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North Korea is so paranoid about its citizens accessing the internet that merely owning a computer requires permission from local government authorities, and all personal computers are registered with the police as if they were shotguns. Private ownership of fax machines is banned outright, and sending a single fax requires high-level authorization. Meanwhile, pirated DVDs of South Korean TV dramas are so illegal that North Koreans caught with them in regular police sweeps can be sentenced to years in labor camps. So you can imagine how tightly restricted internet access would be in the Hermit Kingdom.
Still, North Korea does have the internet. That small web of internet connections between North Korea and the outside world collapsed entirely on December, under an apparent mass cyber attack. While the US never claimed responsibility for the attack, President Obama had warned just days earlier of a "proportional response" to North Korea's hack against Sony. And on Tuesday, Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, offered what may have been the first hint of US responsibility for the attack.
For many Americans, though, the entire idea of a North Korean internet seems surprising, and for good reason. Could one of the world's poorest countries, which puts its citizens under near-total control, really have the internet? How does it work? Who can access it? And why would North Korea allow any internet access at all?
What the few North Koreans who are allowed online think the internet means
If you went to North Korea and asked people about the internet, most of them would probably have no idea what you were talking about. Most of the country is still mired in poverty, much of it rural. But in Pyongyang, the privileged capital city, and perhaps in one or two other cities, North Koreans with good office jobs or coveted university slots might assume that you were talking about Kwangmyong.
Kwangmyong, which is Korean for "bright star," is North Korea's officially sanctioned intranet. It looks sort of like the internet circa 1994; many users even access it with old-school dial-up or computer labs. It is a closed network that runs on pirated Japanese versions of Microsoft software and looks sort of like the real internet but isn't. Rather, it runs rudimentary email and browser tools that are restricted to a hand-picked collection of "sites" that have been copied over and censored from the real internet.
This network is accessible by the handful of computer labs at major North Korean government offices, universities, and a small number of cyber cafes in major cities. (Internal travel is forbidden without permission in North Korea, so most citizens never see Pyongyang or can visit its cyber cafes.) But you need a computer to access it, and that's only possible with official permission.
Outside computers are illegal (except for the very highest elite, for whom many official rules do not apply); the only acceptable computers are produced by Morning Panda, a government-run company that makes only a few thousand computers every year.
The small core of elites who can see the real internet
Then there is a group of privileged elites in North Korea who can access the real internet, which is forbidden to everyone else. The number of people in North Korea with actual internet access is estimated at a few thousand — the tiny core of the country's sprawling government — most of them top government officials.
North Korea's circle of internet users is so small that the country has only 1,024 IP addresses for 25 million people, whereas the US has billions of IP addresses for 316 million people. While it's impossible to infer a specific number of internet-connected devices from this, it is safe to say that the number is very, very small.
Many of North Korea's physical internet connections go through a single line that runs from Pyongyang through North Korea's mountainous north and into China, where it connects via China's state-run telecommunications agency Unicom to the outside world. North Korea, in other words, is largely behind China's Great Firewall.
However, North Korea also appears to have routed some internet connections through satellite-based systems: those have included the Russian satellite company SatGate and a Hong Kong–based satellite network run by China's state-owned internet provider. (There are also long-running rumors of a second, secret North Korean T1 line that patches in the most elite officials' devices at much higher speeds and that resolves as Chinese IP addresses.)
If you saw the real internet in North Korea, it would almost certainly be running on a top-of-the-line computer — or even an Apple device such as an iPad or iPhone — which are smuggled in for the use of elite officials. It would likely be quite slow; all of North Korea's devices share a very small amount of bandwidth and run through aging equipment that goes down often.
Not everyone who can access the internet in North Korea is a member of the elite. The country runs some departments that simply need access to the web to do their jobs, namely propagandists and other media specialists as well as hackers and a small number of technocratic researchers. In order to prevent these people from trying to defect when they learn how hellish their country is compared with the rest of the world — or, worse, spreading what they learn to other North Koreans — jobs that require internet access typically come with lavish salaries, high-end government housing, and lots of prestige.
Either you are granted access to the internet because you are very elite, or you are granted elite status because of your internet access, but the two always go hand in hand.
Why North Korea allows the internet
This question — why? — is perhaps even more important than who is allowed to access the real web in North Korea, because it tells you so much about how the country really works.
There are, very broadly speaking, three kinds of internet connections between North Korea and the outside world. This revealing list of reasons one might have web access speaks volumes about the country's priorities.
The first and largest is propaganda: North Korea has graduated in recent years from the text-only rants of state media to surprisingly high-touch social media campaigns, including a steady stream of YouTube videos extolling the greatness of Kim Jong Un and the evils of the American imperialist dogs. North Korea does not have "hundreds of millions" of supporters abroad, as it claims, but it does have a real and important, if small, base of supporters in South Korea and among the ethnic Korean minority in Japan. It also wants to reach its non-supporters abroad, though whether North Korea thinks its propaganda might be earnestly believed or is just hoping to further gin up international tensions with its regular threats is debatable.
The second reason North Korea wants to access the internet is hacking. The country has aggressively grown its cyberwar divisions in recent years into a few thousand highly trained hackers. It uses cyberattacks as a sort of asymmetrical warfare; North Korea knows it would lose any real battles against much-stronger South Korea and the US, but it can still cause mayhem online and has been attacking US and South Korean online institutions for years. This is meant as a deterrent of sorts: don't step on our toes or we'll hack you. (There are also reports of North Korea using the web to run various money-producing frauds to bring in hard currency to a government that badly needs it.)
But the third reason is less straightforward. North Korea's very top elite, the inner core of the inner core, access the internet because they simply don't live in the same universe as their countrymen. While most of North Korea exists in a propaganda bubble where any outside information is an existential ideological threat and truth about the world is scarce, North Korea's top elite are perfectly aware of how it all really works. They allow themselves all the comforts: movies, books, internet access, forbidden technology, forbidden luxury goods, and foods and alcohol smuggled in for their pleasure. Kim Jong Un certainly participated in this, although it's also a tool by which he maintains the loyalty of the elite.
The country's elites also do need this information — what's really happening out there, how the world really works — to run their country, even if they are only running it to keep the cruel, despotic system in place.
What it means when North Korea's internet is shut down
There have been some objections that whoever shut down North Korea's internet in December, whether it was the United States or someone else, unfairly punished an entire country just for the bad behavior of its government.
The truth, though, is that the internet in North Korea is not a public good, nor even a good the public is aware of. It is purely and solely used as a government tool, for serving such ends as propaganda and hacking, and as a luxury good for the elites who run the government.
This is not necessarily to endorse shutting down the internet there as a good thing, but just to note that like so many things in North Korea, the Kim Jong Un regime has distorted it into something that exists almost purely to cement his government's rule and to reward himself. |
Legendary cult filmmaker and Full Moon Entertainment founder Charles Band is thrilled to present his new series RAVENWOLF TOWERS, which he describes as a “love letter to Full Moon fans past and present”.
The chilling, seven-part horror series is directed and produced by Band, who will release one episode every full moon, beginning December 13th. And as a bonus for Full Moon film fanatics, embedded within each weird and wicked episode of the series, Band has found novel ways to re-introduce some of Full Moon’s most famous and feared characters and creatures into the narrative.
Full Moon Entertainment will release RAVENWOLF TOWERS on their Amazon Channel, at FullMoonStreaming.com and on DVD. The first episode, titled Bad Mary, will debut on December 13.
And as a premium for customers who order the DVD, Band has committed to personally signing every copy sold.
Synopsis:
RAVENWOLF TOWERS, the dark saga of a family of incestuous lunatics lording over the remains of a looming, formerly opulent and now dilapidated Hollywood hotel.
Like a cross between Jack Hill’s 1964 Gothic shocker SPIDER-BABY and Dan Curtis’ beloved horror soap opera DARK SHADOWS, RAVENWOLF TOWERS follows the gruesome and bizarre adventures of Jake, the new assistant manager at ‘The Towers’ who is soon subject to the horror at the heart of the building: guests disappear without a trace, mad doctors meddle with madder science, degenerate monsters lurking around every corner and a beautiful woman who may be a distressed damsel in need of saving…or just might be the most terrifying resident of RAVENWOLF TOWERS.
At the center of it all is the spastic, inbred clan whose minds have become irrevocably warped as they live, love, die and commit all manner of sin within the walls of ‘The Towers’. |
Funding
icddr,b research is supported by a combination of core support from bilateral donors and grant income. In 2017, the top 10 revenue sources for restricted and unrestricted grants were:
1) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA
2) UKAID: Department for International Development (DFID)
3) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA
4) United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
5) The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
6) National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA
7) Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
8) Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
9) Commission of the European Communities
10) Global Affairs Canada (GAC), Government of Canada
icddr,b is grateful to the Government of Bangladesh for its long-term financial support. icddr,b is also grateful to its international core donors, Canada (Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development), Sweden (Sida), and the United Kingdom (DFID). In keeping with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, they provide long-term core funds to support the advancement of icddr,b's strategic plan.
