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The head doctor fighting the deadly tropical virus Ebola in Sierra Leone has contracted the disease himself, the president's office said.
Sheik Umar Khan, the 39-year-old who has been hailed as a "national hero" by the health minister, was leading the fight to control an outbreak that has killed 206 people in the West African country.
There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, but the case fatality rate of the current outbreak is lower than it can be at around 60 percent.
Across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), 632 people had died from the illness as of July 17, putting great strain on the health systems of some of Africa's poorest countries.
The WHO report, released on Saturday, showed that there were 19 new deaths and 67 new cases within the four days since its previous statement. A total of 1,048 cases have been reported across the region in the current outbreak.
Khan, a Sierra Leonean virologist credited with treating more than 100 Ebola victims, has been transferred to a treatment ward run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, according to a statement released late on Tuesday by the president's office.
A source at the ward confirmed that the doctor was alive and receiving treatment, but gave no details of his condition. Health Minister Miatta Kargbo called Khan a national hero and said she would "do anything and everything in my power to ensure he survives."
It was not immediately clear how Khan had caught the virus. His colleagues told Reuters that he was always meticulous with protection, wearing overalls, mask, gloves and special footwear.
During a Reuters visit to the Kenema treatment center in eastern Sierra Leone in late June, Khan said he had installed a mirror in his office, which he called his "policeman," to check for holes or exposure before entering an isolation ward.
Nevertheless, he said he was worried about contracting Ebola. "I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life," he said in an interview, showing no signs of ill health at the time. "Health workers are prone to the disease, because we are the first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease. Even with the full protective clothing you put on, you are at risk."
Three days ago, three nurses working in the same Ebola treatment center alongside Khan died from the disease.
The Ebola outbreak started in Guinea's remote southeast in February and has since spread across the region. Symptoms of the highly infectious disease are diarrhea, vomiting and internal and external bleeding.
Al Jazeera and Reuters |
The Census released its supplemental poverty data yesterday. I have added the data to my Poverty Calculator over at uspovertydata.com.
On the transfers front, I find that non-market incomes kept 38.7 million people out of poverty last year. Without them, the supplemental poverty rate would have been 27.9% rather than 15.5%. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities produces a similar figure each year and came up with 28.1% as the poverty rate when non-market incomes are stripped out. As in prior years, the CBPP's figure is slightly higher than mine. I assume they go about identifying market and non-market incomes slightly differently than I do, and that this accounts for the (fairly insignificant) difference.
If you calculate the SPM poverty rate using only the incomes that the official poverty rate uses (and excluding taxes), you get a poverty rate of 18.7%. This means the taxes and transfers not included in the official poverty rate account for a 3.2 percentage point poverty reduction. Put another way, the taxes and transfers omitted by the official measure accounted for (roughly) around 25% of the poverty reduced by transfers last year.
Here is how many people each program not counted in the official measure kept out of poverty last year (click on the number to go to the poverty calculator comparison and get a better break down):
As always, transfers are doing a pretty solid job here, and this list is not even including the bigger transfer programs like Social Security. If you want to reduce poverty further, it can be done very simply by just increasing the level of poverty-reducing transfers. |
Chicago Bears receiver Marquess Wilson, who was placed on injured reserve with designation to return Sept. 2, will be eligible to return to the practice field Wednesday.
Wilson broke his clavicle diving for a Jay Cutler deep ball during a training camp practice Aug. 4. He had surgery to repair the injury the next day.
And when the Bears placed Wilson on IR with designation to return in Week 1, that move required the receiver to miss a minimum of six weeks of practice time with his eligibility to return to game action coming after eight weeks.
That leaves Wilson eyeing a possible return to game action against the Packers in Week 10 at Lambeau Field on Nov. 9. (The team has an open date in Week 9.) But the Bears are eager to test Wilson out in practice this week if possible.
“We’re just going to see how he looks and give him some time to work back in,” coach Marc Trestman said Monday afternoon. “He’ll probably do some scout team work (initially) and just get active with whatever the trainers have him doing. Whatever the modified practice is that he does, we’ll just roll with that until time says that he’s ready to go.”
It’s hard to know what to expect from Wilson when he returns and just how big of a role he can play in the passing game.
“I can’t project that,” Trestman said. “We’ll see it as he practices where he’s at. And when the time comes, we’ll make a decision on whether he’s ready to play.”
Roster moves: The Bears elevated cornerback Terrrance Mitchell from their practice squad Monday and waived linebacker Terrell Manning. The team also signed safety Shamiel Gary and tight end Jacob Maxwell to the practice squad. |
Is the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit a court of the United States? This sounds like an absurd question. Of course the Fourth Circuit is a court, and of course it is constituted to exercise the powers enumerated in Article III of the United States Constitution. It hears appeals from cases and controversies over which the Constitution and the Congress have given inferior federal tribunals jurisdiction. As everyone who has passed a bar exam knows, that is what makes a particular institution a court of the United States.
Yet “what everyone knows” is no longer so in the Fourth Circuit. In fact, stating expressly what everyone has always known now might be an act of “hostility” in the Fourth Circuit, according to two judges who sit on the Fourth Circuit who issued a majority opinion. And a suggestion that was laughable until just now—that separate restrooms for males and females can be sex discrimination—is the holding of that opinion. That holding is not merely to be taken seriously, but might become the law of the Fourth Circuit. It might become the law, that is, if the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a court of the United States.
Why might the Fourth Circuit not be a court? The question springs to mind when reading the opinion in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, which calls many self-evident truths into question. You’ve probably heard or read about the case, a dispute arising under Title IX, a federal law that governs what actions by educational institutions constitute unlawful sex discrimination. In ruling that a school district may commit unlawful sex discrimination within the meaning of Title IX by maintaining separate restrooms for biological males and biological females, the Fourth Circuit called into question what everyone knew to be so at the time that Title IX was promulgated, and what has always been so throughout human history until now.
Are Single-Sex Bathrooms Really Discriminatory?
Gloucester County in Virginia has a school district. The school district has a bathroom policy, promulgated in order “to provide a safe learning environment for all students and to protect the privacy of all students.” Toward that end, the policy provides that schools in the district shall “provide male and female restroom and locker room facilities in its schools, and the use of said facilities shall be limited to the corresponding biological genders, and students with gender identity issues shall be provided an alternative appropriate private facility.”
G.G., a student in the district, is biologically female. Female is her sex, as the Fourth Circuit panel majority correctly noted. Her gender identity is male. She has a condition known as gender dysphoria, in which one’s gender identity is not consistent with one’s sex.
In satisfaction of its policy, Gloucester County provided an appropriate private bathroom facility for G.G. But G.G. wants to use the bathrooms provided for males. She sued Gloucester County alleging sex discrimination under Title IX.
Title IX expressly provides that the Gloucester County school’s policy is not sex discrimination. The statute provides that “nothing contained herein shall be construed to prohibit any educational institution receiving funds under this Act, from maintaining separate living facilities for the different sexes.” A regulation in the Code of Federal Regulations, promulgated by the Department of Education, interprets the statute to mean that the school “may provide separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex, but such facilities provided for students of one sex shall be comparable to such facilities provided for students of the other sex.”
Yet G.G. argued that Gloucester County engaged in sex discrimination by not allowing her to use the boys’ room. The Fourth Circuit majority ruled that the district court wrongly dismissed G.G.’s claim and must consider whether G.G. is entitled to an injunction requiring the school district to allow her to use the boys’ restroom. As applied to G.G., the majority reasoned, the law is indeterminate. So the majority instructed the district court to follow an opinion letter written by the Department of Education.
Opinion vs. Law
In a scathing dissent, Judge Paul Niemeyer comes just short of accusing the majority of lawless judicial activism, noting that the majority has no legal authority for its conclusion. The suggestion is that the result was predetermined by the judges’ opinions and not directed by law:
To accomplish its goal, the majority relies entirely on a 2015 letter sent by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to G.G., in which the Office for Civil Rights stated, “When a school elects to separate or treat students differently on the basis of sex [when providing restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities, housing, athletic teams, and single-sex classes], a school generally must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity.”
Every source of law known to Anglo-American jurisprudence runs counter to the view expressed in that opinion letter. Common law, cultural and customary norms, natural law, and the text of Title IX and its interpreting regulations: all affirm that Gloucester County’s policy is lawful.
Yet the majority adopted the DOE’s opinion letter as law, against the weight of all the actual law. As Judge Niemeyer points out:
This unprecedented holding overrules custom, culture, and the very demands inherent in human nature for privacy and safety, which the separation of such facilities is designed to protect. More particularly, it also misconstrues the clear language of Title IX and its regulations.
Significantly, the majority did not find that the language of Title IX is ambiguous, explaining:
First, we have little difficulty concluding that the language itself—“of one sex” and “of the other sex”—refers to male and female students. Second, in the specific context of [the regulation interpreting Title IX], the plain meaning of the regulatory language is best stated by the United States: “the mere act of providing separate restroom facilities for males and females does not violate Title IX . . . .” . . . Third, the language “of one sex” and “of the other sex” appears repeatedly in the broader context of [the regulations governing schools.] This repeated formulation indicates two sexes (“one sex” and “the other sex”), and the only reasonable reading of the language used throughout the relevant regulatory section is that it references male and female. Read plainly then, [the law] permits schools to provide separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities for its male and female students. By implication, the regulation also permits schools to exclude males from the female facilities and vice-versa.
Nor did the Fourth Circuit invoke any lawful authority for giving binding, legal effect to the Department of Education’s opinion letter. There is no such authority. The majority correctly noted that it is bound by law not to defer to an agency’s interpretation of an unambiguous statute or regulation.
Introducing Ambiguity Where None Exists
So the law is not ambiguous, and the Fourth Circuit is bound to apply it to the case. Nevertheless, the majority determined that the application of the law to G.G. is ambiguous because G.G., though biologically a girl, understands herself to be a boy. And Title IX “is silent as to how a school should determine whether a transgender individual is a male or female for the purpose of access to sex-segregated restrooms.” Therefore, as applied to G.G., the unambiguous concepts of maleness and femaleness that are codified in Title IX are indeterminate.
Naturally, the statute is silent because everyone knows that sex refers to sex, and not gender identity. Anyway, everyone knew that before last week. Now what everyone knows should not be said publicly. At a public hearing to discuss Gloucester County’s bathroom policy, members of the public referred to G.G. as a “girl” and a “young lady.” The Fourth Circuit majority opined that, by referring to her by her sex, these “speakers displayed hostility to G.G.” Presumably, the majority viewed this as evidence of unlawful discrimination.
The majority assumes (it does not demonstrate) that an unambiguous law that applies straightforwardly to everyone else does not apply to a person who is biologically female but considers herself male. On the majority’s logic, G.G.’s subjective understanding alters the meaning of an unambiguous, federal law. And it alters the meaning of the law for everyone in the Gloucester County school district and, potentially, everyone who resides in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, those states whose federal district courts are bound by precedents of the Fourth Circuit.
Office Dysphoria
In this light, return to the question with which this essay begins. Is the Fourth Circuit a court? On the Fourth Circuit’s approach to legal interpretation, it is not so laughable a question as it once was.
The United States Code defines “courts of the United States” to include “the Supreme Court of the United States, courts of appeals, district courts . . . and any court created by Act of Congress the judges of which are entitled to hold office during good behavior.” That definition is not ambiguous. But it might now be ambiguous as applied to the Fourth Circuit.
If “male” and “female” are rendered ambiguous when applied to a female who does not understand herself to be possessed of the characteristics of females, might not “court” and “judge” be rendered ambiguous when applied to institutions and officials who do not understand themselves to be possessed of the characteristics of courts and judges? Courts and judges of the United States are institutions and officials, respectively, who, in the words of Alexander Hamilton, exercise neither force nor will but merely judgment. In other words, courts and judges do not rewrite unambiguous laws.
Everyone knew that until just now. Now judges of the Fourth Circuit appear to suffer from office dysphoria, a condition in which their power identity is inconsistent with the powers of the office they hold. As applied to them, the unambiguous concepts of court-ness and judge-ness are indeterminate.
Article III of the Constitution provides that “judges,” whoever they are, “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.” Has the Department of Education written any opinion letters on the meaning of life tenure and salary protection? |
In just a few days the Yulin Dog Meat Festival will begin -- an event spanning 10 days in which thousands of dogs will die of torture.
I’m currently on the ground here proving that there is no ban on dog meat. According to some incorrect reports last May, the sale of dog meat was supposedly going to be banned this year the week before the festival began on June 21. These false reports created a lot of confusion amongst the activists and rescue organizations that usually attend the festival to rescue dogs and protest against the cruelty in the dog meat trade.
While eating dog meat in China has happened for hundreds of years, the Yulin Dog Meat Festival is not a tradition at all. Rather, it started fairly recently as more dog restauranteurs moved to the city from the countryside. Some have even claimed dog meat traders were behind the festival originally to increase sales. The local government often claims not to support the event, and says there are no laws for them to help fight against it. As Americans, we often have a hard time understanding this. The U.S. is a democracy where local governments have the authority to create laws that take into account what the people think.
More on Forbes: Why China's Yulin Dog Meat Festival Won't Be Cancelled This Year After All
But China is a different world with a different set of rules. So many of our supporters ask us why we don’t boycott China or hate the people here for this practice. And I try to explain to them that Chinese people want the same things we want. They love their families and work hard so they can provide for them.
It’s our job not to judge another culture about outdated and unfounded beliefs. It’s our job to educate, lead by example and be compassionate. In America and many Western countries, dogs have an elevated purpose. They go to war with us. They sniff out bombs and protect us. Some can even detect cancer. More than that, for many, dogs are family members and our children.
When I’m here in China, most people I talk to have never even heard of the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. They are shocked to learn that it's happening right here in their country. Most of them have pets of their own and have never tried dog meat. And never would. It's been reported by Humane Society International that 80% of the dogs in the trade are stolen pets. Taken out of people’s back yards or grabbed right in front of their owners on walks. I’ve seen with my own eyes many dogs in slaughterhouses still wearing collars with tags. Some even dressed in little dog T-shirts.
What makes the festival and the entire dog meat trade so grotesque is that dogs are purposely tortured. There is a belief that the adrenaline released through the pain makes the meat more tender and provides health benefits. But the truth is quite the opposite. The majority of the dogs are extremely sick, with distemper, parvo, canine influenza, cuts, broken limbs, infections, worms and parasites. This alone is enough of a reason to end the horrific practice.
Another point worth mentioning is that dog meat sales are completely unregulated, meaning there are no rules on how the meat is processed or sold. Dog slaughterhouses are filthy and unsanitary. The smell alone is nothing like I’ve ever experienced. Blood and guts everywhere, dead and half dead dogs, scattered around all over the ground. Butchers torture and kill the dogs out in the open, often in front of small children. What does this do to the young mind? Research has proven that cruelty towards animals is correlated with violence towards humans later in life.
The reason I’m fighting so hard against the dog meat trade is for those children. I see my daughter’s eyes in theirs. I see my son’s smile on their faces. They deserve to live a life free from witnessing such cruel and unusual practices. So they can grow up innocent and with compassion in their hearts.
My foundation, Animal Hope and Wellness, is based in Los Angeles. But we also have a shelter in the Hunan Province of China where there are currently 200 dogs rescued from slaughterhouses. I will be stopping trucks alongside local activists to rescue hundreds more. Our goal is not just to save individual dogs but also to introduce animal protection legislation similar to what's being done in the U.S., and to work to get the dog meat trade banned. While all life matters, laws need to be changed to protect people's family members, and to educate our next generation that cruelty and abuse is not okay. |
After only the second power transition in North Korea’s history, the government, essentially a Kim family criminal enterprise, appears to be stable. However, the regime’s foundation is weak. Although Pyongyang has begun to loosen economic controls, so far only the elite are benefiting. Washington should be willing to engage the North, but should expect no breakthroughs.
Last December “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il died. His son, Kim Jong-un, tagged the “Great Successor,” was left nominally in charge. However, it remains unclear if Kim fils also is the great decision-maker. A recent report from the International Crisis Group pointed to factors which reinforced “the Kim family cult and concentration of power,” but the ruling elite are invested in the system more than in Kim. And the PR touches applauded by the West—cavorting with Mickey Mouse characters, sporting an attractive wife with a Christian Dior purse—are more likely to be viewed with contempt by old-line apparatchiks.
More important, his father had little time to pass on authority to the 29-year-old in a society that esteems age. The surplus of titles, including most recently “marshal” in the military, swiftly showered upon him actually highlights his inadequacy.
Indeed, Kim is surrounded by party officials and military officers who have long awaited their turn to rule. Who is most accomplished at brutal intrigue? Probably not the spoiled brat who spent his time in Swiss boarding school playing computer games and American basketball. Greater power likely lies with Kim Jong-un’s uncle, Jang Song-Taek, aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, and other regime elders. Indeed, Jang’s experience with Kim family governance—he was purged and rehabilitated by both his father-in-law and brother-in-law—suggests that he might not desire to elevate the third generation to supreme power.
Moreover, the system’s superficial stability may be deceiving. Never has Pyongyang been governed by committee. Founding president Kim Il-sung initially gained his position atop a Soviet tank and over time expertly eradicated opposing factions. The latest succession already had its first senior casualty with the ouster of Gen. Ri Yong-ho, thought to be another mentor to Kim Jong-un. Kim might have been flexing his political muscles, but more plausible would be Jang defenestrating a rival, especially after the promotion of Jang ally Choe Ryong-hae to oversee the military. The State Security Ministry, long overseen to some degree by Jang, also has gained in status.
Caution likely dominates Pyongyang today since dramatic change would require consensus among factions operating in a highly uncertain political environment. Nevertheless, no official could easily ignore the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s overwhelming economic backwardness. Indeed, there are reports—of course, virtually nothing specific can be verified—that even the military has felt the impact of food shortages.
There is evidence of movement on economic policy. Most dramatic is Kim’s public call for improving living standards. Until recently the system has never acknowledged failure. More substantively, Jang is thought to have been long interested in economic reform. ;
Ri’s ouster may reflect party elites reclaiming control over foreign enterprises and currency trading from the military; some personnel shifts suggest an increased civilian emphasis. Indeed, four technocrats who were previously involved in economic reform before disappearing from public view have been publicly rehabilitated. For instance, Pak Pong-ju, who served as premier and was responsible for the limited economic reforms of a decade ago, has been named head of light industry development. Pak and a colleague visited the South to promote economic cooperation back when the two nations were talking.
There are conflicting reports of change throughout the economy. For instance, management at some factories apparently is being relaxed, allowing individual enterprises to set production and prices, and to distribute “profits.” But defectors contend these firms are secondary and most aren’t even operating now due to lack of money or energy.
The DPRK long has relied on socialized agriculture, placing several families on a common piece of land to farm for the state. The result has been malnutrition and even starvation. Reforms reportedly have been adopted in areas worst hit by famine to reduce the number of families per plot and establish a production quota above which farmers can keep the excess.
However, despite high expectations nothing was said of agricultural reform at the Supreme People’s Assembly meeting held in September. Moreover, the objective may not be greater freedom but reordered regulation. There are indications that the regime is manipulating prices in an attempt to eliminate private markets and seizing privately farmed plots of land for collective use. Open Radio for North Korea reported that “North Korean citizens, who experienced the similar situation in 2002, are preparing for Kim Jong-un’s New Economic Management System. To prepare for the prices skyrocketing, they are hoarding Chinese money, and prices and the exchange rate keep rising.”
The DPRK reportedly has sent officials north to study Chinese economic policy. Some 40,000 workers also have been dispatched to the PRC for training and also, perhaps, to help pay for Chinese exports.
The North appears to be serious about creating additional investment zones, with China’s Shenzen zone thought to be the model. Apparently Pyongyang is in discussions with both the People’s Republic of China and Russia.
Indeed, Jang’s August trip to the PRC was described as a “working” visit to discuss economic cooperation, during which Jang attended a conference on the Rason Economic Trade Zone and the Hwanggumphyong Island and Wihwado Economic Zone. China’s Vice Commerce minister Chen Jian explained: “We will support big Chinese companies that are willing to invest in North Korea to broaden the economic and trade cooperation with North Korea, to push the two sides to upgrade two-way trade and investment structures and study the feasibility of cooperation on big projects.”
Pyongyang has been actively seeking increased Chinese investment. In September a PRC investment group launched a nearly $500 million investment fund for the North. Indeed, Beijing’s continued strong political support for the Kim regime at least in part reflects the former’s pursuit of economic advantage.
Nevertheless, even Chinese enterprises lack legal certainty in the DPRK. During Jang’s visit Beijing reportedly raised complaints from Chinese businesses. For instance, the Xiyang Group, involved in a mining venture, publicly called its experience in North Korea “a nightmare.” Da Zhigang of the Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences observed: “Any reasonable Chinese investor will think twice before putting money down. There are many stories on Chinese websites about losing money.”
All of this activity may be having some result: Pyongyang apparently exhibits some signs of prosperity and even normalcy that would be unremarkable in any other nation. Alas, few benefits appear to have reached beyond elites in the capital; indeed, famine reportedly threatens as the price of food spirals upward, while fuel shortages leave factories idle. Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group warned against focusing on promises of reform. So far there are gains, but it is “the privileged few who have a monopoly on certain sectors [who] are making out like bandits.”
The North Korean people appear ready for change. Victor Cha of Georgetown University contrasted the new leadership using imagery of founder Kim Il-sung to lead a “great leap backwards” with “a society that is slowly and fitfully opening up.” Returning refugees and regime elites spread information about the outside world. DVDs of Chinese and South Korean television programs circulate; some observers describe a “mania” for South Korean culture. A million North Koreans own cell phones. Famine forced many people into the black market to survive. Ever fewer believe DPRK mythology that they live in a world of plenty compared to an impoverished South Korea.
The regime is aware of the risks of liberalization and has embarked upon what author Scott Thomas Bruce called “the ‘mosquito net’ strategy, meaning that Pyongyang will allow foreign investment in the North while blocking potentially harmful news and culture from the outside world.” This strategy is risky, since the multi-headed genie cannot easily be put back into the bottle. Indeed, the regime has tightened border enforcement along the Yalu and enhanced punishment of would-be refugees, targeting their families as well. Nevertheless, Kim’s rhetoric may raise expectations without yielding results, setting the stage for further unrest.
There has been no change in foreign policy. Although the party appears to have reasserted its authority over the military, there has been no retreat from the regime’s “military first” emphasis. Missile development continues, construction is proceeding on a new nuclear reactor, and rumors are circulating of an impending nuclear test. Rhetoric toward the South has grown even more bellicose. Kim Jong-un has reemphasized his grandfather’s ideology of Juche, or self-reliance, declaring: “Peace is important. But more important is the principle of self-reliance.” In October the regime issued an alert for a semi-state of war.
Through it all China has strongly supported the regime. Shortly after Kim Jong-il’s death the PRC provided additional shipments of oil and food to aid the new regime. Trade in January was reportedly up over the preceding year. When I visited Dandong, China earlier this year, a constant stream of traffic flowed across the Yalu into the DPRK. The planned special trade zones would deliver even more resources to Pyongyang.
Beijing routinely urges the North to undertake domestic reform and exercise international restraint, but appears unwilling to apply meaningful pressure on North Korea to change the latter’s behavior. There is public criticism of Pyongyang’s ingratitude, but this has had no impact on official policy. The PRC consistently encourages the rest of the world to engage and aid the North.
Washington should limit its ambitions in dealing with Pyongyang. There is little upside. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta engaged in only modest hyperbole when he observed: “We’re within an inch of war every day in that part of the world.”
There’s no reason for America to be entangled. Six decades have passed since the Korean War and South Korea is well able to defend itself. American troops should come home, placing the U.S. out of the DPRK’s reach. Washington still has an interest in promoting non-proliferation, but there is little to be gained from pressing hard for a nuclear settlement.
Was the DPRK ever ready to drop its nuclear program? No one knows. Although the Kim Jong-il regime was odious, it might have been willing to deal. Even some Bush administration officials admit that they needlessly sacrificed early opportunities to negotiate with the North. Nevertheless, whatever the chances then, more than a decade later the world has moved on and Pyongyang has heavily invested in being a nuclear power. Even if some members of the new leadership are interested in reaching an agreement, they are unlikely to challenge the military over such an important issue during an uncertain political transition.
Given the Bush administration’s ultimately fruitless experience, the Obama administration decided not to devote much time and resources to Pyongyang. And the DPRK richly rewarded this skepticism. The North launched military attacks on the South in 2010 and earlier this year almost immediately voided a deal for food in return for a missile/nuclear freeze by launching a missile under the guise of orbiting a weather satellite.
Washington might well try a different approach. It should offer to initiate diplomatic relations, with the two countries exchanging small missions. Doing so would enable more regular discussions and offer the U.S. government a useful portal into the North. Should the DPRK choose cooperation over confrontation in the coming months, the U.S. could suspend some economic sanctions and open negotiations over a peace treaty to succeed the armistice signed 59 years ago.
The best argument for such a strategy is that nothing else has worked. As my Cato Institute colleague Ted Galen Carpenter observed, “we have little to lose by adopting a bold alternative to current strategy.” If Pyongyang’s response was positive, the U.S. could move ahead slowly, considering a more concerted effort to address the nuclear issue.
At the same time, the U.S. and South Korea should attempt to engage Beijing over North Korea’s future. That won’t be easy. Cha observed: “Thus far, China has reacted with typical closed-mindedness, revealing little information that it might have about Kim Jong-un and expressing unconditional support for the leadership transition.”
The PRC sees little to dislike in the current situation. Beijing enjoys a long-term alliance with the DPRK, takes advantage of investment opportunities in minerals and other industries, fears a united Korea with American forces on its border, worries about the costs of a North Korean collapse, and gains influence as Washington and Seoul request its assistance in dealing with the North.
The U.S. needs to address these concerns—promising that there would be no American troops in a united Korea, for instance—while sharing the nightmare of a nuclear North Korea. Washington should noisily rethink its opposition to Japan and South Korea developing countervailing weapons if Pyongyang goes ahead and amasses a growing nuclear arsenal. Then Beijing might see more reason to act.
North Korea appears to be adapting. But so far the lives of most North Koreans remain the same. Nor is the “new” DPRK any easier for its neighbors or the U.S. to deal with. Meaningful change eventually will come to North Korea. But not yet. |
The Los Angeles Angels will be without their ace this weekend as they take on the Detroit Tigers. Jered Weaver, who had been battling shoulder discomfort for a couple of starts, underwent an MRI and has been diagnosed with shoulder tendinitis.
According to the Angels, Weaver will not make his scheduled start on Friday night and will likely pitch sometime next week. The team will announce his next scheduled start over the weekend.
The loss of Weaver is a substantial one for Los Angeles. The 29-year-old starter has been terrific this season, posting a record of 16-4 and a 2.86 ERA. The Angels entered Thursday 7.5 games back of the Rangers in the American League West and just 2.5 back of the second wild card spot, and they'll need their ace healthy if they hope to make a run in September.
The club is expected to announce their starter for Friday night's game sometime this afternoon.
For more on the Angels, be sure to check out Halos Heaven. |
A few years before Queens elementary school PS 244 became the first public school in the nation to go vegetarian, it decided to stop serving chocolate milk. That had never been done before in New York City’s school meals program. Robert Groff, the school’s principal, says even that first simple step took a lot of time and effort.
Groff, whose grandfathers both died of heart attacks in their 50s, co-founded PS 244 in 2008 on the premise that health and wellness is closely tied to academic performance. The chocolate milk removal, suggested at first by a third grader who was learning about nutrition labels, was followed by other menu changes that maximized healthy eating.
It soon became apparent that meat-free meals were the way to go, given that the city–which serves 850,000 meals a day–can’t necessarily afford top-of-the-line lean meat. “We had no focus on vegetarianism specifically,” says Groff. “If we were presented with a free-range, organic chicken, that’s something we would talk about.”
Kids at a recent school dinner at PS 244. Courtesy of Robert Groff/PS 244
PS 244, also called the Active Learning Elementary School, became a test kitchen for the entire city. No more sloppy joes and beef tacos. Instead, there was tofu, veggie meatballs, chickpea curry, salad bars, and mozzarella, tomato, and spinach paninis. (Some menus, especially the vegan ones, are probably healthier than others–vegetarian diets can incorporate mac and cheese and pizza as much as spinach and brown rice.)
By January 2013, with the help of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food and NYC’s Office of School Food, PS 244 had a full meat-free breakfast and lunch menu, made at no added cost compared to the city’s meal program. Since then, one other city public school has gone completely vegetarian, and other schools now have a vegetarian lunch option to choose from.
PS 244 is an extreme example of the move that most school cafeterias around the country are making to serve more plant-based fare. This is partly a sign of general growing recognition of the health benefits of eating less meat–and also part requirement: At the behest of Congress and Michelle Obama’s anti-childhood obesity campaign, USDA set major new rules in 2012 requiring less sugar and a wider variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains in school meals. There were also guidelines for stricter portion size, calorie, and sodium limits. (Schools that want federal meal subsidies must follow these rules.)
But PS 244 isn’t going to be an example for everyone: Schools nationally are having trouble with the new USDA guidelines at it is, says Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association. |
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An eloquent call to “reclaim the conversation” challenges leading liberal educators to repudiate their involvement in what’s being called “corporate school reform.” We finally see liberal activists opposing the bipartisan education project that has subjected school and teachers to “free market” policies. Liberals are starting to contest privatization, testing, and attacks on teacher unions, rather than accepting neoliberal assumptions and policies taken wholesale from right-wing think tanks and functions.
Since last fall’s Chicago teachers strike, we’ve seen an acceleration of critique in traditionally liberal media about school reform — from Teach for America to charter schools and Michelle Rhee. There’s even been a whiff of real reporting in the New York Times on the common core curriculum. Why did liberals urge teachers unions to back down on contractual issues that protect kids and miss what the unions should have been doing, like mobilizing their members?
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And why do liberals who expose what’s wrong with standardized testing, as John Merrow has, continue to propagandize for charter schools, ignoring compelling research about the educational devastation in New Orleans because of “charterization”?
To be fair, liberals have not been alone in their confusion about policies cloaked in the rhetoric used by the civil rights movement about equalizing educational opportunity. The pace of change in education has been breathtaking, schools and teachers battered by the speed and force of mandates. The most profound changes in education were made more enticing with the carrot of increased funding. Cash-strapped school districts and states couldn’t turn down extra money they received as a quid pro quo for adopting the stranglehold of testing and privatization required by “No Child Left Behind” and, more recently, “Race to the Top.” Still, for way too long, liberals assumed that schools could be “fixed” without tackling social and economic inequality
Liberals couldn’t see this big picture, partly because as Bhaskar Sunkara writes, “American liberalism is ineffective and analytically inadequate.” But why? One reason is that they want to be non-ideological and practical, and without principles to guide them, they are pulled in the political direction exerting the most influence. David Steiner, currently Hunter College Dean and a former Commissioner of Education in New York State and Director of Arts at the country’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association, illustrates how liberals persuade themselves to support neoliberal policies. It’s essential, he argues, “to be non-aligned [ideologically]” and look at “policy recommendations, policy as executed based on its merits and not on whether it’s the darling child of the left or the right…”
When power relations are skewed, however, the “merits” are generally found in the right-hand column if one’s principles don’t configure the analysis. Steiner argues that teacher education should take up important questions like how often to make eye-contact with students and omit issues that are irrelevant for teaching, like schooling’s role in a democracy. Teaching about social justice is objectionable to Steiner because it challenges the status quo.
Confusion about whether they even have an ideology has allowed U.S. liberals to evade confronting the choice between “profits and people,” the contradiction embedded in capitalism at the heart of “free market” reforms. Liberals accepted making public schools compete with charters. They permitted outsourcing test creation and grading, teachers’ evaluation , professional development, as well as hiring to transnational corporations that are virtually unregulated. Many liberals persuaded themselves that corporations could make profits in the previously non-profit sector of education without hurting kids. But when is there ever enough money left over in school for profit? When do you not need the money for children?
Take liberal confusion over charter schools. Advocating charter schools to boost academic outcomes for poor, minority kids presumes that we can provide equal educational opportunity and simultaneously maintain a status quo of segregated housing and schooling. If you are unwilling to wage the unpopular fight for residential and school integration and equalized (and adequate) school funding, charter schools can seem a “good enough” compromise. The controversy over charter schools is symptomatic of liberalism’s unwillingness to face racism’s embeddedness in almost every aspect of education. The claim of leaving “no child behind” had a powerful resonance in part because educational inequality persisted in the twenty-first century. To deny that reality, as do many liberals who have awakened to the dangers of “corporate school reform” (led by feisty born-again liberal Diane Ravitch), is to assume that schooling of white, middle-class parents and children was not previously that much different from what poor and working class children of color experienced. It was — and is.
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The impact of the education counter-revolution, which has all but destroyed the gains in education made by progressive social movements in the Sixties and Seventies, has been most harmful to the children reforms were purportedly designed to help: poor children of color and children with special needs. Cornell West is on-target when he names the “shameful silence” of progressives on Obama and school reform, though he gives the Black Caucus too much of a pass when he excuses their “protective disposition” for a black president viciously attacked by the Right.
When white liberals advocate for schools to which they would never send their own children, as Ian Frazier does in his puff piece on a Harlem charter school (skewered so well by blogger “EduShyster”), what’s causing their inconsistency? Racism yes, and also more than a whisper of elitism, which can’t be disentangled from social class.
Many liberals assume they will be unable to win others to their way of thinking. In contrast to the Right, liberals lack confidence in the power of their ideas so they rely on electing politicians, Democrats and sometimes Republicans, who will carry out their ideals, perhaps in stealth. Because of their ideological confusion, liberals can’t imagine alternative social and political arrangements, so when their political friends betray them, they tend to either deny the reality or excuse it as inevitable and look for the new shining hope.
In regard to school reform, most liberals have accepted the “left-wing of the possible” (Michael Harrington’s seductive phrase). But this strategy led them to err about what may be the major moral and political issue of the day. Harrington refused to repudiate the War in Vietnam with enough vigor when he should have. Liberals supported reforms that have almost destroyed public education. Like Harrington, they failed see options other than those created by the powerful. In contrast, Daniel Singer, who wrote for the Nation, began his analysis with reference to what is needed. In “Whose Millennium: Theirs or ours?” he argues for policies not on the horizon, noting that freedoms are unattainable “only if present political and social arrangements are considered normative and immutable.”
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We have so much evidence that school reforms being carried out by Democrats and Republicans aim to benefit the rich and powerful, that we can no longer excuse liberals who don’t “get’ what’s happening. School closings devastate communities and are often driven by developers who want to gentrify neighborhoods (the critical fact lost in a confused story in the Atlantic website about the real estate “mess” created by not having enough developers who will take over the closed schools). While standardized testing scandals are being exposed, Atlanta schools teachers and administrators, mostly black, are being indicted and jailed, Michelle Rhee, also implicated in a test scandal, is criticized mainly because she has more Republicans than Democrats donating to her front group “Students First.”
At this point, the notion that liberals who don’t “get” the big picture have good intentions is itself a form of denial. The best way to educate liberals is to stand up for principles of social justice and equality, as the recently re-elected reformers who lead the Chicago Teachers Union are doing. We need to fight smart and hard for what we believe in and let the liberals follow — or not.
Read more at Jacobinmag.com |
Fox News conservative political commentator Charles Krauthammer on Friday slammed President Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE for a tweet warning former FBI Director James Comey about leaking information.
“All of a sudden you’re raising something nobody had imagined and saying you better watch out,” Krauthammer said. "That’s un-presidential, which is kind of a nice way of saying that that sounds more like a mafia boss than the president of a free republic.”
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In a tweet that also accused the former FBI director of leaking to the press, Trump introduced the idea of recordings of conversations between the president and the man that Trump fired as head of the FBI earlier in the week.
James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
In an interview with Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro, Trump refused to discuss the tweet.
“Well, that I can’t talk about,” Trump said. “I won’t talk about that. All I want is for Comey to be honest and I hope he will be, and I’m sure he will be, I hope.”
Krauthammer has previously criticized Trump’s decision to fire Comey, calling it “inexplicable.” |
Hello droogs,
Some of you have noticed some confusion about the release date for DARKDAWN in the last couple of weeks – Amazon says one thing, Goodreads says another, and so on.
Folks have asked me about this on twitter. I did notice, I promise. And apologies I haven’t made an announcement sooner, but I was tied up on the LIFEL1K3 release schedule and tour. Now that my post-apocalyptic baby is out in the world, I can turn attentions back to my more murderous child.
So, the bad news: The release date for DARKDAWN has been pushed to September 2019. Which, I know, is more than a year away. And I know a lot of you were really fucking looking forward to getting it this year and yes, this sucks. So, allow me to explain.
Writing the Nevernight Chronicles has been a slightly different experience to writing my other series, in the sense that I’ve been writing the next book after the previous book has hit shelves. I usually do my homework wayyyyy ahead of time – I handed in the second LIFEL1K3 book months ago, for example. We handed in GEMINA well before ILLUMINAE was published, same with OBSIDIO and GEMINA. But I was still writing GODSGRAVE when NEVERNIGHT came out. DARKDAWN was only about 17,000 words long when GODSGRAVE hit shelves (the final book will be about 180k). This has been cool, in the sense that some reactions from readers have influenced certain parts of the story, and made the book and Mia better. The tricky part of this kind of schedule is that after a book is written, there’s still a whole bunch of work that gets done behind the scenes before it’s published – editing, proofing, designing, marketing, shipping and so on.
