topics that some players may know and some may not but we can all use a refresher on how drafting works and how to make the most out of your experience. I am going to cover some fundamentals of drafting and apply it to Star Wars Destiny, add in a couple tips and spice it up with a few final card thoughts and BAM! You’ll have a draft casserole with plenty of data to get you off the ground running.
B.R.E.A.D.
In Magic draft this stands for Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Aggro and Duds. Translating this to Destiny:
Bomb is a big card that gives you a large value on the table when it gets played. Ancient Lightsaber is a great example because it offers damage, sustain and a low cost compared to other lightsaber options. It is also the most efficient 2 cost melee weapon in the Empire at War set. Knowing the set or sets you’re drafting from will give you a huge advantage when assessing the cards in your packs VS what you could have seen.
Removal is a type of card that removes options from your opponent’s dice pool. This is important because each set offers different types of removal and different levels of effective removal. Awakenings has the most standard of the removal tools we use in the game while Empire at War has some of the least useful removal cards available. Letting an opponent play Destiny unchecked is bad for business, in a draft environment that goes doubly. Drafting a few removal cards will help keep your team alive and disrupt your opponent long enough to edge out a win.
Evasion is the next term and this is more of a Magic thing because it relates to creatures that are difficult to block, aka creatures using the keywords flying intimidate, trample…. Evasion in Destiny would more closely relate to damage that cannot be stopped or unblockable damage. There are few cards that are able to make this happen but tools like Vibroknife, Luke’s Lightsaber, Synchronicity and so on “evade” your opponent’s means of blocking or avoiding damage coming their way. This can help clinch that lethal blow you need to win the game or kill off an early character that was heavily invested in with shields that turn. Shields in draft will be VERY VERY powerful because the cards players use to remove them won’t be readily available. You will need tools to remove or evade those shield tokens and these types of cards are your best means of dealing with sustain and defensive decks.
The fourth letter stands for Aggro, and as we all know that stands for aggressive damage dealing cards. Cards like Lightsaber Throw or Kylo Ren’s Starfighter are prime examples of aggressive cards that deal damage for a very low resource cost. Cheap weapon upgrades like the DH-17 Blaster Pistol or Energy Slingshot can also be aggressive cards since they offer more damage output for 1 resource. Cards in standard that we overlook are now going to need to be reassessed because if you draft only from Empire at War, there is no DH-17 1 drop. So you’ll have to look for other cheap and aggressive options based on each set you’re drafting from.
The last letter stands for Duds. Duds are cards that do not really do anything for you, they don’t give you any advantage, they don’t push your strategy forward and are practically useless. Don’t draft these cards, they eat up valuable slots in your deck and create a dead draw scenario where you have one less option in your hand while your opponent might have a full suite of cards in theirs to ruin your day. So simply, avoid duds at all costs.
Star Wars Destiny is NOT the same as Magic in terms of drafting and these MtG terms are not a 1 to 1 ration conversion. But the basic rules do apply and can give you an edge in your games when you have drafted a better deck then your opponent. If you follow B.R.E.A.D. you will have a starting point on how to assess cards, their value in terms of a Bomb vs an Aggro card and selecting cards that follow your strategy. Keep a focused deck as best as you can, spreading out too thin will lose you the draft. If you pick the first few cards and they are focused on melee, try to stick to that plan. If a crazy powerful card passes by that’s focused on indirect damage or ranged damage think about it, but if it doesn’t actually help you out (as in winning the game), pass that card up.
Butter
When drafting you are allowed to have a mix of Hero, Villain and Neutral characters on your team. Hero and Villain cards can be in any deck, regardless of the affiliation of that deck’s characters too! So now you know, and knowing is half the battle (G.I. Joe……….)
So what does any of this have to do with Star Wars Destiny and drafting? Lots! Coming to any event with all your information prepared will give you an edge. I promise not all players know that they can have a 100% Hero character deck with Villain cards in there. Did you know you are not limited to two copies of a card ion your deck? If you draft 4 doubts, you can play all 4 😉 You are also allowed to swap cards between games that you didn’t use. So you can swap out characters, battlefields or whatever else you want after game 1. So unlike Magic where you draft, build and play, you can keep testing out different cards and ideas through the entire tournament.
Don’t Commit Too Early
You get to see six packs with five cards in each pack. At the end of the draft you will have 30 cards available to you for building a 20-30 card deck. Don’t worry about Hero or Villain restrictions since there really aren’t hardly any (except playing cards for the most part). Find Bombs and Removal first, pulling some cute trick cards won’t help you win games. You might find some really crazy combo but the chances of you pulling it off every game at the point in the game you need it are very very slim. Pull cards that are powerful, consistent and give you the edge in battle.
Don’t over commit to ONLY a blue deck or a red deck because the first 5 cards you wanted were red. Follow B.R.E.A.D. and choose cards in all colors you can put to good use. Do remember that color restrictions are still in place, so if you have a blue/yellow team I would pass on red cards.
After the first 5-7 cards you should have an idea of the colors you’re going to be playing. At this point you want to begin to commit to at least 1 of those colors and stick with it. Leaving that second color free can allow you to change mid draft but don’t let both colors be free roaming. At some point its too late to turn back and in each draft that point in time changes. Practice some fake drafts at home if you can and learn when to commit and when you’re still a free agent. Finding that balance can improve your draft experience and reduce the stress of wondering when to commit or when to pick the best options available.
Counterdrafting or Hate Drafting
Don’t do it! This is a really simple thing to mess up, and you shouldn’t do it if you can help it. For example you’ve drafted the first 3 packs and you have 15 cards that are focused on a red/yellow team of Dr. Aphra and Kallus, then pack 1 from the second wave shows you a Obi Wan’s Lightsaber don’t draft it. You don’t need that card and you don’t really have the time or space to reallocate your cards to support a blue melee strategy. Yes you can rare draft the card for its trade value but you’ve lost a slot in a already super limited space for your deck.
If you feel that another player is drafting a certain type of card, say blue melee for instance, don’t pull this card to stop them. They most likely have cards already drafted to win games and 1 card won’t stop them. Sure this 1 card may be extremely helpful but it won’t actually hinder their deck, just reduce the efficiency. HOWEVER it will absolutely hurt YOU because you don’t need this card. Now you only have 29 slots for cards to play and your opponent still has their 30 available.
Hate drafting is not illegal or dirty playing, it’s just an attempt to slow other players down. The problem is that is actually hurts you more than them more often than not. So from years of experience please do not counterdraft, it rarely ever helps you.
Drafting is FUN!!! And if you take anything away from this article it should be that drafting is as hard as you want it to be. Drafting can be relaxing, silly and a wild adventure. It can be a complex battle of wits, reading the opponent’s pulls and anticipating the decks through the tournament. Draft is the ultimate equalizer because every player is handed a bunch of random choices and forced to use what they get to the best of their skill and ability.
So enjoy draft! I hope this article helps you in your drafting experience and let us know in the comments below how things went. Epic stores always come from these social events, crazy pulls, bad decks winning everything, the one epic card pull that helped win the whole thing 🙂 If you’re new to Destiny or drafting in general try it out. It is a lot of fun and I have made many new friends by drafting with random people and then playing more games after the draft and now friendships are forged. |
One soldier from the Netzach Yehuda battalion has been sentenced to seven months in prison for his role in the abuse of a Palestinian detainee who was blindfolded and zapped with electrodes as soldiers laughed and filmed the abuse.
The military trial of four members of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) centred on mobile phone footage showing soldiers laughing as a blindfolded Palestinian man is subjected to electric shocks with a medical device.
The incident was uncovered after authorities, suspicious of abusive treatment towards prisoners, confiscated one of the soldiers’ phones, report Mako.
Warning: the following video contains graphic content of a violent nature. Viewer discretion is advised.
IDF soldiers 'electrocute' Palestinian 'terror suspect' IDF soldiers filmed 'torture of a Palestinian man'. Giggled while doing it. Posted by RT Play on Wednesday, 17 February 2016
The helpless detainee was also struck by soldiers as the attack was being filmed, reports Israeli news agency Haaretz.
The unnamed soldier will now spend seven months behind bars. He will, however, be allowed to keep his job and is set to be demoted to the rank of private.
IDF officials say they condemn the actions of those involved: “The IDF sees in these extreme incidents a total violation and disregard of the IDF’s Code of Conduct and strongly condemns these actions. The court has not yet come to decisions regarding other suspects involved in these extreme incidents.”
The sentencing comes after an Israeli border police officer was filmed Sunday flipping a disabled Palestinian man’s wheelchair to the ground.