Representatives from each of the development agencies meet regularly with icddr,b to monitor progress and discuss emerging research priorities and outputs. Every year, icddr,b reports performance against an agreed log frame and a joint donor report is commissioned to monitor progress. |
Lazy enumeration isn’t magic;
it’s just a matter of hard work
Ruby 2.0’s new lazy enumerator feature seems like magic. In case you haven’t tried it yet, it allows you to iterate over an infinite series of values and take just the values you want. It brings the functional programming concept of lazy evaluation to Ruby – at least for enumerations.
For example, in Ruby 1.9 and earlier you would run into an endless loop if you tried to iterate over an infinite range:
Here the call to collect starts an endless loop; the call to first never happens. However, if you upgrade to Ruby 2.0 and use the new Enumerable#lazy method, you can avoid the endless loop and get just the values you need:
But how does lazy evaluation actually work? How does Ruby know I only want ten values, in this example? All I have to do is make the simple call to the lazy method and it just works.
It seems like magic, but actually it’s just a matter of hard work. A lot happens inside of Ruby when you call lazy. To give you just the values you need, Ruby automatically creates and uses many different types of internal Ruby objects. Like heavy equipment at a work site, these objects work together to process the input values from my infinite range in just the right way. What are these objects? What do they do? How do they work together? Let’s find out!
The Enumerable module: many different ways of calling “each”
When I call collect on the range above I’m using Ruby’s Enumerable module. As you probably know, this module contains a series of methods, such as select, detect, any? and many more, that process lists of values in different ways. Internally, all of these methods work by calling each on the target object or receiver:
You can think of the Enumerable methods as a series of different types of machines that operate on data in different ways, all via the each method:
Enumerable is eager
Many of the Enumerable methods, including collect, return an array of values. Since the Array class also includes the Enumerable module and responds to each, you can chain different Enumerable methods together easily:
In my code example above, the Enumerable#first method calls each on the result of Enumerable#collect, an array which was generated in turn by another call to each on the input range.
One important detail to notice here is that both Enumerable#collect and Enumerable#first are eager: this means that they process all of the values returned by each before returning the new array value. So in my example, first collect processes all the values from the range and saves the results into the first array. Then in a second step first processes all the values from the first array, placing the results into the second array:
This is what leads to the endless loop for an infinite range; since Range#each will never stop returning values, Enumerable#collect will never finish, and Enumerable#first will never get a chance to stop the iteration.
The Enumerator object: deferred enumeration
One interesting trick you can use with the Enumerable module’s methods is to call them without providing a block. For example, suppose I call collect on my range, but I don’t provide a block:
Here Ruby has prepared an object you can use later to actually enumerate over the range, called an “Enumerator.” As you can see from the inspect string, Ruby has saved a reference to the receiver (1..10) along with the name of the enumerable method I want to use (collect) inside the enumerator object.
Later when I want to actually iterate through the range and collect the values in an array, I can just call each on the enumerator:
There are a few other ways of using enumerators, such as calling next repeatedly, which I don’t have time to discuss today.
Enumerator::Generator – generating new values for enumeration
In my previous examples I used a Range object to produce a series of values. However, the Enumerator class provides another more flexible way of generating a series of values using a block. Here’s an example:
Let’s take a look at what sort of enumerator this is:
As you can see, Ruby has created a new enumerator object that contains a reference to an internal object called Enumerator::Generator, and has setup to call the each method on that generator. Internally, the generator object converts the block I provided above into a Proc object and saves it away:
Now when I use the Enumerator object, Ruby will call the Proc saved inside the generator to get the values for the enumeration:
In other words, the Enumerator::Generator object is a source of data for an enumeration – it “generates” the values and passes them along.
Enumerator::Yielder – allowing one block to yield to another
If you take a close look at the code above, there’s something strange about it. I first created the Enumerator object using a block:
…which yields values to a second block I provide later when I call each:
In other words, the enumerator somehow allows you to yield values directly from one block to another:
But of course this isn’t how Ruby works. Blocks can’t pass values directly to each other like this. The trick to making this work is another internal object called the Enumerator::Yielder object, passed into the block with the y block parameter:
The y parameter is very easy to miss here. But if you re-read the block’s code, you’ll notice I’m not actually yielding values at all, I’m simply calling the yield method on the y object, which is an instance of the built in Enumerator::Yielder class. You can see and use this class for yourself in IRB as follows:
The yielder catches values I want the enumerator to generate, using the yield method, and then later actually yields them to the target block. As a Ruby developer, aside from calling yield I don’t normally ever need to interact with the generator or the yielder; they are used internally by the enumerator. When I call each on the enumerator, it uses these two objects to generate and yield the values I want:
Enumerators generate data; Enumerable methods consume it
Stepping back for a moment, the pattern we’ve seen so far with enumerations in Ruby is:
Enumerator objects produce data.
Enumerable methods consume data.
From right to left, the enumerable method calls each to request data; later from left to right the enumerator object provides the data by yielding it to a block.
Enumerator::Lazy – putting it all together
Ruby 2.0 implements lazy evaluation using an object called Enumerator::Lazy. What makes this special is that it plays both roles! It is an enumerator, and also contains a series of Enumerable methods. It calls each to obtain data from an enumeration source, and it yields data to the rest of an enumeration:
Since Enumerator::Lazy plays both roles, you can chain them up together to produce a single enumeration. This is what happens in my infinite range example:
The call to lazy produces one Enumerator::Lazy object. Then when I call collect on this first object, the Enumerator::Lazy#collect method returns a second one:
You can see here that the second Enumerator::Lazy, created by the call to Enumerator::Lazy#collect, also calls my block, the x*x code.
How does all of this work? How does Enumerator::Lazy do all of this? To serve both as a data producer and consumer, Enumerator::Lazy uses generator and yielder objects in a special way. The generator first calls each to obtain data, and then it passes each value it obtains immediately into a special block:
Let’s take a closer look at the block from the diagram – this block implements the Enumerator::Lazy#collect method. (The other lazy enumeration methods use slightly different blocks.) Ruby implements it internally using C code, but this is the equivalent Ruby code:
Reading the code, we can see the block takes a yielder and a value. Then it yields the value to another block – this is actually the block I provide to Enumerator::Lazy#collect or x*x in my example. Then the Enumerator::Lazy#collect block calls the yielder, passing the result of my block onto the rest of the enumeration.
This is the key to lazy evaluation in Ruby. Each value from the data source is yielded to my block, and then the result is immediately passed along down the enumeration chain. This enumeration is not eager – the Enumerator::Lazy#collect method does not collect the values into an array. Instead, each value is passed one at a time along the chain of Enumerator::Lazy objects, via repeated yields. If I had chained together a series of calls to collect or other Enumerator::Lazy methods, each value would be passed along the chain from one of my blocks to the next, one at a time:
Lazy evaluation: executing code backwards
Why is this chain lazy evaluation? Why does this allow Ruby to avoid an endless loop and provide me with just the values I need? The answer is that the code at the end of the enumeration chain, in my example the first(10) method call, controls how long the enumeration runs:
At the end of the enumeration chain the values are yielded to the Enumerable#first method:
After the Enumerable#first method receives enough values, 10 in my example, it stops the iteration by raising an exception.
In other words, the code at the right side of my enumeration chain, the code at the end, actually controls the execution flow. The Enumerable#first both starts the iteration by calling each on the lazy enumerators, and ends the iteration by raising an exception when it has enough values.
At the end of the day, this is the key idea behind lazy evaluation: the function or method at the end of a calculation chain starts the execution process, and the program’s flow works backwards through the chain of function calls until it obtains just the data inputs it needs. Ruby achieves this using a chain of Enumerator::Lazy objects, as we’ve seen above. However, functional languages such as Haskell implement this in a deeper, more fundamental way, that encompasses all execution and not just enumeration. |
I also think Honami is a net asset. She isn't perfect, but she is much better than average.
Regarding the information we want from her: We will eventually have our own spying network. When we do, we will want to have financial data, gossip, caravan and ninja movements, noblemen movements, etc. Honami is in a perfect position to gather noble gossip and food prices, at minimum.
I wholeheartedly support using skulls as a seal-writing medium. We should make it our priority when we have Sealing 20 (which costs 432 XP , so it won't be soon)
We should also think about other creative uses of seals on bones. Force Blade seals inscribed on knuckles under the skin to allow Wolverine-style force claws, anyone? (Of course, we will need to modify Force Wall to make it smaller and mobile, first)
While unknown unknowns are an issue, I don't really expect there to be giant chakra jellyfish zeppelins. Actually, if they do exist, we totally should get us one as a mount.
Still, I very much prefer the sky to the sea.
Click to expand... Click to shrink... |
Speculation is often thrown around about what kind of hidden gems are lurking at the Nike campus in Beaverton, OR. This inside look at CEO Mark Parker's office should give you a give idea of just what sort of crazy Nike memorabilia and history is housed at the Nike headquarters. Parker's office is jam packed with a frenzied collection of art and shoes that manifests all of the various influences and iterations of the Nike lineage. Unreleased samples, one off promo materials, and classic models are found in the various nooks of the room alongside sculptures and scraps of the Nike story. This baffling gallery of photos really shows how much the business heads at Nike stay grounded in the company's roots of innovative design. Continue reading to take a look at the rest of this photo set, and then head over to Whitewall to read their interview with Mark Parker. via: fubiz
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WATCH: Patrons in a south Edmonton lounge were treated to some holiday cheer Monday, but it’s not what you might think.