So, my plan was to deliver the first draft of DARKDAWN to my publishers in April 2018. Those of you who follow me on instagram know I went to Venice for a month in February and smashed about 90,000 words. It was an amazing experience. Wandering those streets and walking alongside those canals and breathing that air, I discovered the book DARKDAWN would become. I’ll owe the people and city Venice a debt forever.
Thing is, DD is gonna be a 180-190k book. So at the end of Feb when I got back from Italy, I still had around 70-80k words to write. And I had a three week OBSIDIO tour in March (thanks to everyone who came out to see us, you were amazing!).
But yeah, April delivery? Not happening.
I wrote my editors and told them DD wouldn’t be ready til May. And even then, I’d be rushing it. And this is the real thing, the most important thing in all this – truth is, I didn’t want to rush this book.
I’ve never got reactions on any other series like the reactions I get to NEVERNIGHT. People like the ILLUMINAE books. They sold a lot of copies. That weird little bookthing paid for a shitload of bourbon. But the people who like NEVERNIGHT don’t just like it. They love it.
LOOOOOOOVE IT.
They get tattoos of it. They make amazing, brilliant art for it. They write me letters telling me that Mia has got them through divorces, devastating emotional trauma, assault, financial collapse, infidelity, deaths in the family, fucking CANCER. I get letters from teens telling me that Mia helped them recognize their own sexuality, that they’d never seen themselves in a book before they saw her. These books are IMPORTANT to a lot of people, in ways that even now I’m still coming to grips with. And it’s amazing and it’s humbling. And I’ll be eternally grateful for the way you folks have loved my stabby bitch of a daughter.
But here’s the thing – no matter how much you love NEVERNIGHT and GODSGRAVE, DARKDAWN is the book you’ll remember most. The note this series goes out on is the one that’s going to stick with you. And given what this series means to people, what this character means to people, I didn’t want to rush this final book and fuck it up.
As I write this, I still have about 20,000 words to write on DARKDAWN. Realistically, it’ll be mid June before I’m done. It’ll be the book you deserve by then. And handing over the book in mid June for a November release is just too hard for my publishers. There’s still months of work to do after you hand in your first draft. Realistically, it’d be December before we could publish it, even if we ruuuuuushed. And nobody publishes in December unless you’re publishing a christmas book.
Mia is a lot of things, gentlefriends. But she sure as fuck ain’t christmassy.
So, no problem Jay, you say. Just publish DARKDAWN in January. It’s only 3 months later than you promised.
Problem there is, I have another book coming out in March – the first in my new series with Amie, the book formerly known as THE ANDROMEDA CYCLE (the name has changed, more about that next month). And then I have the second LIFEL1K3 book coming out in May. Point is, dropping three books in five months is fucking insanity. The sales of one will cannibalize another, the schedule would be fruitloops. I’d literally get no writing done for the first half of 2019, and writing is my drug. My therapy. It’s what I do to stay sane. Five months of constant touring and promo would drive me batshit crazy.
So, Fall release it is. Spring in Oz. September, to be precise. This is an absolute deadline. I swear it on the Black Mother – Darkdawn will be in your hands in September 2019. This is not a Winds of Winter scenario, I’ll be finished writing it in June. And please note I am not knocking Lord GRRM in any way – mad props to George, I love that guy. I’m just pointing out this isn’t writing/content delay. It’s schedules for other books that are spannering the works, not the writing part. The writing part is great.
I know this sucks. I know how disappointed some of you will be. But the book will be better for it. If I’d rushed it, if I’d pushed before it was ready, it wouldn’t be the book it’s going to be. The ending came to me a few days ago. It’s the ending I’ve been looking for the last six months. The other endings I’d thought of were good. But this one is RIGHT. I know it in my bones, the way you know you’re in love. The book is writing itself now. It’s like fucking magic. Everything is falling into place and I’m loving every moment of these final chapters. I’m sitting here typing this blog post and cannot wait to dive back into what I’m writing (Chapter 35, you’ll know what I mean when you get there). God, I can’t wait for you to read this thing, seriously.
But you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer than you hoped.
So, I’m sorry. It’s a bummer. We’ll figure out something cool to make up for the delay. In the meantime, if you must MUST read more of my stuff, you have LIFEL1K3 on shelves this week if you’re in America (July in the UK). And you have have my new series with Amie (new title reveal very soon) coming out in March 2019, and LIFEL1K3 2 in May to tide you over.
And then, in September, daylight dies.
It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.
Cheers droogies. And thanks for understanding 🙂 |
G.91Y A G91Y at Bremgarten in September 1992 Role Fighter-bomber National origin Italy Manufacturer Fiat Aviazione
Aeritalia First flight 27 December 1966 Primary user Aeronautica Militare Produced 1966-1972 Number built 2 prototypes + 65[1] Developed from Fiat G.91
The Fiat (later Aeritalia) G.91Y is an Italian ground-attack and reconnaissance aircraft which first flew in 1966. Resembling its predecessor, the Fiat G.91, the aircraft was a complete redesign, a major difference being its twin engines, rather than the original single engine.
Design and development [ edit ]
The G.91Y was an increased-performance version of the Fiat G.91 funded by the Italian government. Based on the G.91T two-seat trainer variant, the single Bristol Orpheus turbojet engine of this aircraft was replaced by two afterburning General Electric J85 turbojets which increased thrust by 60% over the single-engined variant.[2] Structural modifications to reduce airframe weight increased performance further and an additional fuel tank occupying the space of the G.91T's rear seat provided extra range. Combat manoeuvrability was improved with the addition of automatic leading edge slats.[2]
The avionics equipment of the G.91Y was considerably upgraded with many of the American, British and Canadian systems being licence-manufactured in Italy.[2]
Flight testing of three pre-production aircraft was successful, with one aircraft reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.98. Airframe buffeting was noted and was rectified in production aircraft by raising the position of the tailplane slightly.
Production [ edit ]
An initial order of 55 aircraft for the Italian Air Force was completed by Fiat in March 1971, by which time the company had changed its name to Aeritalia (from 1969, when Fiat aviazione merged with Aerfer). The order was increased to 75 aircraft with 67 eventually being delivered. In fact, the development of the new G.91Y was quite long, and the first order was for about 20 pre-series examples that followed the two prototypes. The first pre-series 'Yankee' (the nickname of the new aircraft) flew in July 1968.
AMI (Italian Air Force) placed orders for two batches, 35 fighters followed by another 20, later cut to ten. The last one was delivered around mid 1976, so the total was two prototypes, 20 pre-series and 45 series aircraft. No export success followed. These aircraft served with 101° Gruppo/8° Stormo (Cervia-S.Giorgio) from 1970, and later, from 1974, they served with the 13° Gruppo/32° Stormo (Brindisi).[3] Those 'Gruppi' (Italian equivalent of British 'squadrons', usually equipped with 18 aircraft) lasted until the early '90s, as the only ones equipped with the 'Yankee', using them as attack/recce machines, both over ground and sea, until the AMX replaced them.
Variants [ edit ]
G.91Y - Prototype and production aircraft.
- Prototype and production aircraft. G.91YT - Projected two-seat trainer variant. [4]
- Projected two-seat trainer variant. G.91YS - Prototype with enhanced avionics and extra hardpoints to carry AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for evaluation by Switzerland. First flown on 16 October 1970.[4][5]
Operators [ edit ]
Italian Air Force operated 65 Fiat G.91Ys until 1994
Aircraft on display [ edit ]
A Fiat G.91Y is preserved and on public display at the Italian Air Force Museum, Vigna di Valle near Rome.[6]
Specifications (G.91Y) [ edit ]
Orthographically projected diagram of the Fiat G-91Y
Data from The Observer's Book of Aircraft.[4]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
See also [ edit ]
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Related lists
References [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ] |
Field patrols will soon have almost weightless solar blankets as well. These will be able to capture a once unthinkable 35pc of the sun's light as energy with thin membranes, a spin-off from technology used in satellites.
This new kit is a military imperative. Taliban ambushes of supply convoys are a major killer. The Pentagon says the cost of refueling forward bases is $400 a gallon.
The US Naval Air Weapons Station already relies on a 14 megawatt array of solar panels in California's Mojave desert for a thrid of its power. Pearl Harbour will soon follow as the Pentagon goes off-grid, better shielded from enemies.
The US Navy will derive half its energy supply from renewables by the end of this decade, according to a report entitled Enlisting the Sun: Powering the U.S. Military with Solar Energy , by the US solar industry (SEIA). It may be a stretch to say that the US Naval Research Laboratory is the vanguard of the world's green revolution, but not a big stretch.
"The US Defence Department is racing ahead. This could be like the semiconductor industry in 1980s where the military changed the game," said Jeremy Leggett, chairman of Solarcentury.
Nor is the Pentagon alone. Grant lists from the "SunShot Initiative" of the US Energy Department show that America's top research institutes are grappling with each of the key issues that have bedevilled solar energy for so long.
Los Alamos - home of the Manhattan Project - is working on smart grids and better ways to capture excess electricity produced in peak sunlight hours. The Argonne labs are working on thermal energy storage to overcome "intermittency", the curse of solar and wind.
Oak Ridge is testing coatings that increase durability of solar panels eightfold. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is working on a CO2 power cycle that could achieve 90pc thermal efficiciency and does not require water, transforming the propects of desert solar.
The quest for renewables has quietly become a national endeavour of the world's paramount superpower, still home to 18 of the world's top 20 universities. The Japanese are no slouches either. They are spending $200m on a thermal storage project in Hokkaido using vanadium in electrolyte tanks. All this ferment will surely have consequences, though what and when is hard to predict.
The US Energy Department expects the cost of solar power to fall by 75pc between 2010 and 2020. By then average costs will have dropped to the $1 per watt for big solar farms, $1.25 for offices and $1.50 for homes, achieving the Holy Grail of grid parity with new coal and gas plants without further need for subsidies.
The current average in the US ranges from $5.30 for homes to as low as $2.50 for some utilities, though the figures are hotly disputed. Germany is further ahead, down to $2.25 to $2.50 even for homes. Broadly speaking, costs are down by a quarter over the past year due to the flood of cheap Chinese panels.
The Department expects a "nonlinear" surge in solar expansion once the key threshold is reached, "paving the way for rapid, large-scale adoption of solar electricity across the US", with solar providing 27pc of the country's power by the middle of the century. If so, solar may prove to be the bigger story than shale in the end.
"This could take off very fast and catch a lot of people by surprise. The oil and gas industry is starting to smell that renewables are really dangerous for them," said Mr Leggett.
Like all solar survivors, he has emotion invested in his dream, and the prospect of vindication is sweet. What is new is that big global banks are starting to agree. Earlier this year UBS published a report on the “unsubsidised solar revolution”, arguing that every rooftop in Italy, Spain and even Germany should have a solar cover based purely on hard economics.
"We believe the solar sector is at an inflection point," says Vishal Shah from Deutsche Bank. "It has passed the tipping point for grid parity in 10 major markets worldwide."
Deutsche Bank said the dramatic fall in the price of solar panels to between $0.60 and $0.70 per watt - lower than thought possible five years ago - has already rendered solar power competitive "without subsidies" in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Italy, Greece, Spain, Israel, South Africa, Chile, Southern California, Hawai and Chile - in some cases because electricity prices are ruinous. (Italy's solar is not efficient but electricity retails at $0.38 per kilowatt hour, compared with $0.15 in Germany and the UK).
These regions could be joined within three years by Thailand, Mexico, Argentina, Turkey and India, among others. Mr Shah said emerging markets are likely to embrace solar over the next decade for hard-headed commercial reasons, without the need for government subsidies. "Solar is now cheaper compared with diesel-based electricity generation in many markets such as India and Africa," he said.
This does not mean necessarily that Germany has benefited much from its head-long rush into solar, a decade too early for its own good. Households have been bled to subsidise the green dream. Around €100bn or more has been frittered away on costly feed-in tariffs. German investors have lost their shirts on a string of solar ventures that have gone bankrupt. The gains leaked out to copycat companies in China, able to undercut German rivals in their own market with cheap labour and giveaway credit.
Such are the perils of being a "first mover", a fate that Britain knows well. It is a reminder too that advances in solar technology do not easily translate into profits for solar companies. They are tearing each apart in cut-throat competition. Yet Germany surely did the rest us a favour by cracking photovoltaics at a crucial moment, and for that we have a debt of gratitude.
Whatever you think about that episode, it is now behind us. Solar technology is advancing on every front with the rush of history. A team at Oxford University is working on perovskite, a cheap and abundant material that may slash the costs of solar panels by 75pc to under $0.20 per watt. While normal silicon layers are 180 micrometres thick, perovskite can capture the same amount of sunlight with one micrometrr, according to MIT Technology Review.
In Australia, the University of New South Wales is probing a mix of screen-printing techniques and use of semiconductors that boost solar efficiency to 50pc. Labs in Wisconsin have found ways to undercut silicon with carbon nanotubes. That alone does not do much to lower the "soft costs" of solar installation, now the biggest barrier, but Germany's experience has shown that scale can work wonders.
The race is on: somebody, somewhere, is soon going to deliver grid parity with a clarity that silences all critics. Then we can all forget about subsidies for solar, and tax it instead, a future cash cow.
Goldman Sachs published a report last week entitled Time to renew interest in renewables?, a straw in the wind perhaps.
The message is to shun static - dare I say Luddite - assumptions about the limits of solar power. "Human ingenuity should not be underestimated," it said. Nor should the US military be underestimated. |
We all know what a Danish pastry is — that delightful caloric bomb of glazed breakfast deliciousness. But what about a Danish classroom cake? And moreover, how can this help teach empathy?
While researching our book "The Danish Way of Parenting; What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids," my co-author and I interviewed numerous teachers and students across Denmark to learn how they incorporate empathy in schools and at home. Notably, in the Danish education system empathy is considered as important as teaching math and literature, and it is woven into the school’s curriculum from pre-school through high school.
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The Danes’ highly developed sense of empathy is one of the main reasons that Denmark is consistently voted one of the happiest countries in the world (this year it is once again number one). Empathy plays a key role in improving our social connections, which is a major factor in our overall happiness.
What many don’t realize is that empathy is a learned skill that many of us miss out on in America. In fact, some studies show empathy levels have dropped up to 40 percent in the U.S. in the last 30 years, while narcissism is on the steady rise.
Why is teaching empathy so important?
Teaching empathy has not only been proven to make kids more emotionally and socially competent and greatly reduce bullying, it can also help them be more successful and high-functioning adults in the future. A recent study from Duke and Penn State followed over 750 people for 20 years, and found that those who were able to share and help other children in kindergarten were more likely to graduate from high school and have full-time jobs. Students who weren’t as socially adept were more likely to drop out of school, go to juvenile detention, or need government assistance.
We describe several empathy programs for younger kids in our book, but one of the most interesting programs, that starts on the first day of school at six years old up and continues until graduation at age sixteen, is called “Klassen Time” or “the Class’s Hour.” It’s one of the ways Danes become so skilled at empathy as they grow up.
“The Class’s Hour” is set for a special time once a week, and it is a core part of the curriculum. The purpose is for all the students to come together in a comfortable setting to talk about any problems they may be having. Together, the class tries to find a solution. This could be an issue between two students or a group, or even something unrelated to school at all. If there are no problems to be discussed, then they simply come together to relax and hygge — or cozy around together.
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This is where the “Klassen Time kage,” or “the Class Hour cake,” comes in. It’s a simple cake that students take turns baking every week for the occasion. If they don’t want to bake, they can bring in any kind of hyggelige (cozy) snack to enjoy together after the talk. The “Class Hour cake” is such an integral part of Danish culture that it even has its own recipe.
During the Class’s Hour, the teacher brings up any issues they may have observed, in addition to what the students themselves mention.
“I remember when we were 10 or 11, we often talked about girl cliques,” says Anne Mikkelson, a Danish high school student from Strøer. “That was a common topic, and we would discuss it and try to solve it together. Sometimes that just meant the girls being more aware and trying to interact more with others, but it always helped us to talk about it together.”
“The important thing is that everyone is heard,” says Jesper Vang, a middle school teacher at Tingkærskolen in Odense.
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“Our job as the teacher is to make sure that the children understand how the other feels, and see why the other feels as they do. This way, we come up with a solution together based on real listening and real understanding.”
While it isn’t clear what gets discussed each week, it’s clear that the Class’s Hour is teaching empathy and helping students learn to understand others’ feelings, not just their own. It is facilitating social connectedness rather than divide.
It’s interesting to think what implementing the Class’s Hour in the U.S. school system could do for our future. By dedicating an hour a week to teaching kids to put themselves in someone else’s shoes from the ages of 6 to16, and helping to find solutions together, what kind of changes could we bring about? Looking to the world happiness reports year after year, I can’t help but think that incorporating a version of the Danish Class’s Hour in our schools and improving empathy could literally be a piece of cake. |
Uranium explorer Azincourt Energy (TSX-V:AAZ) announced it has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent with New Age Metals (TSX.V:NAM) to acquire up to 100% interest in five lithium exploration projects located in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, Manitoba, a province in the Canadian prairies.
The agreement covers the Lithium One, Lithium Two, Lithman West, Lithman East and Lithman North projects. According to Azincourt, the 6,000-hectare land package included in this agreement represents the largest mineral claim holdings of projects for the lithium group or type of minerals in the Bird River Greenstone Belt, which contains the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field.
"This, along with our uranium exposure, separates us from a range of junior exploration companies out there and augurs well for our future and investment strategy, particularly now that the uranium market has also started to show signs of life,” said the company's Energy Chairman, Ian Stalker, in a press release.
The Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field is host to numerous lithium-rich pegmatites in addition to the Tanco Pegmatite, a highly fractionated lithium-cesium-tantalum type pegmatite that has been mined at the Tanco Mine since 1969 for spodumene, tantalum, cesium, rubidium, and beryllium ores.
In the media statement, Azincourt revealed that the Lithium Two, Lithium One, and Lithman West projects are drill ready.
The Lithium Two historical estimate from drilling in 1947 -prior to the implementation of National Instrument 43-101 standards- defined 545,000 tonnes of 1.4% Li2O, drilled to a depth of 60 meters.
For the Lithium One project, field work in 2016 sampled pegmatitic granites and pegmatites which returned values from 0.00 to 4.33% Li2O.
Finally, the Lithman West project is said to show historical rock and soil geochemical anomalies but such anomalies have not been drill tested.
Stalker explained that the company's decision to expand its focus to include lithium and other materials is part of its strategy to get a foothold and exposure in such environment. “The lithium market is obviously very strong right now, and the near-term future for lithium demand remains extremely positive," he said. |
Humans have been scrambling up mountainsides for thousands of years, using some seriously precarious walkways to reach their destinations far above sea level. Here are some of the most hair-raisingly narrow cliff paths that humans have created. They are both terrifying and gorgeous.
The 700-year old Chang Kong Cliff Road with a 12 inch (30 cm) wide pathway on Huashan Mountain, China
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(via chinaoffseason, Clint and Food/Architecture/Culture/Travel)
The 3.3 ft (1 m) wide El Caminito del Rey, Malaga, Spain, 330 ft (100 m) above El Chorro river, built between 1901 and 1905 for workers to cross between two hydroelectric power plants.
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It may be the most dangerous cliff-side pathway ever. There aren't any handrails and some sections are crumbled. It's closed since 2000, but it will reopen in 2014.
(via Wikimedia Commons and Gabirulo)
Walk Of Faith, a 3 foot (90 cm) wide, 2.5 inch (6.3 cm) thick glass walkway 4690 ft (1430m) above sea level, on Tianmen Mountain, China
(via Shutterstock/SIHASAKPRACHUM and Zhangjiaije)
Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) mountain range, China with more than 30 miles (48 km) of stairways on cliffs
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(via Ehab Samy)
The ancient Baoxie Plank Road, built during Emperor Huiwen's reign of the Qin State (c. 320 B.C.). It covered a total distance of 155 miles (250 km) but now only a restored section is walkable.
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(via China Bravo, Shaanxi University of Technology and China.org.cn)
The plank road with 217 steps near the 233 ft (71 m) tall Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest stone Buddha in the world and the tallest pre-modern statue in the world, built between 713 and 803.
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(via Wikimedia Commons and Eric 1 – 2)
Angels Landing (also known as the Temple of Aelous), Zion National Park, Utah
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2,000ft (610 m) straight drop on both sides of this walkway.
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A 2.4 mi (3.9 km) long trail was cut into solid rock in 1926.
(via jabbex, Wikimedia Commons and Jungle Training)
El Peñón de Guatapé (mean The Rock of Guatapé, also known as La Piedra Del Peñol), near Guatapé, Antioquia, Colombia
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There is a massive crack in the rock, where the first people climbed the El Peñón de Guatapé in 1954. A few years later a 649-step masonry staircase was wedged in there.
Fun fact: Today the giant granite dome is apparently owned by a local family, according to Atlas Obscura.
(via I.D. R.J, Hugo Pardo Kuklinski)
Bonus: Building a walkway thousand meters up the slopes of Shifou Mountain, China |
Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersPush to end U.S. support for Saudi war hits Senate setback Sanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' MORE (I-Vt.) has become the Democratic Party's driving force, Fox Business host Stuart Varney said Tuesday.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends," Varney said he'd seen a poll finding that 40 percent of people 30 years old or younger have a "favorable view of socialism."
"It's hard to say where it comes from, but suffice it to say that I think that Bernie Sanders is now the intellectual, ideological, driving force of the Democratic Party," said Varney, host of "Varney and Company" on Fox Business.
"His people have taken over the party."
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Asked the fact that Sanders is an Independent and not in the Democratic Party, Varney said: "No, he's a democratic socialist."
"And people are not worried about the use of the word socialist," Varney said.
"I mean, that's poison to someone like me. But to a young generation, it's not."
Varney said socialists want to make America "more like Europe."
"Cradle-to-grave security, forget about the military, attacks the rich and everybody can have everything that they ever really wanted for free," he said.
"It doesn't work. The European model is breaking down." |
Bob Day forgave $1.5m loan to Family First amid troubles in his Home Australia empire
Updated
New documents have confirmed that Family First Senator Bob Day effectively gave $1.47 million to his political party a year after taking a sizable dividend from his loss-making home-building empire.
Key points: Lent $1.47 million to his political party
The fact that repayments were not required only just revealed
Senator Day to resign from the Senate after the collapse of his companies
Senator Day this week announced he will resign from the Senate, after the Home Australia group of companies was placed into liquidation.
In an update to its 2013-14 donation disclosures, filed with the Electoral Commission, Family First has confirmed Senator Day forgave a loan to the party totalling $1,471,000.
The line of credit had appeared in the political party's previous year's return, but the fact that repayment had been excused was not clear until Friday's update.
The records show Senator Day also made separate donations of $484,000 to the party in 2013-14 and $73, 200 in 2014-15, putting his total donations to the party in excess of $2 million.
In 2012-13, Senator Day and his business partner reaped dividends totalling $2.67 million from the then loss-making Home Australia business.
The company's finances were already under pressure at that stage. Financial reports show the company's net liabilities exceeded more than $30 million.
Auditors later warned that figure presented a "material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the consolidated entity's ability to continue as a going concern".
But the extent of Senator Day's business troubles were not necessarily clear to the public.
Home Australia's 2012-13 and 2013-14 audited financial reports were not signed off until October 2015, and were not filed with the corporate regulator ASIC until August 18 this year.
Senator Day was officially re-elected to the 12th and final spot on the South Australian Senate ticket on August 2.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-parliament, parliament, corporate-governance, adelaide-5000, sa, australia
First posted |
A group of young immigrants and international students from Richmond visited Vancouver’s Chinese-Canadian Military Museum last Sunday. They came out thankful for modern life and democratic rights.
Organized by Wendy Yuan, member of the Richmond Intercultural Advisory Committee, the dozen or so young Richmond residents also attended a Remembrance Day ceremony, where they met with WWII veterans.
article continues below
“It’s about teaching the young people to understand what the country stands for and what our ancestors did for us,” said Yuan, whose husband’s family paid the Chinese head tax when first coming to Canada, during a time when Chinese immigrants were not recognized as Canadian citizens.
Ethnic Chinese soldiers were finally recognized as Canadians after World War II. Today, their story is a reminder of the contributions of all soldiers, regardless of origin. Photo by Boaz Joseph/Special to the News
“A lot of young people take the life they live and the rights they have today for granted. They don’t know that they can enjoy it because their ancestors fought hard for it,” said Yuan.
“I hope through this visit, they will have an understanding of our ancestors’ contributions. The younger generation need to take over the torch and carry on what they fought for.”
Veterans took the young group for a tour of the exhibitions and explained the stories behind the pictures and displays.
Kuon Louie, son of the founder of H.Y. Louie Co. Limited, served in the Canadian air force and died in a bomb run in Germany. By that time he was not recognized as a Canadian citizen. File photo
The group also joined an annual ceremony with more than 100 people in attendance, including Richmond’s 100-year-old WWII veteran Thomas Wong, who was the first Chinese Canadian enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
During the ceremony, staff shared three stories of Chinese-Canadian soldiers who never made it home, including Kuon Louie, son of the founder of H.Y. Louie Co. Limited, who served in the air force and died in a bomb run.
“They served the country in the hope that they will be recognized by it. But till they died for Canada, they were still not considered as a Canadian,” said Catherine Clement, curator of the museum.
“The Chinese soldiers believed that if they proved they were willing to fight and die for this country, the country would recognize them in the end.”
In 1947, two years after the war ended, Chinese people were recognized as citizens and granted the right to vote.
“So for Chinese-Canadians, winning the war was a ‘double victory,’” she added.
“It’s really powerful,” said Sean Qu, who immigrated to Richmond 10 years ago from China.
“For many of us, war was very far away. We had heard of veterans, but we didn’t really know what they went through.
Displays at the Chinese-Canadian Military Museum. Photo by Boaz Joseph/Special to the News.
“By talking to them in person, learning about their experiences and seeing the images, I have a better knowledge of that difficult time and feel very respectful and grateful,” said Qu.
As an immigrant, Qu said he has a deeper attachment to Canada and feels a stronger sense of responsibility, after learning about the country’s history.
“Now I understand why, in Canada, Chinese are not excluded like in some other areas of the world. It’s because our ancestors fought for it. It wasn’t always like that.
"Living in a peaceful time, we can still contribute to the country and defend our rights, in ways such as participating in social discussions, or voting."
Lei Kou is an international student who came to Richmond two years ago. Growing up listening to stories about his great uncle who served in the Sino-Vietnamese War during the 1970s, Kou has great respect for veterans.
“Many veterans are being forgotten, like my great uncle. But I’m very impressed that Canada pays so much attention to Remembrance Day and pays respect to the veterans,” said Kou.
“It even has a museum to recognize soldiers with Chinese ethnicity. It gives me a sense of belonging to this country, and I now have an urge to make a contribution to this land myself.” |
The Oakland Police Department is dealing with a second sex scandal. Andres Brender reports.
OPD Officer Accused of Having Sex in Administrative Building
The Oakland Police Department is dealing with a second sex scandal.
NBC Bay Area has learned an Oakland police officer is accused of having sex inside the department's administrative building.
Oakland police confirm they are investigating claims that one of its officers allegedly had sex in the basement of the administrative building. The officer is believed to be a member of the crime reduction team.
The accused officer's name has not been released, but authorities are confirming to NBC Bay Area an internal affairs investigation is underway.
As of now, there is no indication a crime was committed.
But this appears to be another black eye for the city of Oakland, which is still recovering from a widespread sex scandal.
It was just weeks ago the city paid nearly $1 million to Jasmin Abuslin, formerly known as Celeste Guap.
She is the former underage prostitute that had sex with a number of officers on the police force.
The department is also investigating the discovery of a drug stash in the Oakland Police Department basement.
The drugs were reportedly found in a locked cabinet. It is unclear why the drugs were there. |
With the offseason in full swing, the sports media outlets are coming out with their player rankings. The general consensus among the rankings is that Carson Palmer is a bottom tier quarterback. I have yet to see a single list that has him cracking the top 20. This seems a bit low for a two time Pro Bowler and franchise quarterback so I thought I would poke around and see why that might be.
Not all of these lists have the same quarterbacks ahead or behind Palmer on their rankings. And yet they all have him hovering around the 20-25 range. Is the man who was part of what Hue Jackson called "the greatest trade in football" really deserving of such little respect and low expectations?
Let's break this down...
The top few quarterbacks are simple. They are made up of some obvious top tier quarterbacks who have won one or more Super Bowls. However you choose to order them, they are as follows
1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Eli Manning
3. Tom Brady
4. Peyton Manning
5. Drew Brees
6. Ben Roethlisberger
This is where the "everyone else" part of the list begins. And it is also where it is far less certain as to who deserves to be considered a upper tier quarterback.
The lists across the board seem to blur the line between those ranked based upon past achievements or potential. The next group of quarterbacks who fall in this mid-range category go something like this:
7. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers
8. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
9. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles
10. Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions
11. Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
12. Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens
13. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
14. Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears
15. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans
Whatever order this group is listed, they are all here in this range-- and Carson Palmer is never among them or immediately following.
I saw lists where Palmer was ranked below Andrew Luck, who is a rookie on a rebuilding Colts team. Even Peyton Manning was a disaster in that situation in Indy when he was a rookie. I have seen lists in which Palmer is below the likes of Alex Smith, Mark Sanchez, Josh Freeman, and Ryan Fitzpatrick-- all of whom have career quarterback ratings in the 70's (Palmer's career QB rating is 86.3).
Typically, he lands as low as possible among those who are actually considered sure starters next season. He barely tops guys like Matt Flynn, Robert Griffin III, and Jake Locker-- none of whom have proven anything on the NFL level and may not even start this season.
I would be the first to tell you that rankings don't mean anything and are nothing to get worked up about. Stats are also not the be all end all. Even wins and losses are not always a good judge of a quarterback's greatness.
There are many situations in which a team is built to win through its defense. The Ravens and 49ers were two such teams last season. Although I do give Joe Flacco and Alex Smith a lot of credit for not making any big mistakes, playing within the system, and allowing their defense to do their job. But playing not to lose does not a great quarterback make.
I won't say Flacco and Smith don't deserve to be among the top 15 quarterbacks in the NFL because they were able to execute their respective offenses to conference championships and nearly going to the Super Bowl. They deserve to be recognized for that. Although, not near as much as the defense.
Defense and the wins that come with it have never been a luxury of which Palmer was afforded. His career record is 50-56, due in large part to the fact that during his eight seasons in the NFL, his team only once had a defense ranked among the top 16 (2009, went 10-6). Outside of that one season, his team has had an average defensive rank of 23, which has led to many uphill battles and a lot of desperation moments for Palmer over the years. Interceptions are a byproduct of that desperation.
Just so you know, all the lists also have Palmer's replacement in Cincinnati, Andy Dalton, ranked ahead of him. Dalton enjoyed a resurgent Bengals defense last season which ranked ninth in the league. Dalton led them to a 9-7 record with a not-so-great QB rating of 80.4.
To best judge Palmer based upon statistics, you must stick to the five seasons in which he played in all 16 games. He has been in the NFL for eight seasons but three of them were partial seasons-- one was his rookie season and another was last season.
In those five seasons he averaged 3813 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions. He also had a completion percentage of 63 and an 89.5 quarterback rating. His win/loss record improves here too to an even 40-40 record over that time.
Those numbers are pretty impressive. The 89.5 quarterback rating and 63% passing puts him squarely among the 10-15 ranking range. His 27 passing touchdown average is a number that Jay Cutler, Michael Vick, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, and Josh Freeman have never surpassed. And of this group, only Jay Cutler has surpassed Palmer's 3813 average-- once.
So, yeah, the analysts as a whole may just be underestimating the level of quarterback Carson Palmer is and will be. At this point, he should be considered a second tier, above average quarterback, but instead he is currently rated just slightly above terrible.
I don't think there is any way Palmer plays down to the level of those who would judge him from an outsider's perspective. He has a renewed passion for football in an offense that will not be relying heavily on this arm as well as an improved defense.
With the new offense, his passing numbers won't be as gaudy because the team will focus on the run. This will have his interceptions down and his completion percentage go up.
An improved defense, solid run game, and more efficient quarterback play is what generates wins. So while rankings in June are just about meaningless, the ones in January will mean a lot more. That is where I expect to see Palmer right around the 10-15 range. |
Canada Island has its new name.
The Spokane Park Board unanimously approved on Thursday the name “snxw meneɂ” (sin-HOO-men-huh) to replace the moniker Canada Island on the two-acre crag splitting the upper Spokane Falls. The name, meaning “salmon people” in English, was one of two forwarded by the Spokane Tribal Business Council earlier this year and received the most votes in a public poll hosted by the Spokane Parks Department.
The other option translated in English to “a land that causes a fork in the river.”
Canada Island was previously known as Cannon Island, for one of Spokane’s founders, Anthony McCue Cannon, and Crystal Island, for the commercial laundry headquartered there for decades. The city purchased the land in 1972 for $550,000 in anticipation of the World’s Fair and handed creative control over to the government of Canada.
Local tribes fished the areas around Spokane Falls before westward-traveling Americans began settling the city in the late 19th century. Chinook salmon, some of them as large as 70 pounds, were caught near the falls before the installation of dams stemmed the flow of fish in the early 20th century.
Park officials had already removed the sign designating Canada Island on Thursday afternoon, anticipating the name-change vote, said Leroy Eadie, director of Spokane parks. Future signage, including a potential audio track demonstrating how to pronounce the word in Salish, will be developed in conjunction with the tribe, which is now being given some creative control over the future design of the island.
“I think, as Leroy eloquently put it, it’d be great if all of Spokane could at least learn one Salish word,” said Ted McGregor, publisher of the Inlander and chair of the park board subcommittee overseeing work in Riverfront Park, said before the vote.
The Canadian government approved of the name change, through a diplomat who visited Spokane during the Spokane tribe’s annual Gathering at the Falls Pow Wow last summer. |
Before You Lose Consciousness..
❮❮ Newer Download | Full View Older ❯❯ Submission © 2011 Noben Scraps
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fluttershy my little pony mlp equine horse stare pegasus
I put myself in the position of the poor animals that fall victim to Fluttershy's STARE. It was a frightening feeling. I imagine it akin to falling asleep, then waking up in a groggy stupor as if you never realized you fell asleep, but something was amiss. It's like a lucid dream, but only that you are an active watcher of yourself as you exist in a state of being hollow and detached. But since it is a dreamlike state of mind, to you this existence of watching yourself do things against your will is absolutely normal.
You wake up in a panic five minutes later. A scream of residual fear wants to erupt from your throat, but you nip it in the bud right away. Because the last thing you want to do is rouse that lemon yellow equine again and have her crush your will with but a glance...
Why else do you think all the animals behave around her?
I fucking love Fluttershy. No, I'm not a fucking "brony". |
Test Expense
Once an automatic test is written, it can be run by a computer at the cost of a few joules. The equivalent manual test requires a person on payroll working down a list of instructions.
Test Reliability
The computer can be trusted to faithfully execute the same test procedure, every time. The human is apt to make mistakes and get lazy.
The computer's testing failure modes are also much more readily apparent - it crashed (test reports stop appearing), it had a bit error that caused a false test result (run a deterministic test again, and the result differs). If a human misses a step and checks off the "OK", how can we tell?
Test Durability
An automated test has to be a concrete artifact (e.g. a piece of code) in order to run, and is naturally included with the other software development artifacts - the source repository. A manual test may be developed on a sheet of note paper by a tester, and never formalized. The business is more likely to need processes in place to ensure that doesn't happen.
Test Value
The computer can be programmed to output test results in a consistent, easily analyzed form. The person is either doing data entry to generate the same, or is recording free-form notes that require an analyst, developer, or manager to digest. |
Sidney Moncrief is the last starter to represent the Milwaukee Bucks in an All-Star Game. That drought that will come to an end next month in New Orleans, when Giannis Antetokounmpo will hit the floor at the Smoothie King Center with nine of the other most recognizable faces in basketball.
It’s a position the Bucks’ 22-year-old star might want to get comfortable with because if the next five to 10 seasons of his career continue on its current trajectory, he’s just getting started with this All-Star thing.
“It’s a great opportunity for Giannis, great for our organization and great for all involved,” Bucks general manager John Hammond told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He’s accomplished this and is very deserving for all the work he’s put in.”
To say Antetokounmpo is the most improbable of the All-Star starters this season would be an epic understatement. When Hammond selected him with the 15th pick in the 2013 Draft there was no guarantee he’d make the journey from Greece for the 2013-14 season.
He was as talented as he is long, but so green, not having played in an elite division in his homeland. But the man with perhaps the longest stride in the NBA today made some of the biggest strides in his first three seasons in the league. |
Camp Delta at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Aug. 7, 2013 [AFP]
Thirty-one retired US military officers urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo prison by speeding up efforts to transfer detainees.
“We appreciate your leadership this past year in recommitting to closing Guantanamo,” the former generals and admirals wrote in a letter released by Human Rights First.