READ MORE: Israeli border police officer flips Palestinian man from wheelchair (VIDEO) |
The Houston Texans are still alive in the AFC South, though at 4-7 the walls are closing in fast for a team that won the division title last season.
Much of their struggles of late can be blamed on the quarterback position, where backup Tom Savage has struggled mightily after rookie Deshaun Watson tore his ACL in practice the other month.
To make matters even worse, Houston has been without their heart and soul, J.J. Watt, who went down with a tibial plateau fracture back in October, an injury that will sideline Watt for the remainder of the season.
But, as we’ve come to expect from Watt, nothing seems to hold him down, and his latest Twitter post proves he’s ready to get back to work.
Take a look at his surgery scar in all its glory.
Related Bill Belichick has some deep thoughts about Tony Romo as a broadcaster
Beautiful.
The Texans travel to Tennessee in Week 13 for a showdown with the Titans. |
Russians who don’t like the way their country is governed by President Vladimir Putin often complain that there is no real alternative to him. For the most part, this view is correct. The Kremlin controls all the levers of state power, and any truly dissident politician is likely to be isolated or expelled.
When the Moscow mayoral election was called in June, there seemed little reason to believe it would be any different than other Russian electoral pantomimes. The incumbent, Sergei Sobyanin, had Putin’s unabashed support, and all the fawning attention of state-friendly media that comes with it. He barely bothered to campaign.
There was a wrinkle when Alexei Navalny, 37, a prominent member of the street protest movement that erupted after 2011 Duma elections that were widely perceived to have been rigged, announced his intention to run. Navalny was convicted of embezzlement in July—in a trial most observers believe was politically motivated—and was only free pending an appeal to a higher court.
According to Maria Lipman, an analyst at the Moscow Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Kremlin insiders debated how to deal with Navalny’s bid. Forbidding it risked more street protests, as would blatantly manipulating the results. A fair vote could embarrass Sobyanin, and through him Putin. But with Navalny polling in the single digits when the campaign began, this seemed a safe gamble. It wasn’t. The Kremlin “opened the door a crack,” says Lipman. “Navalny put his shoulder in it.”
The election results earlier this month surprised almost everyone, including those close to Navalny. According to official results, Navalny earned 27.2 per cent of the vote, against 51.4 per cent for Sobyanin, who narrowly avoided a second round of voting by squeaking in above the 50 per cent threshold.
Navalny is disputing the results and demanding a runoff vote, but this is unlikely. If there was manipulation, it was on a much smaller scale than in previous votes—in part due to the thousands of volunteer observers who mobilized to scrutinize the process.
This does not mean the election itself was fair. Security forces harassed Navalny and his campaigners. Media were hostile. “He was mentioned many times, but only to smear him,” says Lipman.
With the game fixed, Navalny and his team played differently. The campaign they rolled out this summer was unlike any other in modern Russia, drawing from hustings in the West and notably from the strategies of U.S. President Barack Obama. “We were really trying to disprove almost all the things that were considered self-evident until then in Russian elections,” says Oleg Kozlovsky, a Russian civil activist who worked on Navalny’s campaign.
Chief among these targeted myths was the assumption that Russians are cynical and apathetic when it comes to politics. The Navalny campaign instead counted on the energy and commitment of crowds. It recruited and used hundreds of volunteers, made aggressive use of social media, received funding from thousands of donors, rather than a few rich tycoons, and staged some 100 public events attended by Navalny himself. Kozlovsky figures Navalny met face to face with 30,000 Russians.
Navalny’s most prominent supporters are the young and educated, but his campaign also made inroads into the ranks of Russian business, drawing public approval from several businessmen in a rare example of establishment members defying Putin.
“Many people are afraid to speak out and support Navalny and other opposition movement leaders, but I think we’re gradually changing that,” says Vladimir Ashurkov, a longtime Navalny strategist who led his business outreach.
And yet, though Navalny did much better than expected, he still lost. Sobyanin remains mayor, and Navalny could soon be on his way to jail.
Ashurkov is upbeat. “The goal was to transform Alexei from a blogger and lawyer and anti-corruption activist into a politician who is playing at the federal level. That we achieved in abundance.”
A year ago, only 10 per cent of Russians had heard of Navalny, says Lipman. Now, three-quarters have. But she says it would require a “gigantic leap” for Navalny to challenge Putin nationally. Putin still has too many means, from friendly media to acquiescent courts, of neutralizing a political rival.
Ilya Ponomarev, a leftist and one of the few Duma members to vocally oppose Putin, works with Navalny, but describes the alliance as tactical.
“Navalny’s a nationalist. He’s a pretty authoritarian type of individual,” Ponomarev said in an interview with Maclean’s this spring. “Essentially, his idea is to replace Putin with a good president, like himself, and eliminate corruption.”
Navalny has mused about running for president. It seems a far-fetched goal now. But then, a few months ago, so did earning the support of one in four voters in Moscow. |
Harry Redknapp has revealed how he spent four hours in a Paris airport hotel trying in vain to persuade Eden Hazard to become his player just a few weeks before he eventually joined Chelsea for £32 million.
Tottenham had identified Hazard as one of their principal transfer targets for the summer transfer window in 2012 and, with the club seemingly heading for the Champions League in place of Chelsea, Redknapp felt that a deal was feasible. “I think he was dead keen to come at that time,” he said of the player who was then with Lille. “Joe Cole said he thought he was the best player he ever played with. He’s a fantastic talent and a great player. We pushed on for him. We just couldn’t get it over the line.”
Redknapp will face Hazard with Queens Park Rangers on Saturday and know that two factors ultimately conspired against him. The first was Tottenham slipping from third to fourth in the Premier League, thus failing to guarantee their place in the Champions League. The second was Chelsea winning the Champions League to take the fourth and final qualification spot from Tottenham, despite finishing sixth in the league. Hazard had been excited by the possibility of playing with Gareth Bale at Tottenham but his mind was made up once Chelsea became European champions.
Redknapp tells the tale to illustrate just how difficult it is to compete for the top players with clubs such as Chelsea and is adamant that keeping QPR in the Premier League this season is a tougher challenge than Jose Mourinho winning the title.
“Every year I look at the manager-of-the-year awards and, when I see the people who win it at the big clubs, I think it should be given to a Tony Pulis or a Steve Bruce,” Redknapp said. “It’s too easy to vote for one of the teams that have got everything. Chelsea have got such a strong team – there’s not a weakness there.
“They’ve got power and great ability in a player like Costa. You didn’t have to be a clever man to buy the centre-forward. Anyone that’s got a television and has watched Spanish football knew they were signing the best centre-forward in Europe in Diego Costa. He was the biggest certainty you’ve ever seen. You don’t have to be a genius, you just have to have the 30-odd million he cost.”
Although Redknapp feels that British managers do not get the same opportunities with what he calls the “great teams”, he has no doubts about the pedigree of Mourinho and believes the self-styled ‘Special One’ could go down as the greatest manager in history. “He’s proved that he’s a fantastic manager wherever he has been,” Redknapp said. “He’s going to be in the game for many years to come and he could end up as the greatest manager of all time [but] he is not going to walk into a team in the bottom four or five at the moment and turn them into a top-six team. That’s not going to happen, as clever as he might be – and he is very clever.
“He’s got a charisma and a great knowledge of the game. I couldn’t fault him. He can do what Fergie did at Manchester United. If he wanted to stay at Chelsea for the next 15 years he could do it. He’s only going to be successful there.” |
From years of detailed audience surveys, the producers and creators of “Phantom” have honed the ways to maximize its appeal, whether emphasizing the show’s love story in advertising or offering sharp discounts so audience members will return. More than 40 percent of “Phantom” patrons have seen it at least once before, and a majority of “Phantom” audiences in 2011 saw no other Broadway show that year. About 68 percent were women, and nearly 60 percent were tourists.
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“Based on all our data, we’re able to predict, for virtually each week of the year, what the demand for seats will be, what types of people will be coming and how to price the seats,” said Alan Wasser, the production’s general manager.
Katie Spohr, a 24-year-old from Illinois with an internship in Manhattan, is one of those people. “I wanted to pick a musical that was really well established, that everyone would like, and I’d heard it was something you can’t leave without seeing,” Ms. Spohr said outside the Majestic on Tuesday night. She bought tickets to take her boyfriend, Sam, visiting from Indiana. “He’s not a big theatergoer,” she added. Sam shrugged in assent.
Today’s Broadway formula often involves adapting brand-name movies into stage musicals and star-driven shows, but “Phantom” relies on a slightly different model. It, too, was an adaptation — of a 1909 French novel — and it arrived on Broadway on the tail end of a winning streak by its producer, Cameron Mackintosh, and its composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. But while its crashing chandelier drew much of the attention in London (where it still runs) and during its early days in New York, it’s the heart-filling, heartbreaking plot and lush music that provide staying power on Broadway, where only 30 percent of shows ever turn a profit.