EDMONTON – It was an anonymous gift that had diners flabbergasted. A stranger, dining at a restaurant in south Edmonton, covered the bill for everyone in the lounge.
It was lunchtime on Monday and the Moxie’s lounge was bustling. But, when patrons from about eight or nine tables went to settle their tabs, they were told an anonymous stranger already paid.
“A man came up to me and I had been serving him, and he said to me, ‘is there any way to combine bills together of the entire lounge?’ I was taken off guard at first, but I did it for him,” recalls lounge server Brittany Anderson.
“He did it right away. A random act of kindness and left as if nothing happened. It was impressive.”
READ MORE: Random acts of Christmas kindness
“One of my lounge servers went and grabbed me from the back and just said ‘could you help me out?’,” recalls Moxie’s manager Matthew Russo.
“There was a man who just whispered – kept it pretty quiet – he said ‘I’d just like to pay for the lounge’s bill, if that’s possible, if we could do that.’ At first I was taken aback by it, but I was like, ‘I think we can make that happen.’
“He paid the bill and left very quietly. It was incredibly generous.”
“The way he did it – very low-key – I think he made a lot of people’s day today,” added Russo.
He says the bill for the eight tables was substantial.
“I’ve never seen it before… in all my time working in the restaurant industry,” he says.
Russo says the gesture quickly put patrons and staff alike in a good mood.
“I think it’s blown everyone away.
“Holiday spirit: if you didn’t have it before, you have it now.”
And, if he could say one thing to the stranger who spread so much cheer?
“Thank you for kind of just giving that Christmas spirit,” says Russo. “It was incredibly generous and kind and much appreciated.”
Follow @Emily_Mertz |
Vice President Joe Biden has to get into the Democratic presidential race to prevent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders from winning the nomination, political strategist Dick Morris toldon Thursday."I don't think there's any possibility that they will not let him run," Morris said of party officials in an interview with "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth."If he doesn't run, Bernie Sanders can beat Hillary [Clinton] and be the Democratic nominee — and that would be just unbelievably bad for the Democrats."Watch Newsmax TV onandGet Newsmax TV on your cable system —Morris is the co-author of The New York Times best-selling book,He added that Republican front-runner Donald Trump could end up on the better end in his battle with Fox News and chairman and CEO Roger Ailes."It'll hurt Fox. I don’t think it will hurt Trump," Morris said. "Fox is going to have to cover Trump as part of the news — and if they don't, nobody's going to watch their news."I believe that Fox is in the tank for Bush," he added, referring to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. "Roger Ailes was really [George H.W.] Bush's mentor and guide in politics."Morris worked with Ailes on the elder Bush's campaign against former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis' campaign in 1988."I do not think they would have let Megyn Kelly open their debate unloading on Trump if they were not trying to dampen Trump and bolster Bush," Morris said. |
Informant warned ASIO of planned Sydney terrorist attack
Updated
Court documents have revealed Australia's spy agency ASIO was fed information about two Sydney men who were plotting to carry out a terrorist attack on behalf of Islamic State.
Omar Al-Kutobi, 25, and Mohammad Kiad, 27, were under surveillance for about a month when they were arrested and charged with preparing to carry out a terrorist attack in February 2015.
Court documents reveal an informant tipped off the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team (JCCT) to the plot on February 10 and said the attack was imminent.
"The lions will depart to carry it out in a few hours," the JCCT was told.
The JCCT is a multi-agency taskforce comprising New South Wales Police, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO.
The same day, counter-terrorism police swarmed on the granny flat Al-Kutobi and Kiad shared in Fairfield and arrested the men.
The pair was arrested just minutes after they had filmed a video in which Al-Kutobi can be seen speaking Arabic in front of a home made Islamic State flag.
"I swear to God almighty, yellow people, there is no reproach between us," Al-Kutobi said in the video.
"You will only get from us the stabbing of your kidneys."
Officers also discovered a note which said "we are here to cut off your heads", along with home made napalm, a machete, a hunting knife and instructions and ingredients to make an improvised explosive device.
Informant helped thwart attack
The court documents state the pair was planning to target a Shiite prayer hall in western Sydney with an "incendiary device", but that plan was abandoned in favour of an alleged plot to attack a person or persons with a bladed weapon.
The documents also alleged Al-Kutobi and Kiad made an oath of allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group and received instructions from an IS recruiter known as "Rahman", who was based in, or on the border of, Syria.
But the documents also reveal Rahman fed information about the two men to a person overseas who is known only as "Witness A".
Witness A then passed that information on to ASIO and the JCCT.
The NSW Supreme Court heard Rahman acted as an informant in return for money and refuge.
But a barrister acting for the Commonwealth told the court that fact was disputed by the Federal Government.
Videos played in court
The video of Al-Kutobi kneeling in front of the IS flag was played to the court.
Al-Kutobi is speaking Arabic on the video, and at times, Kiad can be heard responding.
Minutes later, both men were arrested and charged with acting in preparation for a terrorist act.
They have since pleaded guilty.
The two men the two men were committed to stand trial in February after they waived their rights to a committal hearing.
Kiad, 27, is a student from Kuwait, while Al-Kutobi, 25, is a refugee from Iraq.
Police footage of two separate improvised explosive device demonstrations were also shown. Prosecutors said the devices were made using substances found at the men's flat.
CCTV footage of Al-Kutobi and Kiad purchasing a hunting knife at a camping supplies store in Smithfield on the day of their arrest was also viewed.
The employee who served them has described it as a "run-of-the-mill sale".
The hearing continues.
Topics: courts-and-trials, terrorism, sydney-2000, parramatta-2150
First posted |
Matt Priddis with Sam Mitchell - two Eagles who could retire at the end of the season. Credit:Graham Denholm Priddis already holds the record for best tackle average in the game of 6.69 - ahead of North Melbourne captain Andrew Swallow (6.61) and Essendon's Ben Howlett (6.22) - and needs to lay just 31 tackles to break Hayes' mark. His record-breaking run is even more remarkable given Priddis was picked up by West Coast as a 21-year-old mature-aged player in the 2005 rookie draft after being overlooked for the national draft twice. In his first season, back in 2006, Priddis laid nine tackles in two games but, since then his ability to put the gripe on oppositions players has been nothing short of phenomenal. The West Coast ball-magnet has been in the top 15 in the AFL for total tackles laid from 2007-2016, has finished in the top five most prolific tacklers on five occasions and led the league for tackles in each of the last two seasons.
Priddis is set to create a new benchmark for total tackles in the AFL. Credit:Paul Kane In 2015, Priddis laid 176 tackles, 12 more than second placed Swallow, while last year he wrapped up a player 188 times - 18 more tackles than Swans midfielder Luke Parker. If he keeps up his average of 145 tackles per season over the last 10 years, and 6.69 tackles per game, Priddis will smash Hayes' record by the end of Round 5 and if he plays on in 2018 he could break the 1750 mark. Priddis leads the competition for average tackles and handballs per game. Credit:Morne de Klerk Matt Priddis' tackle numbers by year (number of games played in brackets)
2006: 9 (2)
2007: 128 (24)
2008: 103 (18)
2009: 127 (20)
2010: 130 (19)
2011: 193 (25)
2012: 122 (22)
2013: 129 (21)
2014: 160 (22)
2015: 176 (24)
2016: 188 (22) Career average: 6.69 tackles per game. Most tackles (number of games played in brackets): Lenny Hayes (STK) - 1496 (297) Jude Bolton (SYD) - 1490 (325) Matt Priddis (WC) - 1466 (219) Scott Thompson (ADE) - 1405 (307) Andrew Swallow (NM) - 1374 (208) However, Priddis isn't the only Eagle eyeing with an AFL record in his sights this season.
Prized West Coast recruit Sam Mitchell is on track to break three separate records in 2017 following his outstanding 15-year career at Hawthorn. Mitchell needs to dish off 242 handballs to eclipse Western Bulldogs midfielder Scott West's all-time mark of 4093 which looks a distinct possibility after he racked up more than 300 handballs in each of his last two seasons at Hawthorn. Sam Mitchell is on track to break three AFL records in 2017. Credit:Getty Images. However, despite his prolificacy, the 2012 Brownlow medallist doesn't have the competition's highest handball average - that honour belongs to the aforementioned Priddis whose remarkable average of 15.87 is well clear of new Sydney skipper Josh Kennedy (15.21). Priddis sits an impressive ninth in the all-time handballs table. Most handballs (number of games played in brackets):
Scott West (WB) - 4093 (324) Robert Harvey (STK) - 4008 (383) Sam Mitchell (HAW/WC) - 3852 (307) Simon Black (BL) - 3781 (322) Daniel Cross (WB/MEL) - 3687 (249) Mitchell is also just 15 clearances behind Brisbane Lions star Simon Black's benchmark of 1715 and given he looks likely to start in the middle for West Coast in Round 1, that appears another milestone he could surpass. Priddis also appears in the top five on this list, behind Black, Mitchell, ex-Eagles champion Chris Judd and Adelaide's Scott Thompson. Priddis is a much-maligned player on the east coast because some commentators claim he "doesn't hurt" oppositions teams with his disposal, but the stats don't lie and it puts the 31-year-old in the top bracket of players in the AFL over the last decade. Most clearances (number of games played in brackets): Simon Black (BL) - 1715 (322)
Sam Mitchell (HAW/WC) - 1700 (307)
Chris Judd (WC/CAR) - 1499 (279)
Scott Thompson (ADE) - 1422 (307)
Matt Priddis (WC) - 1359 (219)
Matt Priddis handballs to Sam MItchell during the JLT Community Series, Credit:Getty Images The final record in the ex-Hawks sights is a sign of his consistency, with Mitchell only three 30-disposal games away from beating St Kilda's Robert Harvey's mark of 118 games where he racked up 30 possessions or higher. Given Mitchell had 10 games with 30 more more possessions in 2016 and as well as a remarkable 16 times in 2015 (including in all four Hawthorn finals), this seems like another record he could own come season's end. Especially if his dazzling 39-possession, seven clearance game against Melbourne in the Eagles final pre-season game is anything to go by. Most instances of 30 disposals or more in a match (number of games played in brackets): |
Kuno Wittmer will take part in the new Pirelli World Challenge SprintX Series, with the Canadian driver having been confirmed at Mills Racing.