“Guantanamo does not serve America’s interests. As long as it remains open, Guantanamo will undermine America’s security and status as a nation where human rights and the rule of law matter.”
The signatories included a former commandant of the US Marine Corps, general Charles Krulak, the former chief of staff of the Air Force, general Merrill McPeak, and the former head of the military’s Central Command which oversees forces in the Middle East, retired general Joseph Hoar.
Five years ago the same generals and admirals were on hand at the Oval Office to witness Obama sign orders to shut Guantanamo and prohibit torture in interrogations.
But the prison is still operating at the US naval base in southeast Cuba, partly because of strong opposition by some members of Congress.
Of the 779 detainees sent to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, 155 inmates remain behind bars. Among the remaining detainees, 78 are Yemenis and 55 have been cleared for release.
Congress in December lifted some of the more cumbersome rules for transferring inmates out of Guantanamo, giving Obama more latitude.
The former officers appealed to Obama to transfer as soon as possible those inmates no longer deemed a threat and to rapidly review the status of the remaining detainees.
In the letter, the retired senior officers also voiced concern about a persistent “false” debate about the past use of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The officers called on the administration to fully cooperate with the Senate Intelligence Committee to publicly release the panels’ lengthy study of the CIA’s detention, rendition and interrogation program after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“Former CIA officials who authorized torture continue to defend it in books and film, and public opinion is with them, based on mythology, not fact,” the letter said.
“We believe that upon reviewing the facts the American people will agree that torture was not worth it, and that we as a nation should never return to the dark side.”
[Image via Agence France-Presse] |
While the movie still doesn’t come out for over a year, the logo for Justice League has gotten an upgrade. We got our first look at the title treatment for director Zack Snyder’s follow-up film to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice back in June, when we here at Collider shared a bevy of set visit coverage just a few days after returning from the London soundstage where Justice League is shooting. That logo was simple white against a black background, but now Warner Bros. has released a high-resolution version of what appears to be the official logo (at least for now) that adds some texture to the title treatment.
Snyder told us back in March that he was doodling Justice League logos himself, so it’s possible this design is based on some of Snyder’s own drawings. Or maybe it’s simply a placeholder logo that’ll be replaced by a newer, different version once Warner Bros. solidifies its marketing campaign for the superhero team-up film.
Indeed, while we got our first look at footage from Justice League in July, that wasn’t necessarily a “trailer” in the traditional sense, and Warner Bros. no doubt opted to unveil JL much earlier than originally intended in order to qualm fears that the film would suffer from many of the same complaints that plagued Batman v Superman.
By all accounts, the film certainly looks interesting, and simply by adding Ezra Miller’s Flash to the mix there’s destined to be more dynamism to the ensemble. The film finds Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman putting together a team of superheroes to fend off an extraterrestrial threat, Steppenwolf.
Again, we’re still a long ways from the marketing campaign for Justice League kicking into high gear, but for now it’s neat to fawn over what we’re given—like this new logo. Check it out below along with links to our bevy of set visit coverage where you’ll learn much more about the film. Jason Momoa, Ray Fischer, Willem Dafoe, J.K. Simmons, and Henry Cavill also star. Justice League opens in theaters November 17, 2017.
Here’s the official synopsis for Justice League: |
Brady and Guerrero emphasize that the player has the final say over his own training and treatment decisions. Of course, it’s easier to defy the wishes of your team when you’re Tom Brady and not a rookie. Brady gets this. But he feels responsibility now, as a veteran, and speaks of spreading the Tao of Alex in terms of helping people. He shares with me a word he learned in Sanskrit, “mudita.” “It’s like, fulfillment in seeing other people fulfilled,” Brady says.
Brady played the entire opener, a 33-20 loss to Miami. His calf gave him little trouble, but his play was listless; he wilted in the South Florida humidity, like the rest of his team. After leading 20-10 at halftime, the Patriots were outscored in the second half, 23-0, and outgained in yards, 222-67. A few days before the loss, the team’s best offensive lineman, Logan Mankins, was traded to Tampa Bay. The move was widely questioned inside and outside the locker room, in part because protecting the relatively-immobile-to-begin-with franchise quarterback was presumably one of the team’s highest priorities. Brady was sacked four times in the opener, lost two fumbles and lumbered off the field after each, looking dispirited and every bit his age. “I don’t think we were really jelling anywhere,” Brady said after the game.
I first saw Brady play live this season in its fifth week, when I flew up to Boston and drove south to the shopping mall known as Gillette Stadium, the Patriots’ home since 2002. Patriot Place, as the larger complex is called, emerges along a could-be-anywhere blotch of car dealerships, billboards and fast-food restaurants on Route 1 between Boston and Providence, R.I. Fans from outside New England might envision Foxborough as a quaint village of greens, flinty shop owners and assorted Ye Olde tropes. Returning from commercial breaks, television networks reinforce this Disneyfied version of “New England,” with stock shots of a steeple, a cider mill, maybe a landmark in Boston, which is a 40-minute drive away. (A huge replica of a lighthouse looms over the north end zone, though you’re as likely to see a real lighthouse in inland Foxborough as you are an actual minuteman strolling through Harvard Square.) In real life, Gillette Stadium is a kind of efficient football Oz that reeks of merchandise, corporate sponsorships and winning.
Brady’s calf injury was healed and forgotten, but he was playing abysmally. The team had relied heavily on its running game to win its second matchup, against Minnesota, and it barely defeated Oakland at home the next week. The Patriots then went to Kansas City for a Monday-night game against the Chiefs and were destroyed, 41-14. Brady, who threw two interceptions (with one returned for a touchdown), was pulled in the fourth quarter and replaced by Garoppolo, who threw his first touchdown pass in what was his N.F.L. debut. On the sidelines, Brady appeared not to congratulate the rookie for his milestone, which was noted in the New England news media as evidence of an emerging generational clash. A reporter asked Belichick after the game “if the quarterback position would be evaluated.” The coach chuckled, shook his head and said nothing.
Fans and the press love a deathwatch, especially when it involves a team that always wins. But the Patriots of this century have been widely resented for reasons that go well beyond any jealousy. Fort Belichick is known as a paranoid and joyless place whose inhabitants are not above pushing the rules in the name of achieving a competitive edge — though Patriots haters prefer the far less euphemistic term “cheating.” It’s a charge that has stemmed from the so-called Spygate incident of 2007, in which a Patriots employee was caught illicitly videotaping the hand signals of opposing coaches. For critics, that episode is emblematic of a team willing to do “whatever it takes” to win.
Brady himself has denied any knowledge of or involvement in Spygate, but he does tend to discuss his need to win in notably desperate terms. When I met him in New York, he used the word “grieving” to characterize the period that follows postseason losses. He described losing as a “quality-of-life issue” for him after the Miami game at the beginning of the season. His ruthless competitiveness is legend, as is his reputation among players for trash talking, whining to referees and general unpleasantness on the field.
All of which made the Patriots especially appetizing prey for football commentators in October. On ESPN, Trent Dilfer called them a “weak team” after the Kansas City game; on NBC, Rodney Harrison, a former Patriot, said Brady looked “scared to death” on the field. At a weekly news conference, a reporter asked Brady, “Do you feel like you’re past your prime?” Bloggers were imagining possible Brady trades. Chris Mortensen reported on ESPN that “tension” between Brady and the Patriots’ coaching staff might put his immediate future with the team in doubt. That story came out a few hours before the Week 5 game against Cincinnati, which at 3-0 was the league’s last undefeated team. “We’re on to Cincinnati,” Belichick kept saying all week, to the point where it evolved into a season-long mantra reflecting the team’s compulsive focus on its next opponent. |
And one more color sketch as reward for MQ
this time)
This one was actually supposed to be a regular sketch, but I really like Gabby so I decided to make it a colored sketch)
To be honest it's a shame I had to do this as a 'Patreon Reward' cuz as I already said, I really like the character and it was in my plans to draw her,
but my 'plans' could take a really, REALLY, long while before they are actually drawn -__-
Thanks to MQ for giving me the reason to hurry it X)
Also following my recent trend, I decided to challenge myself with this picture:
I usually spend three days on average when drawing 'colored sketch' kind of picture, but this time I set my time limit to two. |
An early 3rd century head could have been a statuette of the northern goddess worshipped by South Shields tribespeople
© Tyne and Wear Museums
The small, finely-carved female head is the latest find in a productive season at the heart of South Shields, believed to date from 1,800 years ago and notable for her eyes, nose, mouth and hairstyle, with a face painted pink and a trace of red on her lips.Her mural crown symbolises a town wall, indicating the protective goddess worshipped by the tribe living in the region during Roman times.“This head from a statuette has appeared,” says Nick Hodgson, the Project Manager of the WallQuest community archaeology project.“One of the community volunteers found it, digging out the backfill of a feature which may be a drain or possibly an aqueduct channel – we’re not quite clear which.“It heads off out of the area that we’re excavating. We know pretty much when it was filled in – we’ve got a good grasp of that part of the chronology on the site.“It was about AD 208, when thecame and turned South Shields into a supply base. We’re pretty certain of that.“The head has broken off. It’s very small – about four inches high.”Although the precise identity of the goddess is unclear, the team are speculating that it is Brigantia. An altar dedicated to the northern deity was found within 100 metres of the latest discovery in 1895.“She was the local tutelary goddess for upland northern England, tied in with the Brigantes tribe,” explains Hodgson.“She could be another goddess or what is known as a genius – a local protecting spirit to protect any sort of place or location, building or room.“Sometimes dedications to these local genii take the form of a statuette of a goddess, so it could just be that.”Another version of Brigantia also shows her wearing a crown adorned with battlements.“That was found near Dumfries in 1731,” laughs Hodgson.“It shows a goddess wearing a mural crown.“Like all Roman statuettes, this one would have been garishly painted originally.“It’s been cleaned but some traces of the paint survive.”The statuette is the latest find from a section of the dig which has revealed pottery, animal bones and, in a highlight of this summer’s work, acarrying an enthroned depiction of Jupiter.Conservators will spend the winter tending to the artefact. It is expected to go on public display in 2015. |
Marvel has announced the release date for another untitled film, this one dated May 4, 2018.
The news comes less than a week after Disney and Marvel staked out five other dates from 2017 to 2019.
The May 4, 2018 slot was vacated Wednesday morning by Sony when the studio disclosed it had undated “The Amazing Spider-Man 4” as part of re-positioning its key franchise.
Marvel is likely to announce several of the new titles as part of the next wave of films that make up its cinematic universe at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con. It presents on July 26.
“Guardians of the Galaxy,” which bows Aug. 1, is Marvel’s tenth film since it started financing and producing its own films beginning with “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” in 2008. Should that film succeed at the box office, sequels and spinoffs are likely and could land the property one of the new slots.
Marvel already had a third “Captain America” scheduled for May 6, 2016, pitting it against Warner Bros.’ “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
Another possible franchise starter, “Doctor Strange,” is also dated for July 8, 2016.
Here’s the full Marvel schedule through 2019:
2015:
May 1: The Avengers: Age of Ultron
July 17: Ant-Man
2016:
May 6: Captain America 3
July 8: Doctor Strange
2017:
May 5: Untitled
July 27: Untitled
Nov. 3: Untitled
2018:
May 4: Untitled
July 6: Untitled
Nov. 2: Untitled
2019:
May 3: Untitled |
With traditional launch systems, the bulk of the weight and resources goes to filling a tube with explosives. Naturally, that's quite wasteful, so the proposed vehicle would ditch almost all of its on-board power systems. Instead, it would receive energy from a series of ground-based microwave emitters which pump power right into a collector based in the plane's heat shield. That energy would then be used to drive an electromagnetic motor that ignites superheats a small quantity of on-board fuel (hydrogen or helium, for instance) that's then ejected as thrust to get into orbit.
The company claims that the engine running on helium was able to achieve a Specific Impulse (the equivalent of MP/H for a rocket) of 500 seconds. By comparison, Escape Dynamics says that your average chemical rocket tops out at 460, and if the test vehicle had been running hydrogen, that figure could rise to 600 Isp. That could prove to be a big breakthrough for the private spaceflight industry, assuming that these results can be replicated outside of the lab.
As Gizmodo notes, however, the idea is a little bit pie-in-the-sky, since the company would have to build a global network of microwave emitters to keep the craft aloft. Then there's the various environmental and energy considerations that such a system would have to deal with, not to mention the political aspect. Still, if ED can, somehow, create a dirt-cheap reusable spaceplane that'll do away with expensive rockets, we imagine plenty of people would get behind the idea. |
KARINA MATIAS DO "AGORA"
Publicidade
Um funcionário da CPTM (Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos) de 54 anos foi espancado, na manhã de ontem, após ser acusado de abusar sexualmente de uma passageira em um vagão em movimento, já perto da estação Tatuapé (zona leste). O suspeito foi preso em flagrante por estupro.
Segundo a polícia, uma estudante de 18 anos estava indo para a faculdade, na linha 11-coral, quando, perto do Tatuapé, um homem começou a se esfregar nela e ejaculou em sua roupa.
O trem estava lotado e a jovem gritou: "Socorro. Apertem o botão de segurança, olhem o que ele fez em mim (sic)". Nesse momento, outras passageiras a ajudaram a se afastar do acusado. Enquanto isso, homens que estavam no vagão começaram a xingar e a bater no suspeito.
Ao chegar à estação Tatuapé, os passageiros o cercaram e continuaram a agressão. Houve grande tumulto. Agentes de segurança da CPTM evitaram que o suspeito fosse linchado e o encaminharam à 5ª Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher (DDM).
No local, a jovem confirmou que, pela proximidade física, teve condições de olhar atentamente para o acusado e para as roupas que ele usava e, por isso, pôde apontá-lo como agressor aos seguranças da CPTM. Ela não ficou ferida fisicamente, mas chorava muito.
Na delegacia, descobriu-se que ele trabalha na companhia como agente operacional, na estação de Suzano.
OUTROS CASOS
No início de abril deste ano, um segurança da CPTM também foi acusado de abusar sexualmente de uma passageira. Na ocasião, um ex-presidiário que viu a cena ajudou a deter o suspeito.
Já no metrô, outro caso foi registrado na manhã desta terça-feira (15), próximo à estação Praça da Árvore (linha-1 azul).
Uma mulher registrou queixa contra um homem se masturbava no vagão. Ele não foi identificado.
OUTRO LADO
Em nota, a CPTM informou que o funcionário suspeito de abuso sexual foi demitido por "mau procedimento", que equivale à justa causa. A reportagem não teve acesso ao depoimento do acusado nem à sua defesa.
O Metrô e a CPTM informaram que realizam campanhas de conscientização para evitar esse tipo de crime.
Segundo o Metrô, atualmente, 89% dos acusados descritos pelas vítimas são detidos pelos agentes da empresa e encaminhados para a Delegacia do Metropolitano, órgão responsável pela investigação dos crimes no sistema de trens e metrôs de São Paulo. |
In Irish folklore, it is believed that disturbing areas with strong connections to fairies can bring bad luck | Flickr via Creative Commons Irish MP blames fairy curse for problems with road Independent lawmaker says there’s ‘something in these places you shouldn’t touch.’
A member of the Irish parliament blamed bad luck caused by angry fairies for dips in a road that were repaired and then reappeared.
Danny Healy-Rae, an independent MP, said the N22 road — which runs from from Killarney in County Kerry to Cork — passes through an area that's rich in fairy folklore. Dips in the road have been repaired but the problems reappeared.
He told the Irish Times: "There are numerous fairy forts in that area. I know that they are linked. Anyone that tampered with them back over the years paid a high price and had bad luck.”
Asked by the paper if he believed in fairies, Healy-Rae said he subscribed to the local belief that “there was something in these places you shouldn’t touch.”
Healy-Rae, the owner of a plant hire company, said: "I have a machine standing in the yard right now. And if someone told me to go out and knock a fairy fort or touch it, I would starve first."
In Irish folklore, it is believed that disturbing areas with strong connections to fairies can bring bad luck.
Healy-Rae first raised the issue of fairies at a meeting of Kerry County Council in 2007 after a dip developed in the N22. In a formal motion on the cause of the dip, Healy-Rae a local councillor at the time, asked: “Is it fairies at work?”
The council’s road department said the dip was due to an "underlying subsoil/geotechnical problem.”
Authors: |
Obama Joker poster hits LA, Atlanta
Posters of U.S. President Barack Obama, made to look like Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker in The Dark Knight, have started spreading throughout L.A., but nobody seems to know who’s responsible for it.
Obama is shown with white makeup on his face and, like the Joker, he has his mouth slit wide open. Below the image is the word “socialism,” although I’ve seen similar pictures on the internet that say “why so socialist?”
A version of the poster showed up in Atlanta.
Obviously, the Obama Joker poster is an attack on the president’s push to reform America’s healthcare system. He is apparently losing some support among the public for his plan and this was cleared with the latest survey conducted by the New York Times recently.
What’s your take on the Obama Joker poster? Is it a good political commentary? Or just another a protest fail? |
During its event revealing the new Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone, the company also announced some major new apps for the Windows Phone 8 ecosystem — Flipboard and Path will soon be available for Windows Phone 8. Additionally, the company confirmed that Hipstamatic will be released alongside the Lumia 1020 and will finally offer some Windows Phone 8 users a way to upload directly to Instagram through an official channel. As we learned back in May at the Lumia 925 event, the Hipstamatic Oggl app will let users apply filters and make quick edits and then share photos out to a number of social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The company didn't give any details on whether Flipboard or Path for Windows Phone 8 would be any different than its apps for iOS and Android, but it wouldn't surprise us to see these apps on display after the event concludes. We'll update you here with any details we find out about these new apps.
Update: Path just posted a blog post confiming its app is headed to Windows Phone 8 devices, with a "special focus" on the new Lumia 1020. There's no real detail on what that means, but a screenshot reveals a navigation design that lines up with Microsoft's own Windows Phone 8 apps. Meanwhile, Microsoft's own official blog confirmed that Hipstamatic's Oggl Pro app will be exclusive to the Lumia 1020. |
Last night in the NFC championship, the San Francisco 49ers trailed the Seattle Seahawks by six, 23-17, with 30 seconds left in the game. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick had led the 49ers all the way down to the Seahawks' 18-yard line. He took the snap out of the gun, set his feet, and released a flossy little fade to the corner of the end zone, where receiver Michael Crabtree had his hands out. And then Richard Sherman happened.
Sherman, a 6-foot-3 physical marvel and the current best cornerback in the NFL, leaped with Crabtree, and falling backward toward the rear of the end zone, he tipped the pass with his left hand back inbounds to a teammate and ended the 49ers season.
It was a spectacular play, a historic play, the kind of play we'll be seeing on NFL playoff ads in five, 10, 20 years, when the name Richard Sherman dances on the tip of our tongues, just out of reach, and the memory of this year's conference championship is clouded and composited with the memories of playoff matchups to come.
But we're not talking about that play today. Instead, we're talking about what happened right after the play, when reporter Erin Andrews found Richard Sherman in the postgame scrum just seconds after the final buzzer. Because what happened next was absolutely epic.
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When Erin Andrews asked Sherman to rehash the play, the cornerback instead barked out: "I'm the best corner in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you're gonna get! Don't you ever talk about me!" Then he glared directly into the camera.
It was so powerful, so raw of a reaction that Andrews needed a moment before proceeding. The league's best cornerback had made the best move of his career on the biggest play of his career to win the biggest game of his career, against an opposing wide receiver and college head coach with whom he shares not a little bad blood. This was a triumphant moment, and still to a lot of people there was something viscerally ugly about Sherman standing over a pretty blonde woman, yelling into our living rooms with an emotional mixture of joy, relief, and excitement, arrogance, and anger. Dude was turnt up.
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Millions of Americans took to their cell phones, to social media, to the bar patron next to them, to cluck at Sherman. We called him classless, a bad sportsman, a troll. We called him a monkey and a nigger. We threatened his life. We said that he set black people and race relations back 30, 50, 100 years.
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Because in that moment, Sherman—a singular kid from Compton who won both the athletic and intellectual lottery so completely, so authoritatively, that he spent three years playing on Stanford's football team at wide receiver before converting to defensive back and becoming the NFL's best at the position—was in the public eye. In that moment, whether he knew, cared, or neither, Richard Sherman, a public figure, became a proxy for the black male id.
When you're a public figure, there are rules. Here's one: A public personality can be black, talented, or arrogant, but he can't be any more than two of these traits at a time. It's why antics and soundbites from guys like Brett Favre, Johnny Football and Bryce Harper seem almost hyper-American, capable of capturing the country's imagination, but black superstars like Sherman, Floyd Mayweather, and Cam Newton are seen as polarizing, as selfish, as glory boys, as distasteful and perhaps offensive. It's why we recoil at Kanye West's rants, like when West, one of the greatest musical minds of our generation, had the audacity to publicly declare himself a genius (was this up for debate?), and partly why, over the six years of Barack Obama's presidency, a noisy, obstreperous wing of the GOP has seemed perpetually on the cusp of calling him "uppity." Barry Bonds at his peak was black, talented, and arrogant; he was a problem for America. Joe Louis was black, talented, and at least outwardly humble; he was "a credit to his race, the human race," as Jimmy Cannon once wrote.
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All this is based on the common, very American belief that black males must know their place, and more tellingly, that their place is somewhere different than that of whites. It's been etched into our cultural fabric that to act as anything but a loud, yet harmless buffoon or an immensely powerful, yet humble servant is overstepping. It's uppity. It is, to use Knapp's word, petrifying.
The problem is that it's not just white folks who feel this way. Last night, Golden State Warriors wingman Andre Iguodala received nearly 3,000 retweets from this:
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The problem is that too many people think that Iguodala has a point. Too many of us think that one ecstatic, triumphant black man showing honest, human emotion just seconds after making a play that very well could be written into the first appositive of his obituary, is not only offensive, but is also representative of the tens of millions of blacks in this country. And in two weeks time, in the year 2014, too many of us will be rooting for the Denver Broncos for no other reason than to knock Richard Sherman down a few notches, if only to put him back in his place. |
Philippe Reines, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton and one of the most astute observers of her personal and political vulnerabilities, is playing Donald J. Trump in her mock debate sessions, according to people familiar with Mr. Reines’s involvement.
Mr. Reines, who was Mrs. Clinton’s chief defender, enforcer, and gatekeeper during most of her years in the Senate and as secretary of state, is a deft practitioner of the combative, no-holds-barred politics that Mr. Trump favors.
His selection as the Trump stand-in means that Mrs. Clinton wants an opponent in her mock debates who knows her flaws and how to exploit them and who is fearless about getting under her skin the way that Mr. Trump might at their first debate on Monday night.
He is also known as one of a small handful of members of her inner circle willing to be tough and blunt with Mrs. Clinton about her own missteps. Mrs. Clinton, in her memoir “Hard Choices,” described Mr. Reines as “passionate, loyal, and shrewd” and added, “I can always trust him to speak his mind.” |
Former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania on Sunday announced that he’s marrying a man who is 50 years younger than him after the two fell in love following the death of his longtime wife.
Wofford, a 90-year-old Democrat, penned an op-ed in the New York Times, breaking the news about his upcoming nuptials with a 40-year-old man named Matthew Charlton. “Too often, our society seeks to label people by pinning them on the wall — straight, gay or in between. I don’t categorize myself based on the gender of those I love,” he wrote. “I had a half-century of marriage with a wonderful woman, and now am lucky for a second time to have found happiness.”
Wofford, a father of three, wrote about how he and Charlton met at a Florida beach 15 years ago and fell in love at a time when he believed he would never remarry. Wofford’s wife, Clare, had died in 1996 after battling acute leukemia. “I assumed that I was too old to seek or expect another romance,” Wofford wrote.
The two will tie the knot on April 30, he said. “We will join hands, vowing to be bound together: to have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part,” Wofford said.
[NYT]
Contact us at [email protected]. |
Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president was tested by several emphatic defeats on Saturday at the hands of Bernie Sanders, who continued his quest a day later to reinvigorate his campaign and challenge her on her home turf: New York.
In Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, Sanders won by margins of about 42 points or more – even larger than Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 – and raised the question of whether the senator from Vermont could win upsets in the coming contests in Wisconsin and New York.
On Sunday, Sanders claimed that his western wins opened a clear “path to victory” for the Democratic nomination, but though he gained 45 pledged delegates, Clinton still has more than 250 more bound delegates than the senator. Sanders also faces a deficit of 440 “superdelegates”, party officials who can vote in the convention but are not bound to follow their states’ results.
Sanders told CNN that his campaign could surmount the gap in pledged delegates. “I think every vote is pivotal. We are now winning state after state with the Latino vote,” he said. “We’re doing extraordinarily well with young people, and we do think we have a path toward victory.”
Related: After a night of sweeping victories, Bernie’s back | Lucia Graves
But the senator’s victories on Saturday came through states where he held distinct advantages. White voters, like those who dominate Washington and Alaska, tend to favor Sanders, and all three states on Saturday staged caucuses, whose open doors and freewheeling organization tends also to play to Sanders’ strengths with independent voters.
The election schedule ahead has few similar states. After Wisconsin, a round of large, north-eastern states with diverse electorates will vote, and in closed primaries that only allow registered party voters into the polls. Sanders’ silver lining, which he noted repeatedly on Sunday, is that he is unlikely to be as battered as he was in the southern states where Clinton found overwhelming support from black voters.
Sanders even predicted the primary season would ease for him, and cast his eye toward California, the last state to hold elections.
It’s not clear whether Sanders, despite the record small donations to his campaign, can last as long as early June, and he badly needs a win Wisconsin on 5 April to maintain any of the “momentum” he boasted of Sunday.
So far, midwestern states have split between the candidates: Clinton narrowly won Illinois, and Sanders sneaked victories out of Michigan and Minnesota. Wisconsin is more white than Illinois , but economically may have more in common with states that have broken for Clinton.
Because of Clinton’s overall lead of 708 pledged and unbound delegates , pressure is on for Sanders to win big – or at least do surprisingly well – in Pennsylvania and New York, where 210 and 291 delegates respectively will be at stake. On 26 April, four other eastern states will poll alongside Pennsylvania, offering 253 delegates between them.
Acknowledging Clinton’s superdelegate advantage, Sanders hinted at a campaign to convince the free agents to defect to his cause. He argued that the officials should listen to their constituents, and that he, not Clinton, has the best chance to beat the Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, in November.
“A lot of these superdelegates may he rethinking their decision, a lot of them have not declared,” he said. “I think their own constituents are going to say to them, ‘Why don’t you support the decision of our state and support Senator Sanders?”’
While the Clinton campaign had predicted strong performances for Sanders over the weekend, her campaign manager, Robby Mook, has said it is impossible for Sanders to catch up. Still, New York represents a clear target for Sanders – born and raised in Brooklyn – to cut into her lead and embarrass Clinton in the state she represented as senator.
Sanders’ path through the Empire State has many obstacles, however, including New York City’s 50% nonwhite population and Sanders’ adamance that Wall Street power brokers bear much of the fault for inequality and corruption around the US.
The senator showed no sign that he would cease his attacks against financiers in the hopes that Manhattan Democrats might vote for him over Clinton. He called the “big money” rallying for Clinton “obscene”, and pointed to a fundraising dinner hosted by the actor George Clooney, where supporters were invited to pay as much as $353,000 per ticket.
“It is obscene that Secretary Clinton keeps going to big money people to fund her campaign, and it’s not just this Clooney event,” Sanders told CNN. He said Clinton also relies on Wall Street and corporate donors, as well as political action committees known as Super Pacs.
“I have a lot of respect for George Clooney. He’s a great actor, I like him”, Sanders said. The problem, he said, was not Clooney “but [that] the people who are coming to this event have undue influence over the political process”.
At the same time, Clinton’s aides and allies have quieted their once vociferous attacks on Sanders, and the candidate herself did not take part in the campaign ritual of trying to reach voters with television appearances. The staffers and surrogates have made clear that they believe her nomination inevitable, and now fear that attacks will make it harder to unify Sanders’ supporters under Clinton’s banner against a Republican candidate.
Related: Call him Birdie Sanders: bird interrupts Oregon rally to thunderous applause
Two Clinton allies, for instance, senators Chuck Schumer and Barbara Mikulski, recently dissuaded several other pro-Clinton senators from calling on Sanders to abandon his campaign, according to the Washington Post . Sanders has said such calls are “outrageously undemocratic”.
But the effort to win over Sanders’ supporters must overcome deep distrust. In Washington on Saturday, some independent voters said they would rather vote for a third party candidate than Clinton in a general election. And when long queues formed at polling stations in Arizona last week, Sanders voiced suspicion that the situation had been created by Democratic party officials.
A Clinton lawyer even took to a pro-Sanders forum to shield his candidate from blame, and to direct it toward Republicans.
“What happened in Arizona is bad for both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton,” wrote campaign counsel Marc Elias. He added that Clinton had a plan to address the problem ahead of the November vote – “but I’m really not here to plug my boss!”
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2016 |
Alaska Thunderfuck Apologizes for Controversial Video
The drag performer called into the Feast of Fun podcast to apologize for a video he filmed that portrayed a drag queen shooting a transgender blogger in the head.
The drag performer known as Alaska Thunderfuck has apologized for filming a controversial video that portrays a futuristic RuPaul shooting a transgender blogger in the head, saying the video has been removed and pledging to strike language that others consider transphobic from his future performances.
Thunderfuck, née Justin Andrew Honard, called into the Chicago-based podcast Feast of Fun Monday night, when hosts Marc Felion and Fausto Fernós welcomed The Advocate's trans issues correspondent, Parker Marie Molloy, onto the show.
"I really wanted to just talk to you, because I want to apologize for the video," Honard began, after Molloy and the hosts recounted the controversy sparked after The Huffington Post's Gay Voices published a post promoting the video, calling it "hilarious."
In the clip, titled RuPaul's Drag Race Season 76, Honard, as Thunderfuck, portrays a futuristic RuPaul who is frustrated by the "word-policing" of a transgender Twitter activist, named "Joy Less," who has a bright blue wig, a deep voice, and a mustache. After Joy takes issue with RuPaul's use of the words "men," "women," and "win," Thunderfuck's RuPaul pulls out a hair dryer and shoots Joy in the head, showing the blogger falling to the ground with a bullet wound in her forehead before RuPaul victoriously shouts a transphobic slur.
In an emotional soliloquy Monday evening, Honard said he had listened to the response surrounding his video and took to heart the critiques he heard from those who said they were hurt by the attempt to "parody" the all-too-real and systemic violence against transgender women.
"I realized that it was hurting people's feelings," said Honard. "I feel like I want to be in a world and in a community where we can be kinder to one another, because that is never going to hurt. … And that should start with myself."
Honard confirmed that he has removed the video from YouTube, and he has published a follow-up clip where the characters reunite and sing a song about the strength of friendship.
In the Monday podcast Honard also weighed in on the subject of so-called language policing, generally used in this discussion in regard to trans activists who continue to ask members of the drag and LGB communities to stop using words they — and GLAAD — find derogatory. Although Honard's initial video skewered such requests as an overreach of political correctness, he told Feast of Fun Monday that if trans people don't want drag queens using certain words, performers shouldn't use them.
He also said that acquiescing to the requests of activists and writers like Molloy does not dilute or weaken his performance or his drag persona.
"I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings," Honard said, choking back tears. "That is the last thing I want to do with my work or with my life, and so if it is, and it was, and it has, then really, the least I can do is take down that poorly made, piece of shit video. That does not water-down my art. I think it makes it richer, and I think, moving forward … I just want to do better."
Additionally, Honard told Molloy that he hadn't developed the character of Joy Less to intentionally mirror her, though several bloggers have pointed out striking similarities between the actual trans activist and Thunderfuck's parody character.
Molloy accepted Honard's apology as well as an invitation for the two to sit down to a cup of coffee. She said she was encouraged by the conversation and by Honard's genuine apology, and she agreed that with his assertion that if drag and trans communities could work together, they would create a powerful union.
"If we took the passion and the conviction that the activist trans community has and we combined it with this over-the-top marketable charisma of drag, I feel like if we worked together, we could really effect major social change and world change," Honard told Molloy. "I'm glad that your community, and our community, was outspoken enough to let me know that I was out of line. And I think that we can work together and do really good things."
Listen to the hour-long podcast, which includes discussion of Molloy's history with The Huffington Post, commentary on trans billionaire Jennifer Pritzker, and several other trans-related topics, here. |
David Alade, left, and Steven Harris, right, on the steps of a building newly purchased by Harris
David Alade, left, and Steven Harris, right, on the steps of a building newly purchased by Harris Nick Hagen
David Alade, left, and Steven Harris, right, on the steps of a building newly purchased by Harris Nick Hagen
Jerry Hebron on the porch of her house at Oakland Avenue Urban Farm
Jerry Hebron on the porch of her house at Oakland Avenue Urban Farm Nick Hagen
Jerry Hebron on the porch of her house at Oakland Avenue Urban Farm Nick Hagen
When Jerry Hebron was a kid, she could get pretty much anything she needed on Oakland Avenue—there were banks, grocery stores, beauty salons, and barbershops. It was, in many ways, vibrantly inviting.
Upon returning to Detroit in 2008, she found a devastated neighborhood.
"It was depressing," Hebron says. "I was disappointed by what I saw in terms of the blight, the crime. There was a feeling of hopelessness."
While it would be too simplistic to call it a resurgence, things are getting better in the Oakland Avenue Corridor (aka the North End), whose boundaries are generally considered to extend east of Woodward from Grand Boulevard to Highland Park. It's a neighborhood that's seen terrible times, as residents and community members attest, but thanks to the efforts of developers, artists, and others with a vision, the narrative is shifting.
Buying a stake in the neighborhood
David Alade and his business partner Andrew Colom of
Alade, a native of New York who's lived in Detroit for about a year and a half, first started looking at the Boston Edison neighborhood to buy property, but soon realized the North End would be a much better neighborhood to realize this ambition.
David Alade, left, and Steven Harris, right, on the steps of a building newly purchased by Harris
Long-time Detroiters of modest incomes can opt in to Century Partners' fund by contributing an investment home in exchange for a combination of cash upfront and shares in the fund. In so doing, they fiscally benefit from the long-term asset appreciation that the company is helping deliver to the neighborhood. Long-time Detroiters of modest incomes can opt in to Century Partners' fund by contributing an investment home in exchange for a combination of cash upfront and shares in the fund. In so doing, they fiscally benefit from the long-term asset appreciation that the company is helping deliver to the neighborhood.
The idea is that residents are a kind of shareholder in their own neighborhood—not only are they creating long-term wealth, but they have an even greater incentive to see the neighborhood thrive.
"Our friends and family and Detroit residents own shares in our fund," Alade says. "The fund owns the houses and associated rental cash flow."
To date, Century Partners has raised
While residential properties are Century Partner's primary focus at the moment, their work doesn't end there. They envision a fully walkable community for the North End.
"We think it's an opportunity … to create holistic living," Alade says. "You can live in a nice apartment, walk across the street to your local restaurant, go to the yoga studio, have a cup of coffee, all within walking distance."
They're doing this work in part through a fruitful collaboration.
Steven Harris, architect, developer, and owner of
"We couldn't do this without Steven and his relationship with people in the neighborhood. Without his knowledge of the history of the area," Alade says.
Harris holds the same belief as Century Partner's in a community of stakeholders.
"We try to build some type of equity and stake in the neighborhood," Harris says. "We might have them helping us build community gardens. Paint murals on the wall. We may put some money together to cut lawns, or do the actual security. If someone has some lightweight construction skills, we'll actually have them do some of the construction."
Exterior of a recently renovated apartment building "It takes a diverse group to make this happen," he adds.
Harris and Century Partners have some exciting developments in the works, like the rehabilitation of a commercial property on John R. One future tenant, set to open this fall, is the Kenilworth Club, a restaurant featuring New Orleans-themed cuisine with West African influences.
"Residents deserve a place where they can have delicious food within walking distance," says Alade.
An entire community
Many of the Kenilworth Club's ingredients will be grown from urban farms that operate out of the North End.
Hebron, who's the executive director of the North End Christian Community Development Corporation and runs the
Jerry Hebron
The farm has formed a partnership with the
Because of her conviction that development should be community driven, Hebron's work is about much more than growing produce. The North End's recovery is still uncertain and requires that everyone partake in the work.
"We have neighbors who live within our footprint," she says. "Can we help them with that porch? Can we do some landscaping for them? We want the entire community to be whole."
Harris has knocked on doors of known criminals to tell them the community won't tolerate their behavior. "We have a no-nonsense approach to our community," Harris says.
Countering gentrification
Many see the North End as a cusp neighborhood. It surrounds Arden Park, a two-street neighborhood of beautiful historic homes, is in close proximity to fairly active commercial districts in New Center and Hamtramck, and will be the location of the M-1 light rail line's terminal stop.
The prospect of outside developers (or speculators) buying property in the North End brings both possibility and risk. Hebron says residents
Oakland Avenue Urban Farm "We recognize some people have very strong feeling about white people moving into community with their privilege not respecting those who have been here," she says. "It's our hope we will find a way to live in unity with different cultures or incomes."
In her role as executive director of the neighborhood CDC, Hebron has reached out to the Boggs Center, an organization that facilitates community building, for guidance. She also works with local artists to beautify the neighborhood and provide creative mediums to explore these challenging subjects.