“Any supersuccessful show depends on audiences’ coming back, and to do that a musical has to find a way to hit people in the solar plexus,” Mr. Mackintosh said in an interview. “There aren’t many epic love stories on Broadway anymore, like ‘South Pacific’ or ‘The King and I,’ where people get swept away.”
Reminded of the weak reviews from 1988, Mr. Mackintosh scoffed at the idea that “Phantom” had become the theatrical equivalent of comfort food. Mr. Lloyd Webber agreed, saying, “ ‘Phantom’ doesn’t exactly have the traditional leading man, or the traditional happy ending.”
The show’s weekly running costs have been tightened over the years to about $600,000, modest for any musical and low for one with such elaborate sets and costumes. As a result, the show turned a profit almost every week in 2011.
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But Mr. Mackintosh has not stinted on marketing efforts that have cost millions over the years. While he declined to provide precise figures, he said he long ago learned to ignore theater executives who maintained that advertising could be pared back as positive word of mouth spread.
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Instead, the show’s simple visual signature — the Phantom’s white mask — remains on a billboard in Times Square and on signs on New York City buses. That mask has become a cultural reference point, like the two yellow eyes for “Cats” and the cap-wearing waif for “Les Misérables” — the next two longest-running shows on Broadway — and, more recently, the ornate doorbell for the hit Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.”
The musical also benefited considerably from the multimillion-dollar advertising budget for the 2004 film adaptation, which came when Mr. Mackintosh noticed Broadway sales weakening. The production grossed $31.4 million in 2003, before the movie’s release; in the three subsequent years, the box office receipts rose to $34.6 million, $41.8 million and $43.5 million. Indeed, before entering Tuesday’s performance, two women from Helsinki, as well as another pair from Houston, said they first learned about the musical from seeing ads for the movie.
The women from Houston said they were also drawn by the unusually inexpensive seats in the rear mezzanine, whose prices were reduced in the last couple of years after the show’s general managers calculated that more money could be netted by selling that frequently empty section at cut rates. The $26.50 seats are the flip side of the dynamic pricing strategy that has spread among most Broadway shows, which charge premium prices for the best seats.
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“Phantom” did its best business ever last year, grossing $44.8 million, including that record final week of the year; $1.5 million is an enormous weekly amount for any show.
Harold Prince, who won a Tony Award for directing “Phantom,” said he believed its enduring buzz was the result of keeping the performances sharp. The 84-year-old Mr. Prince said he returned four times a year to see and rehearse the show, and that resident directors were on hand to pounce on signs of staleness.
Not every version of “Phantom” has had the success of the one on Broadway. A truncated production that opened in 2006 in Las Vegas at a cost of $75 million is scheduled to close this September. And a sequel, “Love Never Dies,” flopped last year in London, though Mr. Lloyd Webber said he hoped a retooled version from Australia might make it to Broadway someday.
Mr. Mackintosh said he was hoping to do better with a new “Phantom” production he was assembling to tour in Britain and, if successful, perhaps in the United States.
“After 25 years it seems right to try a new approach if you’re going to send ‘Phantom’ out again,” he said, noting that the musical had played in 27 countries and 145 cities. (The show has grossed $5.6 billion worldwide.) “But it’s not like the old ‘Phantom’ is going anywhere. It will be in London and on Broadway, forever we hope.” |
Cities and counties around the region have begun to open cooling centers in the wake of a heat wave that's expected to push temperatures into the triple digits in several areas around Western Washington.
An excessive heat warning is in effect through 9 p.m. on Friday.
Here are some places to keep cool and beat the heat:
Seattle: Libraries, Seattle Center, senior centers, pools and water areas with dozens of locations around the city.
- Central Library, 1000 4th Ave., 206-386-4636
- Ballard, 5614 22nd Ave. NW, 206-684-4089
- Beacon Hill, 2821 Beacon Ave. S, 206-684-4711
- Broadview, 12755 Greenwood Ave. N, 206-684-7519
- Capitol Hill, 425 Harvard Ave. E, 206-684-4715
- Delridge, 5423 Delridge Way SW, 206-733-9125
- Douglass-Truth, 2300 E Yesler Way, 206-684-4704
- Greenwood, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N, 206-684-4086
- High Point, 3411 SW Raymond St., 206-684-7454
- International District / Chinatown, 713 8th Ave. S, 206-386-1300
- Lake City, 12501 28th Ave. NE, 206-684-7518
- Madrona-Sally Goldmark, 1134 33rd Ave., 206-684-4705
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- Magnolia, 2801 34th Ave. W, 206-386-4225
- Montlake Beach, 2401 24th Ave. E, 206-684-4720
- New Holly, 7058 32nd Ave. S, 206-386-1905
- Northgate, 10548 5th Ave. NE, 206-386-1980
- Rainier Beach, 9125 Rainier Ave. S, 206-386-1906
- South Park, 8604 8th Ave. S, 206-615-1688
- Wallingford, 1501 N 45th St., 206-684-4088
- Seattle Center Armory
- International Fountain
- Fountain of Creation
- Asian Counseling and Referral Service Senior Center, 3639 Martin Luther King Way, 206-695-7600
- Ballard NW Senior Center, 5429 32nd Ave. NW, 206-297-0403
- Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Ave. S, 206-726-4926
- Greenwood Senior Center, 525 N 85th St., 206-297-0875
- Pike Place Market Senior Center and Food Bank, 85 Pike St. #200, 206-728-2773
- South Park Senior Center, 8201 10th Ave. S Suite 5, 206-767-2544
- The Senior Center of West Seattle, 4217 SW Oregon St., 206-932-4044
- Southeast Seattle Senior Center, 4655 S Holly St., 206-722-0317
- Sunshine Garden Chinese Senior Community Center, 611 S Lane St., 206-624-5633
- Wallingford Community Senior Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N Suite 140, 206-461-7825
- Hiawatha Community Center, 2700 California Ave. SW, Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat
- Delridge Community Center, 4501 Delridge Way SW, Mon/Tues/Sat/Sun
- Bitter Lake, 13035 Linden Ave. N, Wed/Thu/Fri through August 18
- Cal Anderson Park, 1635 11th, noon to 6:30 p.m., Fri/Sat/Sun through August 20
- Dahl Playfield, 7700 25th NE, Tues/Wed/Thurs through August 17
- East Queen Anne, 160 Howe St., Sun/Mon/Tue through August 20
- C. Hughes, 2805 SW Holden St., Wed/Thu/Fri through August 18
- Soundview, 1590 NW 90th St., Sat/Sun/Mon through August 20
- Wallingford, 4219 Wallingford Ave. N, Wed/Thu/Fri through August 18
- Green Lake, N 73rd and E Green Lake Dr. N
- Lincoln Park, 8600 Fauntleroy Ave. SW
- Magnuson, eastern end of NE 65th, noon to 6:30 p.m. through August 27
- Van Asselt, 2820 S Myrtle St.
- Volunteer Park, 1400 E Galer St.
- Ballard Commons, 5701 22nd NW
- Beacon Mountain at Jefferson Park, 3901 Beacon Ave. S
- John C. Little, 6961 37th S
- Lower Judkins, 2150 S Norman St.
- Georgetown Playfield, 750 S Homer St.
- Highland Park, 1100 SW Cloverdale
- Lake Union Park, 860 Terry Ave. N
- Miller Community Center, 330 19th E
- Northacres Park, 12800 1st NE
Tacoma / Pierce County: Movie theaters, local malls and other large stores, public libraries. Pets can go to Petco, Petsmart, or Veterinary Centers of America.
Everett / Snohomish County: Public libraries, Everett Mall, Fire District 1, Mill Creek City Hall, or senior centers.
- Brier Library, 23303 Brier Rd., 425-483-0888
- Darrington Library, 1005 Cascade St., 360-436-1600
- Edmonds Library, 650 Main St., 425-771-1933
- Everett Mall, 1402 SE Everett Mall Way, 425-355-1771
- Everett Public Library Evergreen, 9512 Evergreen Way, 425-257-8250
- Everett Public Library Main Branch, 2702 Hoyt, 425-257-8000
- Everett Station Lobby, 3201 Smith Ave.