He’ll join team owner/driver Michael Mills at the wheel of the team’s BMW Z4 GT3 in the three-round championship, which kicks off at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next month.
“I am really looking forward to the inaugural SprintX race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.” Wittmer said.
“Racing in my home country is always as nice thing, especially in front of family, friends, and representing the BMW brand.”
Wittmer, a BMW of North America factory driver, is a former IMSA GT Le Mans class champion, and will bring a wealth of experience to the upstart team, which made its debut at Circuit of The Americas last month.
The Texas-based team, with the support BMW of North America, has shifted its focus entirely to SprintX for the remainder of the year.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to participate with Kuno for this new series,” Mills said.
“It’s a dream come true to be included in the BMW family, and we are excited to pursue a championship with Kuno and BMW behind us.”
BMW of North America Motorsports Manager Victor Leleu added: “Michael had a very successful weekend at COTA in the GTA class, showing great pace and quick adaptation to the BMW Z4 GT3.
“The car is fast and reliable, and Michael and Kuno will form a very strong and complementary pair.”
The inaugural SprintX weekend takes place at CTMP on May 20-22, with the championship also including stops at Utah Motorsports Campus and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. |
Frank Lampard is almost certainly out of Euro 2012 because of the thigh injury that has put Jordan Henderson on the brink of a late call-up and left England looking increasingly depleted with only 11 days to their opening game of the tournament, against France.
Lampard was hurt chasing a ball into a corner during England's training session and the initial prognosis is that there is virtually no chance of him being fit. The seriousness of the issue was immediately obvious to his team-mates as he was treated at the scene and a dismayed Roy Hodgson quickly put in place contingency plans by contacting Liverpool to inform them that Henderson might be needed.
That would leave England operating from anything but a position of strength when it comes to back-up players for Hodgson's first-choice central-midfield pairing of Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker. Hodgson's options are so depleted that Phil Jones, used mostly as a defender at Manchester United, is next in line, followed by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and now Henderson.
Lampard turns 34 during the tournament and, if his worst fears are confirmed, he will have to acknowledge that it also puts his international career at serious risk. The Chelsea midfielder had spoken on Tuesday about reaching 100 England caps but he is currently 10 short and has started only one of the past five internationals. He is, however, still regarded as a key member of the squad, especially at a time when Gareth Barry and Jack Wilshere have already been ruled out and there are lingering concerns about the ability of Gerrard and Parker to play the entire tournament.
Gerrard was restricted to only 45 minutes of the 1-0 friendly win against Norway on Saturday and missed Liverpool's last two games of the season because of his recurrent back issues. To put it into context, England's players had a golf afternoon at their hotel in Hertfordshire and Gerrard played only nine holes because he did not want to overextend himself.
As for Parker, he lasted almost an hour in Oslo but has been treated with injections because of a persistent achilles problem that meant he barely played in the previous month.
Hodgson's options are limited by Michael Carrick's withdrawal from contention and the FA has indicated there will be no attempt to try to ascertain his availability. If Lampard's scan reveals a tear, the FA will have to prove to Uefa's medical committee that it is a new injury before being allowed a replacement. Lampard missed three and a half months two seasons ago with a thigh injury, although it not clear at this early stage whether the latest problem is in the same area. Either way, the ruling body does not anticipate a problem bringing in Henderson. |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Two Republicans vying to become their party’s nominee for Missouri attorney general are waging one of the state’s most hotly-contested primary campaigns, slamming each other with attack ads in a race that also includes lawsuits and ethics complaints.
The slugfest between state Sen. Kurt Schaefer and political novice Josh Hawley, a University of Missouri law professor on leave to campaign, has become expensive, bankrolled by mega-donors. Hawley’s bid has received more than $2.2 million from southwestern Missouri businessman David Humphreys and his family, while retired St. Louis investor Rex Sinquefield has given more than $750,000 directly to Schaefer’s campaign after he announced plans to run for the office in 2013. Political action committees financially supported by Sinquefield have given Schaefer more than $2 million in cash and in-kind contributions.
Voters will decide between the two during the Aug. 2 primary, with the winner advancing to face either former Cass County prosecutor Teresa Hensley or St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman, both Democrats, in the Nov. 8 general election. Republicans hope to seize the office for the first time in more than two decades. If elected, Hensley would be Missouri’s first female to hold the job, which pays $116,000 per year job.
The current attorney general, Democrat Chris Koster, is running to replace Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, who is barred by term limits from running.
The attorney general prosecutes consumer fraud, is a watchdog for nursing homes, handles appeals of felony criminal cases and defends against challenges to state laws, among other duties.
The race has featured months of rancor between Hawley, in his first run for public office, and former Missouri assistant attorney general Schaefer.
The Missouri Ethics Commission is investigating a nonprofit foundation’s complaint alleging that Schaefer, using his position as the Senate Appropriations Committee’s chairman, pressured University of Missouri system administrators to prevent Hawley from opposing him. Schaefer has denied that.
In May, Schaefer supporter and former GOP state lawmaker Kevin Elmer sued in hopes of getting University of Missouri emails by Hawley to examine whether university officials improperly helped Hawley’s campaign and whether Hawley used university computers for campaign business. Hawley’s campaign has called the lawsuit “frivolous” and a distraction from Schaefer’s “serious legal and ethical problems.”
More recently, a Schaefer attack ad accused Hawley of working for terrorists, citing Hawley’s work in representing the Iranian group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq in its efforts to get off the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. The group carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran’s clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam Hussein’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war, but renounced violence in 2001 and was removed from the U.S. list in 2012.
Former U.S. attorney general Michael Mukasey and John Bolton, a former United Nations ambassador and an assistant U.S. attorney general, have called the ad untrue.
In his own ads, Hawley uses old footage of Schaefer describing himself as moderate, something Schaefer now denies. A super PAC ad that separately accuses Schaefer of backing legislation that allowed Chinese ownership of Missouri farmland ends with the announcer asking, “Whose side is he on?” Schaefer calls that ad “ridiculous,” adding that the change in state law to allow pork interest Smithfield Foods to sell its 42,000 Missouri acres to a Hong Kong-based enterprise “wasn’t even my bill, and it passed overwhelmingly.”
Schaefer argues that unlike Hawley, he has prosecuted cases, saying his rival “doesn’t really have any relevant experience.” Hawley counters that no prosecutorial background is required because the attorney general serves as an appellate lawyer, and he has appeals experience.
To Hawley, Schaefer’s campaign is “scurrilous,” ”in the gutter” and “the sleaziest in Missouri politics.”
Zimmerman, the Democrat, said he finds it “awfully disappointing that the folks on the other side argue about who loves terrorists more, who’s more American and whatever other nonsense.”
“What this office is not about is a platform for partisan mudslinging and ideological warfare,” said Zimmerman, a former state lawmaker and assistant attorney general who, if elected, expects to weed out corruption and strongly advocate for senior citizens and other vulnerable Missouri residents.
Hensley, Cass County’s prosecutor from 2005 until losing her re-election bid in November 2014, ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2002 and a congressional seat in 2012.
Likening the GOP sparring to “3-year-old tantrums,” she said the only elected prosecutor running for attorney general, having obtained convictions in all of her 21 murder cases and prosecuted hundreds of cases involving child abuse and sexual assault. As attorney general, she said she would press for special courts statewide with alternative sentencing programs “so we’re not filling the jails with folks who have mental health and drug issues.”
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. |
Decades of research have supported the idea that specific, high goals boost productivity (pdf) by getting people to work harder, be more persistent, and and perform better.
But financial quarters inevitably end and projects finish, which means that there’s always another difficult target or near-impossible deadline to achieve. Stacking high goals on top of one another can lead to depletion, reduced self-regulation, and unethical behavior, according to a new study (paywall) published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
The research is the first to tie consecutive goal setting, psychological depletion, and ethics together, which matters since unethical behavior can cost businesses billions every year.
The authors tested high, low, increasing, decreasing, and “do your best” goals on a group of 159 undergraduates performing a series of tasks for a monetary reward. High performance goals produced more cheaters, an effect which increased with the number of consecutive goals. Starting with a stretch goal, even if it decreased in later periods, boosted depletion and unethical behavior at a higher rate as well.