One of those artists is Bryce Detroit, co-founder of both the
"With the O.N.E. Mile project what we were really doing is supporting the current cultural and economic production that's already taking place by North End members," Bryce says.
Bryce started working in the North End in 2009 and immediately became infatuated with the neighborhood's musical heritage—it was the home of Aretha Franklin, numerous Motown acts, and some classic venues.
As a music producer and self-described "cultural designer," Bryce has supported the North End through architectural design, programming with community members, as well as creating, and in some cases, "reactivating" spaces for experimentation. I
"This is about giving those members an opportunity to express cultural identity," Bryce says.
Bryce also released the second issue of the "O.N.E. Mile Zine" this summer, which utilizes high-art and design to highlight the work of people in the North End.
"We are countering the process of gentrification, which does start with narrative," Bryce says. "What makes us different is that our neighborhood is countering invisibility narratives by broadcasting our own."
If a "top-down" approach is what most communities use, Bryce and others put culture and community first, then add in economics.
"That's our process," Bryce says. "Starting with the culture versus starting with the marketplace." |
Argentinian studio Andres Remy Arquitectos has completed the Black House project in 2007.
This 3,552 square-foot residence is located in a gated neighborhood, 45 miles away from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
View in gallery
The Black House / Andres Remy Arquitectos:
“The black house was born by the request of a young couple, brought to us by another of our projects “The Waterfall House”, which gave us the challenge of improving what we had done at that moment, taking advantage of the freedom they gave us during the design. This single house is located in a closed neighborhood, 30km. away from Buenos Aires. The lot, 20 meters wide and 50 meters length with 3 meter of lateral retreats, has amazing views to the lake we could not let aside.
The analysis of the lot showed us the advantages and disadvantages we should take into account along the entire design process. The best views to the lake were at the back of the lot, while the best orientation was at the front. The surrounding houses and the wide lot marked the visuals we should use.
The simple program, for a socially active couple without children, made relevant the resolution of the social areas. We decided to divide the social areas in two. In one side are located the common areas, such as the kitchen and the dinning room. On the other side is located the living room, closer to the lake.
The shallow pool that divides the house in two allows the indirect light to bathe the interiors, as the northern sun reflects it’s light on the water surface. This way, light is present in every corner of the house, but never in a direct way.
Both programs are connected by a glass bridge, with the water running under your feet. The living room, 10 meters wide and 5 meters length, opens to the exterior using glass walls. It was thought in a lower level than the rest of the house, making it permeable and allowing the ambients a clean view to the lake.
The resolution of the first floor follows the same criteria of differencing areas. At the front are located the bedrooms for the future children, with views to the lake. As a bridge, joining the two volumes in the lower floor is the main bedroom with a giant overhang that conquers the best views to the lake, seeming to float over the water.
The Black House has an almost provocative sobriety, where the pure white in the inside provoques an emotive contrast with the absolute black in the outside, reminding the bite of an apple. A strong characteristic that names the house.”
Photos courtesy of Andres Remy Arquitectos
Source: ArchDaily |
These Big CTA Projects Will Transform Chicago's Public Transit
By Kate Shepherd in News on Oct 26, 2015 3:52PM
The first train at the newly rehabbed Jarvis Red Line station, December 2012. (Photo credit: Brad Perkins)
Rebuilding the CTA will take years. But the transit agency says it is prepared, with billions of dollars of upcoming projects in the works.
The CTA, Metra and Pace need more than $36 billion over the next 10 years to tackle a backlog of maintenance and replacement, according to the Tribune. The CTA's share over the work is $22.4 billion, mostly for the rail system. They've budgeted $2.3 billion for capital improvements in fiscal years 2016 to 2020.
Here are a look at some of the biggest current and upcoming CTA projects, compiled by the Tribune Monday:
Red Line South Extension: The project would add stations at 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue and 130th Street. There's no timeline set in stone, and the estimated cost is $2.3 billion.
The New 7000 Series rail cars: The contract will be awarded early next year with prototypes ready for delivery in 2019. The estimated cost is $2 billion.
Modernizing the Red and Purple Lines: The plan is to rebuild sections of Red and Purple Lines, starting from just south of the Belmont station and extending north through Evanston and Wilmette. It's expected to increase capacity for the next 60 to 80 years, there's no timeline yet and will cost up to $4.7 billion total.
Blue Line O'Hare branch renovation: The CTA wants to upgrade tracks, stations, signals and traction power by the end of 2018. It should cut 10 minutes off of travel time from O'Hare to downtown and will cost $492 million.
95th Street Red Line terminal revamp: The aim is to expand and improve riders' access to the terminal and bus staging area. It should be done by the end of 2018 with a cost of $240 million.
Modernizing bus and rail maintenance and repair facilities: Upgrading these facilities should cost $205 million and would be completed in 2017.
Rebuilding the Wilson Red Line Station: Reconstructing the 92-year-old Uptown station is necessary to make it accessible to people with disabilities. The CTA also wants to make it a transfer point between the Red Line and the Purple Line express. It should cost $203 million and be finished by the end of 2017.
Ashland Avenue bus rapid transit: The project's goal is decrease travel times by up to 80 percent on Ashland Avenue between Irving Park Road and 95th Street. The estimated cost is $160 million and there's no timeframe yet.
The Ravenswood Connector: The goal is to replace the Brown and Purple Line Express signal system between Armitage and Merchandise Mart stations. It will cost around $50 million and should be completed by the end of 2017.
The new Washington/Wabash "superstation": The CTA is building a new mega-station to replace the current stops at Madison/Wabash and Randolph/Wabash. The estimated cost is $75 million and it should be ready by the end of 2016.
The Union Station Transit Center: The CTA wants to build off-street bus staging bays near the station, south of Jackson Boulevard between Canal and Clinton streets. The transit center would have an elevator to Amtrak's underground pedestrian tunnel, allowing commuters to walk between the station and the bus staging area. The estimated cost is $41.5 million and it should be completed in 2016.
The Loop Link bus rapid transit: The CTA is building bus-only lanes and rapid transit-style boarding stations in a 2-mile area on Washington, Madison, Clinton and Canal streets. The cost is $31.8 million and it should be ready by the end of this year or early next year.
Purple Express track renewal: A single-track upgrade will eliminate slow zones between the Lawrence and Jarvis stations. The cost is $30 million and it should be ready by the end of 2015.
New bus purchases: Buying 425 buses to add to the CTA fleet. The cost is $216.5 million.
Improving the Illinois Medical District Station: The plan for improving this Blue Line station for use by people with disabilities is projected to cost $23 million and be ready by mid-2017.
Improving the Quincy Station accessibility: Construction to repair the 118-year-old station make it accessible to riders with disabilities. It should cost $16 million and be ready by early 2017.
New express bus service: They're adding a new rush hour express bus service on Ashland and Western avenues to reduce travel times by the end of the year. It should cost $4 million.
A Ventra mobile app: This delayed-app will allow smartphone ticketing and fare-payment for CTA, Metra and Pace customers. It could be ready this fall and cost $2.5 million. |
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.'s proposed new stadium has taken another step towards becoming a reality. In the club's planning application to the Haringey Council, information and images have been disclosed about the grounds new external appearance.
The thesis of the exterior layout seems to be an all-important play at enabling as much natural light to flow through the stadium as possible. While curtain walling, aluminum cladding, and perforated panels comprise the makeup of the outside walls, it is the single glazed facade feature which showcases the stadium's sleek, futuristic feel.
"This element is a critical part of the design philosophy of developing a 17,000 capacity single tier south stand as the ‘heart-beat' of the stadium, sitting behind the glazed façade. The use of a transparent material enables spectators to get a sense of the scale of this stand as they approach it from the south podium, as well as drawing natural daylight into the spaces within it. This includes providing natural daylight to the open food court at the bottom of the stand and to the concourses spaces above."
Information was also released about the particulars of each of the grounds' two facades. Below is a short description about each of their specific characteristics. If one wants to dive deeper into this Tottenham's official application, there is an abundance of information publicly available at the Haringey Council website.
The West Facade: Running along High Road, the West Facade is where the bustle of the street meets the manic of a match-day. Comprised mostly of cool metal and glass, this is a section of the stadium where translucent views, both from inside and outside of the stadium, rule the day. The end of the West Facade leads directly into the much hyped "single tier stand". Transparent by nature, spectators can see the ferocity of what they are getting into from afar.
The East Facade: A stark contrast from the West Facade, the East Facade takes into account the residential character of Worcester Avenue. Designed like a widow's peak, the perforated screens that cover the eastern side of the stadium allow more privacy for the locals, and a less intrusive experience for supporters. The Skylounge and the double height banqueting and conference suite entrance are located on this side of the stadium.
If the prospective of the layout of the NDP turns out to be true, every angle of the stadium is contrastive. As spectators walk along the outskirts of the grounds, their eyes will never see the same image twice. This combination of size, translucency, and vision should make Tottenham's new grounds distinct in the match-day experience it offers while placing the venue in the vanguard of the world's most ambitious sporting grounds.
It's not just the exterior that looks pretty, either. Care was taken to ensure that fans attending football matches in the new stadium can get close to the action, with no more than 8 meters of space between the touchline of the pitch and the first row of the stands.
The pitch perimeter is minimised to aid spectator proximity to the pitch. On this basis it does not conform to [FIFA guidelines] with states 10m behind the goals and 8.5m at the sides of the pitch. It must be remembered that the dimensions set out... are only recommendations and are primarily set for stadiums to be used in FIFA World Cup TM competitions. This does not however preclude the use of stadiums in FIFA World Cup TM competitions that do not meet these dimensions.
This was undoubtedly a point of emphasis in stadium planning: White Hart Lane is well known for putting supporters close to the action, and stadiums with running tracks such as the Olympic Stadium have been criticized by fans for having the pitch too far away to comfortably view the action.
Not only will fans have an excellent view of the pitch, but there will be a lot more of them. The 65,000 seat stadium includes the aforementioned 17,109-seat "kop" style stand, designed to be the largest such single-tier stand in England and one that will create an impressive "wall" of Tottenham supporters for home matches.
Dortmund's Westenfalenstadion may fit more fans into their single tier stand – they allow for standing and can cram 25k standing supporters in their "yellow wall" – but in the (current) absence of safe standing in England, this tier will still provide an imposing presence for opposition supporters, and will be a feature unique to the whole of England. The design makes accommodations for safe standing in the lower sections of the stand in the event that legislation is passed in the future that allows for such.
The stadium isn't just for fans, either. The new building will be jam-full of additional features including restaurants and clubs, banquet facilities, top notch media facilities, state of the art facilities for medical, police, fire, and grounds staff, as well as NFL (and other sport-specific) changing and training areas. And this is not even going into the additional buildings and surrounding area around the new stadium, all part of the overall scheme to revitalize Tottenham and the North London area. The scope of the project is stunning. The reality is likely to be even more so.
There are literally hundreds of publicly accessible PDFs on the Haringey Council website that include all the pictures shown here as well as detailed technical drawings, blueprints, safety regulations, etc. There are numerous features that we haven't even begun to touch on but will enhance the visiting fan experience. It's a gold-mine of information, and anyone can view it.
By the looks of these plans and drawings, Tottenham Hotspur are nearly certain to have the best stadium in England by the time it opens in 2018. That's only three years away. It's time to get excited. |
The owner of a Texas construction company interested in the massive border wall project along the U.S.-Mexico border said he is receiving death threats and being called a traitor in part because he is of Mexican descent.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘You’re Latino. How can you build a wall to keep other Latinos out?’” said Penna Group’s CEO Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga to The Washington Post.
The Fort-Worth businessman said it was not an easy decision to bid on the controversial project — not least because 80 percent of his workforce is Latino.
TRUMP'S BORDER WALL FUNDING WILL LIKELY HAVE TO WAIT
“We need to be a productive part of the solution, rather than sit on the sidelines,” Evangelista-Ysasaga said when Penna’s bid was first announced. He explained that one of the reasons he jumped in was that he had heard rumors that other firms might propose inhumane methods like electrified barriers.
Still, he said he has received dozens of menacing phone calls in the last few weeks. “[They are just] “random people calling into the office and just screaming,” he told the Post.
Approximately 200 companies have responded to the federal government’s requests for proposals for a solid concrete border wall and, according to the Post, 32 companies are Hispanic-owned.
FOR BIDDERS, TRUMP’S WALL IS PRO-BUSINESS, NOT
ANTI-IMMIGRATION
“The American people have been asking our politicians for 35 years to do something about immigration, and nothing has been done,” he told the Dallas Morning News earlier this month.
“Our hope is that with a secure border ... they will finally have an appetite to pass some real comprehensive immigration reform."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is expected to start awarding contracts by late-April after the deadline for proposals was extended to April 4. |
CTV Ottawa
Inspiration Village is officially open to the public, and is receiving mixed reviews.
The event started with a bang! The ribbon was dropped Saturday at noon and dancers lead guests through the exhibit, which is made out of storage containers, to a stage where throat singers Silla + Rise performed. Mayor Jim Watson and Guy Laflamme from Ottawa 2017 were both on site to provide opening speeches.
In total, 41 sea containers have been plunked down on York St. between Sussex St. and ByWard Market Square to create the exhibit. Each one is filled with elements to showcase Canada’s provinces and territories.
Many at the event enjoyed the idea of showing off Canada’s culture during its 150th anniversary.
“It’s showcasing lots of different parts of Canada, it’s neat for the kids to learn, and it’s great for Ottawa,” said Tim, who was at the event with his two children.
On the flip side some were concerned about York St. being open to traffic with so many pedestrians in one area. As well, some business owners are still angry after losing 92 parking spots to create space for the event.
“We’ve lost 92 out of 500 convenient parking spaces, that is 20 per cent, that is significant,” said Phil Emond from Gordon Harrison Canadian Landscape Gallery.
Guy LaFlamme with Ottawa 2017 said plenty of parking is still available.
“There’s 3000 in the area and (the event) will bring so much vibrancy to the market,” he added.
On Saturday, thousand did walk through the exhibit. Taking photos with the ‘Ottawa’ letters on display, and checking out the activities offered inside each container.
The event will run until September.
For more information on Inspiration Village click here! |
The belief that the Earth is actually flat and that a shadowy world government tricks the public into believing in a globe-shaped planet has been increasing in recent times.
Anyone would say that there is enough evidence that the Earth is spherical. However, and against all logic, there are more people who assert that our planet is in fact flat.
For example, the image known as “Earthrise” in which we can see our planet being a globe is one of the most popular images of Earth from outer space. In that image, we can clearly see that our planet is in fact a GLOBE.
This is just one of the many images photographed by satellites ever since, proving that in fact, our planet is not flat.
Flat Earthism…
Christine Garwood, author of “Flat Earth: The Story of an Infamous Idea” claims that it is “a fallacy of history” that everyone from Antiquity to Darkness believed that Earth was flat and that they were only disillusioned with that “crazy idea “when Christopher Columbus succeeded in reaching America” without falling on the edge of the world. ”
“With extraordinary few exceptions, no educated person in the history of Western civilization from the third century onwards believed that the Earth was flat,” said historian Jeffrey Burton Russell in 1997.
The eminent scientist Stephen Jay Gould wrote in the same year that “there was never a period of ‘flat earth obscurity’ among scholars.
Greek knowledge of sphericity never disappeared and all medieval scholars accepted the roundness of the Earth as an established fact of cosmology.
“The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know it is round because I saw its shadow on the Moon. And I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church.” –Fernando de Magallanes (1480-1521).
With the rise of scientific rationalism, which seemed to undermine the authority of the Bible, some Christian thinkers decided to launch an attack on established science.
An English inventor named Samuel Birley Rowbotham (1816-1884) assumed the pseudonym “Parallax” and founded the new school of “Zetetic Astronomy” (meaning “skeptic”, from ancient Greek zētētikós, “inquisitive”).
Rowbotham toured England arguing that the Earth was a stationary disk and the Sun was only 400 miles away.
In 1870, John Hampden, famous for leading polemics, wrote about the Flat Earth and described Isaac Newton – the author of the theory of gravity – as “a drunk or a madman.”
Hampden’s ideas, like those of many flat-earthers, were based on religion: many of the proofs of his theory came from Holy Scriptures.
Science and religion were confronted.
So all things aside, from religion to ancient astronomical knowledge, the main question here is why do some people still believe we live on a flat Earth?
There is ample evidence to disprove this theory.
Not long ago we wrote about A Ph.D. Student who had presented a thesis claiming that the Earth is FLAT, stationary, the center of the universe and only around 13,500 years old. The thesis rejected scientific theories presented by Newton and Einstein, astronomical discoveries made by Copernicus and Kepler, the Big Bang theory, atmospheric and geological activity, most of the modern climatology, and basically all other scientific teachings made in the past.
The Flat Earth debate continues, so how do we end this debate once and for all?
One Reddit user has come up with a rather interesting idea: Let’s make a reality show to ‘cure’ the Flat Earth problem—if of course there is one.
Reddit users suggested that a group of flat Earther’s should be sent out on an expedition where they try to discover the ‘edge’ of the World.
Those who back the Flat Earth theory are convinced that it’s not possible to reach the ‘edge’ of the world because the ‘end of the Earth’ is in fact blocked by a massive wall composed of Ice, which in turn is ‘guarded’ by the world’s military.
As Reddit users suggest, maybe the group of Flat Earthers should be taken to the North and South Pole, to see for themselves that it’s not flat and that there is no ‘edge’.
Other users on social network suggest we should take a group of Flat Earthers into space, so they can see for themselves that the Earth is in fact round. But that’s a more expensive solution perhaps. |
It's easy to forget sometimes that Metallica are really, really rich. Sure, we recently uncovered the net worth of both Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield but it really didn't sink in for me until I saw this house listing for a huge five acre home that once belonged to James Hetfield.
The house is located in Novato, California and is going for a cool $3.4 million. It's a 4-bed, 3-bath, 3-half bath house that features a timber outdoor kitchen and saltwater pool. Hetfield sold it to the current owners who are now listing the property. Oh, and there is video:
My god, the place is beautiful. The whole time I was watching the video, I couldn't help but hear James' wife shouting at him to come down those stairs cause dinner is ready.
Even still this is nowhere near as insane as Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris' opulent $11 million home but nicer that Ozzy and Sharon's beach house.
[via Blabbermouth]
Related Posts |
President Trump is reigniting his feud with the intelligence community, criticizing it for leaks that led to his decision to oust Michael Flynn as national security adviser.
Trump called Flynn a “wonderful man” and doubled down on his condemnation of the leaks from law enforcement and spy agencies that revealed Flynn misled senior officials in the White House about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador.
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“From intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked; it’s criminal action. It’s a criminal act, and it’s been going on for a long time before me, but now it’s really going on,” Trump said during a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“People are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the Democrats had under Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE,” he continued.
Trump’s comments followed a string of tweets Wednesday morning, in which he sought to shift attention from the contents of Flynn’s conversations with Russia’s U.S. envoy toward the leaking of classified information.
“The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by ‘intelligence’ like candy. Very un-American!” he tweeted.
Trump’s decision to pin the blame for Flynn’s fall on spy agencies raises the stakes on his long-running dispute with the intelligence community.
And it comes as those same agencies probe links between Russia and several former Trump campaign officials and advisers, adding to the tumult surrounding the White House during the president’s first month in power.
Reports from The New York Times and CNN have asserted that intercepted phone calls and phone records showed that several Trump allies, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, were frequently in contact with Russian intelligence operatives.
There is no evidence that those officials collaborated with Russia on its hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Clinton campaign officials. Manafort has denied knowingly communicating with Russian intelligence.
Trump has not commented personally on the reports. He ignored shouted questions about them after his news conference with Netanyahu.
Hours later, White House press secretary Sean Spicer sought to tamp down the significance of the reports, noting the investigation was first revealed months ago.
“I have yet to hear anything new in that story, or whatever you want to call it, that came out last night that wasn’t reported last summer,” he told reporters.
Trump lambasted the “fake media” for separate reports based on leaks regarding Flynn’s talks with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. But when asked what was fake about those reports, Spicer said, “I’ll get back to you on that.”
Flynn’s sudden exit just 24 days into Trump’s presidency has added new urgency to a separate Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into Russia’s election interference.
Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 MORE (R-Fla.), who is dining with Trump at the White House Wednesday night, told reporters he wants Flynn to testify before the panel about the probe.
Top lawmakers have said Trump’s focus on intelligence leaks is only adding to the confusion surrounding his team’s Russia ties.
“Somehow, the media is responsible for treating Flynn unfairly, but the president was the one who fired him,” Rep. Adam Schiff Adam Bennett SchiffTech takes heat as anti-vaxers go viral Demands grow for a public Mueller report Bharara: It would seem 'odd and unusual' if Mueller report isn't made public MORE (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on MSNBC.
“He was OK with Flynn being dishonest,” he continued. “He wasn’t even going to correct the record for the public until this was leaked to The Washington Post. And I suppose what bothers him is being forced to act.”
Trump’s reaction to Flynn’s exit also appeared to contradict the account of his top spokesman, who said Tuesday that the president demanded the aide’s resignation because of an “eroding level of trust” over his conversations with Russia.
But Spicer said there was no difference between his comments and Trump’s.
“I don’t think there’s any contradiction there,” he said. “There’s a clear difference between [Flynn’s] commitment to caring about this country and the trust the president had [in him] to do the job.”
Trump’s decision to up his feud with the intelligence community isn’t exactly surprising. Before his inauguration, Trump repeatedly attacked spy agencies for their leaks about Russian meddling in the presidential election.
“Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to ‘leak’ into the public,” Trump tweeted last month. “One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
Those attacks prompted concerns of a major rift that could hamper his ability to carry out military campaigns against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and other crises overseas.
Trump tried to reset the relationship one day after he was sworn in, when he traveled to the CIA and told staff, “I am with you 1,000 percent.”
But instead of reckoning with his past statements, he blamed the media for spreading the notion of his split with the intelligence community.
“I have a running war with the media,” he said. “They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth. And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community. And I just want to let you know, the reason you’re the No. 1 stop is exactly the opposite.” |
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M.—The hangar at the operating hub for public space travel is being dedicated here today (Oct. 17), home base for pay-per-view suborbital treks out of Earth's atmosphere.
The Spaceport America Terminal Hangar Facility is to be utilized by Virgin Galactic, a spaceline operation backed by British billionaire and adventurer Richard Branson.
The hangar-dedication ceremony is the latest in a string of opening events for the spaceport. In October 2010, officials dedicated the facility's long runway, named "The Governor Bill Richardson Spaceway."
The hangar itself is a Tomorrowland-looking piece of work. It is expected to house up to two of Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo launch planes and five SpaceShipTwo tourist-carrying rocket planes, in addition to all of Virgin's astronaut preparation facilities and a mission control. [Photos: Spaceport America Blooms in New Mexico Desert]
The Terminal Hangar Facility "has turned out better that anyone could have imagined," said Christine Anderson, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority.
"It is a beautiful building befitting of the beginning of a new era where all of us can now not only dream of going into space but actually have the opportunity to do so," Anderson told SPACE.com. She said that there are more milestones ahead in anchoring the future of commercial space travel.
Rambling desert locale
Spaceport America is tagged as the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport. The rambling desert locale is roughly 45 miles north of Las Cruces, N.M., covering 18,000 acres and containing a nearly 2-mile-long (3.2 km), 200-foot-wide (61 meter) "spaceway" – a specially built runway that can handle Virgin Galactic's use of the WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo dual-action system.
The Terminal Hangar Facility was designed by United Kingdom-based Foster + Partners, along with URS and local New Mexico architects SMPC. The trio won an international competition to build the first private spaceport in the world.
Now undergoing extensive testing, the SpaceShipTwo craft dubbed the VSS Enterprise, and carrier WhiteKnightTwo, christened the VMS Eve, have both been developed for Virgin Galactic by Mojave, Calif.-based Scaled Composites.
This launch system is designed to haul six customers and two pilots on suborbital space flights, allowing an out-of-the-seat, zero-gravity experience and out-the-window views of Earth from the black sky of space.
After VSS Enterprise and VMS Eve test flights are completed, Virgin Galactic will begin commercial operations here at Spaceport America.
Iconic infrastructure
Today's Terminal Hangar Facility dedication "is a very important milestone on the path to commercial operations for Virgin Galactic," George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic president and chief executive officer told SPACE.com.
"While there is still work to be done in driving to completion of the vehicle development program," Whitesides said, "the dedication event is an opportunity for us to recognize all the people in New Mexico and around the world who have worked so hard to turn a patch of ranch land into the world's first commercial spaceport."
Whitesides said that architectural teams from abroad and here in New Mexico have designed iconic infrastructure that will long be remembered as the first dedicated home for operational commercial spaceships. "We anticipate that over the coming years, thousands of our customers will receive their space training here, preparing for the experience of their lifetimes," he said.
There remains more work on outfitting Spaceport America, Whitesides added. "Over the coming months, we will be working closely with the New Mexico Spaceport Authority," he said, "to finish the overall facilities of the spaceport, including certain infrastructure features and fit-out of the building's interior."
© 2011 TechMediaNetwork.com. All rights reserved. |
Next time you complain about being stuck in traffic, spare a thought for the drivers in Brazil's biggest city, which has some of the worst congestion problems in the world.
Friday evenings are a commuter's worst nightmare in Sao Paulo.
That's when all the tailbacks in and out of the city extend for a total of 180km (112 miles), on average, according to local traffic engineers, and as long as 295km (183 miles) on a really bad day.
Red brake lights stretch as far back as the eye can see, blinking repeatedly as drivers endure an exasperating stop-and-go journey, which can continue for hours.
"It's like a sea. A sea of cars," says Fabiana Crespo, as she slowly navigates the congested streets with her 10-month-old baby Rodrigo.
We have become slaves of traffic Fabiana Crespo
"For a long time I lived with my family in the south of Sao Paulo and worked on the other side of town.
"So when I got married, I decided to move to the north of the city to be close to the office, because commuting can make your life hell," she says.
"But after my first son was born I decided to go back to running the family business which is in my old neighbourhood. So I am back to the ordeal crossing the whole city to go to work."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Fabiana Crespo gives Paulo Cabral a taste of her daily commute
For Crespo it's a journey that can take more than two hours of her day - each way.
Traffic jams cause problems all over the world, and not just for drivers, but in Sao Paulo they have become more than a nuisance.
Heavy traffic is an integral part of life and culture in this vast city of more than 11 million people.
"We have become slaves of traffic and we have to plan our lives around it," says Crespo.
By the time she gets back home after another stressful two-hour commute it is already evening, and her husband is waiting with their older child, three-year-old Pedro.
However she also knows that it is a certain irony that it was in one of those terrible congestions nine years ago that she met the man she would eventually marry.
Traffic jams elsewhere Mexico City topped the IBM commuter pain survey of 20 cities, followed by Shenzen , Beijing , Nairobi and Johannesburg
topped the IBM commuter pain survey of 20 cities, followed by , , and Sao Paulo was not included in the survey
The most congested US cities, according to the Texas Transportation Institute, are Washington DC , Chicago and Los Angeles
, and In Europe, they are Warsaw , Marseilles and Rome , says a survey by TomTom
, and , says a survey by TomTom Tell us your commuting stories using the form at the bottom of the page 10 monster traffic jams from around the world IBM Commuter Pain Survey 2011 US Urban Mobililty Report TomTom Congestion Index
"I was with a friend in my car and he was in his car also with a friend. In the stop and go of the traffic jam we started driving side by side and then he started looking at me," says Crespo.
After some flirting through the car windows, Mauricio managed to convince Fabiana to give him her phone number. He called, and an enduring love story began.
"I think this is the only thing we can't complain about in Sao Paulo's traffic," she says.
However for most motorists, the story is one of frustration and local news radios dedicate considerable energy and airtime to ensure motorists are fully up to date.
There is even one station dedicated exclusively to reporting traffic conditions and alternative routes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Since it was set up seven years ago, Sul America Traffic Radio has gathered a large following of listeners who also act as reporters, calling in to update other motorists or to vent their frustrations.
During rush hour, the station has the support of a helicopter while a team of reporters is out on the road, often stuck in traffic themselves.
Among them is Victoria Ribeiro, whose job is to drive around town finding traffic jams - not in itself much of a challenge - and to find ways to escape the mess.
"I have been working with the radio since its beginnings and we can see the traffic is only getting worse, as more cars are coming onto the streets," she says.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sul America tries to help drivers cope
The Brazilian car industry has been breaking successive production records over the last decade, as the income of millions of Brazilians has improved thanks to economic growth.
Owning a car is a widely held aspiration, offering an alternative to the city's deficient public transport system, and the ultimate proof of belonging to the middle class.
However while the explosion in car sales was essential to sustain Brazilian economic growth, it has also pushed Sao Paulo's "sea of cars" to a whole new level.
"It's like a war, because everybody seems to become very selfish once they are behind the wheel of a car," says Ribeiro.
For those who have enough money there is another option - they can literally hover above the problem.
The combination of bad traffic and fear of crime - two major concerns in Sao Paulo - a growing helicopter industry is able to ferry around the super rich or business executives.
"If I hire a helicopter for a few hours I can hop between helipads and have three or four meetings in one day, which would be impossible if I had to move back and forth by car," says legal consultant Sergio Alcibiades, who uses an air taxi service a few times a month. "For me this is a tool to make money."
The owner of Helimart Air Taxi, Jorge Bittar, says his company is enjoying an average growth of 10% a year and has 16 helicopters that rarely stay on the ground for long.
"When it comes to traffic, the worse it gets, the better it is for us."
There may be opportunities for some but traffic jams also have a negative impact on the economy.
Image caption The Marginal Pinheiros is a key Sao Paulo highway
The heavy traffic has a huge impact on the cost of living and doing business, says Claudio Barbieri, a professor in engineering and transport expert from the University of Sao Paulo.
"If you have a truck and this truck cannot make more than six to eight deliveries instead of 15 or 20, you need two trucks, so everything becomes more expensive."
Prof Barbieri says Sao Paulo has skilled and experienced traffic engineers that somehow manage to get the city to flow, albeit slowly.
"But the big problem is that we Brazilians are terrible with planning and traffic will only become more manageable if we start looking into real long-term solutions."
But he is also clear that a "more manageable traffic" environment is the best possible scenario that can be achieved.
"No city in the world will ever manage to end congestion because when traffic flows, people are drawn to their cars. The key is to find a balance, the point at which it is worthwhile for commuters to use public transport because it's faster then driving," he says.
"That way Sao Paulo needs urgently to invest more in public transport instead of building new roads and expressways that will only be filled up with more cars." |
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Google experiments with a lot of different things. It’s known for taking ideas for super futuristic gadgets such as Glass and Project Tango tablets, and making them a reality. Google also undertakes a lot of bizarre artsy projects like Cardboard, Project Ara, and now, Google Cube.
Cube is a virtual six-sided, 3D music player that syncs different videos and music tracks on each side to create a multi-faceted music video. The first band to test out this psychedelic music video concept is the Australian indie group The Presets, who designed the music video for their new single “No Fun” specifically for Cube.
You can play with Cube on recent Android devices or in the Google Chrome browser. As you spin Cube around to show its different faces, you’ll see a separate part of the music video on each side of the music player. One side shows the bright, flashing lights in a smoky club, while another shows a person’s face morphing into other people’s faces with a trippy neon color scheme.
If this were a normal music video on YouTube, you’d most likely see only a few seconds of each part of the video cut into the main storyline. With Cube you can decide which parts of the video you want to watch. If you’re not into the girl in the bathtub, you can just watch the endlessly morphing tangram puzzle on the other side, or the blue sky on another, and so on. The Cube also lets you look at all the sides simultaneously if you click to unfold the box icon in the right corner of the player.
The idea behind Cube is to create a new platform for performance artists, musicians, and other creative types to display their work in a new way. Google says it could also be used for unique presentations. The Cube is still considered experimental, but the guys who made it at Google’s Creative Lab in Sydney plan to market the idea to other artists. |
The United States government has paid a company based in Switzerland more than $5 billion to feed the troops in Afghanistan, and thanks to a succession of no-bid contract extensions, the company, Supreme Foodservice, overcharged American taxpayers as much as $757 million, officials say.
The U.S. has appropriated more than $100 billion for Afghan reconstruction, which includes not only building and development, but training and arming the Afghan security forces -- and the dispute over the massive payments to this single company is just one example of how, more than 12 years into the war, America is struggling to account for how its money has been spent.
So who's getting rich off the war?
A review conducted by FoxNews.com shows several companies with questionable track records have been able to snag a sizable piece of the pie.
While Supreme Foodservice, a foreign firm, has profited immensely, several American companies have also made out like kings despite delays, accusations of shoddy construction and prolonged contract disputes over the last dozen years.
The biggest American benefactors of contracts in Afghanistan in recent years have been DynCorp International, KBR and Fluor Corporation -- though Fluor has not faced complaints like the other two.
Critics say no-bid contracts -- which grant companies a monopoly on huge deals without having to compete for them -- and a lack of oversight on those contracts once they've been awarded have contributed not only to the enormous sums spent, but to waste, fraud and abuse, as well.
"This is the byproduct of what has been an explosive growth in federal contracting over the last decade or so," said Neil Gordon, an investigator for the Washington, D.C.-based Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the manager of the watchdog's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database.
"Contracting has grown at an incredible pace -- especially after 9/11. The terror attacks really touched it off, especially in national security, and unfortunately, government oversight of that contracting hasn't kept pace. That's why we are seeing all of these problems of fraud and waste and other abuses."
The Center for Public Integrity has called the billions of dollars poured into the reconstruction of Afghanistan "windfalls of war" for contractors. Lawmakers have referred to the myriad reports that point to the billions of dollars in missing and misappropriated American funds as the failure and shame of a broken system.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing last April in the case of Supreme Foodservice, whose initial 2005 contract, reportedly worth about $725 million, called for supplying food and water to troops. The Defense Logistics Agency accused the company of overbilling by $757 million, and later recouped some of the money by reducing other payments. But lawmakers complained that the agency, which is in charge of overseeing the contracts, allowed the company to get no-bid extensions worth billions before it questioned the alleged overcharges.
Amid the dispute, the U.S. government in 2012 awarded new contracts worth roughly $8 billion to a competitor, Dubai-based Anham FZCO. But even as Supreme Foodservice challenged the decision, the Pentagon reportedly struck a $1.5 billion deal with the Swiss company to continue its work during the transition.
Supreme Foodservice, for its part, says it is still owed another billion dollars. Michael Schuster, a managing director at Supreme Foodservice, testified, "despite operating in the most isolating and dangerous area of the world, we have achieved consistently outstanding performance, exceeding contractual requirements."
"This has to be the prime poster child for government contracts spun out of control," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said at the April 17 hearing.
As for DynCorp, KBR and Fluor, all three American companies were named prime contractors in LOGCAP IV (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program), the umbrella contract through which all military funding for Afghan reconstruction (except Afghan security training) flows. According to the contract announcement in 2009, "each of the three contracts has a maximum value of up to $5 billion per year." Since then, however, KBR has not continued to receive Afghanistan contracts under the agreement, reportedly because of its checkered oversight and performance in prior LOGCAP contracts.
Meanwhile, DynCorp and Fluor currently hold multibillion-dollar contracts in and out of LOGCAP IV, ranging from Afghan security training to delivering food and services to the troops.
John F. Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), has spent several years tracking where taxpayer money is going, whether projects are followed through, and how contractors and individuals are allegedly trying to cheat the system. The results aren't pretty, as the now-defunct congressional Commission on Wartime Contracting learned. It noted that in 2011, $31 billion had already been lost to "contract waste and fraud" in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
FoxNews.com, in a review of recent SIGAR investigations, found several examples, including:
DynCorp accused of shoddy construction, overbilling for food
DynCorp is a big target, because, as POGO points out, it's been around since the war in Bosnia and has left a trail of criminal complaints and other contract-related charges along the way. In October 2012 SIGAR filed a report charging that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had paid DynCorp $73 million for building a police garrison in Afghanistan's Kunduz province that turned out to have "severe settling and site grading issues," as well as "inadequate construction quality and noncompliance with contract specifications."
The result was a safety nightmare, with parts of the building already cracking and falling into sinkholes. According to SIGAR, DynCorp was not held accountable for the problems or for the repairs that needed to be made. It got the money, and the contract was closed out.
Meanwhile, SIGAR calculated that DynCorp might have overcharged the government nearly $1 million for food at just one base between 2010 and 2011. And the company's longtime security training of Afghan police was called into question after a scathing 2010 military report found a gross lack of oversight in the State Department-directed program, citing unaccounted-for funds, potential overcharging and missing weapons inventories.
While the report did not criticize DynCorp directly, Pratap Chatterjee, an investigator for the research group CorpWatch, noted at the time that DynCorp was the primary police trainer in Afghanistan since the early days of the war. In fact, DynCorp won another contract with the military after police training shifted from the State Department to the Pentagon.
"If the measures that are used to track the capabilities of the Afghan police are any guide, the contract has not been a resounding success," Chatterjee wrote.
DynCorp has continued to get police and military training contracts worth millions.
When contacted for comment, DynCorp spokeswoman Ashley Burke said the company billed the government for food "consistent with its proposal" and the IG report on the matter was not "factual." She also disputed the Kunduz garrison charges, saying the report was based on conditions at the facility after the contractor had turned it over to the Afghans who were responsible for its maintenance.