- Fire District 1, 12425 Meridian Ave. S, 425-551-1200
- Lake Stevens Senior Center, 3202 Soper Hill Rd., 425-335-0345
- Lynnwood Library, 19200 44th Ave. W, 425-778-2148
- Marysville Library, 6120 Grove St., 360-658-5000
- Mill Creek City Hall, 15728 Main St., 425-745-1891
- Monroe Library, 1070 Village Way, 360-794-7851
- Mountlake Terrace Library, 23300 57th Ave. W, 425-776-8722
- Mukilteo City Hall, 11930 Cyrus Way, 425-263-8005
- Rose Hill Community Center, 204 Lincoln Ave., 425-263-8180
- Snohomish Library, 311 Maple Ave., 360-568-2898
- Stanwood Senior Center, 7430 276th St. NW, 360-629-7403
- Stillaguamish Senior Center, 18308 Smokey Point Blvd., 360-653-4551
- Sultan Library, 319 Main St. #100, 360-793-1695
Olympia / Thurston County: Public libraries, senior centers, First Christian Church, Tenino Quarry Swimming Pool, Yelm Public Safety Building, fire stations, and more.
- Lacey Timberland Library, 500 6th Ave. SE, 360-491-3860
- Lacey Senior Center, 6757 Pacific Ave. SE, 360-407-3967
- Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. NW, 360-753-8380
- Olympia Timberland Library, 313 8th Ave. SE, 360-352-0595
- First Christian Church, 701 Franklin St. SE, 360-943-8025
- Tenino Quarry Swimming Pool, 300 W Park Ave.
- Tenino Fire District 12, 187 S Hodgden St. SE, 360-264-4116
- Tenino Timberland Library, 172 Central Ave. W, 360-264-2369
- Tumwater Timberland Library, 7023 New Market St., 360-943-7790
- Tumwater Old Town Center, 215 N 2nd Ave. SW, 360-754-4160
- Yelm Timberland Library, 210 Prairie Park St., 360-458-3374
- Yelm Public Safety Building, 206 McKenzie Ave.
- McLane Black Lake Fire Station 91 & 95, 125 Delphi Rd. or 5911 Black Lake Blvd. SW on days above 90 degrees, 360-352-7288
Kitsap County: Libraries and community centers will open to keep people cool.
- The Arc of Kitsap & Jefferson Counties, 3243 Perry Ave., 360-377-3473
- Bremerton Library, 612 5th St., 360-377-3955
- Sylvan Way Library, 1301 Sylvan Way, 360-405-9100
- The Salvation Army, 832 6th St., 360-373-5550
- Bainbridge Island Library, 1270 Madison Ave. N, 206-842-4162
- Village Green Community Center, 11212 NE Highway 104, 360-297-1263
- Little Boston Library, 31980 Little Boston Rd. NE, 360-297-2670
- Poulsbo City Hall, 200 Moe St. NE, 360-779-3901
- Poulsbo Library, 700 NE Lincoln Rd., 360-779-2915
- Silverdale Library, 3450 NW Carlton St., 360-692-2779
- Kitsap Mall, 10315 Silverdale Way NW, 360-698-2555
- Silverdale United Methodist Church, 9982 Silverdale Way NW, 360-692-9813
- Manchester Library, 8067 E Main St., 360-871-3921
- Port Orchard Library, 87 Sidney Ave., 360-876-2224
- Port Orchard City Hall, 216 Prospect St., 360-876-4407
Mason County: A few more cooling centers are open in Mason County.
- City of Shelton Civic Center, 525 W Cota St., 360-432-5194
- Mason County Public Works, 100 W Public Works Dr.
- HUB Center for Seniors, 111 NE Old Belfair Highway, 360-275-0535
- Fire District #6 Station 6-1, 50 E Seattle St., 360-898-4871
King County has tips for staying cool and what to do if you do go outside, including water safety tips, listed online.
Copyright 2017 KING |
Football is a great sport, but you know what makes it even better? Live animals breaking loose on the field during games! There have been a whole bunch of moments like this, so we took the liberty of breaking down the best moments for your convenience, because someone had to do it!
College football has a lot of these moments.
At Oregon-Stanford in 2017, a jackrabbit got loose on the field and scored an incredible touchdown, accompanied with a brilliant call from Fox Sports’ Tim Brando.
Double tap if touchdown rabbit should win the Heisman Comment if you miss touchdown squirrel from earlier this season A post shared by FOX Sports (@foxsports) on Oct 14, 2017 at 10:18pm PDT
This is a very good bunny with some nice top-end speed — would draft! And we’ve seen this before. During a Michigan game at Purdue in 1993, another adorable bunny somehow got onto the field.
While this bunny didn’t make it into the end zone, he had some style points for his elusiveness.
The Canadian Football League had a hare-y situation as well!
This is my first-round draft pick, y’all. Very Good Bunny showed speed, agility, and quickness as it juked upfield.
RELATED: SQUIRREL TOUCHDOWN
SQUIRREL TOUCHDOWN
REPEAT: SQUIRREL TOUCHDOWN
pic.twitter.com/IHFJdqEP6b — FOX Sports South (@FOXSportsSouth) September 23, 2017
RELATED: TOUCHDOWN POSSUM
LOOK AT THIS VERY GOOD DOGGY
In 1985, an adorable puppy broke loose during an Iowa home game.
My favorite part is how he literally just ran out because he wanted to hang out with the refs and players.
There was also that time a dog attacked an Auburn player.
On Nov. 16, 1996, Robert Baker caught a touchdown in the front right corner of the end zone. After letting the ball fall to the ground, his momentum carried him toward Georgia’s mascot, Uga V, and Charles Seiler, who handles Uga. “[Baker] kind of made a beeline for Uga, who had his back turned to him originally,” Seiler said. “It was a big, loud noise since he scored. It startled him…. If Uga hadn't landed, he would have grabbed Baker right in the crotch, and that would have been a painful thing. But he ran out of rope.”
The Big 12 has a tradition of foxes running out during games.
During Arizona State’s game at Texas Tech in 2017:
ASU's FG try is no good! We're scoreless after the Sun Devils' first drive. #WreckEm #WhatDoesTheFoxSay pic.twitter.com/5c5VMEt9s3 — Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) September 17, 2017
And this happened at Baylor earlier in the year:
This one was in 2013 during Texas Tech’s win over TCU. My favorite part was Tech’s mascot trying to wrangle the fox:
A second fox, perhaps the same one as the one above, went on the field during the Red Raiders’ game against West Virginia in 2016.
The Fox has made its return to Jones AT&T Stadium. pic.twitter.com/cemQ15F603 — DT Multimedia (@DT_Photo) October 15, 2016
Important geese moments:
For the millionth time, it's not a lake, dude pic.twitter.com/vcA19kNsec — Boise State Football (@BroncoSportsFB) May 2, 2016
I’d probably do the same thing if I were a goose, tbh. Oh, a high school team in Pennsylvania also had to move its game to a practice field because of geese pooping on its home field!
Teams with live mascots make for some mishaps, sometimes!
Colorado’s live buffalo mascot Ralphie has gotten away from his handlers, who have to sprint next to him.
There was also this glorious moment when Fox Sports sideline reporter Jim Knox tried running out with Ralphie during a Georgia-Colorado game, and he ended up falling.
Texas’ longhorn, Bevo, is another mascot who does whatever he wants.
In 2012, during a Tennessee home game, Smokey got loose on the field and almost took out a Kentucky kicker’s legs!
Before Florida State’s Orange Bowl against Michigan in 2016, the FSU horse, Renegade, who Jim Harbaugh was really excited to see, had a biiiit of a mishap.
Legit cannot watch that without busting out laughing.
Speaking of horses! SMU’s live pony mascot, Peruna, is small, but still tough to wrangle.
Air Force’s live mascot falcon, which flies out in the stadium before kickoff, got loose during the 2010 Independence Bowl.
yes, it's true - the Air Force live mascot, the Falcon, has flown away. I shouldn't laugh. I really shouldn't. — Frank Schwab (@YahooSchwab) December 28, 2010
Good news though — the Falcon was later found in downtown Shreveport!
Word on the Bird!! We just found him in downtown! It was amazing! - this is straight from one of the Bird handlers. #goairforce — USAFA (Official) (@AF_Academy) December 28, 2010
More very good dogs!
Texas A&M’s live dog mascot, Reveille, broke loose into the middle of the field during a game against South Carolina in 2015.
Run Away Reveille. Link in bio #reveille #gigem #tamu19 #tamu #firstladyofaggieland #secnetwork #bthosouthcarolina A post shared by April (@daughteroftheking_) on Oct 31, 2015 at 9:05am PDT
Boise State’s tee-fetching dog, Kohl, is a very good dog who only runs as far as he’s supposed to, but we wanted to include him in here, because why not?
Meet Boise State's amazing tee-fetching dog Boise State's tee-fetching dog is SUCH A GOOD DOG! Posted by SB Nation College Football on Friday, September 22, 2017
Also, here’s a dog scampering around at 1965 Army-Navy as players try to contain him.