Past research on goal-setting informs the way that many firms manage and measure employees. Companies like Google and LinkedIn follow the objectives and key results method, a management system pioneered by Intel where specific, measurable goals are deliberately set at a difficult level.
The other side of improved productivity and performance that results from high goals is an inability to make good decisions, the authors write. When you combine depletion with pressure, and do it over and over again, unethical behavior increases. In other studies, high goals alone have been shown to increase unethical behavior.
Exactly how managers should respond to this research is uncertain. For starters, managers should think about scaling goals up from a relatively low starting point, and avoid clustering stretch goals too close together without a break. But low and poorly-defined goals reduce performance, so more work needs to be done in finding a middle ground. |
Seven scientists and experts on trial for manslaughter linked to an earthquake in Italy that killed more than 300 people have been convicted and sentenced to six years in prison, a court has ruled.
The victims of the earthquake in L'Aquila have also been awarded between €40,000 to €450,000 ($52,000 to $584,000 Cdn), said freelance journalist Megan Williams.
Italian prosecutors say that the scientists gave inaccurate and incomplete information about whether smaller tremors before the April 2009 quake should have been grounds for an official warning.
The 6.9 magnitude earthquake left 309 people dead and injured more than 1,500 others.
Judge Marco Billi took slightly more than four hours to reach the verdict, the BBC reported.
In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after an appeals trial, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately.
Charges 'unfair and naive,' scientists say
Among those convicted were some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts, including Enzo Boschi, former head of the national Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
"I am dejected, desperate," Boschi said after the verdict. "I thought I would have been acquitted. I still don't understand what I was convicted of."
Another convicted defendant, Bernardo De Bernardinis, a former official of the national Civil Protection agency, said "I consider myself innocent before God and men."
During the trial, which began in September 2011, the defence had argued it is impossible to predict quakes. Seismologists have long concurred, saying the technology doesn't exist to predict a quake and that no major temblor has ever been foretold.
The chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a non-profit organization which publishes the journal Science, wrote a letter in 2010 to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano calling the charges against the experts' "unfair and naive".
"The basis for indictments brought by the local prosecutor in L’Aquila appears to be that the scientists failed to alert the population of L’Aquila of an impending earthquake," wrote Alan I. Leshner, CEO of the AAAS and executive publisher of Science. "However, there is no way they could have done that credibly."
'They would have fled that night'
But prosecutors focused on a memo issued after a meeting of the Great Risks commission — a committee which the scientists were part of, and which evaluates potential for natural disasters — before the earthquake. The March 31, 2009 meeting was called because of mounting concerns about the months of seismic activity in the region.
Many much smaller earth tremors had rattled the area in the months before the quake, causing frightened people to wonder if they should evacuate.
According to the commission's memo, issued one week before the big quake, the experts concluded that it was "improbable" that there would be a major quake though it added that one couldn't be excluded.
Afterward, members of the commission gave reassuring interviews to local media stressing the impossibility of predicting quakes and that even six months worth of low-magnitude temblors was not unusual in the highly seismic region and didn't mean a big one was coming.
The BBC reported that prosecutors, in their closing statement, quoted one of their witnesses whose father died in the earthquake.
The statement described how Guido Fioravanti called his mother on the night of the earthquake, after the first tremor, the BBC said.
"I remember the fear in her voice. On other occasions they would have fled but that night, with my father, they told themselves what the risk commission had said. And they stayed." |
The FA have charged Arsene Wenger with misconduct after he clashed with fourth official Anthony Taylor during stoppage time of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Burnley on Saturday.
The Frenchman, already seething about the red card shown to Granit Xhaka on 65 minutes, went apoplectic on the touchline when referee Jon Moss awarded the visitors a 94th-minute penalty. As Andre Gray celebrated his equaliser from the spot, Wenger was ushered down the tunnel at which point he appeared to push Taylor.
The boss had to make do with watching the dying seconds of the match from the bowels of the Emirates as Alexis Sanchez snatched a win in the eighth minute of stoppage with a penalty of his own.
The boss apologised for his behaviour in his post-match comments, however, despite being contrite it’s not a surprise that he’s facing the potential of both a touchline ban and a hefty fine.
A statement from the FA reads:
“Arsene Wenger has been charged for misconduct following Arsenal’s game against Burnley on Sunday [22 January 2017].
“It is alleged that in or around the 92nd minute, he used abusive and/or insulting words towards the fourth official. It is further alleged that following his dismissal from the technical area, his behaviour in remaining in the tunnel area and making physical contact with the fourth official amounted to improper conduct.
“He has until 6pm on 26 January 2017 to respond to the charge.” |
[ The Seralini study has been retracted. Read the letter from the journal editor.]
An intensively promoted and controversial French study claiming to find high tumor rates and early mortality in rats fed genetically modified corn and “safe” levels of the herbicide Roundup has been dismissed in a rare joint statement from France’s six scientific academies. Here’s a link to the statement (in French). [*Here’s an English translation.] Here’s an excerpt from coverage of the academies’ statement by Agence France-Presse:
“This work does not enable any reliable conclusion to be drawn,” they said, adding bluntly that the affair helped “spread fear among the public.” The joint statement—an extremely rare event in French science—was signed by the national academies of agriculture, medicine, pharmacy, sciences, technology and veterinary studies. It was sparked by research published in September that said rats fed with so-called NK603 corn and/or doses of Roundup herbicide developed tumors…. Two fast-track official investigations into the study, ordered by the government, are due to be unveiled on Monday. The academies’ statement said: “Given the numerous gaps in methods and interpretation, the data presented in this article cannot challenge previous studies which have concluded that NK603 corn is harmless from the health point of view, as are, more generally, genetically modified plants that have been authorised for consumption by animals and humans.” In withering terms, it dismissed the study as “a scientific non-event.” “Hyping the reputation of a scientist or a team is a serious misdemeanour when it helps to spread fear among the public that is not based on any firm conclusion,” the academies said.
The academies’ statement is just the latest rejection of the conclusions by the paper’s authors, led by Gilles-Eric Séralini, a scientist at the University of Caen who has long campaigned against genetically modified foods and attracted criticism for flawed science. Earlier this month the European Food Safety Authority concluded that the rat study’s statistical and methodological weaknesses precluded its being used in safety evaluations:
Conclusions cannot be drawn on the difference in tumour incidence between the treatment groups on the basis of the design, the analysis and the results as reported in the Séralini et al. (2012) publication. In particular, Séralini et al. (2012) draw conclusions on the incidence of tumours based on 10 rats per treatment per sex which is an insufficient number of animals to distinguish between specific treatment effects and chance occurrences of tumours in rats. Considering that the study as reported in the Séralini et al. (2012) publication is of inadequate design, analysis and reporting, EFSA finds that it is of insufficient scientific quality for safety assessment.
Of course despite early signals that the work was suspect, that didn’t prevent the work from being swiftly promoted by groups pressing for California’s Proposition 37, which would require the labeling of genetically modified foods (at least those not on the long list of exempted products).
I also don’t imagine that any of the organic-friendly media outlets that uncritically covered the rat results will follow up on these new developments — lending credence to Keith Kloor’s thesis that “Liberals Turn a Blind Eye to Crazy Talk on GMOs.”
This excerpt is from a report by Radio France International:
On Monday, the Higher Biotechnologies Council (HCB) and the National Agency for Food Safety (ANSES) said they saw nothing to challenge existing safety assessments for Monsanto’s NK603 corn or its Roundup weed killer. “The study provides no scientific information regarding the detection of any health risk linked to NK603 corn, whether it was treated with Roundup or not,” said the 66-member HCB, set up in 2009 to provide an independent view in such areas. “The data are insufficient to establish scientifically a causal link… or to support the conclusions or pathways suggested by the authors,” ANSES said separately. But both called for a broader investigation to guide a public left confused by the debate.
I hope that Dr. Mehmet Oz, who featured the rat study on his popular television show, will tell his viewers about the French academies’ statement. In his related blog post, he implied that only “scientists who are in support of genetically modified foods” say the research is flawed. In fact, it’s scientists who support the scientific method who are challenging this work and the hype around it. Whatever your view, pop over to his Facebook page and leave a note. I did.
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Once upon a time, there were five crazy people, and they poisoned the 21st Century. Now they have to deal with the corrosion to try and save us all from a world becoming too weird to support human life. INJECTION is the new ongoing series created by the acclaimed creative team of Moon Knight. It is science fiction, tales of horror, strange crime fiction, techno-thriller, and ghost story all at the same time. A serialized sequence of graphic novels about how loud and strange the world is getting, about the wild future and the haunted past all crashing into the present day at once, and about five eccentric geniuses dealing with the paranormal and numinous as well as the growing weight of what they did to the planet with the Injection. |
The Total War™: ROME II Collector’s Edition will be produced in a single, extremely limited run; only 22,000 individually numbered copies will be manufactured.