"The Company did everything possible -- including providing work at no cost to the government -- to deliver in challenging and unusual circumstances," she said in an email.
Meanwhile, KBR continues to hold contracts with the U.S. government for projects in Iraq and elsewhere. But spokesman Mark Lowes noted that the Army's review of its work gave the company far better ratings than did inspector general reports.
"So I think there's a little bit of disconnect between the Army in the field and civilians reviewers a decade later," he said. Lowes added: "If you were able to talk to people on the round (in Iraq) and ask them about the quality of what we did I believe you will get nothing but stellar reviews."
Unsafe hospitals and schools
Many of SIGAR's recent audits involve international contractors. The stories are generally the same -- millions in taxpayer money is appropriated and all it seems to buy is shoddy, unfinished, unsanitary and unsafe construction. Record-keeping is horrendous and oversight is scarce. Many of the projects are expected to rot where they stand if there isn't money for adequate repairs or the ability to maintain them.
This includes four border police stations that were found to have serious structural and utility flaws and remain essentially unoccupied after four years, according to a SIGAR report issued in July 2012. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $19 million contract to Afghan-based Road & Roof Construction Company in 2008, and according to the inspection report, a lack of quality control has led to construction deficiencies at the four bases. One is said to be close to "uninhabitable."
Meanwhile, the Shafi Hakimi Construction Company, an Afghan outfit, was paid $600,000 to build a 20-bed hospital in Parwan province. When it was finished, SIGAR said, it had so many utility and structural issues that it was a health hazard to patients, including newborn babies who were being washed with dirty water.
Similarly, a multi-building education center in Balkh commissioned by the USAID office is still unfinished after five years, and is plagued with health and safety problems.
According to an inspector general review, Mercury Development, an Iraq-based company, was awarded $2.9 million to build centers in three cities. The company was cited for numerous problems and was eventually dropped from the project. Afghan contractors were brought in to finish the job, but the structural deficiencies persisted.
Despite that, some classes are being taught at Balkh, leading Sopko to say ominously in his report last month, "USAID lacks adequate assurance that these structures will not collapse at some point in time."
Taxpayers bought multimillion-dollar 'scrap'
In 2009, the U.S. military gave $5.4 million to Denver-based International Home Finance & Development, LCC, to build and operate two massive trash incinerators on one of its forward operating bases in Afghanistan.
But the machines remained inoperable after nearly three years because of construction and safety deficiencies and poor contractor performance, according to a report two months ago. After Camp Sharana was closed last year due to the impending U.S. troop withdrawal, no one really knows what happened to the incinerators, though one official guessed in a recent report, "they have already been deconstructed by the Afghans, presumably for scrap."
More than taxpayer money was at stake here. The incinerators were supposed to replace the massive open-air burn pits that many returning troops have blamed for chronic health problems. In his sharply worded report Sopko said that because the incinerators never ran, "base personnel faced continued exposure to potentially hazardous emissions, and $5.4 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars could have been put to better use."
International Home Finance & Development, LCC, was paid in full. When asked for comment, Rafaat Ludin, the company's president and CEO, disputed that the incinerators were never in working order and claimed the delays were not his company's fault.
"At the time of [the] hand over, the incinerators were working very well and there were no additional issues," Ludin said in a statement. "What happened to the incinerators after we left is outside our control." |
The latest version of Vivaldi features Ecosia – a search engine that plants trees – as well as a number of important security fixes and functional improvements.
Today we bring you Vivaldi 1.9, which now features Ecosia – the search engine that plants trees. The new version also includes a number of important security fixes and functional improvements, as well as a long-requested feature that lets you shuffle the order of your extensions and the ability to sort notes.
Download Vivaldi
Help the planet, one search at a time
Vivaldi lets you set your default search engine to anything you like. At the same time, we provide you with a selection of predefined options to choose from. We have now added another great alternative to our list – Ecosia – to give our eco-conscious users easy access to a greener search engine.
By using Ecosia, you can turn your web searches into trees planted in the world’s most environmentally threatened areas. Ecosia donates at least 80% of its profits from search ad revenue to support tree planting programs around the world.
If you’re installing Vivaldi for the first time, you will find Ecosia in the search field to the right of the address bar. Clicking on the magnifying glass icon will reveal a menu of search engine options, including Ecosia. You can also search through Ecosia in the address field after selecting this option in the Search settings.
If you are updating Vivaldi and have previously selected a different default search engine, you will need to restore the search defaults in the settings prior to Ecosia becoming available.
Ecosia uses Bing’s technology, enhanced with its own algorithms. When you search with Ecosia, you will see a small tree counter appear in the top right corner of the screen. It will show a personal record of how many trees you have helped plant.
Ecosia has already planted close to 7.5 million trees since its launch in 2009 and is hoping to reach 1 billion by the year of 2020 – now with the help of Vivaldi users. We look forward to seeing you make a real difference to the environment by simply searching the web!
You asked, we did: shuffle extensions and change directory for screenshots
Another addition to Vivaldi is the ability to change the order of your extensions in the address bar. This is something many of you have been asking for, and we’re happy to bring this feature to you in Vivaldi 1.9. You can now drag extensions around to reshuffle them as you please.
You’ve also asked us to give you the ability to change the directory for storing screen captures. You can now configure this in the settings (Webpages → Capture → Capture Storage Folder). For the moment, you need to type the exact path but we will look into improving that for you in the future.
Focus on details
Other features and fixes to further improve your browsing experience include:
Ability to sort notes.
Improvements to URL autocomplete.
Privacy and security improvements.
There is, of course, more to it – for a detailed overview of all the improvements, please see the changelog below and let us know what you think!
Download Vivaldi
Changelog from 1.8 to 1.9
New features
[Search Engines] Add Ecosia as a pre-installed search engine
[Notes] Implement sorting (VB-27313)
[Extensions] Allow changing placement of extension buttons on address bar (VB-13275)
[History] Add “Filter by Site” to panel (VB-26799)
[Web Panels] Add “Removed Web Panels” to the context menu to access previously removed web panels (VB-26157)
Fixes
Platform
[Windows] Close button area shall reach edge of maximized view on Win7/8 (VB-20251)
[Mac] Vivaldi often crashes when closing tab (VB-27495)
[Linux][Address Field] Focus not in Address Field on startup, when on the start page (VB-26580)
Address field
Sometimes the search gets triggered even if “Search in Address Field” is disabled (VB-26604)
Hovering over URLs in the drop-down skips entries (VB-26876)
Selecting bookmark folder shortcut with mouse in address field does not open in separated tabs (VB-26278)
Autocompletion should prefer shorter history item over typed history (VB-27153)
Autocompleting can be triggered while deleting a character (VB-27239)
Shorter History link should be prioritized over longer Bookmarked URL (VB-27303)
Cannot select folder from nickname with arrow keys in address bar dropdown (VB-26433)
Extensions
Page action extension badges do not show up in address bar (VB-26340)
Extension button options still not rendering properly – uMatrix (VB-25899)
Show extension buttons when hiding toggle control
Drag and drop extension can have huge extension badge icons (VB-26540)
Find in Page
Needs a Limit for Selected Text (VB-26694)
Switching to different tab and back puts selected text in “Find in Page” field (VB-26027)
Search query is not selected in dialog (VB-26745)
History
Manager content is not restored (VB-26919)
Add support for removing “Discarded User Data” from Clear Private Data dialog (VB-26264)
Manager performance improvements (VB-27156)
Focus search field isn’t focused by default (VB-27048)
Screenshots
Configurable Capture storage folder (VB-26829)
Need better behavior when cursor is out of the Vivaldi window (integration with environment) (VB-26256)
Capture selection should be modifiable: work is still in progress (VB-27155)
Other changes |
About
AVENGER OF BLOOD: GENESIS
A psychological revenge themed graphic novel based off of the tragic true story of the 1965 Indiana Torture Slaying of Sylvia Marie Likens. It is a deeply affecting tale, one that most true crime buffs consider to be one of the most haunting and heartbreaking tales they have read.
If you would like to read a short version of the actual story here is the wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Likens
Child abuse, murder, and revenge may be on the surface but at the core of this disturbing tale is redemption, loss, betrayal, and the power of family.
Fans of true crime, dark fiction, vigilante justice, ghost stories, and psychological horror will love it!
Why we need to raise $25,400?
I am going to put $3,500 into the project myself, which leaves me with $25,400 to raise by Oct. 25th. The money goes toward paying Jorge Molina for sketches, inks, and digital coloring (roughly $16,000 all together). It also goes toward printing 1,000 copies of Avenger of Blood: Genesis Act 1: Dear Sylvia in beautiful, standard graphic novel sized, paperback, perfect binding, full color, semigloss pages ($6,000 printing + shipping). The rest of the money goes toward kickstarter's fee, amazon's credit card fee (roughly $2,500), postage, merchandise and ISBN (roughly $4,400). The Act 1 book will be around 150 pages long. Those who have international postage will have to pay a little more for rates.
IN THE HEART OF THE MIDWEST, DURING THE MID-1960’S…
A young girl has been killed in the most humiliating, degrading, and unconscionable manner in which any one person can be slain, all under the nose of a poor neighborhood and a large family.
“AVENGE ME!”
2 YEARS LATER…
Her twin brother waits in the cell room of a mental institution swearing he sees his sister’s ghost who speaks to him pleading “Avenge Me.” The family and friends who have psychologically and physically abused his sister over a period of 3 months are now free from prison. No one is there to seek retribution on them, until now!
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds quote on the Act 1: Dear Sylvia title page!
We have been approved to use a quote by internationally renowned rootsy rock band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds!
Here is their website: http://www.nickcaveandthebadseeds.com/home
The quote will be from the song "(Are You the One) That I've Been Waiting For" on their album “The Boatman's Call” and will be used on the Act 1 title page of the initial print run of Avenger of Blood Genesis Act 1. The quotes have been approved by Nick Cave and his publishing company Mute Song Ltd. Some of their most well known songs are "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (featuring Kylie Monogue), "Mercy Seat" (covered by the late great Johnny Cash) and "Red Right Hand". "Red Right Hand" was featured in "Songs in the Key of X: The X Files Soundtrack", "Scream: Soundtrack", and "Dumb and Dumber: Soundtrack". At the forefront is Nick Cave who, along with Warren Ellis (the Bad Seeds' fiddle player) have composed several soundtracks including, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" and "The Road". He is also a screenwriter for the movies "The Proposition", "Ghosts... of the Civil Dead", and the recent release "Lawless" starring Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, and Shia Labeouf. We are stoked to include his quote on this print run!
Billy Blythe, the Avenger of Blood!
His sister's ghost visits him frequently as a constant reminder of the terrible things she had to face in the 3 grueling months before her sad, tragic death. Loss, pain, and revenge is what is on Billy's mind constantly as he is somewhat "guided by voices" fleeing an institution to seek retribution on the 5 prime sadistic murderers of his sister. He longs to force them one by one into the now-abandoned basement where his sister was kept, to feel what she felt, to ease the burden of blood that is on Billy’s mind. Billy wants to understand his victim’s actions and create a psychological picture of each murderer’s motives before they are killed.
Here is a short preview of the rest of the novel, which can also be read on our website http://www.avengerofbloodgenesis.com :
Artwork will be posted on the website as it is finished!
We will be posting page by page as artwork is finished. You will get to see a preview page by page before the printing is even done.
Avenger of Blood: Genesis tees will look a little something like this!
What is Kickstarter?
If you're not familiar with Kickstarter or how it will works, here's a brief overview (or you can read the official one, http://www.kickstarter.com/start?ref=home_start ). For the next 30 days, you'll be able to make pledges to help support this project, with a minimum donation of one dollar. For your pledge, you can select one of the reward packages—listed to the right—of equal or lesser value to your pledge. You can always pledge more than the minimum to get a reward (and for some packages, you'll need to do so if it must be shipped internationally). Your credit card or other account will not actually be charged at the time you make your pledge, and you can change your mind right up to the final deadline.
If the final deadline comes and we've reached our goal, then everyone gets charged the amount they pledged at once. We will work hard to complete the final project within a year and a half (our deadline) and you will receive your packages in the mail shortly thereafter.
We are so happy that kickstarter has made an avenue for artists to create projects on their own, individually, without interference or censorship from publishers. With your help, we will be able to create an original project and put it out on the market. Please do message me if you have any questions. I will also take package suggestions if you would like to make me an offer or mix and match.
Together we can make Avenger of Blood: Genesis a reality! |
Offending the AV industry is one thing, but do you want to base a security strategy (at home or work) on a PR exercise based on a statistical misunderstanding? (Yes, I’m being diplomatic here…)
Introduction
I kind of hoped that the fuss about Imperva’s somewhat discredited quasi-test, first publicized in Novermber, claiming that anti-virus detects less than 5% of new malware, would have died away by now. After all, there was enough criticism at the time to cause Imperva itself to modify its position both in the version of its report that it eventually made public (the version originally released to journalists seems to have been substantially different) and in a subsequent blog, However, it seems that some sectors of the media, notably the New York Times and The Register, haven’t quite kept up with the plot. A second wave of reports ignores the methodological holes in Imperva’s report and recycles its dubious statistics uncritically. Why dubious? Because, despite the protests of the AV community and of VirusTotal itself, the study by Imperva and the Israeli Institute of Technology was founded on the myth that VirusTotal reports provide a reliable way of ascertaining whether an AV product does or doesn’t detect a given sample of malicious software.
Executive Summary
Imperva’s study frustrated not only the AV research community, but anyone who cares about accurate testing and evaluation of security products and strategies. VirusTotal is a great service, but it’s intended to give some idea of whether a given file is likely to be malicious. It simply isn’t designed or suitable for evaluating the ability of one or more security products to detect it. At best, it tells you whether those products are capable of detecting it using the particular program module and configuration used by VirusTotal. (For more detail, see the November 28th section in the Timeline below.)
Using those data in that context to evaluate detection capability is a bit like evaluating the musicality of a rock band by listening to the drummer’s backing vocals. Some drummers sing very well, but there’s a bit more to most performances than the doo-wop in the background. And even a basic commercial anti-virus package does a lot more than look for static signatures extracted from malware already found and analysed. (Security suites include several other layers of security that reduce the chances that that malware will infect a system. I said reduce, not provide 100% protection!) The Imperva report leapt to a conclusion based on spurious statistics, and the company then tried to tell us that their claim (that less than 5% of new malware is detected by anti-virus) is borne out an AV-Test report. While the actual report wasn’t linked, the screenshot included in Imperva’s blog seemed to show the average industry detection results in three scenarios:
0-day malware attacks: avg = 87% (n=102)
malware discovered over last 2-3 months: avg = 98% (n=272,799)
widespread and prevalent malware: avg=100% (n=5,000)
5%, 87%: hardly any difference at all. ;-)
In fact, what that proves is that it’s perfectly possible for products to provide protection against malware proactively, not only by way of generic/heuristic detections (behaviour analysis, sandboxing, traffic analysis and so on), effective though they sometimes are, but also in terms of increased overall security through multi-layering.
I’m afraid I’m going to quote myself:
Personally (and in principle) I’d rather advocate a sound combination of defensive layers than advocate the substitution of one non-panacea for another, as vendors in other security spaces sometimes seem to. Actually, a modern anti-virus solution is already a compromise between malware-specific and generic detection, but I still wouldn’t advocate anti-virus as a sole solution, any more than I would IPS, or whitelisting, or a firewall.
No security researcher worth listening to is going to claim that anti-virus is the only security software you’ll ever need, or that their software detects 100% of known and unknown malware, but then, there are no 100% effective solutions. While there may come a time when applications and operating systems are so secure that malware detection becomes unnecessary – at least, that’s what people have been telling me since the 90s! – but to dismiss AV right now as not worth paying for is naive at best, irresponsible even. If there was no money to pay AV research specialists because there was no for-fee AV, the security industry in general would know a great deal less about malware than it does right now, and we’d all be the poorer for it.
Timeline
Around the end of November 2012, Imperva circulated the first version of their report among journalists. While no journalist shared the report itself with me, some described the basic methodology and requested comment: for instance, Kevin Townsend quoted myself and David Emm (of Kaspersky) in a piece for Infosecurity Magazine.
[27th March: Bill Brenner commented Better off without AV? Not yet. While he didn’t comment on the essential invalidity of Imperva’s ‘test’ he did make one or two valid points about Imperva’s conclusions.]
November 28th: According to Kevin:
…This is the stark result of an analysis of 80 new viruses found and tested by Imperva. The company used the TOR network to scour the dark net to find the latest malware, and then developed an automated testing and monitoring process to test the samples using the VirusTotal website…The results obtained by Imperva are not encouraging. “The average detection rate of a newly created virus is 0%,” and “Typically, it takes four weeks for just 25% of antivirus vendors to detect a new virus.”
While the full article is worth reading, this was my own initial response, summarizing why VirusTotal should not be used as a means of measuring anti-virus detection performance:
Virus Total was never intended as a test of scanner performance, and isn’t suitable for the job. This means, for instance, that some products will flag Possibly Unwanted applications as malware: on some products, this is because of default settings, in other cases, because VT have been asked to turn on a non-default option. In other words, some products as configured by VT may never detect certain samples because they’re not unequivocally malicious. Others may be able to detect samples on-access, but not on-demand, because not all approaches to behaviour analysis and heuristics can be implemented in static/passive scanning.
If this was a real test, I’d be doubtful of its accuracy because there was no way of validating their results. We have no idea what samples they’re looking at and whether they’re correctly classified as malware, still less about their prevalence. In the absence of those data and of real testing that checks detection against on-demand and on-access scanning and using like-for-like , there is more than a whiff of marketing about this exercise.
Virus Total itself has spoken out several times against the misuse of the service as a substitute for testing. In fact, Julio Canto of Virus Total and I put together a paper a year or two ago that addresses this, among other issues:
http://go.eset.com/us/resources/white-papers/cfet2011_multiscanning_paper.pdf
Here are some extracts from that paper that cover most of the ground:
VirusTotal was not designed as a tool to perform AV comparative analyses, but to check suspicious samples with multiple engines, and to help AV labs by forwarding them the malware they failed to detect….
VirusTotal uses a group of very heterogeneous engines. AV products may implement roughly equivalent functionality in enormously different ways, and VT doesn’t exercise all the layers of functionality that may be present in a modern security product.
VirusTotal uses command-line versions: that also affects execution context, which may mean that a product fails to detect something it would detect in a more realistic context.
It uses the parameters that AV vendors indicate: if you think of this as a (pseudo)test, then consider that you’re testing vendor philosophy in terms of default configurations, not objective performance.
Some products are targeted for the gateway: gateway products are likely to be configured according to very different presumptions to those that govern desktop product configuration.
Some of the heuristic parameters employed are very sensitive, not to mention paranoid.
Conclusion
VirusTotal is self-described as a TOOL, not a SOLUTION: it’s a highly collaborative enterprise, allowing the industry and users to help each other. As with any other tool (especially other public multi-scanner sites), it’s better suited to some contexts than others. It can be used for useful research or can be misused for purposes for which it was never intended, and the reader must have a minimum of knowledge and understanding to interpret the results correctly. With tools that are less impartial in origin, and/or less comprehensively documented, the risk of misunderstanding and misuse is even greater.
[Also on the 28th of November, Intego blogged on the same topic: I somehow overlooked it at the time, but it makes several excellent points very cogently.]
4th December: Righard Zwienenberg commented at length on the Threatblog, making many of the same points and also addressing Imperva’s initial contention that AV is not worth paying for.
6th December: the Dutch language site security.nl pointed to Righard’s blog and gave right-of-reply to Imperva.
10th December: I expanded on the many objections to using VirusTotal as a substitute for testing in a blog for (ISC)2, and also addressed Imperva’s somewhat evasive counterclaims as quoted at security.nl (in the same (ISC)2 article, and in English!)
13th December: Caroline Donnelly quoted Trend’s Rik Ferguson in IT Pro: Rik observed that
“Simply scanning a collection of files, no matter how large or how well sourced misses the point of security software entirely..They were not exposing the products to threats in the way they would be in the wild.”
She also quoted Imperva’s Tal Be’ery as saying:
“the evolving nature of security threats mean Ferguson’s recommendations may not work for every testing scenario.”
Hmm. Not altogether to the point, in my humble opinion.
17th December: Imperva published a blog From A to V: Refuting Criticism of Our Antivirus Report in which it claimed to have acknowledged ‘the limitations of our methodology’ in the report. And, in fact, the publicly available copy of the study does include a summary of some of the issues raised subsequent to its original release. However, I didn’t feel that either the blog or the modified report adequately addressed its quintessential weakness: that is a conclusion based on inaccurate data. I said so (and quite a lot more) in the article Imperva-ious to Criticism for an independent testing-focused blog.
1st January: the New York Times (in an article syndicated elsewhere) told us that The antivirus industry has a dirty little secret: its products are often not very good at stopping viruses. The article uncritically accepted the study’s spurious statistics, as did Richard Chirgwin in the Register. Though both journalists did at least notice that Imperva’s does have a commercial agenda. As Richard Chirgwin put it:
Imperva suggests enterprise security should devote more attention to detecting aberrant behavior in systems and servers. Which, unsurprisingly, happens to be the company’s own specialty.
January 2nd: my pseudonymous colleague Old Mac Bloggit – over at the Anti-Malware Testing blog – was totally enraged at all the misinformation and misrepresentation, and the sloppy journalism that overlooked or ignored all the material above: Journalism’s Dirty Little Secret. He wasn’t the only one though: when I tweeted the link to that article, several AV people and other researchers retweeted it. While Kaspersky’s Roel Schouwenberg tweeted:
Criticizing the AV industry is fine. But do it using proper research/tests. Repeat 2013 times:VirusTotal is not a testing tool.
VirusTotal’s own Bernardo Quintero tweeted:
antivirus evaluation with less than 100 samples & using VirusTotal… is more like a joke than a study
Some of the media had a more balanced view, too. Tech News Daily Paul Wagenseil noted that Study Faulting Anti-Virus Effectiveness May Itself Be Flawed and gave Rik Ferguson, Graham Cluley, and an unnamed spokesman from Kaspersky a chance to comment, while Graeme Burton noted for Computing that
…the methodology of the study has been widely criticised by security specialists… VirusTotal is a website that analyses files and URLs to identify viruses, worms, trojans and other other malware – and not real-world threat exposure. Nor did the study take account of the different parameters in which the products could be run..
And for Channelnomics, Stefanie Hoffman noted that Anti-virus [is] Evolving, But Here To Stay, making the point that:
For solution providers, anti-virus by itself has long since become commoditized — its time as as profitable standalone come and gone. However, almost every solution provider will continue to carry some form of anti-virus in their portfolio, used in tandem with their own unique blend of security solutions and services.
January 3rd: Max Eddy, for PC Magazine, took a slightly different approach and asked for the opinions of professional testers (including comment from AV-Test, AV-Comparative, NSS Labs, and Dennis Labs) and found that Experts Slam Imperva Antivirus Study. Eddy remarked that:
Doom-and-gloom research like this always requires a hefty grain of salt, but after speaking with numerous industry experts an entire shaker might be necessary.
Randy Abrams (now with NSS) summed up:
It is rare that I encounter such an incredibly unsophisticated methodology, improper sample collection criteria, and unsupported conclusions wrapped up in a single PDF.
And Simon Edwards (Dennis Labs) commented as regards Imperva’s claims that free AV performs better than for-fee products:
This is counter to all of our findings over many years of testing … Almost without exception the best products are paid-for.
[I tried to move the discussion on: Going beyond Imperva and VirusTotal but with only partial success. Gunter Ollman joined in with a prime piece of anti-virus bashing on the 7th of January, to which I responded (somewhat testily) on 8th January in The death of AV. Yet again. And quoted Pierre Vandevenne at some length in The Posthumous Role of AV. Lysa Myers added another dollop of commonsense in That Anti-Virus Test You Read Might Not Be Accurate, and Here’s Why. And that is probably as far as I’ll take the timeline in this blog article, but I don’t think it’ll be the end of the controversy.]
Conclusion
Forget about offending the AV industry if you like – no-one else worries about it – but consider whether you want to base your security strategy (at home or at work) on a PR exercise based on statistical misrepresentation and misunderstanding. Don’t look for The One True [probably generic] Solution: look for combinations of solution that give you the best coverage at a price you can afford.
I’m thinking primarily about business users here, but the principle applies to home users too: the right free antivirus is a lot better than no protection, but the relatively low outlay for a competent security suite is well worth it for the extra layers of protection.
David Harley CITP FBCS CISSP
ESET Senior Research Fellow |
Nobel prize-winning German writer Gunter Grass, author of “The Tin Drum” and one of Germany’s most influential if controversial intellectual figures, has said he is unlikely to write another novel.
“I’m 86 now. I don’t think I will manage another novel,” Grass told the regional daily Passauer Neue Presse in a pre-released interview to appear on Monday.
“My health does not allow me to take on projects that will last five or six years and that would be the amount needed to research a novel,” added Grass.
He said he was devoting his time now to drawing and painting with watercolours. From this “creative activity”, some “first texts” have already been produced, he said.
Grass achieved world fame with his debut novel, “The Tin Drum” in 1959, and has pressed his country for decades to face up to its Nazi past.
But he saw his substantial moral authority undermined by his 2006 admission, six decades after World War II, that he had been a member of Hitler’s notorious Waffen SS as a 17-year-old.
He landed in hot water in 2012 when he penned a poem called “What must be said”, in which he said he feared a nuclear-armed Israel “could wipe out the Iranian people” with a “first strike”.
This sparked outrage both at home and abroad and he was declared persona non grata in Israel.
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Proposals by MI5 and MI6 to extend courtroom secrecy to civil trials would unfairly restrict the right of the media to act as the "eyes and ears" of the public, the supreme court heard today.
The media's role is of particular importance in cases where the two agencies are facing allegations of complicity in torture, Lord Lester QC, representing the Guardian, the Times and the BBC told the court.
He said the proposals would not only interfere with the common law and European convention right to freedom of expression, but would undermine "the freedom of the press in acting as eyes and ears of the public as reporters of matters of legitimate concern". The secret court judgments that would follow would exclude media reporting "for all time", he added.
The agencies, along with the Home Office, the Foreign Office and the attorney general, are arguing that the so-called special advocate procedure could be extended to the civil courts.
The procedure is used in control order cases and some terrorism-related immigration tribunals. Sensitive material is disclosed to vetted barristers who can then make submissions to the courts but not discuss with their clients what they have seen.
The case arises out of high court proceedings brought by former Guantánamo inmates who sued the UK government for damages. Classified documents disclosed during those proceedings revealed the depth of British involvement in the post-9/11 rendition programme, and showed that ministers, including Tony Blair, decided rendition to Guantánamo was their "preferred option" despite being warned that people sent there were tortured.
The Guantánamo cases have been settled, with the government paying undisclosed compensation, but a number of other men alleging UK complicity in their torture in Pakistan and Bangladesh are also suing.
The hearing continues. |
While the world around us is in a constant state of flux, it’s nice to know that some things never change—until now. Here are 11 common things people are trying to replace or redesign.
1. The Calendar
iStock
Civilizations have been tinkering with the calendar for centuries, and some think it's time we do it again. The closest we’ve come to real calendar reform in modern times is the World Calendar, once endorsed by the United Nations. The calendar keeps the 12 months we’ve come to know and love, but moves the days around in order to establish four equal quarters of 91 days each. (The only 31-day months are January, April, July, and October.) This adds up to 364 days, with the apparent last day being December 30.
Nobody would stand for such an abbreviated year, so the World Calendar tacks on one extra day—December W. Oh, it gets weirder. December W also does not exist on an established day of the week (i.e., it doesn’t fall on Monday, Sunday, or any day in between). December W simply is, and is called Worldsday. Leap year gets the same treatment—June W, imaginatively named “Leapyear Day.”
Once their plan is implemented, some proponents of the World Calendar would like the year to reset at 0. (From its website: “The World Calendar will be so transformational as a new beginning in human history that the start date significance will connect with and attach to the event itself.”) If we’re going to go that far, though, I propose we use the “subsidized time” system from Infinite Jest.
2. The Crosswalk
During the design of Disneyland, nobody could agree on where certain sidewalks should be paved. The Imagineers decided to let the public vote with their feet—literally. Grass was planted, and where the park’s guests trafficked most frequently, footpaths became evident. That’s where the sidewalks went. In urban planning, such trails are called “desire paths.”
Jae Min Lim, a designer from South Korea, wants to apply this concept to crosswalks. He observed that when people cross the street, they only follow the striped crosswalk path for so long before deviating left or right, depending on their desired destination. This is dangerous for obvious reasons. Lim’s solution is to paint crosswalks as long arches, keeping automobiles away from that extra space pedestrians are already taking.
While waiting to use the new crosswalk, pedestrians can even enjoy the proposed dancing traffic light.
3. The Zipper
To operate the conventional zipper, you need two hands and fine motor skills. For the disabled and the elderly, this is often an insurmountable barrier. Enter Scott Peters and his invention, the MagZip. While trying to help a family member suffering from myotonic dystrophy, he came up with a basic design. According to ABC News, “six years and more than 100 prototypes later, they came up with a design that worked.” At the MagZip’s base is an interlocking mechanism made of strong magnets that bring together both sides of the zipper. The mechanism is resilient enough to see the zipper through from bottom to top. The magic of the process is that it can be done with one hand and little coordination. Today, Under Armour uses the MagZip in its products, as demonstrated in the weirdest, most melodramatic video on the Internet.
4. The Cardboard Box
Chris Curro and Henry Wang of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering describe the conventional cardboard box as “wasteful, hard to open, and difficult to pack.” They designed an alternative box called the “rapid packing container,” which uses 15 percent less cardboard than a conventional box and requires no tape, making it an environmentally friendly alternative. The rapid packing container is assembled with what they call a “rapid folding jig." Press the cardboard into the jig, and presto: a new box whose design allows sealing with a single recyclable adhesive. The box is also reversible, and can be reused with the label-free side out.
5. The Fire Hydrant
Fire hydrants are less reliable than you might hope, and after 15 years of dealing with the problem, one retired firefighter decided to do something about it. It took 20 years of development, but George Sigelakis has finally unveiled what he calls the Sigelock Spartan—a rustproof, winter-proof hydrant made of stainless steel and ductile cast iron. “This will last 200 years maintenance free,” Sigelakis told Fast Company. The hydrant is also designed to prevent tampering (i.e. kids, a wrench, and the heat of a summer day)—a common cause of conventional hydrant failure. The hydrants can presently be found in 11 states.
6. The Toilet
Caltech/Michael Hoffmann
People who have traveled to some areas of the world know that there is stark disagreement over what, exactly, constitutes a toilet. But even allowing for those significant differences in design, the basic principle is the same: water carrying away waste. The problem with the toilet as it currently exists is that not everyone has a source of water. Billions of people are toilet-less, which is bad news all around. To solve the problem, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation held a contest. The rules, according to Wired: “Create a toilet that doesn’t rely on piped water, sewer, or electrical connections. And while you’re at it, fashion something useful from the waste that goes in. Energy and water might be nice. Do it all for $0.05 per user per day.”
Caltech engineers created the winning toilet, which uses solar power to run an electrochemical reactor. The toilet reduces human waste to hydrogen and fertilizer. The hydrogen is then stored in fuel cells that can be used for electricity. Meanwhile, humans also provide the needed materials for the flushing mechanism, with the toilet converting it to treated water.
7. The Stop Light
Two hundred million people around the world are unable to distinguish between the colors red and green. If for no other reason, then, perhaps red and green aren’t the best colors to manage the flow of traffic. Designers Ji-youn Kim, Soon-young Yang, and Hwan-ju Jeont have taken a hard look at the traffic light and think they’ve found a better way. Rather than our current system of three circles, they propose a traffic signal using a triangle for stop, a circle for caution (a.k.a. “floor it before the light turns red”), and a square for go. Rather than memorize light patterns, as the color blind must currently do in order to drive safely, associating lights with shapes will allow for faster reaction times and safer roads.
8. The Pill Bottle
Target
The problems of the standard, cylindrical pill bottle are legion. The tiny type and gibberish labeling can be incomprehensible for the elderly—and the elderly have been known to require a daily pill or two. On that note, instructions to take pills “once daily” can be dangerous if English is not your primary language. “Once” translates to 11 in Spanish. And so on. As medical advances keep us alive longer, redesigning the pill bottle has taken on a new importance. Deborah Adler, a graphic designer from New York, figured out a better way. If you’ve been to Target’s pharmacy, you’ve seen her work—the red, inverted bottle with clean labeling on a flat side, and color-coded bands at the bottle’s mouth.
Adler isn’t the only designer out to end the tyranny of the pill bottle. Julia Manchik has proposed a flat container resembling a tape measure. Prescription information is organized clearly on a flat label, and the dispensing tape keeps track not only of the current day of the course of treatment (answering the nagging question: “Did I take my medicine this morning?”), but also provides a dosage reminder. The containers are even magnetized, allowing patients to neatly stack multiple prescriptions.
9. The Stop Sign
Only a Silicon Valley billionaire upset by a traffic ticket could come up with this one. (He gave a TED Talk on it, of course.) We’re wasting too much time at stop signs, argues Gary Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder fortune. He doesn’t like yield signs, either, because he might sometimes not have the right-of-way. And though he gives roundabouts their due, he has a more ambitious plan in mind. He proposes the Take Turns sign, and yes, he is serious about it. In short, intersections with Take Turns signs operate like four-way-stops, only you don’t always have to stop. Well, lesser-trafficked roads still have stop signs, so they have to stop. Everyone else takes turns. It’s the solution to traffic accidents that we’ve all been waiting for.
10. The Door Knob
iStock
Doorknobs are great if you are a young and strapping Army Ranger. For the disabled and the elderly, however, gripping and turning doorknobs can be a painful, if not impossible, task. The city of Vancouver has taken the step of abolishing the doorknob in favor of an even older invention: the lever. A cleverly designed rubber adapter can even be affixed to doorknobs to convert them to this more accessible standard.
11. The Baby Bottle
When industrial designer Daniel Weil redesigned the baby bottle, he first looked at its history. Weil noticed that baby bottles are getting worse at attending to the needs of their target demographic because bottle designs tend to follow larger cultural trends. In the 1950s, bottles fit the profile of the classic Coca-Cola bottle, and at a 35-degree incline could feed a baby very effectively. In the '80s, the mouth of the bottle widened to accommodate baby formula powder. The result: a bottle that looked remarkably like a Coca-Cola can. The feed angle, however, increased to 50 degrees. By 2000, it widened further, now resembling a peanut butter jar and requiring a 65-degree incline, causing discomfort for the baby by allowing excess air into the digestive system. Weil’s redesign retains the wide mouth of the bottle while moving the nipple off-center. This returns the feed incline to 35 degrees. The cultural touchstone of his design? The Starbucks-style coffee cup. |
A live-action Hollywood adaptation of the anime classic Akira has been in development for a long time, with numerous directors and stars attached over the years. Now concept art for one of the potential productions has emerged, that features Chris Evans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead roles. Check the images out in the gallery below, via Slashfim:
The artwork was created by illustrator Ruairi Robinson, and dates from around 2014. At that stage, Non-Stop director Jaume Collet-Serra was attached to the project.
Last week, it was revealed that Star Trek Beyond's Justin Lin was in talks at Warner to direct Akira. Prior to that in September, it was reported that the studio planned a trilogy, with Christopher Nolan involved at some level. In 2012, the film actually reached the pre-production stage before the Vancouver productions offices were shut down by Warner.
The manga of Akira ran between 1982 and 1990, and is widely credited for popularising Japanese comic books internationally. Equally, the success of Otomo's animated version did much to introduce Western viewers to anime, and is now considered one of the finest sci-fi films ever made. |
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During a military-themed forum on NBC News Wednesday night, the GOP presidential nominee was asked whether he believes that an undocumented person who wants to serve in the U.S. armed forces deserves to stay in the country legally.
"I think when you serve in the armed forces, that's a very special situation and I could see myself working that out, absolutely," Trump replied.
The questioner, a woman who served in the military, clarified that she meant she was referring to an illegal immigrant who plans to serve, not already serving.
"Military's a very special thing," Trump said. "If they plan on serving, if they get in, I would absolutely hold those people—"
The billionaire looked uncomfortable, and began to modulate his language, balancing the potential military service of illegal immigrants against the hardline immigration positions that have taken him so far in the race.
"Now we have to be very careful, we have to vet very carefully, everybody would agree with that," Trump said.
"But the answer is it would be a very special circumstance, yes." |
Image caption Luka Rocco Magnotta has been known to use different names
French police are hunting a Canadian porn actor wanted for the murder and dismemberment of his lover.
Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, is thought to have flown from Montreal to Paris last weekend, say French police officials.
The suspect's alleged victim was Jun Lin, a 33-year-old Chinese student, Montreal police told the BBC.
A hand and a foot were posted to political parties in Ottawa on Tuesday and a headless torso was found behind Mr Magnotta's Montreal flat.
Although results have not yet emerged from forensic tests on the remains, police say they are all but certain the body parts were Jun Lin's.
Interpol issued a Red Notice wanted-persons alert on Thursday for Mr Magnotta.
Canadian police said they suspected he may have left the country based on evidence found during a search of his flat, and a blog post he wrote about how to disappear.