The NFL has had fewer animal mishaps than college football, but there have been some good ones.
Sometimes, teams put DANG MONKEYS ON THE BACKS OF DOGS AND RACE ‘EM. At a Giants game:
This is the greatest thing the Giants have ever done, in my opinion.
The Indianapolis Colts are undefeated at Lambeau Field when live animals run onto the field.
Our last 2 wins at Lambeau Field:
: 1988
: 2016 pic.twitter.com/LZHhshrCBf — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) November 7, 2016
Back in 1988, a turkey got loose on the Frozen Tundra:
And some animal rights activists stormed the field during a Thanksgiving game between the Eagles and Lions, but they are actually not animals.
PSA: Do not eat Turkeys. They are not for eating. https://t.co/69L5EhcZxC pic.twitter.com/kdTO0yBls4 — SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) November 26, 2015
At the end of a boring 40-0 blowout between the Ravens and Dolphins in October, a kitty ran on the field in Baltimore:
He was named MVP (by us) for the game.
Bonus Puppy Super Bowl Bowl GIFs!
There was a sloth referee, and it was, um something.
Brb, dying of cuteness.
Thank you for your time, and let us know of any other good ones! |
THE ECONOMY Should bailouts turn more profit for taxpayers?
Goldman Sachs repaid its TARP debt with interest, but the Obama administration lost money in deals with other banks.
Those questions arose even though Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which repaid $10 billion in TARP money last month, said Wednesday that it had repurchased its warrants from the government for $1.1 billion.
But on Wednesday, some members of a House subcommittee questioned the head of the TARP program about what they saw as mixed results on some early returns.
Banks that received money from the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program were required to supply the government with warrants to buy future stock at a set price. Congress wanted taxpayers to benefit if the banks became financially healthier.
WASHINGTON — As banks begin paying back their federal bailout money, some lawmakers and government watchdogs worry the Obama administration isn't driving a hard-enough bargain on the one part of the investment that could generate a profit for taxpayers.
Combined with $318 million Goldman Sachs paid in dividends, the government made an annualized profit of 23% on the TARP money it injected into the company last fall.
"That sounds pretty good. But is it enough?" said Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.), chairman of the House Financial Services oversight and investigations subcommittee.
Herbert M. Allison Jr., the assistant Treasury secretary who heads the TARP program, said the Obama administration was "very pleased" with the Goldman Sachs deal and was working to maximize the return in negotiations with other large banks.
"Treasury is committed to getting fair value for the taxpayers for these warrants," he said. "We know they're the ones who put their money at risk, and we feel a great obligation."
The Congressional Oversight Panel reported this month that the Treasury Department had sold the warrants back to some banks below market value.
Eleven smaller banks had repurchased their warrants by July 2 for a total of $18.7 million, but the oversight panel estimated that the warrants were worth about $28.2 million. That return of 66 cents on the dollar would translate to a loss of $2.7 billion for the entire program, the panel said, though it noted that those sales amounted to less than 1% of the warrants held by the government.
Goldman Sachs bought back its warrants for about what the panel estimated they were worth, said Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel. But she said the panel preferred a more open process, including sales through public auctions in most cases.
Allison said that auctions are an option and that the Treasury Department eventually would provide more information about how it values the warrants.
Warrants are contracts that allow the holder to buy a set number of common shares at a specific price on or before a certain date. When a bank repays its TARP money, it has the right to buy back its warrants at a fair market price.
Figuring out that price is difficult because the warrants don't trade on any market, Allison said. The administration can hold the warrants for 10 years, but it does not want to be a long-term investor in the banks, he said. |
Details Category: Early Mustang Knowledgebase Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00 Written by Super User Hits: 5797
"THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE FIRST FORD MUSTANG HARDTOP "The Only Known Surviving Pilot Plant Vehicle" 5F07U100002
According to Ford Motor Company, the first production Mustang was formally rolled off the assembly live an Monday, March 9, 1964 at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, assembly plant located 12 miles southwest of downtown Detroit in the massive Rouge Industrial Complex.
This Caspian Blue Mustang, the first production hardtop assigned a VIN number, 5F07U100002, was scheduled for final production Thursday, March 5"' . lt was actually first hand assembled as a Pilot vehicle Prior to that March 9th date, the day the first cars were scheduled to come off the assembly live.
On the apparent real first day of production, March 5"', 1964, approximately 180 Mustangs were scheduled to be built. Out of all of those first day cars that are known to exist, this 002 car was the only one to be painted blue - all the rest were Bither red or White. (It is rumored amongst Canadians that production car #3, a hardtop thought to be in Canada, was painted red - making the first three production cars red, White and blue. A coincidence? (Look at the vertical bars behind the running horse Fender badge!) lt also was the only one with a 6 cylinder engine as all the others had V-8's. (ref.source Mustang Production Guide #1 by Jim Smart & Jim Haskell)
As best can be reconstructed from all available sources, the first 5 Mustangs assigned VIN numbers were built for sale in Canada. The next 16 Mustangs were built to be used as display cars at the 1964 World's Fair in New York. As to why the first 5 cars were sent to Canada, only an educated guess can be made. Ford was planning a spectacular Mustang introduction to the public internationally on the evening of April 16th, at which time the actual car would be shown for the first time formally to millions of viewers at home on their televisions. In order to be sure that Mustangs were available to be seen in dealerships the very next day, it was imperative that key dealerships had at least one car on display in their showroom. As the theory goes, t made sense to first ship those cars which would take the longest time in terms of distance and logistics to get in place for the formal showing date. The cars for Canada fit into this category, since they were to be spread in five different provinces from the east to west coasts. These 5 cars were sent, most probably, by rail car, to the Ford of Canada facility in Windsor, Ontario, just across the Detroit River for processing. According to Ford of Canada, these cars were not actually sold to Ford of Canada, but were invoiced by the factory directly to the individual Canadian dealer where the car was eventually destined to be sold. It is assumed each of these 5 cars were immediately shipped by Ford of Canada to their intended destinations by the appropriate means of transportation. According to the Ford of Canada Historical Department, there was a directive sent to those 5 Canadian Dealers relating specifically that each of those cars was to be used as a display model in the showroom and not sold at least until a sufficient supply of Mustangs were received by the dealer so as to not leave the dealership without merchandise to display. The length of time referred to in the directive is not known at this time.
According to Mr. M. C. W. "Moe" Grant, then General Manager of Whitehorse Motors in the town of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, this Mustang was sent to his dealership by mistake and arrived in May of 1964. Mr. Wayne McKenna, the Whitehorse Motors salesman who first sold this car, states the Mustang was never ordered by his dealership! There was an error made by the shipping company in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the car was dispatched from there to his dealership in the Yukon. McKenna believes the Mustang was originally destined for the large Brown Brothers Ford dealership in Vancouver. Apparently this wasn't the first time a new Ford vehicle was shipped in error to Whitehorse Motors instead of Brown Brothers Ford. The costs of shipping it back to Vancouver were prohibitive, even though paid by Ford, and the decision was made by Ford to leave the car in Whitehorse for sale by Whitehorse Motors. Just where this Mustang had been between March and May is unknown, but it is assumed the vehicle was delayed in transit due to the shipping error. Needless to say, it never made the worldwide Mustang April 17th debut!
In 1964, all Ford new-car-shipping to Whitehorse Motors was by rail from Detroit to Vancouver, where the vehicle was placed in a shipping container and loaded aboard a ship. The ship then sailed a 4 day journey off the west coast of Canada to the port of Skagway, Alaska. The vehicle, container and all, was then transferred to the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway narrow gauge railway train for a 120 mile mountainous trip to the town of Whitehorse where it was unloaded downtown on First Ave., about 1/4 mile from Whitehorse Motors. It was then removed from the container and a salesman from Whitehorse Motors picked it up and drove it to the dealership. (This method of shipping was confirmed by the Historical Dept., Ford of Canada)
This first Mustang hardtop was displayed in the Main Street single car showroom of Whitehorse Motors, the only Ford dealer in the entire Yukon Territory, and with sales of less than 40 new cars per year! Wayne McKenna remembers he had an immediate sale for it, but the factory invoice had not been received and the dealer cost was unknown at the time so the purchase oft er was consequently rejected.