The CE contains a wealth of bespoke, Roman-themed games and items, bound in a leather-effect presentation box, complete with gold logo and magnetic closure; including:
Numbered copy of Total War™: ROME II The most ambitious and expansive game in the Total War™ series to date, ROME II brings the statecraft, politics, intrigue, diplomacy and epic battles of the ancient world to life in thrilling detail. This version comes in a debossed Steelbook™ case, laser-etched with your unique collector’s number in Roman numerals.
Tabula set The Roman forerunner to Backgammon, this Tabula set comprises 30 bone-effect game-pieces supplied in their own burlap drawstring bag, while the board is built into the base of the Collector’s Edition box.
Tesserae Dice Three replica bone-effect dice for use in a variety of games. The design is based on original Roman Tesserae, found at the archaeological site of Herculaneum.
Total War Cards™: Punic Wars Designed from the ground up to echo elements from ROME II, Total War Cards is a game of skill and luck for two players. Involving combat, territorial control, resource management and technological development, PUNIC WARS consists of 58 high-quality playing cards and a game-board printed with the PUNIC WARS tech-tree.
Canvas Campaign Map A reminder of the worlds you must conquer, this ribbon-tied canvas map depicts each of the 57 provinces of the ROME II campaign.
Roman Onager A complete, fully-functional Onager, or Roman siege catapult. This easy-to-assemble kit is constructed from weathered wood and steel, measures 26cm x 12cm x 12cm, and is capable of unleashing mall projectiles at a variety of inanimate objects which may have affronted the glory of your empire.
A remarkable way to mark over 10 years of Total War games and Creative Assembly’s 25th Anniversary, the Total War™: ROME II Collector’s Edition is only available through selected retailers.
We will endevor to keep this page up to date with availbility listed, but please bear in mind we will only be doing a single run of these and once they are sold out we will not be making anymore.
US [SEGA Store]
Spain [Xtralife] [Gameshop] [TUTIENDADEVIDEOJUEGOS] [FNAC]
Belgium [Smartoys] [Playerone]
Sweden [CDON] [Game] [Discshop] [Webhallen]
Finland [Verkkokauppa] [Discshop] [CDON] [VPD]
Norwary [Gamezone] [Spaceworld] [CDON]
Denmark [CDON]
Head to the Pre-orders page for more infomation on the Greek States & where to get a standard copy.
Total War Cards: Punic Wars |
Artist Kerry Callen has created a great set to comic art that shows us whether Superman or Batman is a better superhero. This is what the artist had to say about her series:
For decades, fans have argued who is the better superhero, Superman or Batman. It recently occurred to me that the best way to determine this is to see how they’d fare if one replaced the other on their comic covers. Will one fare better than the other? This should decide once and for all who's superior! I selected six covers and then created six alternative images.
You can check all of those comic cover and alternate covers below. They are sure to give you a laugh, and I can’t argue with who the winner end up being.
First up, Superman #32. Superman is being hit by multiple lightning bolts-- |
Makoto Shinkai 's your name. ( Kimi no Na wa. ) anime film sold 637,000 tickets on 296 screens for 860 million yen (about US$8.57 million) over the September 24-25 weekend to maintain its #1 ranking for its fifth time. In total, the film has sold 8,500,000 tickets for 11.1 billion yen (about US$111 million) as of September 25.
The film is now 2016's highest-grossing film in Japan. The film reached 10 billion yen faster than Disney's Frozen , which closed in Japan after earning 25.4 billion yen in the box office to become Japan's #3 highest-grossing film of all time after Spirited Away and Titanic . Frozen reached 10 billion yen in 37 days while your name. reached the same milestone in 28 days.
Kyoto Animation 's anime film adaptation of Yoshitoki Ōima 's A Silent Voice ( Koe no Katachi ) manga fell from #2 to #3 in its second weekend. The film opened on September 17 on 120 screens.
The third live-action Ushijima the Loan Shark film ( Yamikin Ushijima-kun Part 3 ) film opened on September 22 on 184 screens and ranked at #4 for the weekend.
The live-action film of Naoshi Arakawa 's Your Lie in April ( Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso ) manga fell from #5 to #6 in its third week. The film opened in Japan on September 10 on 294 screens. The film is projected to earn 1.5 billion yen (about US$15 million).
Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi 's Shin Godzilla film fell from #6 to #9 in its ninth week. As of September 6, the film sold more than 4.2 million tickets, the highest among all Heisei-era Godzilla films.
Sources: Eiga.com, Movie Walker via Yaraon! |
Washington (CNN) Two weeks from today, Iowans will gather at caucus sites around the state in the first formal balloting of the 2016 presidential election. As the candidates make their final pitches, voters in the early states will solidify their choices -- if they haven't already -- and the rest of us will finally be able to point to real results when assessing a candidate's appeal.
Heading into these crucial final weeks, here's a look at where things stand according to the polls.
Martin O'Malley delivered a dig at the GOP candidates, recounting a voter asking him to not refer to her son, who serves in the military, as a pair of boots on the ground. O'Malley said Republicans use, "boots on the ground," when they're "trying to look all bravado and macho sending other peoples' kids into combat."
Martin O'Malley delivered a dig at the GOP candidates, recounting a voter asking him to not refer to her son, who serves in the military, as a pair of boots on the ground. O'Malley said Republicans use, "boots on the ground," when they're "trying to look all bravado and macho sending other peoples' kids into combat."
A new NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll on Sunday showed Clinton leading Sanders 59% to 34%, with the third candidate in the race, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, at 2%.
A new NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll on Sunday showed Clinton leading Sanders 59% to 34%, with the third candidate in the race, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, at 2%.
Sanders angrily rejected Clinton's claims that his plans would result in the gutting of Obamacare, saying that he wanted to build on the achievements of the current president, not overturn them. "No one is tearing this up, we are going to go forward," Sanders said, his voice rising in anger. "That is nonsense."
Sanders angrily rejected Clinton's claims that his plans would result in the gutting of Obamacare, saying that he wanted to build on the achievements of the current president, not overturn them. "No one is tearing this up, we are going to go forward," Sanders said, his voice rising in anger. "That is nonsense."
Clinton and Sanders also argued over health care. "We finally have a path to universal health care, we have accomplished so much already. I do not want to see the Republicans repeal it and I don't want us to start all over again with a contentious debate," said Clinton.
Clinton and Sanders also argued over health care. "We finally have a path to universal health care, we have accomplished so much already. I do not want to see the Republicans repeal it and I don't want us to start all over again with a contentious debate," said Clinton.
Clinton and Sanders began the evening trading barbs on gun control. Clinton slammed Sanders for voting "with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times." Sanders hit back, arguing that he had a D-minus voting rating from the National Rifle Association and rejected her list of charges.
Clinton and Sanders began the evening trading barbs on gun control. Clinton slammed Sanders for voting "with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times." Sanders hit back, arguing that he had a D-minus voting rating from the National Rifle Association and rejected her list of charges.
In Iowa, new CNN Poll of Polls averages find no clear leader on either the Democratic or Republican side, while nationally, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump continue to hold solid leads over their top competitors.
Those figures reflect the state of the race over the last few weeks, but much can change in the final weeks of a campaign. Even in Iowa, where the campaign has been a focus for longer than almost anywhere else in the country, the latest Bloomberg/Des Moines Register poll shows 4-in-10 people likely to attend the Democratic caucuses say they could still change their minds before they cast a ballot, as do a majority of Republican likely caucusgoers.
The tightening Democratic race
The Democratic race, long expected to be less competitive than the GOP race, is tightening in the home stretch, both nationally and in Iowa.
The Iowa CNN Poll of Polls, which incorporates the first polling conducted in 2016, finds Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders running dead even, with 45% each, while former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley languishes in single digits. The same analysis conducted using polling released in December yields an average of 52% support for Clinton to 37% for Sanders.
The O'Malley factor
Despite O'Malley's slim support, the Democratic Party's rules for allocating delegates mean his backers could ultimately sway the contest in favor of one of the two front-runners.
The caucus process for Democrats is a two-stage affair: After an initial count of each candidate's support in the room, those whose chosen candidate has the backing of less than 15% of those in the room must either choose someone else to support or elect to remain uncommitted.
Given his low support statewide, it seems unlikely O'Malley will hit the 15% threshold in many caucus locations, making his supporters a potential source of an edge for either Clinton or Sanders.
While polling among O'Malley's backers has too small a sample size to get a read on which side they would choose, the numbers from the latest Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll suggest O'Malley's backers are more open to reconsidering their choice than are those behind Clinton or Sanders.
When likely caucusgoers were asked if they "could still be persuaded to support another candidate," 40% overall said they could be swayed, compared with only about 3-in-10 of those behind Clinton and Sanders, suggesting O'Malley's backers were a bit more apt to say their minds could be changed.
The national picture and the long game
Nationally, Clinton continues to maintain a significant lead over Sanders, yet here too, the contest has tightened, though not as dramatically as in Iowa. Overall, Clinton tops Sanders 54% to 36% across polls conducted between mid-December and now. Conducting the same analysis on polling released earlier in December, Clinton topped Sanders 56% to 31%.
For Clinton and her campaign, the continuing breadth of her lead nationally has to be reassuring. Should Sanders top Clinton in Iowa, he would likely take both of the first two contests.
Most recent polling in New Hampshire has found him well ahead of Clinton there, a neighbor state to his home state of Vermont. But after that contest on February 9, the race shifts to South Carolina, Nevada and a wide swath of southern states that vote on March 1.