'Sad news'
A senior French police official told the Associated Press news agency he was certain that Mr Magnotta was currently in France.
Image caption One neighbour said Luka Rocco Magnotta did not interact with the other residents of the building
But another French police source told AFP news agency: "French police have no certainty about his presence or not in France."
And Montreal Police Commander Ian Lafreniere said: "There's even been talk he might have returned to Canada under another identity."
Jun Lin, from the city of Wuhan, in China's Hubei province, had been living in Montreal since July 2011.
He was enrolled as an undergraduate in the engineering and computer science faculty at Montreal's Concordia University, said a spokeswoman for the college.
Although Jun Lin did not have family in Montreal, he was reported missing by a relative on Tuesday, Cmdr Lafreniere said. He was last seen on 24 May.
"Thanks to the Chinese embassy, we have been able to reach the family with the sad news of what happened," Mr Lafreniere added.
'Bad hair day'
On Tuesday a foot was posted to the Conservative Party's offices, and police intercepted a second parcel, containing a hand, addressed to the Liberal Party's offices.
One of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's political advisers opened the bloodstained box containing the foot.
A video posted online, in which a man apparently uses an ice pick to kill another man, is believed to show Jun Lin's murder, investigators say.
The suspect, also known as Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, had reportedly worked as a bisexual porn actor and model.
The wanted man's neighbour, meanwhile, said Mr Magnotta had taken an interest in his career as an actor, especially his role as a serial killer in a 1980 horror film called Terror Train.
"I was a killer who killed 11 people in this film, so he was rather interested in my career," said Derek MacKinnon.
Mr MacKinnon added that the last time they had seen each other, on 25 May, the usually well-groomed Mr Magnotta seemed to be having "a bad hair day".
"It was red, and he normally is dark," he said. "It looked like a really bad wig."
Media reports have linked Mr Magnotta to a video posted online in 2010 that showed two kittens being placed in a plastic bag and suffocated, and another of a kitten being fed to a snake. |
Coinality, a job board for digital currency, in cooperation with Andreas M. Antonopoulos will be hosting the world’s first ‘Bitcoin Job Fair’ on Saturday, May 3rd at the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, California.
The world’s first Bitcoin Job Fair will be hosted by both Coinality and the Plug and Play Tech Center on Saturday, May 3rd (1 pm-5pm) in Sunnyvale, California.
The event will be held at the Plug and Pay Tech Center in its indoor auditorium. So far the expected number of attendees equals to several hundred.
Coinality is a job board organizer, where both jobseekers and organizations can be found for job opportunities that pay only in Bitcoin or other digital currency. The vacancies range is wide, from one-time to full time jobs.
All the details are negotiated between the two parties without the middle man. Since he borad’s establishment, which is almost 8 months, it has already gained 2000 users.
Plug and Play Tech Center of Sunnyvale California is a company that helps in growing tech startups. At the moment its network includes more than 300 tech start ups, over 180 investors, also a number of leading universities and corporate partners.
“Launch your Bitcoin Career and start getting paid in Bitcoin, join leading companies in the crypto-currency and crypto-equity space and learn about career opportunities in one of technology’s leading ecosystems.” The fair invites job seekers by referring to the great career opportunities in the industry of bitcoin.
The job fairs are a great opportunity for those who are looking for a job. They offer you the possibility to have tete-a-tete with recruiters from different bitcoin leading companies.
Due to the rising popularity of digital currency the possibilities to develop and improve products and services of cryptocurrency are also on an increasing stage.
A number of digital currency personalities will be attending the fair. The figures include: The Coinality’s Founder, Dan Roseman, also Greg Wexie, a business and Technical Advisor to Coinality, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Scott Robinson, head of the Plug and Play Tech Center’s Bitcoin Accelerator program.
Moreover, the job seekers will be able to talk to employers from different companies including: BitPay, 37Coins, Kraken, BitGive, HolyTransaction, Purse.io, CryptoTrustPoint, BitWage.co, CounterParty.co, PrivateInternetAccess, XAPO, GoCoin, CoinTrust, CrowdCurity, Vaurum and other.
The different firms are sponsoring, the companies include BitPay, 500Startups, Boost.vs, Kraken, Blockscore, Blockchain.info, Circle.com, GoCoin, and PrivateInternetAccess.
In addition, the event is free of charge for job seekers. |
Like many kids in my generation, I grew up with Star Trek. I’d watch the original series in re-runs and then the Next Generation in college. I found their take on space exploration fascinating and wondered if we would ever be able to explore the galaxy like Captain Kirk. In reality, space is one of the harshest environments that we as humans can face. Since we’re used to our oxygen-rich, solar-powered, radiation-shielded, one-g Earth, in order to explore the cold vacuum of outer space, we need a tremendous amount of ingenuity and determination.
Let’s take a look at some of the problems we face with actual manned space travel and see how movie and TV makers solved them compared to real life.
Debris
Space debris is a problem the International Space Station (ISS), shuttles and satellites have had to deal with on more than one occasion. NASA has strategies and procedures in place to protect both astronaut crews and expensive unmanned missions from the same fate that the ISS and the Tiangong Space Station faced in the film Gravity.
But what about traveling in space? Imagine traveling at high velocities through space and constantly being worried that a fist-sized rock will punch through your hull, decimating your craft and endangering your crew? Of course, the Enterprise has a deflector array to avoid these deep space collisions. Until we learn to master gravitons, we need powerful sensors to look ahead and carefully plot courses to avoid collisions.
Communication
What if something hits your craft and you’re stranded millions of miles from home? Standard radio transmissions from Mars could take up to 21 minutes to reach Earth, and another 21 minutes for the response. That’s a relatively long time to wait for a signal.
In the Star Trek universe, they send their long-distance messages at faster-than-light speeds through Starfleet’s subspace communications array. But until we develop such a technology, we’re stuck with a long-delay conversation. And an even longer wait for help to arrive.
Gravity
Another problem that weighs heavily on astronauts’ minds is gravity, or the lack thereof. Astronauts aboard the ISS need to be mindful of the dangers posed to their health in a zero-g environment. While living on Earth, the idea of gravity is as natural as breathing. Our muscles develop enough strength to keep us mobile. Without gravity, our unused muscles begin to atrophy.
Floating around in space may be a fun experience for astronauts, but without regular exercise, the return to normal gravity could prove very unpleasant physically. So how would travelers from Earth survive a five-year mission through space without the benefit of the artificial gravity present in the Enterprise?
One solution is artificial gravity through centripetal force. Seen in Stanley Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and possibly similarly experienced by you at a carnival, a spinning ring causes an effect similar to gravity due to the rotation and inertia, except that instead of pulling toward the center of mass, it pushes outward. This is similar to the centripetal force observed when spinning a bucket full of water on a string. Water stays in the bucket even when the bucket is upside-down.
Speed
Perhaps the greatest challenge of all is overcoming the speed limit of matter and information in the universe as set by Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity. The Enterprise gets around this rule by using the explosive reaction of matter and anti-matter, focused through dilithium crystals to power its warp core. This core generates a “warp” field in spacetime, creating a subspace bubble around the ship that allows it to travel at faster-than-light speeds.
But in our world, along with faster-than-light (FTL) travel through space, not only are there incredible energy problems, but there is also a set of side effects. Moving at great speeds or moving away from gravitational masses causes a strange effect on time to observers as explored in the recent film Interstellar.
Because of this, moving at FTL speeds would cause time to slow down for the traveler, relative to those who are Earthbound. An hour could be years with enough velocity. While this is exciting news for time-travel fans, it’s not so great for the friends and families of the travelers.
These and many more challenges are standing in the way of our exploring the cosmos. The beautiful thing about Star Trek and so many other science-fiction worlds is that they inspire us to overcome them.
A whole generation of engineers, scientists and astrophysicists list Star Trek as the reason for their chosen fields, and with their help, it’s inevitable that humanity will soon see itself traveling through the cosmos, seeking out new life and new civilizations, boldly going where no one has gone before. |
By the autumn we will find out how the Tories will make welfare cuts of £12bn a year by 2018. If they go ahead – and there are difficult political choices to be made here – these cuts will amount to one of the defining social policy decisions of the next five years.
The Tories were curiously loathe to explain how they would make these cuts during the election campaign. Either they knew, but were not telling because the truth would scare voters; or they didn’t know, but it didn’t matter because this was only ever a coalition bargaining chip to trade with the Lib Dems.
Ironically, a Conservative majority government may now find itself having to take unpopular choices it perhaps never really expected to have to make.
As we know from this week’s leaked Whitehall documents, when it comes to cuts there is no longer any “low-hanging fruit”. What’s left are in large part harsh cuts hitting middle-income working families: or, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies politely puts it, the “less palatable options”.
What we do know is that the Tories will freeze the level of working-age benefits for two years from next April, disqualify most 18- to 21-year-olds from claiming housing benefit, and reduce the household benefit cap from £26,000 to £23,000. Those three policies, the IFS calculates, will find the Tories about £1.5bn a year.
So where will the remaining £10.5bn come from?
The Tory line throughout the campaign has been: trust us on our track record. We made the cuts before, and we’ll make them again. The coalition did indeed make about £18bn of welfare cuts over the last parliament – but importantly, in view of what they need to achieve over the next five years, very little in the way of savings.
The bulk of the cuts – roughly two thirds – came from below-inflation uprating of benefits; the rest from restricting child benefit for wealthier families and some cuts to child tax credit. The cuts made here were more or less cancelled out by massive overspending on disability benefits and housing benefit.
According to social researcher Declan Gaffney, the net savings from five years of supposed welfare “revolution”, measured against the savings expected in 2010, were about £2bn. Contrary to Tory rhetoric, the coalition track record on finding welfare savings was dismal.
To reach £12bn by 2018, the Tories will not only have to massively increase the pace of welfare cuts made over the past five years, but achieve net savings. They will have to focus on the five big ticket items: tax credits (currently about £30bn a year); housing benefit (£21bn); disability living allowance and personal independence payments (£15bn); incapacity benefits (£14bn); and child benefit (£12bn).
One key area will be incapacity benefit spending. Previous attempts to cut this failed (spending rose at least £3bn above anticipated levels under the coalition): the high number of successful appeals against the notoriously unpopular fit-for-work tests revealed that there were simply not, as the coalition passionately believed, millions of people fraudulently claiming the benefit.
The Department for Work and Pensions believes there is scope for reform, however, and we can expect more drastic measures to try to reduce the numbers claiming employment and support allowance, by moving as many as possible on to the less-well remunerated jobseeker’s allowance.
This will be controversial, and Whitehall has concerns over the ability of the outsourced service (formerly run by Atos, now Maximus) to do this. Savings here will be painful, in human terms, and are far from guaranteed.
Housing benefit will be another target area, but the anticipated increase in spending (up £3bn a year from 2020) will be difficult to reverse given the growth in working households on low or static incomes forced to draw on housing support to meet high rents, particularly in London and the south.
Tax credits and child benefit cuts would appear to be necessary but they will take hundreds if not thousands of pounds a year out of the pockets of many of the middle-England voters that delivered David Cameron the premiership. Cuts to smaller budget items, such as carer’s allowance and statutory maternity pay may deliver marginal savings but at the cost of alienating the same demographic.
The Conservatives will look to a relatively buoyant employment market to reduce spending on unemployment benefit. But this relatively small budget line will do nothing to get them close to the £12bn target. Universal credit will be heralded as a technological fix to benefits spending by increasing the incentives for people on a range of in- and out-of-work benefits to come off the dole or work more hours. But the troubled programme is way off schedule (it may not be working fully until 2017 at the earliest) and there is no hard evidence it will deliver savings.
There will be much emphasis on so-called behavioural change policies, even though they will deliver barely any savings (and may not work even on their own terms). The benefit cap will continue, and there will be the threat of benefit sanctions for alcohol or drug addicted, mentally ill, or obese claimants who refuse treatment programmes.
The decision for the Tories is how many of these cuts they want to deliver and what the political costs of this will be. There is no coalition partner to blame if they don’t offer up £12bn; but if they take their foot off the welfare cuts pedal the imperatives of deficit reduction mean savings will have to be found from other departmental budgets.
Cameron spoke this morning of a “one nation” Toryism but he will know his £12bn of cuts will disproportionately hit the poor, young sick and disabled. The cuts will deliver more pain, fear and instability to those they affect. We can expect a rise in child poverty, a further decline in living standards for all but the most well-off, and more stupendous rises in productivity in the food bank sector.
A majority gives the Tories a mandate to begin seriously dismantling the welfare state, but Cameron – if not all of his party – will know this carries a political cost. Deliver social security cuts on this scale and many of those who voted for him yesterday may be surprised to find that it is they, and not the mythical scroungers and shirkers of Tory demagoguery, who will lose out. |
July 7th, 2011 by Guénola Pellen
Bonne nouvelle pour la francophonie de Louisiane : un nouveau site web bilingue, dédié à l’éducation, l’actualité culturelle et la langue française de La Nouvelle-Orléans, est né. Créé par le journaliste américain Michael Depp, NOLAFrançaise.com a pour but de devenir une plate-forme d’information et de communication incontournable au service de la communauté.
Francophile convaincu et professeur adjoint de journalisme à l’Université de Tulane, Michael Depp nourrit un intérêt profond pour le social networking. Bien décidé à rassembler la communauté francophone de Louisiane, il lance le 20 juin dernier, son propre site internet : NOLAFrançaise.com. Sous sa houlette, cette nouvelle plate-forme agit pour la diffusion de la langue française.
« L’objectif est de redonner de la visibilité à la communauté francophone de La Nouvelle-Orléans très présente historiquement et culturellement mais aussi très disparate », explique Michael Depp. Si l’influence créole jaillit à tous les coins de rues, la présence française reste aussi prononcée, marquée dans les mémoires, certaines coutumes et dans les noms donnés aux gens, aux lieux et aux rues. Même si la langue française est davantage parlée à Bâton Rouge ou Lafayette qu’à la Nouvelle Orléans, la culture française irrigue le pays. « Le nombre croissant d’écoles d’immersions en français dans la région en témoigne. Nous voulons aussi faire rayonner cette culture au-delà des murs de l’école », assure le professeur. « NOLAFrançaise veut tendre un miroir à cette communauté pour qu’elle puisse se voir et faire interagir ses membres. »
Apolitique et non-commercial, NOLAFrançaise.com est ouvert à toutes les personnes intéressées par la langue française à La Nouvelle-Orléans et dans sa région. Le site vise aussi à dépoussiérer la langue française et à rassembler les francophones autour de débats et d’activités qui leur tiennent à cœur, comme l’ouverture de classes d’immersion de français. Soutenus par le Consulat général de France de la Nouvelle-Orléans, l’Alliance Française de La Nouvelle-Orléans, le Conseil pour le développement du français en Louisiane (CODOFIL) et la Chambre commerce française en Louisiane, NOLAFrançaise devrait s’imposer comme une source d’informations quotidiennes pour la communauté. En plus de Michael Depp, des chroniqueurs bilingues comme Jean Montès, chef orchestre haïtien et professeur de musique à l’université de La Nouvelle-Orléans en charge de la culture ou Jean-Jacques Grandière, directeur du lycée français de la Nouvelle-Orléans, attelé à l’éducation, rédigeront quotidiennement des articles postés sur le site. La plupart seront traduits de l’anglais au français. Plus de chroniqueurs sont attendus prochainement sur le site.
Priorité à la culture et à l’éducation
Des projets spécifiques vont aussi être développés avec les services culturels, comme ce projet éducatif intitulé «D’où je viens », qui va mettre en contact à l’automne quatre écoles d’immersion en français de La Nouvelle-Orléans autour de la poésie. « Les élèves écriront des poèmes en français sur leur histoire personnelle. Ils échangeront et se serviront de notre site comme d’une plateforme vidéo pour communiquer entre eux. » Un livre multimédia de poésie est aussi en cours. « Nous avons tous nos enfants en école d’immersion française, précise le créateur du site. Mais nous voulons faire rayonner cette culture au-delà des murs de l’école.» Objectif sur le long terme: couvrir l’ensemble de la Louisiane et connecter entre eux les étudiants de Lafayette ou Bâton Rouge avec ceux de la Nouvelle-Orléans. La listes des écoles de la région disposant d’un programme d’immersion ou enseignant le français sera régulièrement mise à jour.
Une partie du site enfin est consacrée aux loisirs et sorties. « D’ici la fin de l’été, nous aurons une liste complète de tous les restaurants avec une connexion française.» Les Français se connectant depuis Paris pourront ainsi connaître tous les restaurants créoles ou cajuns de la ville, ainsi que les restaurants de gastronomie française classique, les bistros ou les pâtisseries françaises. Des articles plus longs verront le jour sur quelques restaurants en particulier. Il sera bientôt possible d’organiser ses lieux de visites ou de réserver sa table à La Nouvelle-Orléans depuis Paris. |
Sols 1339-1340: Two Mars Years!
11 May 2016
Happy birthday, Curiosity! As of today, the rover has been on the surface of Mars for two Mars years (almost four Earth years)! To celebrate, we have a new press release discussing our ongoing environmental measurements. These sorts of systematic measurements become more useful the longer the rover is on the surface to collect them, because we can compare how conditions change from year to year.
Of course, we had other ways to celebrate too. Our French colleagues at CNES (Centre national d'études spatiales) made a Mars-themed cake, complete with a little rover exploring a delicious-looking cocoa-dusted martian surface!
The mission doesn’t stop for us to eat cake though. Today we planned Sols 1339 and 1340, continuing our drill campaign at the target “Okoruso”. On Sol 1339, MAHLI will observe a pile of drill tailings that was dumped without being sieved. CheMin will complete the analysis from the Sol 1338 plan, and APXS will make an overnight measurement of the dump pile. On Sol 1340, we have a targeted science block with ChemCam passive and active observations of the dump pile, and active observations of the targets “Kobos 2”, “Stampriet”, and “Swartmodder”. Mastcam will document those targets, and then Mastcam and Navcam will make some atmospheric dust observations.
Here’s to many more martian birthdays for our rover! We still have a long way to go to catch up with Opportunity’s >6.5 Mars years of activity!
by Ryan Anderson
-Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL.
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the martian environment, communication relays and rover status |
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria’s foreign minister said on Monday Damascus would abide by Russia’s plan for “de-escalation” zones if rebels observed it, adding the insurgents should help drive jihadists from opposition-controlled areas.
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem speaks during a news conference in Damascus, Syria May 8, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Walid al-Moualem told a news conference there would be no role for the United Nations or other “international forces” in the de-escalation zones but Russia saw an observer role for military police. He gave no further details.
Syria’s ally Russia and regional power Iran have helped President Bashar al-Assad gain the military advantage against rebels fighting for six years to unseat him, and Moscow has led most of the recent diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
Russia brokered the deal for de-escalation zones with backing from Iran and opposition supporter Turkey during ceasefire talks in the Kazakh capital Astana last week. The deal took effect at midnight on Friday.
Some fighting has continued in those areas, particularly north of Hama city, but the overall intensity has reduced, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Rebel officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Moualem’s comments on Monday.
“It is the duty of the groups which signed the ceasefire agreement to expel Nusra from these zones until the areas really become de-escalated. It is for the guarantors to help these factions,” Moualem said, referring specifically to rebel-held Idlib province as a place where jihadist groups were present.
The now-rebranded Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate, earlier this year routed more moderate rebels in fighting in Idlib in an assault on parts of the armed opposition that participated in talks.
Rebels participating in the Astana talks were signatories to a ceasefire agreement reached in December, which excluded the jihadists.
Moualem said separate peace talks under U.N. auspices in Geneva were not progressing. Local reconciliation deals that the government is pursuing with rebels were an alternative to that, he said.
Such deals have been criticized by the opposition as being imposed on civilians through siege tactics. The United Nations has said the evacuation of some people as part of those agreements is a form of forced displacement.
The memorandum signed by Russia, Iran and Turkey last week setting up the de-escalation areas said that the forces of those countries would ensure the administration of security zones by consensus, but did not specifically mention military police.
A spokesman for the U.N. special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, declined to comment on those remarks.
UNITED STATES
Moualem also addressed what he described as an apparent change of attitude toward Syria by the U.S. administration.
“It seems the United States, where (President Donald) Trump has said the Syrian crisis has dragged on too long, might have come to the conclusion that there must be an understanding with Russia on a solution,” he said.
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem speaks during a news conference in Damascus, Syria May 8, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
He warned that if forces from Jordan, a supporter of rebel groups in southern Syria, entered the country without coordinating with Damascus, it would be considered an act of aggression, but added Syria was not about to confront Jordan.
Speaking about the military situation inside Syria, Moualem said Deir al-Zor, a city and province occupied by Islamic State in the east, was the “fundamental objective” for government forces and more important to the average Syrian than Idlib.
Asked about U.S. backing for Kurdish groups fighting Islamic State in northeast Syria, he said that what Syrian Kurds were doing against the jihadist group was “legitimate” at this stage and fell within the framework of preserving Syrian unity. |
Let there be no doubt that the U.S. is at war in Pakistan. It's not just the drone strikes. According to insider journalist Bob Woodward's new book, the CIA manages a large and lethal band of Afghan fighters to infiltrate into Pakistan and attack al-Qaeda's bases. What could possibly go wrong?
Woodward's not-yet-available Obama's Wars, excerpted today in the Washington Post and the New York Times, unveils a CIA initiative called the Counterterrorist Pursuit Teams, a posse of anti-Taliban and al-Qaeda locals who don't respect the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The teams are practically brigade-sized: a "paramilitary army" of 3000 Afghans, said to be "elite, well-trained" and capable of quietly crossing over in the Pakistani extremist safe havens where U.S. troops aren't allowed to operate. The CIA directs and funds the teams.
Administration officials didn't just confirm the existence of the teams – they bragged about them. "This is one of the best Afghan fighting forces and it's made major contributions to stability and security," says one U.S. official who would only talk on condition of anonymity – and who wouldn't elaborate.
The teams are an implicit concession of a paradox at the heart of the Afghanistan war: the enemies upon which the war is predicated, al-Qaeda and its top allies, aren't in Afghanistan anymore. The drones – flown by both the CIA and the U.S. military – are one answer to their safe havens in Pakistan. (Two more drone strikes hit Pakistani tribal areas on Tuesday, bringing the total this year to at least 71.) Another is to launch the occasional commando raid across the Afghan border or rely on Special Forces, operating under the guise of training the Pakistani military, to engage in some dangerous extracurricular activity. Still another is to outsource "snatch and grab" operations against al-Qaeda to private security firms like Blackwater.
But the Counterterrorist Pursuit Teams follow a more traditional, decades-old CIA pattern. When it's politically or militarily unfeasible to launch a direct U.S. operation, then it's time to train, equip and fund some local proxy forces to do it for you. Welcome back to the anti-Soviet Afghanistan Mujahideen of the 1980s, or the Northern Alliance that helped the U.S. push the Taliban out of power in 2001.
But that same history also shows that the U.S. can't control those proxy forces. Splits within the mujahideen after the Soviet withdrawal (and the end of CIA cash) led to Afghanistan's civil war in the 1990s, which paved the way for the rise of the Taliban. One of those CIA-sponsored fighters was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, now a key U.S. adversary in Afghanistan. And during the 2001 push to Kabul, a Northern Alliance military commander, Abdul Rashid Dostum, killed hundreds and maybe even thousands of Taliban prisoners. He was on the CIA's payroll at the time.
Then there are the risks that the Counterterrorist Pursuit Teams pose within Afghanistan. CIA has to recruit those fighters from somewhere. While the agency wouldn't answer questions about how where its proxy fighters come from, the CIA also pays for a Kandahar-based militia loyal to local powerbroker Ahmed Wali Karzai, the president's brother. Fearing that the entrenchment of such warlords will ultimately undermine the Afghan government, the U.S. military is trying to limit the influence of such warlords by changing its contracting rules. CIA may be less concerned.
After all, it's not like the U.S. has many options for Pakistan, where hatred for the U.S. runs high, official ties to extremists are deep and political restrictions on the presence of American combat troops (mostly) prove durable. One of the larger political narratives Woodward's book apparently presents is President Obama's inability to either bring the Afghanistan war to a close or find good options for tailoring it to the U.S.' main enemies in Pakistan. When the CIA comes to the Oval Office with a plan for inflicting damage on the safe havens – no matter how fraught with risk and blowback the plan is – is it any surprise that Obama would approve it?
Update, 10:42 a.m., September 23: In comments, Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the military attache in Islamabad, objects to my suggestion that U.S. Special Operations Forces are engaging in direct military action in Pakistan. I thought this merited inclusion in the body of the piece:
Mr. Ackerman’s inferrence that U.S. Special Operations trainers in Pakistan are conducting anti-militant combat operations “operating under the guise of training the Pakistani military” is completely false. The U.S. military is conducting no combat operations in Pakistan. U.S. military trainers, personnel, and activities here in Pakistan are conducted at the invitation of the Government and military leadership of Pakistan. At their request, we provide training, equipment, and other forms of support to Pakistan’s defense needs. Our SOF-related training and equipment programs are typically focused on supporting Pakistani Military counterinsurgency operations – support which Pakistani Military officials have requested and which supports their energetic fight against Violent Extremists within Pakistan.
Read More http://stag-komodo.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/cias-afghan-kill-teams-expand-u-s-war-in-pakistan/#comments#ixzz10Mc34bJb
Photo: Defense.gov
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Download a PDF of this Backgrounder
Jessica M. Vaughan is the Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.
Summary
In 2013, ICE freed 36,007 convicted criminal aliens from detention who were awaiting the outcome of deportation proceedings, according to a document obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies. This group included aliens convicted of hundreds of violent and serious crimes, including homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. The list of crimes also includes more than 16,000 drunk or drugged driving convictions. The vast majority of these releases from ICE custody were discretionary, not required by law (in fact, in some instances, apparently contrary to law), nor the result of local sanctuary policies.
The document reveals that the 36,007 convicted criminal aliens freed from ICE custody in many instances had multiple convictions. Among them, the 36,007 had nearly 88,000 convictions, including:
193 homicide convictions (including one willful killing of a public official with gun)
426 sexual assault convictions
303 kidnapping convictions
1,075 aggravated assault convictions
1,160 stolen vehicle convictions
9,187 dangerous drug convictions
16,070 drunk or drugged driving convictions
303 flight escape convictions
Background
This enumeration of FY 2013 criminal aliens freed and the criminal convictions tied to these individuals was prepared by ICE in response to congressional inquiries following a report published by the Center for Immigration Studies. That report, “Catch and Release”, showed that ICE officers declined to bring immigration charges in 68,000 cases of criminal aliens they encountered in 2013.
It is important to recognize that the 36,007 criminal aliens counted in this document are a different set of cases from the 68,000 releases reported earlier. The 36,007 criminal aliens counted here are aliens who were being processed for deportation and were freed while awaiting the final disposition of their cases, or afterwards. The 68,000 releases were cases of alien criminals encountered by ICE officers, usually in jails, but who were let go in lieu of processing them for immigration removal charges in that year.
The 36,007 criminal aliens itemized in this document were released by means of bond; order of recognizance (unsupervised); order of supervision (which can consist of nothing more than a periodic telephone call to a designated ICE telephone number); an alternative to detention (such as an electronic ankle bracelet, or other form of tracking device); or parole (a form of legal status). The ICE document does not specify the number or type of criminal aliens released according to the form of release.
Separate information obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies reveals that the vast majority of these releases were discretionary, or even contrary to the requirements of various provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Only a small share of these criminal aliens (fewer than 3,000) were released in accordance with a 2001 Supreme Court decision, Zadvydas v. Davis, which prevents ICE from indefinitely detaining certain aliens whose countries will not accept them back. (See “Reining in Zadvydas v. Davis”.) Another small number may have been offered parole or legal status, either in exchange for their cooperation with ICE or another law enforcement agency in connection with a criminal prosecution, or because of another compelling public interest.
Analysis
This document raises questions about the Obama administration’s management of enforcement resources, as well as its enforcement plans and priorities. For instance, a series of directives to ICE agents and officers known as “prosecutorial discretion”, and the implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, have made certain broad categories of illegal aliens off-limits for enforcement. These policies have forced ICE officers in the field to avoid or cease deportation action in thousands of cases, even in cases of aliens charged with or convicted of crimes. ICE officers have testified in federal court that some arrested aliens have claimed to be eligible for DACA knowing that they likely will be released from custody and from immigration charges without verification of their claims. ICE should be asked to disclose how many and which of the 36,007 criminal alien releases occurred due to these recent policy changes.
In addition, over the last year certain advocacy groups have called for the Obama administration to scale back the number of deportations or halt them altogether. A number of criminal aliens in detention while awaiting completion of deportation proceedings have been the subject of petition campaigns, prayer vigils, demonstrations, and other forms of protest against enforcement. Typically these protests occur on behalf of a criminal alien who has family members in the United States. ICE should be asked to disclose how many of these releases came after such appeals were made on behalf of criminal aliens.
These figures call into question President Obama’s request to Congress for permission to reduce immigration detention capacity by 10 percent in favor of permission to make wider use of experimental alternatives to detention. These alternatives already are subject to serious questions about their efficacy and cost, and ICE’s methodology for evaluating the results needs to be carefully scrutinized. The reduced detention bed-space request, submitted as part of the executive branch’s budget plan, comes at a time in which ICE’s detention space needs are expanding due to rapidly increasing illegal arrivals along parts of the southwest border and continued high numbers of criminal aliens encountered by agents in the interior. The news that ICE released so many criminal aliens convicted of so many serious and violent crimes suggests that ICE could use more detention capacity, not less, in order to prevent further harm to the public from these individuals. ICE should be asked to track and disclose what additional crimes may have been committed by these individuals after their release.
ICE devotes very few resources to victim assistance and notification programs, and these meager efforts are focused primarily on helping victims of human trafficking rather than those who have been harmed by alien criminals. In fact, the only “ombudsman” type of position ICE has established — and maintained even in the face of specific congressional de-funding of the position — focuses on aiding illegal aliens, not their victims. ICE should establish a notification system, modeled on the most successful federal, state, or local victim-witness assistance programs, to alert the victims of alien criminals, local law enforcement agencies, and the public when violent or dangerous criminal aliens are released from its custody.
The criminal aliens released in 2013 had more than 300 convictions for “flight escape,” indicating that they had a prior history of fleeing from authorities. Experience (and common sense) suggests that such individuals would be poor candidates for release while awaiting possible deportation. Studies have shown that fewer than a quarter of deportable aliens who are released from custody while awaiting the outcome of immigration proceedings will show up for immigration court to finish their case. The departments of Homeland Security and Justice should be asked to disclose how many of these criminal aliens became fugitives after their release from ICE custody.
Conclusion
The revelation that 36,007 criminal aliens were released from ICE custody in 2013, an average of nearly 100 per day, is shocking, and could further shake public faith in the effectiveness of current immigration enforcement policies. This information is sure to raise concerns that, despite professions of a focus on removal of criminal aliens, Obama administration policies frequently have allowed political considerations to trump public safety factors and, as a result, aliens with serious criminal convictions have been allowed to return to the streets instead of being removed to their home countries.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson is on the verge of announcing the results of a review of deportation policies, ordered by the president in response to immigrant advocacy group protests. Most observers believe this review will result in policy changes to further expand the number and categories of illegal aliens who effectively are exempt from immigration enforcement and, if experience is a guide, will further increase the number of criminal aliens who are released instead of deported. Lawmakers and the public must insist that DHS fully disclose and be held accountable for the public safety impact of any additional deportation policy changes. |
If you are offended by some smashy-smashy, you probably shouldn’t watch this video.
The eleventh anniversary of the US-Afghanistan war and occupation was marked with a destructive anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-colonial march though downtown Oakland Sunday night (Oct. 7). More than 200 Afghans and their allies gathered at Oscar Grant Plaza at 6PM, before taking the streets an hour later.
Prior to the march, the activists held an hour long rally and speak out about the injustices caused by imperialism and the horrors of the war in Afghanistan.
The march was in the spirit of the radical SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) marches in the late 1960′s. A poster that reads, “Bring the war home” was used as a propaganda tool online. Organizers urged marchers to wear hoodies or hijabs. The destruction seemed to be their (Afghans) anger over the unjust occupation of their homeland manifested in the streets in the form of attacking financial institutions and other imperialist property. I described the march as a “30 minute human tornado of social justice,” on twitter.
The property destruction reached at least three banks, an AT&T building, a Kaiser Permanente office, an OPD substation, the OPD internal affairs department, a downtown security office, the Oakland Tribune, City Hall, a gentrifying new apartment building in “uptown,” a fence surrounding a former Occupy Oakland encampment, and other pro-capitalist, pro-war, pro-imperialist, owed property.
Police were no where to be seen, until the final moments when the protesters dispersed after some finished up by busting out the windows and front doors of City Hall.
Large amounts of police were reported to have been in the area about 30 minutes after the marchers dispersed.
No arrests were made, and no injuries were suffered.
This action will end a four day series of anti-capitalist, anti-colonial marches aimed at disrupting Columbus Day celebrations. On Saturday (Oct. 6), 20 protesters were arrested after police violently attacked their anti-colonial march in San Francisco. |
Photo by Target
When LaSean Rinique first saw an ad for Target’s new Annie for Target clothing line last weekend, she was sitting at the computer with her 8-year-old daughter, an Annie superfan. The girl in the ad was a young white model, wearing a red dress and a locket – the iconic Annie outfit. But the Annie in the current movie – the one who inspired this new line – is black, and this wasn’t lost on Rinique’s daughter, who is biracial. “She saw the ad and said to me, ‘That’s not what Annie looks like. How come the new black Annie isn’t good enough? Does that mean I’m not good enough?’” Rinique tells Yahoo Parenting.
Rinique says her jaw dropped. “I explained to her that the original Annie was white, and that both Annies are beautiful, and that sometimes people make mistakes and have to apologize for them,” the Delaware mom, who is a regular Target shopper, says. “Then we started singing ‘It’s a Hard-Knock Life’ while she got back to doing her chores.”
STORY: Dad’s Conversations About Race: ‘Most White Kids Don’t Get This Talk’
In hopes of getting that apology, Rinique posted a petition on Change.org. She writes: “Your recent Annie ads and in-store displays depicts a misleading depiction of the movie as it shows a Caucasian young lady opposed to the star of the film- Quvenzhané Wallis. Though the model is quite professional, she does not speak to the relevance of the movie or main character. When the original Annie came out, everything was about Aileen Quinn or a character/person that emulated her…why not now Target? If you can show it online, show it in ALL of your stores with multiple signage with different girls not one!”
Photo by Target
Rinique continues: “Why do you feel that we are not enough to portray our beautiful images on your advertisements? If it is a multi-cultural issue, surely you could use her co-stars on some ads and Quvenzhané Wallis or another African American girl on others. … These grossly misleading ads are adding to the divide and does not give young African American girls aspiring to become actors anything to be optimistic about. Or show more diversity within your stores and depict a variety of races as you did with your online ads. Everyone does not have access to internet- plus the younger fans may not be allowed to use internet.”
Since she posted the petition on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 28, it’s been gaining steam. As of this article’s writing, it has more than 4,200 signatures, with a goal of 5,000.
STORY: ‘Dear Santa’ Ad Stirs Controversy
This isn’t the first time Target has come under fire for issues of toys and race. Earlier this month controversy arose when a dad noticed that black Barbies were selling for twice as much as a white Barbie.
“Target is notorious for whitewashing their ads,” Rinique says. “All I want Target to do is make the ads a little more multicultural. I’m not saying take the ads down, I’m saying if you are going to have it, have another one who looks more like the current Annie. I’m pretty sure it’s in Target’s budget to make two signs.” |
A question I always ask myself about any pop culture phenom — musical artist, television star, fashion designer — is: Will my children know who this is? (Not that I have or am actively thinking of having children; but you catch my next-generation drift.) Drake: Yes. Big Sean: No. Jon Hamm: Probably. Alexander Wang: I think so. Public School: Hmm.
Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
The New York City label has garnered healthy buzz since its inception as a menswear label in 2008. Public School gets "cool," "effortless," and "sporty" laced in to most of its (many) mentions, an attempt to summarize not just the clothes designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne put out, but the brand's ethos. Chow and Osborne themselves are part of Public School; their upbringing in New York City is a part of Public School; the brand's appeal outside of fashion, particularly in the realms of music and sports, is a part of Public School. And the fashion industry, particularly the parts touched by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue (which it to say... most of it), is not shy about shouting "Public School!" at every bend.
The brand has turbo-advanced from the CFDA's inaugural Fashion Incubator in 2010 to winning three awards from the industry group by 2014 have collaborated with countless partners, including J.Crew, Nike, and most recently Fitbit; and the designers were plucked by Donna Karan to revive her DKNY label. "It might be said that Public School is the hometown team the fashion world is betting on," declared a 2014 New York Times profile of the brand.
Zooming out from fashion planet, and the stylish industries that orbit near by, I'm not confident the average person knows that Public School is something beyond the type of education they did or did not have. I polled a handful of non-fashion friends, 24 — 34, male and female, coast to coast and in between: "Article research. Do you know what the fashion brand Public School is?"
A.P.C. enthusiast in the heartland: "Not aware of it."
Madewell apologist freelance writer: "No! Should I?"
Purple-haired social media editor: "Lolol barely."