Numerous people came in to drive the new Mustang, but since it was a"plain Jane" car with a small 6 cylinder engine, 13" wheels and no options, there were no offers to purchase. With several hundred miles now on the Mustang, General Manager Moe Grant directed salesman McKenna to drive the car as his demonstrator until sold. McKenna states "I hated that car because it had no horsepower and no options like power steering". The dealership installed an engine block heater and he drove the car, remaining always in the immediate Whitehorse area, over that summer and winter, putting about 2000 miles on it. Sometime in the spring of 1965, a deal was finally made for the purchase of the car. A 1957 Plymouth was traded in by Mr. Doug Wootton, and the Mustang was sold to him for $3200.00 Canadian. McKenna stated "we normally would have never taken a`57 Plymouth in trade at our dealership, but we were so anxious to get rid of that Mustang we would take almost any deal!" Incredibly, now one year old , the first Mustang hardtop was finally sold!
Ownership chronology from that first sale is known and documented in it's entirety through 14 owners. It was driven in the Yukon until October, 1983, including 3 years at a remote small silver mining town north of Whitehorse named Elsa. A later owner then moved to a suburb of Edmonton, Alberta, where the Mustang remained until December of 1993 when it was sold to a new owner in Bozeman, Montana. It was not until this time that the Mustang was recognized as being something special because of it's serial number, but that history was not thoroughly investigated. The Mustang was resold as inoperable with a blown engine to a Mustang enthusiast in Temecula, California, and was then sold to me 1 year later as inoperable in September of 1997. 1 brought the car to it's new home in the Los Angeles area. After more than three years of extensive and exhausting research, 1 was able to uncover all of the true facts and document the car as a genuine pilot plant preproduction vehicle as weil as the first production Mustang hardtop. The car has received a total restoration utilizing a"return to original as best possible" philosophy. The authentically restored Mustang will be on display at various shows, museums and national Mustang venues.
Who would have ever thought the first Mustang hardtop would have been sold new at the top of the World?
Copyright by Bob Fria
Note: You could see a picture from Bob's car in the gallery..." |
Random Japanese player at your locals?
On a nerd pilgrimage to Akihabara and not sure what to say?
Pretty girl at the tournament and you want to show off your Japanese but don't actually know how to rune speak?
You're on the moon and the evil moon emperor who only speaks Japanese wants you to prove that the world is worth protecting... And the only way you can do so is through VANGUARD FIGHT!!!???
These situations are common in day to day life, and as such, it's important to learn some handy words to use when playing vanguard in Japanese.
Don't worry. Weve got you covered. Welcome to basic Japanese for Vanguard Fight.
As long as you know the basic rules and most cards, you don't actually need to communicate as much information to keep the game going. Card games are communication tool!
We will start with greetings.
[WELL MET] [YOROSHIKU ONEGAISHIMASU] [よろしくお願いします]
It is customary to greet someone at the start of a game when you first sit down with them.
Introducing yourself is also quite important in the foundations of relationship building .
[My name is Sarah. I play DIMENSION ROBO. What is your name?] [Wagahai wa Sarah to moushimasu. Wagahai wa Dimensions Robo wo tsukatteimasu. Kimi no Na wa?]「我輩はサラと申します。我輩はDimension Roboを使っています。貴殿に問おう：君の名は？」
You may or may not know your decks name in Japanese so English is somewhat acceptable.
Just insert your own name where Sarah was placed and you're all set! Wagahai can also be swapped in and out for any other word you use to call yourself. If you're at loss for what to use you can just use your own name and call yourself in third person!
Other examples of how to call yourself are Boku(girls and boys) watashi (more feminine but gender neutral) atashi (very female) or ore (masculine). If you have another on to for it.
If you get your pronounciation slightly wrong don't worry! You're a foreigner and therefore can get away with anything.
[I use Megacolony. What clan do you use?] [Watashi wa Megacolony wo tsukatteimasu. Kimi wa nani Clan tsuki desuka?] 「私はメガコロニーを使っています。君は何クラン使いですか？」
As you can see here we did an example of using watashi over Wagahai.
Another important thing is rock paper scissors.
In Japan we have Jyan Ken Pon.
It goes Saishou was gu (rock) jyan ken Pon (you throw your hand).
Both players place rock first, and on the PON bring out what they wanted.
However if it's a tie, instead or repeating the rock, they say [aiko de shou] with [shou] being the best you play your rock paper or scissors.
There are two beats to prepare for the first throw but only one to prepare if it's a tie. Keep this in mind.
In vanguard the most important thing to convey is Power, Guard amount, and Critical.
Power is basic numbers.
Thousand is [Sen]. However in Japanese instead of ten thousand we have a different word, [mann] to express multiples of ten thousand.
For example
[Twenty four thousand] [ni mann yonn sen] [にまんよんせん]
As you can see twenty four became "two ten thousands and four thousands"
[This attack] [kono kougeki] 「このこうげき」
[To guard] is [youkyuu] 「ようきゅう」
Example is [Twenty Five thousand to guard] [Ni mann go sen youkyuu] 「に まん ご せん ようきゅう」
Which is great if you're attacking but what if you're guarding?
[How much to guard?] [Guard Chi ikura desuka] 「ガード ち いくら ですか」
The Guard Chi here means Guard amount, and ikura means how much.
When giving some number of trigger to pass it's said as "XX to penetrate"
[4 to pass][yonn mai kantsuu]「よんまいかんつう」
Where perfect guard amounts are, as we know from the anime [perfect guard] [KANNZEN GAAADO！] 「かんぜんがーど！」
When declaring perfect guard remember to play anime bgm that announces a comeback
When declaring unit rows, use the word Retsu
[Front row] [zen Retsu]「前列」
[Back row][kou Retsu] 「後列」
In vanguard there are many skills and effects but most of them are a combination of several basic things to do. Call retire power guard restrict soul charge soul blast counter blast stand draw and criticals.
Of course there are many outliers but these are the basic few things that effects do.
Call, soul charge/blast, stand, draw and counter blast are all the same in Japanese.
Power pump and Critical gain is "JYOUSHOU"
[Gain power] [Power Jyoushou]「パワーじょうしょう」
[Gain critical][critical Jyoushou] 「クリティカルじょうしょう」
[Guard restrict] [guard seigen] [ガードせいげん]
[Retire][Taikyaku][たいきゃく]
「Retire Back Row Behind Vanguard」「taikyaku kouretsu vanguard ushiro」「退却、後列ヴァンガード後ろ」
[look at seven ] [Nana Mai miru] [ななまいみる]
So you just combine these short terms to the phrase you need.
Next we will review a few terms for asking to check opponents cards
[May I check your soul][soul Kakunin shite ii?]「ソウル確認していい？」
[How many cards in hand？][tefuda nannmai？] 「てふだなんまい？」
It is also important to call for your triggers in the correct language. While shouting COME MY TRIGGERS or anything else to call for stride costs etc in English may work in your home country it doesn't work In Japan. While in Rome do as the Romans do. Keep in mind that the leyline orientation in every country and even every location you go to is different. How you called for triggers in your home country will be completely ineffective when suddenly placed into a different leyline orientation and worse even different leyline all together.
(If you have been playing vanguard up til now and NOT been calling for triggers, now you know why your trigger rate is so low. You missed one of the basic classes in how to trigger.)
Instead, try these commonly used examples.
[My boiling blood calls out! Triggers! Friends! Come now for your master! Drive check! CRITICAL TRIGGER!!]
[Waga chi ga sakebu! Torigaa yo! Tomo yo! Imakoso aruji no tame mai kitare!! Doraibu chekku!! Kuruchikaru torigaa!!!]
「我が血が叫ぶ！トリガーよ！友よ！今こそ主のために舞い来たれ！！ドライブチェック！クリティカルトリガー！！！」
If that's not to your style try out
[I release the restraints on my right arm to unleash my true power!!(bzzt bzzt) The card I draw with my arm -Burning Fisto- will decide the fate of this Battle!!! Let's go! DRIVE CHECK!!! GET!! THE!! TRIGGER!! ]
[Kono migi ude no kousoku wo toki mezamero ore no shin no chikara!(pachi pachi) Ore no ude -BAANING Fisto- de hiita kardo de shoubu kimete yaruyo! IKUZE!!!! DORAIBU CHEKKU GETTO! ZA!! TORIGAA!!!!! ]
「この右腕の拘束を解き目覚めろ俺の真の力！（パチパチ）俺の腕-バーニングFIST-で引いたカードで勝負決めてやるよ！！行くぜ!ドライブチェック！ゲット！ザ！トリガー！！！」
Last is some quick words after you finish a game. Pick and choose which one you want to use
[Thank you very much it was a fun fight] [arigatougozaimashita tanoshii fight deshita] [ありがとうございましたたのしいファイトでした」
[Would you like to fight again?] [Mata faito shimasenka] 「またファイトしませんか」
Note that although shimasen here is a negative, the question nature makes it an inquisitive sentances.