Looking ahead to those contests, the demographic makeup of Clinton's national support -- including a massive lead among the non-white voters who will make up large chunks of the vote in many of those states -- suggests defeat in the first two states to vote may not guarantee the demise of the former secretary of state's campaign.
GOP deadlocked in Iowa
On the Republican side, national front-runner Donald Trump has maintained a strong advantage overall as the campaign rolls toward its final days, yet he faces stiff competition for the hearts of Iowa caucusgoers from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
The CNN Poll of Polls average in Iowa finds Cruz with 27%, just ahead of Trump at 25%, with Marco Rubio at 14% and Ben Carson at 10%. The rest of the field stands at 5% or less. That's less of a change since December than the averages suggest on the Democratic side. Averaging polls of Republican likely caucusgoers released in December, 26% said they backed Cruz, 25% Trump, virtually the same as the January figures.
The turnout factor
What could break the tie? Those backing Trump would argue his enthusiastic supporters will be certain to show up, just as they do to hear him speak, packing arenas across the country.
The Quinnipiac poll in Iowa found that 66% of Trump's supporters say they are more enthusiastic about this caucus than they have been in the past, a little above the 57% of Cruz's supporters who say the same. And the businessman-turned-politician has won over Republican voters looking for a strong leader on their most important issues: Quinipiac's poll in Iowa found Trump broadly ahead of his competitors as more trusted to handle the economy, immigration and terrorism. And 81% said they consider him a strong leader.
Cruz's best bet in Iowa rests on reliable turnout. His support comes more strongly among the groups who have tended to be more reliable voters in the past -- evangelicals, those with more formal education, and those who describe themselves as "very conservative."
The big picture for the Republicans
Nationally, Trump's lead stands at 14 points in the Poll of Polls, with Trump at 34%, Cruz at 20%, Rubio at 12%, Carson at 10% and the rest of the field at 4% or less. Compared with averages from earlier in December, before the final GOP debate of 2015, Trump has held steady while Cruz has gained a few points over that time. Cruz averaged 17% across five national polls conducted just before that debate, held on December 14.
Looking ahead, there's been little polling elsewhere that's found anything other than a Trump lead, and in New Hampshire, Trump's support in recent polls has been among the highest of the cycle. |
On the Same Day Bannon Removed From NSC, Trump Sabre Rattles War with Syria
This isn’t what I signed up for. If it’s Trump’s intention to continue the neocon policies that have left this country indebted to its eyeballs fighting meaningless wars, costing the lives of America’s bravest, count me out.
Bannon’s removal at the NSC on the same day that Trump upped his rhetoric for war with Assad isn’t a coincidence. Bannon has been an anti war advocate and wanted America out of the Middle East. Now here we are, being led down a ruinous road by 35 year old Jared Kushner and Trump’s generals, positioning for conflict in Syria over a chemical weapons attack.
In regard to the chemical attack that has left dozens dead, many of whom were children, no one knows with certainty who was responsible. There is so much fuckery going on there, you’ll drive yourself mad trying to figure it out.
Then there’s this.
Disgraced Dr. @DrShajulIslam received gas masks two days before "chemical attack" in Al Qaeda held #Idlib
The propaganda continues. #Syria pic.twitter.com/jPncQgtuXo — H e b a (@HKX07) April 5, 2017
Wow. This anti-Assad "reporter" tweeted about the sarin attack in #Syria 24 hours before it happened. Still think nothing fishy is going on? pic.twitter.com/xrGWemylFW — Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) April 5, 2017
Here is President Trump’s response.
President Trump calls the Syria chemical attack "so horrific" https://t.co/01vVkC2lHN pic.twitter.com/QGrG5utki1 — Bloomberg (@business) April 5, 2017
Trump: #Syria chemical attack "crossed many, many lines, beyond a red line." pic.twitter.com/sJa14Hfhaw — Omar Ghabra (@omarghabra) April 5, 2017
Asked his message to Iranian militias in Syria, Trump says "You'll see. They will have a message, you will see what the message will be." pic.twitter.com/zrDqwllTtK — Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) April 5, 2017
Trump told @GlennThrush and me that Syria was an "affront to humanity," as he just did at presser. Also of Russia's role: "disappointing" — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 5, 2017
Thus far, we have a President pursuing conflict escalations in both N. Korea and Syria. Everyone wants to be Churchill. We get to feel the brunt, however.
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Is it a good sign when you spend most of Monday night looking at hot coaching prospects for the coming season? Because really, that's one of the few things you have to look forward to as a Bears fan right now. I always like to say the right thing, and believe the 14-game winning streak starts against the Cowboys on Sunday night. I'd like to believe that much in the same way I'd like to believe Katy Perry's marriage to Russell Brand didn't work out because she's waiting around to see if I'll ever be single again.
And really, there is nothing sadder than having hope headed into a Monday night game, only for the Bears to perform the way that they did. It's the kind of thing that might make me consider jumping to the Los Angeles Rams. (You can read my words about being a Rams fan in the 1990s right here, or the diary of me being at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Rams' first 2016 home game right here if you like. But I'll give you the short version. Me being a Bears fan has warmed my family's heart way too much to ever think of leaving them ever. Although I will be super tempted if the Raiders move to Las Vegas. I mean come on, an NFL stadium on the Strip? Sign me up. I'm also a UNLV football fan, so it would make for great synergy. Similarly to the way I supported both the Rams and Angels who played in the same stadium. Speaking of which, I miss the multi-purpose stadiums. They had more character back then.)
But Monday night was pretty sad. Even the trolls on Twitter pulled off after a while. I mean, they knew I had eyes and could see what happened on the field. Although the team looked pretty good in the first half. Carson Wentz did drive the team down the field a few times, but just got field goals. It wasn't until injuries and turnovers really put the Bears behind the eight-ball. But hot damn, it looked like Doug Pederson had just out-coached John Fox. I really wonder if the Broncos win in last year's Super Bowl really took the wind out of Fox's tail (super hacky, but sue me). Like that Broncos group could have been his team. It was his team. He could have overseen that Broncos team winning the Super Bowl. It's not like Gary Kubiak suddenly became a Bill Belichick-level genius or something.
Poor Fox. If he retires after this season, I'll be super excited he did it after Adam Gase walked away. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted some sort of Dick Vermeil situation where you retired a coach to promote the offensive coordinator like the St. Louis football club did with Mike Martz. But it's not like Fox won a Super Bowl with this team, either. But it would have been cool to keep Gase. But that's unfair to speculate right now. Because that winning streak is right around the corner!
One other takeaway from Monday was Wentz. A lot of people have wondered if he will now be a viable option in fantasy. Yeah dude, he scored like 16 points on Monday night. Actually, it was 14.6 points. It wasn't like he torched the Bears. He was fine. Plus, Matt Ryan was available in 70 percent of fantasy leagues on Tuesday night. And he has a matchup against the Saints. You can pick up quarterbacks along the way.
Actually, Ryan would be a guy I would turn to this week. He's got a great matchup. Even though Ryan is the Anne Hathaway of the NFL. He looks super-hot at times, and then just regrettable other times (I know it was for a role, but "Les Miserables"). Actually, she still looked good there, too. Maybe I'm thinking of Hilary Swank.
In any event, consistency has never been Ryan's strong suit. And beware, he does have a matchup against the Panthers in Week 4. So you don't want to drop your current starter for him. It might be best to stick with your current option, like Matthew Stafford. But if you started Cutler in your fantasy league last week, maybe you should find a new hobby.
And I realize as I'm writing this right now I'm dooming Ryan to a stat line of 187 passing yards, a touchdown and two interceptions because FOOTBALL.
Rank's 11 Sleepers, Week 3
Rank's 11
QB: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
QB: Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans
RB: Dwayne Washington, Detroit Lions
RB: Dexter McCluster, San Diego Chargers
WR: Quincy Enunwa, New York Jets
WR: Michael Thomas, New Orleans Saints
WR: Phillip Dorsett, Indianapolis Colts
WR: Tajae Sharpe, Tennessee Titans (this is the last time, folks)
TE: Jared Cook, Green Bay Packers
TE: Coby Fleener, New Orleans Saints
D/ST: Miami Dolphins
Dwayne Washington, RB, Detroit Lions
He made the list of Dumpster Dive players we highlighted on "Fantasy and Friends" last week because he took a lot of the goal-line work. Now he's taking added importance because Ameer Abdullah was placed on IR with a foot injury. (You can dump Abdullah now.) Obviously, some will want to turn to Theo Riddick, but he already has an established role on the team. Washington will get the early-down work. The problem this week is he has the Packers, who have been very tough on the run so far this season. So I see a big Riddick game this week, but Washington is clearly the hot add.
Dexter McCluster, RB, San Diego Chargers
It would be foolish to believe just anybody could come in and take Danny Woodhead's spot, but don't forget Ken Whisenhunt had a special fondness for McCluster in Tennessee. That should also help speed his transition to San Diego. I got a good Twitter recommendation for a burrito place in San Diego the other day, too. I talked about Sombrero, which might or might not have been ruined by the Blink 182 song "Josie" but if somebody could send that along again, I would appreciate it. Again, in the interest of helping along McCluster's transition.