Apple Watch-wearing art dude: "Expensive stuff. Would wear."
Prototypical Brooklyn male: "They’re a fashion brand that people seem to like? Maybe they make like expensive normcore? A friend was talking about sweatshirts from them at some point."
When the brand announced its partnership with activity tracker Fitbit earlier this week, I clamored to tell my colleagues at Racked's sister site The Verge, which covers these kinds of gadgets in depth. "Hed is basically going to be 'Fitbit and Public School Is the Fashion-Tech Partnership That Finally Makes Sense,'" I wrote over Slack to one Verge editor. "Who is the designer?" she typed back. Upon e-mailing a larger group with the news, another editor responded "Is Public School a brand?"
Photo: Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
So the fashion industry is wetting its pants over this label, but it hasn't reached mass consciousness. Public School shows no signs of slowing down, adding collaborations and setting itself up for further growth. Find here what is essentially the unauthorized Dummy's Guide to Public School (not that we think you're a dummy), breaking down the brand's DNA, chronicling the rise, and contemplating its future.
The Ingredients
Designers: Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, the later always in dark-lensed prescription glasses, both very public faces of the brand. Here is some party coverage of Chow celebrating the Chinese New Year with his wife and "closest friends," like red-headed snowboarder Shaun White and former Marc Jacobs designer Richard Chai (sponsored by Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège).
New York City: Chow grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens, while Osborne was raised in Kensington, Brooklyn. Both did indeed attend NYC public schools. Public School, the label, is designed and produced in Manhattan's Garment District.
Streetwear: Chow and Osborne, who are separated by eight years, intersected at Sean Jean in 2001. Chow was VP of marketing at the time, following gigs at Mecca, Ecko, and the now defunct hip hop mag Blaze. Osborne came in as an intern, and was ultimately hired as a designer. "Luxury designers like Riccardo Tisci can say most of their inspiration comes from the street," Chow told the Times. "We started from a street base, but our influences are higher fashion."
Sports: The two are avid sports fans, particularly of basketball, particularly of the Knicks. New York Giants's wide receiver Victor Cruz was Public School's date to the 2014 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund dinner; his teammate Odell Beckham Jr. was dressed in the label for the 2015 edition of the event.
The Timeline
The Future
Fall 2016.Photo: Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Public School has asserted itself in the fashion industry, clear favorites of the CFDA and Vogue, but also popular with the streetwear set (I dare you to comb the Public School archives on Complex or Hypebeast). In order to reach a wider audience, the brand has tentacles through collaboration channels with far-reaching brands like Nike, J.Crew, and now Fitbit.
The rise has been fast, particularly in the span of 2013 through 2015, and it seems that Public School will continue to inflate. Is it sustainable? Some of the collaborations its connected itself with seem random, like a check cashed. It would be a sad thing to see the Public School equivalent of Cynthia Rowley for Staples or Isaac Mizrahi at Best Buy.
If this growth spurt was Public School's start, we should be settling into the brand's adolescence soon, which the designers seem to be preparing for. "I think that the perception is the brand is big and no longer this emerging brand and we’ve arrived," Chow told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. "The reality is that we’re a very small business that’s growing." To that end, Public School recently added a very big position to the dozen-member team: its first president. In that role is Anthony Landereau, a former executive at Marc Jacobs International, who joined Public School late last month. He described Public School to the Journal as a $4 million business, saying annual sales have grown 30% a year for the past two years. Among Landereau's objectives, the paper reports, is giving the business structure, setting it up to scale. Initial plans include the addition of lower-priced pieces, like T-shirts and sweatshirts in the $160 to $225 range.
In all of my 'netstalking of Public School archives and interviews, the piece of information that sticks with me — maybe worries me — is from the New York Times's recap of that indoor-outdoor men's show a week back: "More compelling than the clothes was the presentation." |
At the fifth annual Breakthrough Prize ceremony last night, 12 scientists received a total of $25 million in science prizes for fundamental contributions to human knowledge.
The ceremony, held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, featured all the glitz and glam of the Oscars: a red carpet, musical guests such as Alicia Keys and will.i.am, and Morgan Freeman as host.
“This project is really mostly about public outreach,” says billionaire internet investor Yuri Milner, who co-founded the prize. “That’s why we have a televised ceremony and everything around it, because the founders want to send a signal that fundamental science is important.”
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The Breakthrough Prize was founded in 2012 and is financed by Silicon Valley billionaires such as Milner, Google’s Sergey Brin and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
One of the prizes was already announced earlier this year. The physicists behind the LIGO experiment, which revealed the first detection of Einstein’s long-sought gravitational waves in February, will share the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in fundamental physics. Of that, $1 million will be split between three of LIGO’s founders: Ronald Drever and Kip Thorne at the California Institute of Technology, and Rainer Weiss at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The other $2 million will be equally split between 1012 contributors to the experiment.
Another $3 million prize in fundamental physics will be split between three physicists. Joseph Polchinski at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was recognised for his theories of what happens at the event horizons of black holes, and Andrew Strominger and Cumrun Vafa at Harvard University were honoured for contributions to quantum gravity and string theory.
The Breakthrough Prize in mathematics – another $3 million – went to Jean Bourgain at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, for his contributions to analysis, combinatorics, partial differential equations, high-dimensional geometry and number theory.
Awards for life sciences
Five prizes of $3 million each went to researchers in the life sciences. Stephen Elledge at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, received a prize for insights into how cells sense and respond to damage in their DNA, and how that relates to the development and treatment of cancer.
Harry Noller at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was recognised for discovering how central RNA is in the fundamental machinery of protein synthesis in all cells, connecting modern biology to the origin of life and explaining how many natural antibiotics work.
Roeland Nusse at Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute was honoured for pioneering work on the Wnt pathway, which encourages cells to divide and is one of the crucial intercellular signalling systems in developmental, cancer and stem cell biology.
Yoshinori Ohsumi at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan received a prize for his discovery of the mechanisms behind autophagy, a fundamental process in which cells degrade, recycle and repair themselves. Ohsumi also received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
The fifth life-sciences prize went to Huda Yahya Zoghbi at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, for her discoveries related to the genetic causes and biochemical mechanisms of neurodegenerative and neurological diseases, including Rett syndrome and spinocerebellar ataxia.
The final $1 million in prize money will go to six “New Horizons” winners for early-career achievements in physics and maths, and one Breakthrough Junior Prize for a teenager’s original science video.
After five years of pushing for scientists to be treated like celebrities, Milner thinks the project is off to a good start.
“If a few kids in a high school will get inspired by those incredible people, I think this effort is worth pursuing,” he says. “I think it’s really about the priorities of society: where we should put more resources in, and where the smartest people should go. If we can reach even half the audience of the Super Bowl globally, that would be amazing. But that’s a high bar.” |
Jets agree to terms with Ben Chiarot by Staff Writer / Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are pleased to announce they have agreed to terms with restricted free agent defenceman Ben Chiarot on a new two-year contract worth an AAV of $850,000.
Chiarot, 24, played 40 games last season after being recalled from St. John’s on Dec. 3, 2014. Chiarot recorded his first NHL point on Dec. 5, 2014 against Colorado and his first NHL goal on Jan. 3, 2015 against Toronto. He finished the season with two goals and six assists. The Hamilton, ON native spent 16 games on injured reserve with before returning to the lineup for the team’s last four regular season games.
Chiarot was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers in the fourth round, 120th overall at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
Ben Chiarot
Defence
Born May 9, 1991 -- Hamilton, ON
Height 6.03 -- Weight 222 -- Shoots L
View Less |
A heat-not-burn device is being brought to consumers in the United States as a healthier alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes. Rather than burning tobacco, the device heats tobacco to produce an aerosol, similar to the way e-cigarette devices heat liquids to a vapor to be inhaled. Photo by PMI Science
THURSDAY, Oct. 12, 2017 -- A smoking mechanism that mixes the electronics behind e-cigarettes with the tobacco-burning properties of traditional cigarettes is sparking public health worries as it takes direct aim at the American market.
Unlike e-cigarettes, the so called "heat-not-burn" device works by warming up tobacco to about 500 degrees Fahrenheit, producing an inhalable aerosol.
By contrast, e-cigarettes function by heating a nicotine-infused liquid, minus the dangerous smoke that is emitted by tobacco-burning traditional cigarettes.
The heat-not-burn innovation has not been approved for sale in the United States, but an application for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval was filed late last year.
RELATED Switching from smoking to vaping could save millions of lives
Research on the potential health impact of such devices has barely begun.
A new study, though, cautions that in countries where the product is already on the market, like Japan, it has achieved rapid popularity as a smoke-free option for those e-smokers who yearn for the old taste and back-of-throat burning sensation, or "hit," of traditional cigarettes.
"We don't know enough about the health implications of heat-not-burn tobacco products, and that lack of knowledge is extremely dangerous for public health," said Theodore Caputi, the study's lead author. He is a graduate student in public health at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
RELATED Smokers more likely to quit when cigarette prices increase
"We know from experience that the tobacco industry and their allies will not wait for all the facts to begin making health claims," he added.
"We need to first ensure, before heat-not-burn reaches the market, that consumers are aware we don't have all the facts on heat-not-burn products, and then we should begin filling in those knowledge gaps," Caputi said.
He said that "considering the absolutely massive public health implications of tobacco products, generally -- that is, tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death -- picking up a heat-not-burn device before we have all the facts is not a decision consumers should take lightly."
Caputi and his colleagues published their study online Oct. 11 in the journal PLoS One.
To get a handle on the potential popularity of heat-not-burn devices in the American marketplace, the researchers looked at Google search patterns in Japan to gauge shifting interest in the mechanism.
The team found that heat-not-burn Google searches in Japan spiked by more than 1,400 percent in 2015, when the devices were first released in that country, and by nearly 3,000 percent between 2015 and 2017. There are now as many as 7.5 million searches a month in Japan.
That trend reflects an even greater interest than that seen when e-cigarettes were first introduced in the Japanese market, the researchers said.
Study co-author John Ayers is a research professor at the San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health. He said, "Unfortunately, we don't know what the health implications are for heat-not-burn tobacco. Our study simply shows these products are insanely popular in Japan, their only national test market.
"Even if interest in these products is just one-tenth as much in the U.S., it suggests many millions will seek out these products," Ayers added.
According to Caputi, "the available evidence does suggest that heat-not-burn tobacco products -- if they're approved by the FDA -- will be coming to a store near you." Because of that, "we need to combat unfounded claims surrounding the health implications of heat-not-burn tobacco products," he said.
"For example, e-cigarettes are banned from being marketed as safe or even as cessation tools because there is insufficient data to back up those arguments, and yet we know those claims are routinely made and understood," Caputi said. "Public health professionals need to form a strategy to ensure that same problem doesn't happen to heat-not-burn products."
The FDA has more about nicotine and tobacco delivery devices.
Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. |
Uterine prolapse is when the uterus descends towards or through the opening of the vagina.[1] Symptoms may include vaginal fullness, pain with sex, trouble urinating, urinary incontinence, and constipation.[1] Often it gets worse over time.[2] Low back pain and vaginal bleeding may also occur.[3]
Risk factors include pregnancy, childbirth, obesity, constipation, and chronic coughing.[3] Diagnosis is based on examination.[1] It is a form of pelvic organ prolapse, together with bladder prolapse, large bowel prolapse, and small bowel prolapse.[4]
Preventative efforts include managing chronic breathing problems, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight.[3] Mild cases cases may be treated with a pessary together with hormone replacement therapy.[1][3] More severe cases may require surgery such as a vaginal hysterectomy.[1] About 14% of women are affected.[2] It occurs most commonly after menopause.[3][3]
Pathophysiology and causes [ edit ]
The uterus (womb) is normally held in place by a hammock of muscles and ligaments. Prolapse happens when the ligaments supporting the uterus become so weak that the uterus cannot stay in place and slips down from its normal position. These ligaments are the round ligament, uterosacral ligaments, broad ligament and the ovarian ligament. The uterosacral ligaments are by far the most important ligaments in preventing uterine prolapse.
In some cases of uterine prolapse, the uterus can be unsupported enough to extend past the vaginal wall for inches.[5]
The most common cause of uterine prolapse is trauma during childbirth, in particular multiple or difficult births. About 50% of women who have had children develop some form of pelvic organ prolapse in their lifetime.[6] It is more common as women get older, particularly in those who have gone through menopause. This condition is surgically correctable.
Treatment [ edit ]
Treatment is conservative, mechanical or surgical.
Conservative [ edit ]
Conservative options include behavioral modification and muscle strengthening exercises such as Kegel exercise.[7] Pessaries are a mechanical treatment as they elevate and support the uterus.[8][9]
Surgery [ edit ]
Surgical options are many[10] and may include a hysterectomy or a uterus-sparing technique such as laparoscopic hysteropexy,[11] sacrohysteropexy[12][13] or the Manchester operation.[14]
In the case of hysterectomy, the procedure can be accompanied by sacrocolpopexy.[15] This is a mesh-augmented procedure in which the apex of the vagina is attached to the sacrum by a piece of medical mesh material.[16]
A Cochrane review found that sacral colpopexy was associated with lower risk of complications than vaginal interventions, but it was unclear what route of sacral colpopexy should be preferred.[10] No clear conclusion could be reached regarding uterine preserving surgery versus vaginal hysterectomy for uterine prolapse. The evidence does not support use of transvaginal mesh compared to native tissue repair for apical vaginal prolapse. The use of a transvaginal mesh is associated with side effects including pain, infection, and organ perforation. According to the FDA, serious complications are "not rare".
Society and culture [ edit ]
A number of class action lawsuits have been filed and settled against several manufacturers of TVM devices. |
Post: #20 RE: Next up in the world of divorce rape - John Cena
(05-13-2012 06:26 AM) Kitsune Wrote: (05-11-2012 12:54 PM) oldnemesis Wrote: (05-11-2012 11:09 AM) Kid Strangelove Wrote: WWE star John Cena has just filed for divorce from his wife of 3 years. He is reportedly worth about 19 million and his ex wife just hired the same lawyer that leaned out Hulk Hogan of 70% of his assets during his divorce rape.
Before at least it was called "divorce rape" when the wife actually got something (typically via the settlement, but for Roissy types it is the same).
Now it is "divorce rape" already even though there is no settlement or court order - just because she already hired a lawyer.
Well, manosphere turned Jezebel quite some time ago...
Good job, glad someone pointed this out.
Yeah, because women do not have enough people supporting them and ensuring that their message gets out in the open. We men should therefore go out of our way to ensure there's a "fair debate."
Yeah, because women do not have enough people supporting them and ensuring that their message gets out in the open. We men should therefore go out of our way to ensure there's a "fair debate." |
Yuvraj Ghimire: 'If they don't want to respect human rights, they should not hold these events'
Relatives of the two British human rights researchers who are believed to have been detained in Qatar have questioned the right of the Gulf emirate to host the 2022 World Cup.
"If Qatar wants to organise the World Cup, it should respect the human rights of people. If they don't want to respect human rights, they should not hold these events," said Yuvraj Ghimire, the younger brother of one of the men, Krishna Upadhyaya.
"In my opinion they have been detained because they were working for the rights of labourers in Qatar. We have seen the situation of the people who work there; almost every day a Nepali dies. The Qatar government does not want this disclosed."
Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev went missing on Sunday 31 August as they prepared to leave their hotel in Doha and fly home, but they never boarded the plane. The men, who are British citizens of Nepalese extraction, were visiting Qatar to investigate the treatment of Nepalese migrant workers.
Shyam Ghimire, the older brother of Gundev, added: "In my personal view, if the Qatari authorities act like this, they don't have the right to organise the World Cup. We strongly oppose this. It's a very difficult time for us. We demand the Qatari authorities release them as soon as possible, without any conditions."
However, almost six days after the two men went missing, the Qatari government has still not made a public statement about their whereabouts. The Qatar embassy in London has yet to respond to requests for information. The Global Network for Rights and Development, a human rights organisation based in Norway which employs the men, has said they have received a "very polite and diplomatic" response from Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking for more details to "help get back your communication with them."
Evgenia Kondrakhina, chief executive of GNRD said: "We stated that Qatar holds responsibility over the safety of both disappeared persons and request them to take immediate actions and disclose all information on [their] whereabouts… we continue our active position to reach all concerned authorities requesting for urgent actions."
GNRD's call for a prompt response from Qatar has been echoed by Amnesty International. "The Qatari authorities must urgently reveal the fate and whereabouts of these two men and dispel the growing fears that they are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment," said Said Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.
Qatar's human rights record has come under increasing scrutiny as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup, following a Guardian report last year that revealed widespread death and maltreatment of migrant workers helping ready the country for the tournament. According to Qatar's own figures, 882 migrant workers from India and Nepal died in the country in 2012 and 2013.
Dorje Gurung, a Nepalese teacher in Qatar, who was imprisoned for 12 days in May 2013, after a 12-year-old student accused him of insulting Islam, believes the men are likely to be held without any form of information or support.
"If their situation's like mine… I had no clue what was going on. It was unnerving. They don't tell you anything. Nothing," said Gurung. "I was not given any information or support. No witnesses, lawyers or representation, and not even a translator when I went before a judge. I have very little faith in Qatar's justice system."
However, Qatar's record on detention is considered to be better than some other countries in the region.
The Foreign Office said, "We are aware of two British nationals who have been detained by the Qatari authorities. We have requested urgent consular access." |
If you followed my recent series about CSS3 transitions, you’ll understand that they’re an animated effect between a start and end state which is fired by a trigger such as a CSS :hover or JavaScript event.
In this series we’ll look at CSS3 animations. They share many of the same concepts as transitions, but are far more flexible — if a little more difficult to use.
This is the first in a four-part series about CSS3 animations but each article can be read individually or out of sequence. Our initial question…
How are Animations Different to Transitions?
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There are a number of critical differences:
Like transitions, an animation can define a start and end state but it can also specify any number of intermediary states to create more sophisticated effects An animation can be triggered like a transition, but it can also run without being triggered, e.g. immediately after page load While a transition will only react when a trigger is activated or deactivated, an animation can loop a finite or infinite number of times An animation loop can play forward, in reverse or alternate between the two. Animation CSS is more verbose and difficult to write … but it’s indisputably simpler than comparable JavaScript code.
There are those who argue that animations should be handled by JavaScript because they’re behavioral. They’re not. The browser is only tweening frames between states; it’s generating the missing animation frames so you don’t need to. If you want to add complex interactivity or collision control you’ll still need JavaScript.
The benefits for CSS3 animations are the same as transitions: they’re easy to create and fast complex effects are handled by the browser — not your code.
How do You Define an Animation?
An animation is defined using:
Keyframes
“Keyframes” is a term you may have heard in relation to video editing. A single keyframe defines a point during the animation where a known state is specified, e.g.
at 0% complete, the background color is blue
at 50% complete, the background color is green
at 100% complete, the background color is red
You don’t care about all the colors between blue and green or green and red; the browser will determine them.
A set of keyframes is given a name so it can be reused on any number of elements.
Animation Properties
The keyframes are applied to elements using a number of properties which define the name, duration, timing functions and repeating options.
What CSS Properties Can be Animated?
Like CSS3 transitions, you can only animate CSS properties with discrete values which change between keyframes. This includes layout properties (width, height, padding, margins, borders), positional properties (left, right, top, bottom), transformations, font sizes, colors, background colors and opacities.
Properties which use a keyword value such as display: none; , visibility: hidden; or height: auto; cannot be animated. Refer to CSS3 Transition Property Basics for a more detailed explanation and some workarounds.
Cross-Browser Animation Support
CSS3 animations are supported in Firefox, IE10 and Opera 12 without a prefix. At the time of writing, the Webkit browsers including Chrome, Safari and Opera 15+ require the -webkit- prefix on all keyframe and property definitions. IE9 and below do not support animations.
That’s not quite the whole story — open this link in a range of browsers:
View the CSS3 demonstration page…
Firefox, IE10 and Opera 12 work perfectly. Chrome and Opera 15 fail to change the border-radius and background colors. In my experience:
Firefox is normally the best-behaved browser and implements animations as you expect.
IE10 is generally good but sometimes fails to show certain minor effects such as box-shadows.
Opera 12 applies most effects well, but often gets timings wrong.
The webkit browsers are quirky (and require a prefix which doubles the quantity of code you need). In this example, the webkit gives up on some CSS properties because there’s a rotation transform. It’s a lesson for any developer who thinks webkit is perfect and should be the only browser engine!
Fortunately, the differences rarely matter. If CSS3 animation fails in some respect, the start and end states should eventually be reached. At worst, no animation will occur — but they should never be critical for content display.
In the next part we’ll define keyframes and the animation properties. |
Oh hey! It’s time to take a look at the first day of the 2016 Tokyo Game Show.
Today was the first business day, hence the small crowds. When the public days start, expect huge masses of people.
Honestly, this year was an off one. A really off one. Some of the biggest companies were trying to get games out the door that should’ve been released on the PlayStation 3. That, perhaps, meant less brand new stuff.
What was fascinating, however, was to see how VR appears to have a strong foothold in Japan. It’s too early to see whether VR in Japan will go mainstream, but there is already a great deal of creativity among the big companies like Sony, as well as smaller and indie studios.
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A razor wire fence monitored 24 hours a day by armed guards has been extended by the Bulgarian government to completely seal off its border with Turkey.
The 15 feet high and five feet wide fence is, according to the authorities, to stop migrants from crossing into the country. A recent report in The Times suggested that more than 11,000 people, mainly from Syria attempted to illegally cross into Bulgaria from Turkey in 2013.
This is the fence Hungary is building on its border w Serbia in attempt to stop flow of refugees/migrants into Europe pic.twitter.com/wb7RmQBUcW — Kristen Chick (@kristenchick) July 30, 2015
And according to Bulgarian border Chief Ivan Stoyanov, the fence complete with infra-red motion sensitive cameras has prevented more than 500 migrants from crossing the border in recent months, forcing them to re-route.
But it’s not just Bulgaria building walls within the European Union — Hungary has passed a law allowing a metal fence, dubbed a new ‘iron curtain’ to be built on its border with Serbia to stop the influx of migrants arriving into the country through a different route.
© AP Photo / Edvard Molnar Hungarian Soldiers Start Work on Anti-Immigrant Fence on Border with Serbia
The Western Balkan route isn’t as infamous in the European press as perhaps the Mediterranean Sea route. Nevertheless, it has become the most popular path for migrants desperate to travel to the European Union.
People travel from Turkey to Greece by sea, then overland across Macedonia to Serbia and into Hungary. But the Hungarian wall has caused outrage in Serbia with the country’s prime minister expressing shock and outrage at the fence keeping out the migrants. Aleksandar Vucic told reporters:
"Building walls is not the solution. Serbia can’t be responsible for the situation created by the migrants, we are just a transit country. Is Serbia responsible for crisis in Syria?"
According to the Hungarian government, around 54,000 migrants entered the country from Serbia in 2015 – compared to 43,000 in 2014 – and conditions are deteriorating. A recent report by Amnesty International said migrants, refugees and asylum seekers have reported being pushed, slapped, kicked and beaten by Serbian police near the border with Hungary.
The report, 'Europe’s borderlands: Violations against migrants and refugees in Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary' finds that more and more migrants are being left stranded in legal limbo across the Balkans.
"The situation is exacerbated by push-backs or deportations at every border," the report says.
Research carried out between July 2014 and March 2015 found that the number of people apprehended crossing the Serbia-Hungary border has risen by more than 2,500% since 2010 — from 2,370 people to 60,602.
© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti No 'Milk and Honey' Here - UK Talk on Immigration Leaves a Sour Taste
Freedom of movement in the EU is enshrined in the EU treaties, yet member states are closing their borders and shunning the core principle of its membership within the EU.
And it’s not just a razor wire fence on the Bulgarian border and a metal wall built in Hungary barricading EU countries, Denmark’s right wing Danish People’s party is demanding the re-erection of border controls and France and Austria recently shut their borders with Italy – refusing entry to hundreds of migrants.
Britain’s response to the migrant crisis in Calais is to send more reinforcement fencing and sniffer dogs to help deal with the numbers of migrants trying to enter the UK through the Channel Tunnel.
The action by many countries to build walls and borders has been condemned by charity Medecins Sans Frontieres. Migration adviser Aurelie Ponthieu recently said: "The deteriorating situation is not due to unmanageable numbers of migrants and refugees. It is a direct result of chronic shortcomings in the EU’s policies in handling new arrivals."
"Member states spend their time talking about closing borders, building fences and issuing threatening ultimatum to each other."
Members of the European Parliament are yet to agree on a quota system to cope with the numbers of asylum seekers arriving by boat on the Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile inland, EU countries continue to block their borders to migrants. |
Washington (CNN) US President Donald Trump says China has turned a fleet of coal-carrying cargo ships back to North Korea this week, describing it as a "big step" towards cracking down on the rogue state.
Almost all coal shipments to the Chinese city of Dandong, on the North Korean border, since February have been turned back, a source with knowledge of North Korean government operations in Dandong told CNN.
The ban followed strict, new sanctions imposed in November by the United Nations on North Korean coal exports, which China helped to draft and pass
Coal accounted for a third of all official North Korean exports in 2015, making up a large part of its income. China is by far North Korea's largest trading partner.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said turning back coal ships from North Korea was part of China "strictly carrying out our international obligations."
"This also isn't something new -- it's been our consistent policy," he said.
At a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump praised the move. "We have a very big problem in North Korea. And, as I said, I really think that China is going to try very hard, and has already started," Trump said.
"A lot of the coal boats have already been turned back -- you saw that yesterday and today -- they've been turned back," he said. "The vast amount of coal that comes out of North Korea going to China, they've turned back the boats. That's a big step, and they have many other steps that I know about."
Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort last week. The two then spoke on what the White House called a "very productive" phone call Tuesday night.
China 'proving it follows sanctions'
The new measures are designed to appease international critics who have argued China doesn't enforce UN sanctions against North Korea, CNN Beijing Correspondent Matt Rivers said.
"(It) gives them a clear rebuttal to the Trump administration's argument that China isn't doing its part," he said. "That could lead to greater leverage in future negotiations on other issues like trade."
But although China has shown some willingness to follow the US line, they would never push sanctions far enough to collapse Kim Jong Un's regime.
"It fears a united Korea under South Korean leadership, which could lead to US troops on China's border. A collapse could also lead to a refugee crisis," Rivers said.
Trump also signaled a willingness for the US to play a more confrontational role with North Korea, adding: "So we'll see what happens. It may be effective, it may not be effective. If it's not effective, we will be effective, I can promise you that."
Reuters, which first reported that the North Korean ships had turned back to their home port of Nampo, citing its Thomson Reuters Eikon financial information and analytics platform, also reported that China is increasing coal orders from the United States.
No US coal was shipped to China between late 2014 and 2016, but 400,000 tons had been shipped there from the United States by late February, Reuters reported.
At Wednesday's news conference, Trump said Xi "wants to do the right thing."
"We had a very good bonding. I think we had a very good chemistry together. I think he wants to help us with North Korea," Trump said.
He also said the United States is willing to strike a trade deal with friendlier conditions for China if the country plays a role in deterring North Korea's nuclear program.
"I said, 'The way you're going to make a good trade deal is to help us with North Korea. Otherwise we're just going to go it alone,'" Trump said. "That'll be all right too -- but going it alone means going with lots of other nations."
Pyongyang fury
North Korea reacted furiously to China's February ban, saying they were "dancing to the tune of the US" and describing the cutting of imports as "inhumane."
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Chinese Customs spokesman Huang Songping confirmed that China stopped all North Korean coal imports after February 18.
Huang said that from January 1 until that cut-off date, China had imported 2.67 million tons of coal from North Korea, 51.6% less than the same quarter in 2016.
But despite the drop off in coal, the value of North Korea imports to China rose 18.4% in the first three months of 2017 compared to a year earlier.
He didn't provide a breakdown of trade, leaving it unclear how the gap was made up. |
Law enforcement officials, technology companies and lawmakers have long tried to limit what they call the "radicalization" of young people over the internet.
The term has often been used to describe a specific kind of radicalization — that of young Muslim men who are inspired to take violent action by the online messages of Islamist groups like the Islamic State. But as it turns out, it isn't just violent jihadists who benefit from the internet's power to radicalize young people from afar.
White supremacists are just as adept at it. Where the pre-internet Ku Klux Klan grew primarily from personal connections and word of mouth, today's white supremacist groups have figured out a way to expertly use the internet to recruit and coordinate among a huge pool of potential racists. That became clear two weeks ago with the riots in Charlottesville, Va., which became a kind of watershed event for internet-addled racists.
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"It was very important for them to coordinate and become visible in public space," said Joan Donovan, a scholar of media manipulation and right-wing extremism at Data & Society, an online research institute. "This was an attempt to say, 'Let's come out; let's meet each other. Let's build camaraderie, and let's show people who we are.'"
Ms. Donovan and others who study how the internet shapes extremism said that even though Islamists and white nationalists have different views and motivations, there are broad similarities in how the two operate online — including how they spread their message, recruit and organize offline actions. The similarities suggest a kind of blueprint for a response — efforts that may work for limiting the reach of jihadists may also work for white supremacists, and vice versa.
In fact, that's the battle plan. Several research groups in the United States and Europe now see the white supremacist and jihadi threats as two faces of the same coin. They're working on methods to fight both, together — and slowly, they have come up with ideas for limiting how these groups recruit new members to their cause.
Their ideas are grounded in a few truths about how extremist groups operate online, and how potential recruits respond. After speaking to many researchers, I compiled this rough guide for combating online radicalization.
Recognize the internet as an extremist breeding ground.
The first step in combating online extremism is kind of obvious: It is to recognize the extremists as a threat.
For the Islamic State, that began to happen in the last few years. After a string of attacks in Europe and the United States by people who had been indoctrinated in the swamp of online extremism, politicians demanded action. In response, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other online giants began identifying extremist content and systematically removing it from their services, and have since escalated their efforts.
When it comes to fighting white supremacists, though, much of the tech industry has long been on the sidelines. This laxity has helped create a monster. In many ways, researchers said, white supremacists are even more sophisticated than jihadists in their use of the internet.
The earliest white nationalist sites date back to the founding era of the web. For instance, Stormfront.org, a pioneering hate site, was started as a bulletin board in 1990. White supremacist groups have also been proficient at spreading their messages using the memes, language and style that pervade internet subcultures. Beyond setting up sites of their own, they have more recently managed to spread their ideology to online groups that were once largely apolitical, like gaming and sci-fi groups.
And they've grown huge. "The white nationalist scene online in America is phenomenally larger than the jihadists' audience, which tends to operate under the radar," said Vidhya Ramalingam, the co-founder of Moonshot CVE, a London-based start-up that works with internet companies to combat violent extremism. "It's just a stunning difference between the audience size."
After the horror of Charlottesville, internet companies began banning and blocking content posted by right-wing extremist groups. So far their efforts have been hasty and reactive, but Ms. Ramalingam sees it as at the start of a wider effort.
"It's really an unprecedented moment where social media and tech companies are recognizing that their platforms have become spaces where these groups can grow, and have been often unpoliced," she said. "They're really kind of waking up to this and taking some action."
Engage directly with potential recruits.
If tech companies are finally taking action to prevent radicalization, is it the right kind of action? Extremism researchers said that blocking certain content may work to temporarily disrupt groups, but may eventually drive them further underground, far from the reach of potential saviors.
A more lasting plan involves directly intervening in the process of radicalization. Consider The Redirect Method, an anti-extremism project created by Jigsaw, a think tank founded by Google. The plan began with intensive field research. After interviews with many former jihadists, white supremacists and other violent extremists, Jigsaw discovered several important personality traits that may abet radicalization.
One factor is a skepticism of mainstream media. Whether on the far right or ISIS, people who are susceptible to extremist ideologies tend to dismiss outlets like The New York Times or the BBC, and they often go in search of alternative theories online.
Another key issue is timing. There's a brief window between initial interest in an extremist ideology and a decision to join the cause — and after recruits make that decision, they are often beyond the reach of outsiders. For instance, Jigsaw found that when jihadists began planning their trips to Syria to join ISIS, they had fallen too far down the rabbit hole and dismissed any new information presented to them.
Jigsaw put these findings to use in an innovative way. It curated a series of videos showing what life is truly like under the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The videos, which weren't filmed by news outlets, offered a credible counterpoint to the fantasies peddled by the group — they show people queuing up for bread, fighters brutally punishing civilians, and women and children being mistreated. |
Northrop Grumman wants to send a plane to Venus. But it has to give the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform some wings on Earth first: Northrop is hoping to win the New Frontiers competition next year and land $1 billion of that sweet, sweet NASA money.
New Frontiers is a program designed to sponsor medium-sized space missions. That is probes that are bigger than Discovery missions like the Dawn spacecraft currently visiting the dwarf planet Ceres, but smaller than flagship missions like Cassini, the spacecraft that beams back all those beautiful pictures of Saturn and its moons. The New Horizons spacecraft that's closing in on an encounter with Pluto came out of the New Frontiers program.
The Grumman plane would be an inflatable propellor plane that looks like it came right out of 1940s sci-fi pulp. From an altitude of 31 miles above the surface of Venus, it would study the atmosphere and observe the hellish surface.
The technology is largely derived from Rapid Eye, a DARPA-funded plane that was cancelled in 2010. But the plane must be retrofitted to Venus' hot, sulphuric atmosphere – a tall order considering that, to work, it also has to be built of lightweight composites and be ready to launch by 2021.
NASA will decide on the next New Frontiers mission next year. Northrop's Venus plane will run up against stiff competition including probes to Saturn, Jupiter's moon Io, and other Venus missions, including a lander.
Northrop Grumman
Source: SpaceNews |
It would appear that the California Labor Commission has ruled that at least one Uber driver is an employee.
As it stands now, Uber employs its drivers as third-party contractors, operating as a logistics company that provides access to customer demand and directions, transactions, etc. for the drivers. Uber has argued repeatedly in various courts that it is not a transportation or taxi company, but rather a software platform that matches customer demand with supply.
This ruling changes all that, turning Uber into a transportation startup instead of a logistics software company. That puts the company in a position to face a number of legal obstacles, as well as rising costs of employing those drivers directly and offering them benefits, etc.
As BI points out, one of Uber’s main costs is its full-time employees that work out of Uber corporate offices. If Uber drivers are deemed employees, the business model shifts drastically.
Uber is said to have more than a million drivers using the platform across the globe.
Uber driver Barbara Ann Berwick filed a claim earlier in the year for not being paid out for her work. Through the course of that lawsuit, the California Labor Commission decided that Uber is far more than a logistics software company that matches supply with demand.
“Defendants are involved in every aspect of the operation,” reads the ruling, noting that Uber controls the tools drivers use and the transactions made through the app.
Here’s the most important part of the #Uber vs. California Labor Commission case: http://t.co/sRequNxJMQ pic.twitter.com/fwSzY0jNXb — Polly Mosendz (@polly) June 17, 2015
Not surprisingly, Uber is appealing the decision.
Here’s the order from the Labor Commission:
Uber v. Berwick
We’ve reached out to Uber and will update the second we hear more.
Uber has reached out with the following statement, which we are looking into further: |
AP Images Baltimore Ravens guard John Urschel has one of the most unusual stories in the NFL.
He earned a bachelor's degree from Penn State in three years and spent his senior year getting his master's degree in mathematics while teaching integral vector calculus trigonometry during the fall semester.
He has been published in the Journal of Computation Mathematics and wants to pursue a doctorate when his playing career is over.
He's one of the smartest players in the NFL. He's also one of the most frugal.
According to a profile by Childs Walker of the Baltimore Sun, he lives on $25,000 a year and had a roommate last year to keep his expenses down. Urschel made $564,000 in salary and bonuses as a rookie in 2014 after getting picked in the fifth round of the NFL Draft.
While his rookie deal is worth $2.3 million through 2017, only the $144,000 signing bonus was guaranteed. If he gets cut, the Ravens don't owe him a penny, so it appears he has decided to spend wisely.
Hence his car: a used 2013 Nissan Versa.
At the opening of Ravens training camp, Urschel tweeted a great photo of his ride compared to those of his fellow NFL players:
The luxuriousness of the cars aside, the sheer size difference is jarring. Urschel is a 6-foot-3, 308-pound man — what's he doing in a compact car?
ESPN Ravens beat writer Jamison Hensley got to the bottom of it. Urschel told him that the Versa — which he bought used for $9,000 — is his "dream car" and that it's plenty spacious.
His full explanation for why he drives it:
"It's great on gas. It's surprisingly spacious. And you know what the best feeling is? You're driving into a parking deck, it's near full and you're on the first level and there is that space that everyone has passed because they said, 'No, we can't park in there.' And I take my Versa and I just go right in there. I'm on the first level, parking lot full and everyone else is parking on the upper deck where the car is getting hot. I'm not even taking the stairs."
Hard to argue with that. |
Now, our auto industry is once again a source of economic strength, with more and more of the world’s top-of-the-line, fuel-efficient vehicles being made by American workers in American factories. In fact, the number of cars coming off our assembly lines just reached its highest level in 12 years. […] [T]he number of vehicles built on American assembly lines since 2000 rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 13.2 million vehicles in July. The increase in auto production mirrors the growing strength of America’s manufacturing sector, which has added more than 700,000 jobs since early 2010.