[Let's meet again!][Mata aimashou]「また会いましょう」
[Your tears only feed me more][kisama no namida de ore GA iyasareru dake sa][貴様の涙で俺が癒やされるだけさ]
[ Is this the level of this country? Hmph How dissapointing. You are ten thousand years too early to be at my level! Ten thousand years!]
[Kore ga kono kuni no reberu dato? Funn shitsubou shitaze. Temera ore to yariaeru ni wa ichi mann nen hayai! Ichimann nenn!!!]
「これがこの国のレベルだと？フン失望したぜ。てめーら俺とやり合えるには一万年早い！一万年！」 |
With idyllic destinations like Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and Greece, Europe offers up countless options for the perfect summer getaway. But recent terror activity that’s swept the continent has left holidaymakers questioning which spots are safe. A recent study has revealed there was a big fall in bookings to resorts near troubled regions like the Mediterranean last year, with a surge in people taking holidays in south-east Asia and the Caribbean instead. But there are still many areas within Europe that are free from the threat of terror. Express.co.uk has investigated the latest advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to discover where it’s safe to holiday this summer.
GETTY•EXPRESS MAPPED: The safest and most dangerous holiday destinations for summer 2017 in Europe
Top 10 Most Dangerous Tourist Destinations Tue, May 9, 2017 Terror attacks have blighted 2017, but which countries are considered the most dangerous in the world? Express.co.uk lists the 10 countries to avoid in 2017. Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 10 10. Peru: Terrorist groups and drug trafficking cartels threaten tourists safety across Peru.
EXPRESS The FCO breaks the terror threat in European countries into four categories
Due to ongoing threats to France by Islamist terrorist groups the French government has warned the public to be especially vigilant FCO
HIGH TERROR THREAT France has long been touted as a hot summer destination for Brits as it’s just a short train ride away. But after a string of devastating terror attacks in 2015 and 2016, the country has been put on a high terror alert. The FCO warns: “Due to ongoing threats to France by Islamist terrorist groups, and recent French military intervention against Daesh (formerly referred to as ISIL), the French government has warned the public to be especially vigilant and has reinforced its security measures.” Paris, Corsica, Rouen and Nice have all been targeted by terrorists. The French government has launched a free smartphone app called SAIP to alert users about possible incidents. Brits have been warned about holidaying in Turkey which has also been placed on a high threat of terror. The once popular summer destination has been marred by a series of explosions and attacks claimed by terrorists in 2016. Advice from the FCO says: “Further attacks are likely. Attacks could be indiscriminate and could affect places visited by foreigners. “There is a heightened risk of terrorist attack against the aviation industry in Turkey. You should co-operate fully with security officials at airports.” Belgium, Germany and Russia have all been placed on a high terror threat by the FCO as well.
GETTY Corsica in France is a popular choice for summer but the nation's terror threat is listed as HIGH
Safe travel destinations for Brits Sun, August 7, 2016 The recent string of horrific terror attacks has left everyone worried about their own safety. And many people have already cancelled holidays to destinations like Turkey and Spain, following recent atrocities. Here are the safest destinations. Play slideshow Getty Images/LOOK 1 of 10 Switzerland - The FCO has also listed the European country as having a low threat from terrorism. British nationals made 711,595 visits to Switzerland in 2014. Most visits were recorded as trouble-free.
GENERAL TERROR THREAT While sunny Spain is dealing with a general terror threat, the nation has been downgraded from a high threat of terror in 2016. A general terror threat suggests there is some level of known terrorist activity. This week a gunman opened fire in a supermarket while shouting “Allah Akbar” in Spain's northwest, and the FCO has advised of a number of police operations last year across the nation. It said: “Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners. The Spanish authorities take measures to protect visitors, but you should be vigilant and follow the instructions of the local authorities.” Other popular summer spots undergoing a general terror threat are Greece and Italy. The FCO warns of several attacks on Greek shopping malls and institutions over the last few years. There have also been isolated cases of domestic terrorism in Italy. The FCO says: “Attacks carried out by the extreme left-wing and secessionist groups have generally been aimed at official Italian targets, mainly in the form of small bombs and incendiary devices.” Other popular summer holiday countries on a general terror threat include the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Austria.
GETTY The Blue Lagoon in Malta would be an ideal summer holiday spot thanks to its LOW terror threat |
Later the same night, however, Bloom discovers an alternative form of nocturnal scavengery, when he happens upon a car crash and the freelance cameramen (one played by Bill Paxton) who are filming efforts to pull a victim from the burning wreck. It’s as if Bloom was born for this work, this watching in the darkness—or, more accurately, as if he had evolved for it, his eyes giving him a preternatural advantage, like some deep-sea fish or Gollum from The Hobbit.
Equipping himself with the rudimentary tools of the trade—a camera, a police scanner—Bloom begins his quest for whatever human sufferings he can capture on film and thus commodify: the dying carjack victim, the bicyclist killed by a drunk driver, the murder/suicide. Bloom pokes his camera right into their faces, beyond shame or moral qualm, and then sells the footage to a hard-hearted veteran news exec, Nina (Rene Russo), who is clinging to her job at a bottom-ranked local station. She teaches him what it is she’s looking for: victims (preferably white and well-off) harmed by villains (preferably nonwhite and poor), “proof” to her suburban audience that the inner city is encroaching. And he goes and gets the footage for her.
As Bloom perfects his trade, he acquires a hapless employee (Riz Ahmed), a new fire-red Dodge Challenger, and higher-quality cameras and scanners. He also perfects the art of improvisation, moving from observer to director of his grisly tableaux. Would the shot look better if the accident victim were repositioned more cleanly in the headlights’ glare? If the murderous home invaders are not caught tonight, perhaps they can supply some additional footage tomorrow?
Gyllenhaal is tremendous in the central role of Bloom. Now 33 years old, he is the same age that De Niro was in Taxi Driver and, like him, he is learning to channel an eerie, inner charisma, offering it up in glimpses and glimmers rather than all at once. (In this regard, his performance in last year’s Prisoners offered a worthy warm-up to Nightcrawler’s main event.) Gyllenhaal lost between 20 and 30 pounds for the movie—another echo of young De Niro—in an effort to physically substantiate the animal that he and director Gilroy say inspired Bloom’s character: the coyote, feral native of LA, creeping down from the hills after dark. The effect is most visible in his face, in the sunken pools of his eye sockets and the tight, Joker-rictus of his jaw when he grins. Everything about him says hungry.
Alas, the film overall doesn’t quite live up to its lead performance. This is Gilroy’s rookie outing as a director after working on several screenplays (including that of his brother Tony’s The Bourne Legacy), and his work is smooth and self-assured. Cinematographer Robert Elswit brings his customary flair to the proceedings, shooting with a mixture of film (daytime) and digital (night). And the supporting cast is solid, in particular Russo (who has been married to Gilroy since 1992). |
Gloves for your iPhone
Exhibit A: Flippy Fingers Aka Stretch Gloves
Exhibit B: The Dot Gloves
You can get the Dot Gloves Here
I owned a touch screen phone for years before finally making the jump to a Blackberry, so I understand the difficulties associated with touch screen phones like the iPhone. I had two major issues with touch screen phones. The first was when trying to drive and dial, the lack of buttons made it nearly impossible to dial without looking at the phone, which resulted in me staring at the phone screen to find the right button instead of looking at the road (Pretty dangerous).My other major issue was trying to type when I was wearing gloves. I live in Canada, so this might not be a concern if you live somewhere like California, but for us Eskimos in training up North, wearing gloves is often a necessity and wearing gloves while using a touch screen are two things that don't go hand in hand. Luckily, the iPhone has created such a massive industry that people have actually now created gloves specifically for using a touch screen device.These gloves look like somebody snipped the bottom half of the finger open so they can unleash their fingers on their nose, I mean iPhone. I'm sure they are great for somebody who just needs to wear a pair of gloves to work, but for your average snowboarder or skier, one bail and your gloves are going to be packed full of snow.The second pair of gloves might actually be useful. Instead of giving you direct finger access to your iPhone or boogers, these gloves have cute little 'dots' on the index and thumb finger tip giving you the ability to use your iPhone as if your hands weren't trapped in a pair of claustrophobic gloves. The best part is, they offer only two models, so you won't waste time debating on which pair to get. The knit model is $15, while the wool ones are $20. These gloves are the perfect cheap gift for your loved ones with iPhones this year. |
Effective Muay Thai combos
I want to share with you a list of a very effective Muay Thai combos. I have listed basic combinations for beginners and more powerful combinations for advanced fighters.
I have picked them while training and sparring in the UK and in Thailand. I want to share with you those that I have found the most useful.
Some combos that feels natural to me may not suit you. That's normal. Try them out and then you'll know which one feels natural to you.
There's no point of perfecting a combo that you are not 100% sure about. You won't be able to rely on it in a real fight.
Find your strong and weak points and use combos that works well for you. It cannot be forced, it must come natural to deliver a sequence of strikes.
Ideally, you should perfect combos that utilize your most powerful strikes - be it a head kick, a hook or a knee strike and not making yourself too vulnerable to counter attacks at the same time. Keep it simple, keep it real.
Start with a basic Muay Thai combos:
In most combinations first few punches are meant to open your opponent's guard for further strikes:
jab+jab+cross
jab+cross+hook
cross+left hook+cross
jab+jab+cross+left knee
Since modern Muay Thai punches are based on Western boxing strikes most of the combinations start with a simple jab+cross combo which may be a little predictable. That's why you should try more tricky moves from time to time:
Left inside leg kick (switch kick)+cross+left hook
jab+right overhand+left inside leg kick
jab+right uppercut+left hook+cross
jab+cross+right leg kick
jab+cross+left leg body kick+cross
And now my special move. I call this one an ex-girlfriend cause it's really nasty:
left jab+right knee+left elbow
It is very useful for shortening of the distance between you and your opponent and getting into a clinch.
For more basic Muay Thai combos check Basic Muay Thai combinations
Let's move to more advanced Muay Thai combinations:
jab+cross+left hook+right uppercut+roundhouse kick
left inside leg kick+cross+left hook+roundhouse kick
jab+rcross+left uppercut+left overhand
jab+cross+left hook+right roundhouse kick+right knee
It is not a problem if you cannot memorize all of them at once. Just write them down and stick it to the wall at your gym right behind a heavy bag.
Next time when you start your bag routine perform them one after another and pick the most useful ones to practice with your sparring partner.
I hope you have found it useful. Let me know what you think and share a list of your favorite combinations in the comments below. Also, check a post about how to choose a proper› Muay Thai combos |
By Rana Alshami
Israel has launched yet another campaign against the Palestinian people. This time its excuse is the kidnapping of three teenage “boys”. Israel is using this incident to once again collectively punish my people. According to international law, collective punishment is a crime.
Israel worries about these children of illegal colonizers who threw my people off of our land, but what about the thousands of Palestinians, including young children, who have been abducted by Israeli soldiers and thrown into Israeli jails without charge? What are our children guilty of to be imprisoned and trapped in cages? Did they fire rockets into Israel in reaction to the many times more rockets Israel fires at our homes and lands?
Lest we forget
You must not forget these crimes, nor should you forget Israel’s bloody massacres of my people.
My people suffer behind walls and the rest of the world remains ignorant and silent. Thousands of Palestinian children have been tortured in Israeli prisons. No one knows the pain we live with. What proof is there that we really kidnapped the “boys”? And if Palestinians did kidnap these Jewish boys, they would have done so as a result of the atrocities they and their families have been subjected to throughout their entire lives.
We are deprived even of our sleep, and the only thing the powers that oppress us expect us to do is to remain ignorant.
Beginning over 45 years ago, Israel began building settlements in order to prove its claim to all of our land, which it stole by virtue of its greater strength and cunning. It build new settlements and continues to expand existing ones. Chedi Klibi, former Secretary-General of the Arab League, outlines three basic objectives of Israel’s expansionism:
The annexation of more Arab lands, including the displacement of the inhabitants, which lead to demographic changes that increase the Jewish population; expropriation of Palestinian property and the necessary and continuous repression required to prevent the Palestinians from keeping what is rightfully theirs. The preemption of any attempt by the Palestinian people to affirm their human rights, among which is the right of self-determination in their own land. Thus, the original and long term objective of proliferating and expanding settlements is to eliminate the Palestinian people and their recognized national rights from the region’s political map. To use the settlements issue to foil any political solution that doesn’t concede full Israeli sovereignty over occupied Palestinian territory. Israel is saying, in effect, that it will accept nothing less than surrender, even though it insists on calling this surrender “peace”.
Dear reader, do you know what it means to be a Palestinian? It means you are not able to move here or there, and that you have few of the basic requirements needed to live a decent life. We are deprived even of our sleep, and the only thing the powers that oppress us expect us to do is to remain ignorant.
As Palestinians, curses follow us everywhere we go. For example, last year I went to Cairo to be interviewed for my visa. I did the interview very well but the officer smiled at me and said: “Rana, sorry, but we can‘t issue your visa to the US.” I asked why? His only answer was “because you are Palestinian”. My American friend spent USD 1,000 on the visa application, travel expenses to and from Cairo, and three days of food and lodging for my mother and me. The US, which assists Israel in making life difficult for us, made us go through an expensive and time-consuming process that it knew all along would result in rejection.
Hear no evil, see no evil
How much longer will the world stay deaf? Is our blood free of charge? What crimes have our children committed that they are forced to live in hell? We are human beings, not aliens. We are exactly like you. Regardless of colour, sex, nationality or religion, we just want to live like you in peace and under good conditions.
Imagine sleeping when, suddenly, you are awakened in the middle of the night to the sounds of rockets and warplanes, and children screaming.
Imagine sleeping when, suddenly, you are awakened in the middle of the night to the sounds of rockets and warplanes, and children screaming. Tell me, how would you deal with this situation? What would you tell your child if he came to you crying and shouting because of the bombing?
Last night, unable to sleep, my 14-year-old brother said to me: “Rana, I put the bicycle on the door of the balcony because of the strong explosion I heard.” When he told me this, I felt helples, knowing I could not do anything to stop the bombing.
Israeli forces shoot gas bombs on my people. Israel practices repression as a major cornerstone of its policy in our occupied land.
Raise your voices and stand by the truth, no matter how much it costs. Our children want the same freedom you have. They want their human rights. All the world should know what life is like here in Gaza. Only justice will heal the wounds of my people.
*Rana Alshami is a college student from the Gaza Strip |
Lalo Fernandez’s transfer to the Liga MX club Tigres UANL was completed just before Mexico’s transfer window closed.
Real Salt Lake’s third-string goalkeeper transferred to the well-known Mexican club Tuesday, RSL announced, the last day of Mexico’s transfer window.
“Real Salt Lake is home,” Fernandez said in a team release. “It will always be my home. I was here for six years and gave everything I could, and the club was the same for me. They were always behind me and supporting me. I could not be more thankful to the club and the whole organization. To be in the eye of a big club like Tigres is an honor by itself. For them to be interested in me is what you play for, and it’s an opportunity that I have to take.”
Fernandez, one of eight homegrown players on RSL’s squad, signed with Real Salt Lake in 2012. He has yet to make a first-team MLS appearance over six seasons with RSL. His contract was set to expire at the end of this MLS season.
“I want to thank [RSL general manager] Craig Waibel, [VP of soccer administration] Rob Zarkos, [assistant GM] Elliot Fall and [owner] Dell Loy Hansen for the way they handled the negotiation to help make this a smooth transition,” Fernandez said in the release. ”It’s so important to know that they are looking out for the best interests of the players.”
The Guadalajara native has played on the youth level for both the U.S. and Mexican national teams.
Tigres signed Fernandez after goalkeepers Enrique Palos Miguel Ortega both suffered injuries last week.
Injury update
Center back Marcelo Silva (hamstring) is on track to return for Saturday’s match at Vancouver. He had to sub out of RSL’s Aug. 19 match at Montreal in the sixth minute due to injury and has missed two games since.
“I’m expecting him back in to practice full tomorrow, but anything could change over the rest of the day,” Coach Mike Petke said. “But he’s progressing well.”
Forward Chad Barrett (knee) continues to inch toward a return. He tweeted that he had his six-month MRI on Friday after undergoing surgery in April to repair a left knee femoral chondral defect and a trochlear defect.
6 month MRI today. Had it circled on the calendar since I learned of my Chondral Defect. If all goes well, I'll be back running on the field — Chad Barrett (@CBarrett19) September 1, 2017
Barrett is scheduled to receive the MRI results Wednesday, he said, which will determine whether he is ready to return to running on the field.
Forward Luis Silva worked out with RSL athletic trainer Tyson Pace on Tuesday, but Petke said they just were taking precautionary measures. He said he expects Luis Silva to be healthy for Saturday’s match.
RSL struggled to weather a rough stretch of injuries, suspensions and international call-ups early in the season, but it has won its past two matches with key pieces missing.
Starting defenders Marcelo Silva and Demar Phillips (hamstring) were sidelined in both RSL’s 4-0 win over San Jose and its 4-1 victory against Colorado. Captain Kyle Beckerman was suspended for the Colorado match due to yellow card accumulation.
Forward Brooks Lennon said the difference is largely a change in mentality. |
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