The White House, which produced the above chart, has plenty of reasons to be happy. The first and most obvious, of course, is that a stronger U.S. auto industry is necessarily good news for the domestic economy.
But there’s also the matter of who was right in 2009 and who wasn’t. President Obama took a big risk launching his rescue policy during the economic crisis. It wasn’t a popular idea, and though it looks like a no-brainer with the benefit of hindsight, there was no guarantee the plan would work.
In July 2010, NBC News’ First Read said, “As the GM bailout goes, so goes the Obama presidency.” More than four years later, the White House probably thinks that sounds pretty good.
And then there are the policy’s critics, whose condemnations don’t hold up nearly as well.
As we discussed a while back, among Republicans in 2009, failure was a foregone conclusion – government intervention in the marketplace always fails, they said, and Obama big-government solution to the auto industry’s crisis simply couldn’t work.
Consider the predictions made at the time, as pulled together by ThinkProgress. |
Thanks to you, hero, the Prime Evil has been vanquished and the Lords of Hell locked away within the Black Soulstone. You've saved countless lives on your adventures through the High Heavens and back, but your journey isn’t over. A terrible evil rises to threaten Sanctuary again—thankfully, another skilled Artisan has emerged to aid you.
(Re)Introducing, The Mystic:
In Reaper of Souls, you'll have the opportunity to join forces with a new and powerful ally: Myriam Jahzia, the Mystic.
Myriam Jahzia is a wise woman who will offer you sage advice during the turbulent times ahead. She and her clan are nomads known as the Vecin—a spiritual people, blessed with magical visions. They hail from a matrilineal society who worship a powerful deity known as the Allmother. The Vecin believe that the Allmother is the source of their visions, and that it is because of her that all Vecin possess a sixth sense they call the Sight. While the Sight always manifests more strongly in Vecin women, it's especially strong in Myriam.
Although she is quite a resourceful individual, Myriam proves no match for Malthael's forces and is trapped by their relentless advance. You will have the chance to save Myriam while adventuring in the city of Westmarch, and shortly after encountering her, she will offer her Artisan services to you, regardless of your level.
These early concepts showcase the progression of the Mystic's Cart.
Like your companions Haedrig Eamon the Blacksmith and Covetous Shen the Jeweler, Myriam the Mystic is a skilled Artisan, capable of altering the very nature of even the most elaborate armor and weapons. Over the years, Myriam has learned to harness her craft, and as thanks for rescuing her from Malthael’s vicious constructs, she offers two unique services to aid you on your mission: one that strengthens and enhances your items (Enchanting), and one that allows you to further customize your appearance (Transmogrification).
Enchanting:
Have you ever looted an item whose stats were almost perfect, but one property just wasn't quite what you had hoped for? Or perhaps you found an item you love, but are starting to outgrow its power? With Enchanting, you will be able to reroll one property on a Rare or Legendary item simply by speaking to Myriam, opening up her Enchant menu, and then paying a material cost. It's that easy!
While not all properties can be rerolled, most can, and you'll be able to reroll a single property over and over again, as many times as you like. This allows Enchanting to feel meaningful, while still allowing lots of room for you to hunt for even better base items (which, of course, you can then Enchant into even more powerful items, and so on).
How Enchanting Works:
Enchanting an item is simple:
1.) Talk to Myriam and select her "Enchant" Menu.
2.) From there, place an item onto the Enchanting window. A list of properties will appear under your item. You can choose to reroll any one of these properties, and you can find out what resulting properties you have the possibility to obtain by clicking on the question mark to the right of each property.
3.) Once you've decided what property you want to reroll, simply gather the required crafting materials and the necessary gold, select the property you wish to reroll, and then hit "Replace Property" to lock in your choice.
4.) Select your replacement property from the list of available choices. You can view the possible replacement properties to the right on the advanced Enchanting window.
5.) After you've Enchanted an item, you will have the option of replacing its previously Enchanted property with a new property for an additional gold and crafting material cost.
Further Enchanting Details:
Since the resulting property you receive during Enchanting will be random, it's possible that the new properties you're provided may end up being less desirable to you than the one you are replacing. But fear not! In order to mitigate this type of buyer's remorse, Myriam will also offer the previous property in the list of options when using Enchanting. So if you don't like the new property that Enchanting offered you, you can always choose to keep the old one.
Keep in mind that when choosing which property you wish to reroll, you will only be able to reroll that one property from then on out. After a single property has been changed via Enchanting, all other properties will become "locked in" and cannot be rerolled. Also, once you Enchant an item, it will become bound to your account and can no longer be traded to other players.
Transmogrification:
As you travel through Sanctuary on your quest to vanquish Malthael and his minions, you're sure to encounter a wide array of new and familiar armor and fearsome weapons. While you will still want to carefully check and compare stats on these items to make sure your hero is as powerful as can be, thanks to Myriam, you will also be able to access a new feature in Reaper of Souls called Transmogrification, which will allow you to change and customize the appearance of your hero’s items without having to sacrifice any of their power!
How Transmogrification Works:
All items with a visual appearance are currently planned to be eligible for Transmogrification, including Legendary and Set items. In order to use a specific visual appearance, you’ll first need to unlock it; once unlocked, however, that appearance will be available to all heroes on your account. Common, Magic, and Rare item appearances will unlock as you level up the Mystic, while Legendary and Set item appearances will unlock only after you’ve identified them.
Transmogrifying an item is easy:
1.) Talk to Myriam and select her "Transmogrify" Menu.
2.) From there, place an item onto the Transmogrification window.
3.) A list of new visual options will appear under your item. You can select any of these appearance options and check out their look on your character in the Preview panel on the right.
4.) Once you've decided what item look you like, simply gather the necessary gold, select the new item look you crave, and then hit "Transmogrify" to lock in your choice.
5.) Adventure on, in style!
Additional Details:
There are a few restrictions to keep in mind whenever Transmogrifying an item:
Item appearances you collect in Normal mode will be separate from the unique item appearances you collect in Hardcore mode.
While all items with a visual appearance are eligible for Transmogrification, the item appearance you want to use has to have the same underlying animation set as the item you want to Transmogrify. (For example: You could replace the appearance of one two-handed sword with another two-handed sword, or a one-handed sword with a one-handed axe or one-handed mace.)
As you acquire new items you're eager to Transmogrify, you'll need to return to the Mystic again in order to have her work her magic on your armor and weapons. This is because Transmogrification affects an individual item, not the item slot.
You can dye Transmogrified items; however, if you Transmogrify an equipped item that’s dyed, that dye will be overridden with the current color of the item appearance you’ve selected.
Legacy items (items that drop before the expansion or pre-expansion patch goes live) will not unlock unique item appearance, but they can be Transmogrified.
As with Enchanting, Transmogrifying an item will also bind it to your account, so it pays to plan ahead.
Rolling the Cart Forward:
Myriam the Mystic will be a powerful ally on your journey through Westmarch and beyond. Whether you’re looking to improve a property on an existing item or eager to show off a unique outfit you’ve created, her Artisan services will help you get some extra mileage out of your arsenal and exotic wardrobe.
These images showcase the progression of the Mystic's Cart in-game,
from Artisan level 1 all the way through the esteemed Artisan level 10!
While there is sure to be a plethora of new weapons, exquisite armor, and other trinkets to discover in Reaper of Souls, what item looks are you eager to collect for Transmogrification purposes after Reaper of Souls launches? Do you have any current items you're looking forward to Enchanting? Let us know in the comments below! |
Deloitte Accepts Bitcoin at its Restaurant Due to 'A Lot of Requests'
Deloitte Canada announced this week that its Toronto office’s internal restaurant called Bistro 1858 now accepts bitcoin. Bitcoin.com talked to Iliana Oris Valiente, Strategy and Execution Lead and co-founder at Rubix by Deloitte, to find out the reason behind this decision and how much interest in Bitcoin the firm is seeing.
Also read: How to Start Your Own Bitcoin ATM Business
Most Visible Private Restaurant
Bistro 1858 is a private restaurant exclusively for Deloitte employees and their guests. There is a security guard at the entrance of the restaurant that will turn everyone else away, wrote the Toronto Star.
Unlike most private restaurants that are tucked away from public view, this restaurant is in, what the paper calls, “a most public place” in Toronto. It is located in the Bay Adelaide Center, in the city’s financial district. Its all-glass walls make the dining area visible to anyone passing by. The tower is located at the northwest corner of Yonge and Adelaide Street.
“Bistro 1858 has a seating capacity of 75 with take-out options”, Valiente described to Bitcoin.com. “Breakfast and lunch ranges from approximately $3 to $12 for snacks and meals”, she said, adding that:
Hundreds of Deloitte practitioners purchase their meals from Bistro 1858 every day.
Deloitte Professionals Excited to Use Bitcoin
The restaurant’s co-operators, Deloitte and Benchmark Hospitality, have selected Bitpay to accept and settle bitcoin payments. Deloitte does not offer its own wallet, Valiente said. “There are many great Bitcoin wallets available out there so we didn’t find it necessary to recreate the wheel and build a new wallet”.
The restaurant does not offer any incentives such as discounts for customers paying with bitcoin. “Our practitioners are encouraged to share the news with their clients and host them at Bistro 1858”, she further conveyed, noting that:
Many Deloitte professionals have shown excitement for the opportunity to start using bitcoin to buy their lunch and breakfast from Bistro 1858. If the usage of the BTM [Bitcoin ATM] machine we installed in the fall is any indication of how many people will start paying with bitcoin, we expect the number of users to grow continuously over the next few months.
Interest in Bitcoin within Deloitte
Last September, Deloitte became the first of the Big 4 consultancy firms to install a Bitcoin ATM. Located in its Toronto office, Deloitte’s BTM is operated by the firm’s blockchain team at Rubix.
Its fees are 4 percent to buy bitcoin and no fee for selling bitcoin, according to data from Coinatmradar. A mobile phone number and an ID are required to use the BTM and there is a daily limit of $100 per person.
“As the most successful large implementation of blockchain technology, Bitcoin is consistently a topic of discussion at Deloitte and with our clients”, Valiente revealed, adding that:
When we installed our BTM in the fall we received a lot of requests from within the firm to bring bitcoin to our Bistro.[…] As the industry shifts and evolves we hope to continue to bring new and valuable initiatives to our firm and our clients.
What do you think of Deloitte’s Bistro accepting bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Deloitte, and the Toronto Star
Why not keep track of the price with one of Bitcoin.com’s widget services . |
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
(CNSNews.com) - With the close of business today, the period in which Congress suspended any legal limit on the federal debt expires and as of tomorrow the limit on the federal debt will be set at whatever the level of debt happens to be.
Since President Barack Obama signed the “Bipartisan Budget Act” on Nov. 2, 2015 there had been no legal limit on the amount of money the federal government could borrow until now. That law included a section entitled “Temporary Extension of Public Debt Limit.” It said that the law imposing a limit on the federal debt “shall not apply for the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on March 15, 2017.”
As of Nov. 2, 2015, the federal debt subject to the legal limit stood at $18,452,108,000,000. As of the close of business on Tuesday, the latest day reported, it stood at $19,865,505,000,000.
That means the federal debt increased by $1,414,397,000,000 during the approximately 16 and a half months that Congress removed any legal limit on it.
“Congress has modified the debt limit 14 times since 2001,” the Congressional Research Service reported in October 2015—a month before Congress modified the debt limit for a 15th time since 2001 by including the language in the Bipartisan Budget Act suspending it.
By suspending the debt limit from Nov. 2, 2015 through March 15, 2017, Congress and President Obama gave the Treasury the authority to borrow an unlimited amount of money from Nov. 2, 2015 until after the 2016 election.
On Oct. 3, 2008, President George W. Bush signed “The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act,” creating the Troubled Asset Relief Program that authorized the Treasury Secretary to purchase up to $700 billion in assets from troubled financial institutions. That law also increased the debt limit from $10,615,000,000,000 to $11,315,000,000,000.
That was the last debt limit increase before the 2008 presidential election.
Since then, borrowing by the federal government has increased the federal debt subject to the legal limit to the current $19,865,505,000,000—which exceeds the October 2008 limit by $8,550,505,000,000.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan last Wednesday reminding him that the suspension of the debt limit would end today.
“As you know,” Mnuchin wrote, “the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 suspended the statutory debt limit through Wednesday, March 15, 2017. Beginning on Thursday, March 16, 2017, the outstanding debt of the United States will be at the statutory limit.
When the debt hits the limit and Congress and the president do not immediately enact new legislation to increase it or suspend it, the Treasury typically engages in what it calls “extraordinary measures” to keep the debt at a constant level just below the debt ceiling.
In 2015, for example, as reported on the Daily Treasury Statements, the Treasury froze the debt at $18,112,975,000,000 for 235 days--from March 13, 2015 until the Bipartisan Budget Act suspended the debt limit on Nov. 2, 2015.
In his March 8 letter to Speaker Ryan, Secretary Mnuchin said that the Treasury would once again begin using “extraordinary measures” on March 15 to avoid the debt limit.
“Today,” Mnuchin wrote, “Treasury is announcing that it will suspend the sale of State and Local Government Series (SLGS) securities. SLGS are special-purpose Treasury securities issued to states and municipalities to assist them in conforming to certain tax rules. These securities count against the debt limit. The suspension of SLGS sales will commence on March 15, 2017, and continue until the debt limit is either raised or suspended. As in the past, it is likely Treasury will utilize additional extraordinary measures.”
Ironically, during the end of the period in which the debt limit was suspended the debt subject to the limit actually trended generally down. It peaked on Dec. 30, 2016 at $19,939,042,000,000. The $19,865,505,000,000 in debt subject to the limit as of the close of business Tuesday was $73,537,000,000 less than that. |
John Huston’s Let There Be Light (1946) was the final installment in a trilogy of wartime documentaries produced for the U.S. Army. He set about following a group of soldiers who had experienced severe battle fatigue and were undergoing treatment in a military psychiatric facility for a wide array of symptoms. Huston’s intent for the film was to show that these “returning psychoneurotics” could be helped by psychiatric treatment; and he intended for the film to be shown to prospective employers in order to educate and reassure that these men were employable and sane. Unfortunately, the film was never seen by contemporary audiences, as it was banned by the same Army who had commissioned it. We have watched these soldiers enter as “human salvage” and struggle to recover and become whole again, and I hope these men ultimately received the fair shake in civilian life they desired.
I invite you to explore the film John Huston considered “the most hopeful and optimistic and even joyous thing I ever had a hand in.”
What you’ll find in this episode: a brief exploration of psychiatry and war, staging the truth versus intellectual dishonesty, and how Pelé got me excited about documentaries.
– Ericca
Links and Recommendations:
Check out Let There Be Light on IMDB.
Ericca’s further viewing pick of Primary.
Cole’s further viewing pick of Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
Let There Be Light: John Huston’s Wartime Documentaries from Olive Films.
Soldier’s Heart: an examination of war veterans in film. |
From surveying sugar cane fields in Hawaii to scanning the bottom of the Arctic Ocean for marine mammals, the use of unmanned aircraft systems — more commonly known as drones — is taking off. And law firms are taking notice.
Banking on the fact that drones will become more mainstream in commercial and private use, two major U.S. law firms announced last week that they are starting drone practice groups — Richmond-based LeClairRyan and Atlanta-based McKenna Long & Aldridge.
LeClairRyan’s drone group, based in Annapolis, is led by Tim Adelman and Doug McQueen, a flight instructor and United Airlines pilot, respectively, in addition to being aviation attorneys. McKenna Long’s practice is headed by Mark Dombroff, a partner in the firm’s McLean office and a former in-house lawyer at the Federal Aviation Administration.
The announcements follow recent indications by the FAA that the agency plans to issue proposed rules regulating small civil unmanned aircraft later this year. In 2013, the FAA authorized the first commercial flight by an unmanned aircraft, a research vessel chartered by ConocoPhillips that was launched over the skies of Alaska to scan the sea floor to survey marine mammals and ice before drilling. The FAA estimates there could be as many as 7,500 small commercial drones in use in the United States by 2018.
“We want to help [companies] shape rulemaking and get a seat at the table, then actually operate in a world they had a hand in creating,” Dombroff said.
There are thousands of companies building drones and trying to market and sell them, but they are running into hurdles because the federal government has yet to create regulations to govern them, Adelman said.
“They’re they’re having a hard time expanding their business,” said Adelman, who has advised drone manufacturers AirCover and Leptron, and has worked with universities and law enforcement agencies on the legal implications of using drones. “But as we see these new rules come out in next year or two, you’ll see an explosion of manufacturers and end users.”
LeClairRyan and McKenna Long are looking to expand their work representing companies that design, manufacture and operate drones in shaping the upcoming FAA regulations, as well as guiding companies through the FAA certification process. The FAA must certify any aircraft, manned or unmanned, that goes into the sky, and anyone who wants to operate a vehicle has to go through an application process.
The drone practice groups at both firms will not bring in new lawyers, but rather include attorneys already at the firms who specialize in aviation, intellectual property, employment, government contracting and general business law.
“We figured putting it all into a package would be helpful,” Adelman said.
While Amazon’s package-delivery octocopter drone may not become a reality for years, there are many uses for drones in agriculture and real estate that could be on the cusp of becoming more commonplace, he said.
“If someone stole my tractor and it’s on a 1,500-acre farm, if you were to get 20 patrolmen to walk all over the farm, it would take all day,” Adelman said. “I could fly a [drone] in half an hour and scan the area quickly.
“If real estate agents wanted to take a picture of a house, they could pay a pilot and it could cost $500, whereas if I had a [drone], it would cost cents.”
Police and sheriffs departments in Queens Anne’s County, Md.; Arlington, Tex.; Mesa County, Colo.; and Miami-Dade County, Fla., have already started experimenting with unmanned aircraft for fire fighting, photography and other uses. Facebook is reportedly in talks to buy Titan Aerospace, a drone production company that is developing solar-powered atmospheric satellites that could bring Web access to parts of the world with limited Internet connections.
“It’s a very exciting frontier,” Dombroff said. |
• Returnees beg FG, IOM to double evacuation efforts
• Spain deports 23 Nigerians
Nigerians still being held in various private prisons in Libya are in excess of 2,000, The Guardian has learnt. These Nigerians, who are mainly within 20 to 35 years of age, who left the country in search of greener pastures overseas, are being held for no crime but for falling into wrong hands in transit.
Some Libyan returnees, who recently came back into the country, recounted their miserable condition in the war-torn north African country, with an appeal to the Federal Government and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to redouble efforts at repatriating the Nigerians from slavery in Libya.
In the last six months, no fewer than 1,545 Nigerians have either been deported or assisted to voluntarily return from various countries, with the largest contingent being from Libya.
Libyan returnees, about 1,200, recounted the hostilities of citizens and officials of their host country towards blacks and the growing spate of evictions of Nigerians and Ghanaians especially. According to IOM, no fewer than 8,000 Nigerians have been repatriated since 2001 till date.
Emmanuel, who was among those recently repatriated, yesterday told The Guardian that those that returned, courtesy of IOM’s efforts, were the lucky ones as there are a lot more people that are in various private prisons in Libya.
“There is a kind of business Libyans do to get money from the blacks. They hate blacks so much, so they treat us like animals. What they often do is that they have connections with some agents in Nigeria that will promise to take people across the desert to Europe at a fee.
“But after taking them from Nigeria, maybe Kano, across the desert for three days, they will sell them to Libyans for about 300 Dinas (N600,000) each. The buyer will resell for double the amount. The captives are either made to work to pay the ransom, or kept in prison till their families in Nigeria are able to pay.
“I can tell you that there are many Nigerians in their prisons and the condition is terrible. I have been a victim. There are over 2,000 Nigerians because they are so many and they are getting killed by diseases, starvation and torture everyday. Libya is a terrible place to be held. The weather is bad, no good water to drink and in prison, you survive on only a small loaf of bread a day,” he said.
Eloha Erhie, from Delta State, was sold but made to work to pay off 600 Dinas (N1.2 million) to regain her freedom. She said she was lured to Libya by an agent who promised to help her get to Germany. But on getting to Libya, she was duped of N360,000 and subsequently sold for 600 Dinas (N1.2 million).
“It is not a country I would have wished for my enemy. They (Libyans) treat all human beings as animals. They don’t have value for life at all.
“They kidnap freely, white or black. Even a taxi man will kidnap you and take you to prison where you will suffer for nine months out of a year. No good food or water. Whether cold or heat, they are all bad. I’m happy to make it back alive,” she said.
Gift Peters from Edo State narrated how she was kept in prison for eight months for no crime at all. While she was grateful to be back, she begged the Federal Government not to relent in its efforts at repatriating other Nigerians.
“Let them go round. They will get information on where the prisons are. They are many. People are dying every minute. Our government can save their lives,” Peters said.
The Public Information Officer of IOM, Julia Burpee, said theirs were cases of people stranded in Libya and unable to proceed as migrants to Europe.
Burpee said IOM would not relent in its efforts to repatriate voluntary returnees whenever they were found or contacted by the IOM team working in Libya.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Dabiri-Erewa, earlier said that the government was not unaware of Nigerians stranded not only in Libya but in other countries and efforts were being made to safely return them home.
Dabiri-Erewa said: “Most of the people evacuated back home are from Libya. I will call it a rescue mission by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to ensure that Nigerians stranded anywhere, who have issued distress calls from the pathetic situation they found themselves, be returned home.
“So, the return is mainly a rescue mission for Nigerian migrants who have been stranded for years, particularly in Libya, where they have had so many pathetic and harrowing experiences.
“It’s getting tougher now; Germany has about 12,000 Nigerian migrants seeking asylum. And they are likely to be denied and returned. More Nigerians stranded in Libya will be brought back, but this is not going to be endless.
“So, we appeal to all Nigerians stranded in Libya to seize the opportunity before the time frame for the current evacuation by NEMA and IOM ends.” It was learnt that the new set of deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMlA) Lagos, around 6:40 a.m. yesterday.
The new deportees, comprising 21 males and two females, were brought back in a privilege style aircraft with registration number EC-IZO. The Spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, Joseph Alabi, confirmed the development, saying the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the police.
Alabi said others also on ground to receive them were officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
According to him, nine of the deportees, who were deported for drug-related offences, were handed over to the NDLEA.
He added that two others, who were deported for criminal offences, were handed over to the police. Alabi said that the remaining 12 deportees, accused of breaching the country’s immigration rules, were profiled and allowed to go to their respective destinations.
Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities have deported 23 Nigerians for allegedly committing various offences in the European country. The deportees were returning to the country yesterday barely five days after 34 Nigerians were sent home from six European countries over immigration-related offences. |
UPickVG IV, the 4th U-Pick Video Game Marathon for Charity, is coming June 12th! And we want to know – just what games are you going to subject us to this time?
Your vote below will help determine which games are available to donate for in our 48-hour long marathon. You have until the end of the day on May 15th to get your votes in! You can vote for multiple games at once (pick all the ones you like!) and you can vote once per day, so…
Vote early, vote often! (Until May 15th!)
(Can’t see the poll below? Click here!)
For the June 2015 U-Pick Video Game Marathon for Charity fundraiser, what game(s) would you pay to have us play?
Tips: (Yes, we’re going to tell you how to rig the poll for a game you want!) |
Walking into the GRAMMYs felt like a seat suddenly opened up for me at the cool kid's table, which was odd because I got there by not caring about the cool kid's table, and I wasn't alone. It was great to see Rapsody, who I'd known for years, walk the red carpet on her own terms, and when I learned Tech N9ne would be attending this year's festivities I couldn't pass up the chance to connect with another outsider on the inside.
I spotted Tech in a lobby swarming with black suits and music industry folks, women already teetering in stilettos in the early afternoon. Was that Irv Gotti? I'm pretty sure that was Irv Gotti. Tech was similarly black-tied but with a twist, beard pouring out from under a fedora and a glass of something fortifying in his hand. I had to delay my approach so a woman could grab a picture with him. For as much fame and money was in the area at the time, Tech was the only person I saw taking pictures with fans, which says something about both his often underestimated own level of fame and his approachability. When we did get to talking the first natural topic of conversation was his own possible GRAMMY future, although it was clear that while he was there to soak in the ambiance (and liquor), he didn't care in the slightest about award validation.
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"I might win something next year...or...I don't think it will ever come, I don't know. I just want my music to reach everybody, not just the awards people," he explained. We don't think of that, we just do it - as long as I love it. My music's three dimensional because I am. There is rock, there is gangster shit, there's everything."
It raises a good point, considering Tech's complete disregard for labels, what categories would he be nominated for? "Fragile," his biggest hit to date in terms of mainstream exposure, features he and Kendrick rapping alongside a distinctly rock instrumental and hook. His last album, Special Effects, features both E-40 and Slipknot's Corey Taylor, so that project would have been nominated for what? Best Rap Album? Best Rock Album? The GRAMMYs seem particularly ill equipped to handle an artist like Tech, it's a problem he's been dealing with for literally decades, the entire reason he created Strange Music.
"That's why I could never fit in when I was with the major labels," he explained. "Is it rock? Is it rap? How do you label that shit? It's just fucking music man. I just make music with beautiful people, I don't care who they are. I'm not done yet either."
You might expect the often frustratingly traditional GRAMMYs to be unable to handle Tech's forever morphing music, but interestingly as we continued to talk it became clear that that he faced a lot of similar pressure from his fans who expected him to make exactly the kind of music they wanted him to make.
"When you go on any forum where Tech N9ne is being talked about there's a lot of hate. 'I don't like that bullshit, that ain't the real Tech N9ne.' Whatever the real Tech is you don't know the real Tech, I'm three dimensional," he said. "If you came in on KOD than you think everything's supposed to be dark. That's your fault, not my fault. Go back to Tech in '96 and listen all the way through if you want to be able to claim to know the real Tech."
It was clear that I had touched a nerve, and even in that atmosphere, with some of the world's brightest lights just feet away, the passion Tech has for music was on full display. He wasn't angry, not ranting, not even close, but it was clear that these issues around "realness" in hip-hop had been swirling around his prolific mind for years.
"It's not up to me to say what's real hip-hop, what the fuck is real hip-hop? We all love Lauryn Hill, Tribe Called Quest, but you can't tell me NWA ain't real hip-hop. Are you crazy? They're a part of it. We're all masters of ceremonies, can you move the crowd like Rakim said? I can - everybody can't move the crowd like I can. But if you go to a Drake concert he moves that crowd. So he's not an emcee? Good music is always going to shine through, no matter if it's brain dead or conscious. I find some good stuff in Young Thug. Not everybody can be a master rapper like me or Eminem or Royce da 5 9 or Slaughterhouse or Chino XL or Logic - it goes on forever. The problem with people in music is they're trying to point the finger at people who arent doing what they're doing."
And really that gets at the core of Tech N9ne and Strange's mission statement. He and his co-founder Travis O'Guin founded the label because they couldn't find a home in the established music industry, but as they attracted those similarly disaffected by the mainstream, those people in turn moved to fortify their own barriers. It's the story of almost every subculture that becomes a more powerful cultural force, including hip-hop, but Tech's determined to not fall into that trap.
"That's the problem with barriers, they're always trying to separate us, and we can't do shit when we're separated," he said. "We're trying to unite people, fuck the barriers. When they see me with Korn they're gonna shit. When they see me with Diplo, they're gonna shit. When they see me with J. Cole they're gonna shit. Just like they shit when they saw me with Eminem. This is real because I'm really about making beautiful music."
On that note I asked Tech what collaborations he had coming up, but while he swore me to secrecy (ha ha), he did acknowledge that he no longer considers any artists outside the realm of possibility. If the song sounds right he's going to hit up Kanye, artists from other genres like Lana Del Ray, he mentioned his respect for Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt, any and every option was on the table. After all, would landing a verse from Jay Z really be that much stranger than rapping alongside Eminem? Here he was, an artist from the often overlooked Kansas City, about to enter the GRAMMYs, so was anything truly impossible, including eventually winning a GRAMMY himself?
Tech N9ne doesn't need mainstream validation, he never has, but he's growing so inescapable it may come anyway, and if it does come, hopefully I'll be there to watch him break down some more barriers.
[By Nathan S, the managing editor of DJBooth and a hip-hop writer. His beard is awesome. This is his Twitter. Illustration by Zach Woolsey. You can visit his website here.] |
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June 3, 2013, 8:45 PM GMT
Zynga, the maker of online games like "Farmville," said Monday it is cutting 520 jobs, about 18 percent of its workforce, in a cost-saving move designed to help it adapt to consumers shifting game play from computers to mobile devices.
Zynga said it expects the move to save about $70 million to $80 million in annual costs. But the San Francisco-based company behind "Words With Friends" also now expects a worse loss in the second quarter than it previously anticipated, as well as weak bookings, which will weigh on future revenue.
Zynga's stock plunged 12 percent to close at $2.99 on the Nasdaq market after trading was halted twice on Monday. Its shares have traded below $4 since about July 2012, after debuting at $10 in its December 2011 initial public offering.
The cost-cutting, which also includes some office closures, is "proactive" and done from a position of financial strength, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said in a blog post.
"By reducing our cost structure today we will offer our teams the runway they need to take risks and develop these breakthrough new social experiences," he said.
The cuts come on the heels of earlier efforts to reduce overhead as demand for its games on the social-networking site Facebook fades and more people shift to playing games on mobile devices, where the company finds it more difficult to generate revenue.
Zynga said it now expects a net loss in the quarter through June of $28.5 million to $39 million, worse than its estimate for a net loss between $26.5 million and $36.5 million it forecast at the end of April.
It also said bookings, which reflect in-game purchases of virtual goods, would come in at the lower end of its previously estimated range between $180 million and $190 million.
Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities said investors are more concerned about lackluster revenue than any savings from the cuts.
"You can't save your way to prosperity," he said. "The market is telling you that it's not confident that revenues are going to grow."
Before the announcement, analysts polled by FactSet were already forecasting that annual revenue for Zynga would shrink to $944 million by the end of the year, down from $1.28 billion in 2012. |
For those of a similar name, see John Gosselyn (disambiguation)
Jonathan Keith Gosselin (born April 1, 1977) is an American television personality, known for his appearances with then-wife Kate Gosselin and their eight children on the American reality TV show Jon & Kate Plus 8.
Early life [ edit ]
Jonathan Keith Gosselin was born and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania as the middle child in a family of three children. He has two brothers, Thomas and Mark.[2] Gosselin's mother, Pamela Castello (née Lyum),[3] was born and raised in Hawaii as a second-generation Korean American and his father, Thomas Gosselin (a pediatric dentist), was of French, Irish, and Welsh descent. Gosselin's father died on January 13, 2005.[4][5][6] Jon graduated from Wyomissing High School in 1995.[7]
Gosselin met Kate Kreider at a company picnic on October 5, 1997. They married on June 12, 1999. On October 8, 2000, their twin daughters, Cara Nicole and Madelyn "Mady" Kate, were born. Initially, Jon was against having a third child, but he and Kate eventually decided they would try again.[8] On May 10, 2004, Kate gave birth to sextuplets: sons Aaden Jonathan, Collin Thomas, and Joel Kevin, and daughters Alexis Faith, Hannah Joy, and Leah Hope. The sextuplets were born 10 weeks premature, which is common in cases of multiple births.
Television fame [ edit ]
They received local media coverage until the sextuplets were 17 months old, when Discovery Health offered the couple a reality series chronicling the lives of their family.
The Discovery Health special, called Surviving Sextuplets and Twins, first aired in September 2005. One year later, the family was featured in another special titled Sextuplets and Twins: One Year Later. Both specials received high Nielsen ratings, and Discovery Health signed the couple to a series that aired beginning in April 2007. During this time, the family was filmed for three to four days per week, and received payment for appearing on the show.
They soon switched over to TLC.[9]
Gosselin co-wrote Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets with then-wife Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson, a book that made The New York Times Best Seller list.[10]
Divorce [ edit ]
It was announced on the June 22, 2009 episode of the show that the couple were separating, and that divorce proceedings had begun.[11] Gosselin then began looking for a new apartment in New York City, reportedly visiting Donald Trump-owned Trump Place in Manhattan's Upper West Side.[12]
Jon stated that it is Kate who wanted the divorce,[13] while Kate stated that "Jon's activities" left her with "no choice but to file legal procedures in order to protect" herself and the children.[citation needed] Jon released a statement in response, noting that his wife was the first to make a legal move, and speaking of his continuing love for his children.[14] Speculation rose that Jon's relationship with Hailey Glassman, the daughter of Kate's plastic surgeon, was the cause for the divorce, but Glassman denied the speculation, saying that her relationship with Jon began only after Jon and Kate had been separated for months.[15]
On August 13, 2009, the police were called to the Gosselin family home in Wernersville, Pennsylvania after Jon and Kate were engaged in a heated argument. She arrived at the home during his time with their eight children because she did not approve of the babysitter he was using. No arrests were made and no charges were filed against either party.[16][17]
Gosselin in 2009
On September 29, 2009 TLC announced that, as of November 3, 2009, Jon & Kate Plus 8 would change its name to Kate Plus 8.[18] Jon Gosselin would continue to appear on the show, but less frequently.[19] However, on October 1, 2009, People.com reported that Jon Gosselin filed a legal action against TLC to prevent the show from resuming and would consider the entry of production crews into the family home as criminal trespassing.[20][21] The final episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 aired on November 23, 2009, announced by TLC three days earlier.[22][23]
In late September 2009, Jon filed paperwork seeking to stall the divorce for 90 days, saying, "I regret my conduct since Kate and I separated ... I used poor judgment in publicly socializing with other women so soon."[24] Among the terms of the divorce was a child support order for $22,000 a month.[25]
On October 15, 2009, it was announced that TLC had filed suit against Jon for allegedly violating their contract with paid and unpaid television appearances he had recently made on several media outlets. The network claimed it lost more than $30,000 as a result of his alleged breach of their contract. His attorney responded that the contract was null and void once TLC renamed the show Kate Plus 8, and that in any event the contract is unenforceable because it was signed while Jon had no legal representation.[citation needed]
On December 18, 2009, it was announced that the couple's divorce had been finalized. Kate was granted primary custody of the children and the ownership of the family home.[1][26] Earlier in the month, Jon's girlfriend, Hailey Glassman, announced that she broke up with Jon because she discovered during a deposition in his lawsuit against TLC that he had been unfaithful to her by having a relationship with Kate Major, a reporter for The Star tabloid.[27]
Since the divorce, Jon has had a difficult relationship with his ex-wife, which has constantly made headlines.[28] He is estranged from most of his children, as Cara, Mady, Alexis, Aaden, Leah, and Joel have cut off all contact with him; all six of the children still live with Kate. The only children Jon sees are Hannah and Collin, as both children now live with him.[29] On August 22, 2017, the police were called to an orthodontist's office in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania after Jon and Kate got into a custody dispute over one of their sextuplet daughters. It was reported that either Jon or Kate took their then 13-year-old daughter to the orthodontist and the argument erupted over who would be taking her home. No one was arrested, and in the end, Jon took the daughter home while Kate was referred to Berks County District Attorney's office for a more clear interpretation of the child custody agreement. It was later reported that the sextuplet daughter involved in the dispute may have been Hannah.[30][31]
In August 2018, Jon revealed in an Instagram live video that Hannah was "permanently" living with him; there has been an ongoing custody battle with Kate over their daughter. It was reported that in April 2018, a judge awarded custody of Hannah to Jon. Kate would appeal this decision on May 4, 2018. The judge denied the appeal on June 14, 2018 as Kate "did not present legal argument to justify this Court's jurisdiction," according to court documents.[32]
On October 24, 2018, Jon and his attorney filed papers for physical and legal custody of Collin. They claimed that it would be in Collin's best interest to live with his father upon his release from an inpatient center, where Kate enrolled him in 2016.[33] On December 4, 2018, Jon won sole physical and legal custody of Collin, as Kate and her attorney failed to appear.[34] It was reported on December 26, 2018 that Collin was released from the inpatient center and returned home with Jon for good.[35] As of 2018, Jon and his ex-wife are no longer in communication, except through their attorneys.[36]
On December 26, 2009, upon returning to his New York apartment after visiting his children for Christmas, Gosselin discovered that his apartment had been broken into. The damage was estimated at $100,000. A note signed by Hailey Glassman, his ex-girlfriend, was found attached to Gosselin's dresser with a knife, but law enforcement officials have questioned the authenticity of both the message and the signature.[37][38]
Post-Jon & Kate [ edit ]
In February 2011, Gosselin was working for Green Pointe Energy in Pennsylvania, installing solar panels.[39] In September 2013, he was a waiter at two restaurants in Pennsylvania, near his home in Robeson Township. He was later reported to become a maitre d' at one of the restaurants.[40]
In January 2012, Gosselin began dating Liz Jannetta, a divorced mother of three who works with computers.[41] The relationship lasted for two years, as they broke up in September 2014 after they made an appearance on the VH1 reality show Couples Therapy.[42]
In July 2015, it was reported that Gosselin has been in a relationship with a registered nurse named Colleen Conrad. They have been dating since October 2014.[43][44]
As of January 2017, he has been working as a DJ. It was reported that he DJs 12 to 15 gigs a month in his hometown of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.[45][46] On the side, Gosselin works at T.G.I. Friday's in Lancaster, Pennsylvania as a prep cook eight hours a week.[47]
References [ edit ] |
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