Quincy Enunwa, WR, New York Jets
Not too much of a sleeper after another solid game on Thursday Night Football. But he becomes an instant starter if Brandon Marshall can't go this week. The thing that really bums me out is he should count as a tight end. Have you seen the size of this guy? I even had some dude on Twitter bemoan the fact he wasn't available as a tight end and I need to jump on that bandwagon.
Michael Thomas, WR, New Orleans Saints
Thomas is slowly coming along for the Saints. He's had some nice games but has yet to get into the end zone. Hey, that sounds like Odell Beckham Jr.! But I do like the matchup this week against the Falcons. Well, I mostly like the fact that the Saints defense can be picked apart. Don't get caught up in Eli Manning failing to get into the end zone. That's so Eli. I do like the 368 yards he put up. Matt Ryan could reach that number. Which means the Saints will have to throw to catch up. But here is something I saw this week:
5 players with double digit targets and 90%+ completion rate:
T Benjamin 93%
Q Enunwa 93%
S Shepard 92%
M Thomas 91%
T Riddick 90% â Jersey Jen (@FFdeJENerate) September 20, 2016
So that also bodes well for Enunwa. I like it.
Jared Cook, TE, Green Bay Packers
Cook has ruined us all season long. Well, two games. But that's still all season. I say you give him another chance because of the Doyle rules. The rule any tight end can make a name for himself in fantasy circles because the Lions can't stop a tight end. The Lions have allowed the most fantasy points to tight ends this season. An average of 21.95 points to tight ends. The next closest competitor is the Falcons with 15.90 (hey, you can start Coby Fleener again). So if you want to give Cook one last chance, I won't stop you.
Be sure to watch "Fantasy and Friends" at 6 p.m. ET on NFL Network, Monday-Wednesday and Friday. (Sorry, the Thursday night game preempts us.) But you can be a part of the show by going to NFL.com/fantasyandfriends. Also follow Adam Rank on Twitter @adamrank.
Follow Adam Rank on Twitter @adamrank |
It’s a common theme among many small apparel brands, and women’s-specific brands in particular: a frustration with the current state of the market. Not happy with choosing from the limited selection of gear that’s available, a passionate individual (or group of individuals) sets out to change the status quo. It was no different in the case of Femme Velo.
“When I started shopping for gear and clothing I was underwhelmed and increasingly disappointed by my lack of options,” Nicole said. “The jerseys I found were an atrocious shade of pink or baby blue, which just wasn’t for me.
“I’m the kind of person that if I see something that can be better I don’t wait around for someone else to fix it — I jump right in and fix it myself. Both my parents were entrepreneurs and so starting a business of my own never seemed far-fetched.
“When I had the dismal experience of trying to find kit I liked and that I could do long rides in without it literally being a pain in my ass, I decided, why not make it better?”
When she was still new to the sport, Nicole found out that while riding alone can be hugely rewarding, it’s the social nature of the sport that binds us to our bikes. It provides the motivation to get out of bed when it’s still cold and dark outside.
Femme Velo initially began as a yearly women’s cycling sportive in 2012, before launching its line of apparel earlier this year.
“I love where we came from in this sport,” Nicole tells us. “Femme Velo isn’t about empowering women, because women don’t need brands to empower them. Women need brands that complement them, that fit into their lifestyle, and most importantly women need choices.
“That’s who we are and what we stand for and if we can get one more woman to walk past a bike shop and wonder at the possibility of what might come if she gets on bike and starts riding, then we’ve done something great with our voice and our brand.” |
Nearly 3m drivers in Pakistan who opted for alternative to petrol face rationing and likely end of government-subsidised fuel
When Pakistan first started promoting compressed natural gas to the nation's motorists in the 1990s, the alternative to petrol seemed like a wonder fuel.
Getting motorists to convert their cars to run on cleaner, cheaper gas would cure urban pollution and lower demand for the imported oil that was gobbling the country's foreign currency reserves.
Car owners loved it and today 80% of all cars in Pakistan run off compressed natural gas (CNG), according to the Natural and Bio Gas Vehicle Association (NGVA), a European lobby group. Only Iran has more gas cars running on the road.
But as the country struggles with a chronic gas shortage, Pakistan's 20-year CNG experiment seems to have been thrown into reverse gear.
The government has introduced strict rationing. And there have even been discussions about shutting down thousands of gas stations for the whole of thewinter. "CNG is finished in Pakistan," said Owais Qureshi, the owner of a handful of once lucrative gas stations in Rawalpindi. "I'm not going to invest any more money in it."
It has been years since he has been legally allowed to sell and install CNG conversion "kits": essentially large gas cylinders that are placed in the boot of a car to feed the engine. The system allows for cars to still be able to use petrol instead, if required.
Although CNG is popular with an estimated 2.8m motorists in Pakistan, according to the NGVA, the increasingly scarce resource is also in demand from other sectors – including the country's factories and for domestic use.
"The government has been left with little choice but to put a lid on it because there simply isn't much gas left," said Farrukh Saleem, an economist. "It has been a massive policy failure because the government actively promoted CNG knowing full well that natural gas reserves would not last beyond 25 years."
Successive governments heavily subsided CNG, ran schemes to encourage car conversions and dished out licences to political allies to build gas stations.
But abandoned stations are now a common sight around the country. So too are queues of hundreds of motorists waiting to fill their cars on Wednesdays – the last remaining day of the week in many places on which CNG is legally allowed to be sold.
This weekly ordeal for CNG users is compounded by a chronic lack of electricity, the other aspect of Pakistan's energy crisis. And because electricity is needed to run the gas compressors used by CNG stations car re-filling grinds to a halt during the many power cuts.
But cash-strapped motorists are usually prepared to queue for many hours for the gas to be turned back on, with many saying they cannot afford the higher price of petrol.
"All over the world countries are promoting CNG but in Pakistan they are killing it off," said Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, chairman of All Pakistan CNG Association.
"If we don't have enough gas we should import LNG [liquid natural gas]."
Pakistan, however, has failed to build the infrastructure needed to import large amounts of gas from overseas. A legal challenge by Pakistan's activist supreme court killed off one scheme to build a massive LNG terminal in Karachi.
The other lifeline for Pakistan's CNG supply is a controversial, multi-billion dollar pipeline to import natural gas from Iran. But Pakistan lacks the cash to build its half of the pipeline and the US has warned that completing the project would be in breach of US economic sanctions imposed on Iran.
Even as natural gas is being touted elsewhere in the world as a great alternative to petrol, soon it may be a mere memory in Pakistan.
Paracha fondly recalls the grand opening of the first CNG station in Karachi, which was built with foreign aid money. "It was the start of a revolution," he said. "Before CNG came you could not see the sky in the cities because the air was so polluted." |
Whether in the digital world of Neverwinter or on pen ‘n’ paper, every character is a unique avatar to adventure with. In Neverwinter, when you first create your adventurer, you’ll have a wide range of options to customize both stats and appearance.
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Character creation in Neverwinter starts with the D&D standby of choosing a Race/Class/Gender combo. We’ve already revealed a number of the races, and we’ve previewed a few classes, including the Control Wizard and the Guardian Fighter.
Your choice of race will give you some bonuses to your core stats – Strength, Constitution, etc. In addition, races unlock racial abilities, like the Versatile Defense ability for Humans, granting a bonus to your Defense. With these racial abilities, you can customize your adventurer towards your play style, giving you a better Critical Hit chance if you like flashy attacks, or granting you the extra resilience to wade into the thick of it.
Your stats are also customizable, both through your choice of race and through rolling. When you reach the ability scores section, you’ll be able to roll or reroll your scores, allowing you to build a stat line that matches your character’s concept. If your adventurer was the village bully before finding the study of magic, you can roll up Strength 12 for your Control Wizard.
The key ability scores in Neverwinter match those of Dungeons and Dragons: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. 10 in a stat is the adventurer’s average, with 18 (before racial bonuses) being the maximum for Level 1 characters.
Your choice of race also gives your stats some customization. Races give +2 to one primary stat, and +2 to one of two other stats. A Tiefling always gets +2 Charisma, for example, but you can choose whether to get an additional +2 to Constitution or to Intelligence. Build a well-rounded Control Wizard with Constitution, for instance, or specialize by adding it to Intelligence.
You’ll also be able to customize your character’s physical appearance. You’ll have the option of using several preset appearance packages or making deeper customizations. Page down for a list of customization options – please remember that this is not final, but it’ll help you get a sense of the scale of character customization.
If you’ve created a character in Champions Online or Star Trek Online, Cryptic Studios’ currently-live titles, you’ll have a sense of how many options you’ll have in Neverwinter. Make your character unique with tattoos, plenty of hairstyles, complexions and more – and that’s just in current test builds. When Neverwinter launches, your adventurer’s appearance can be as unique as her adventures.
With the dark and mysterious Tieflings, for example, character creation will let you really customize how infernal your character is. If she’s actively working to overcome her background, use some of the different horn variants and remove any tattoos and scars. You can also scale her eyes to be larger and more expressive, with a softer color.
Alternatively, if she’s embracing her bloodline’s cruelty, add some height with heels, plus slim and lengthen her hands for a classically knife-slender demi-demon. You can also set her up with a selection of tattoos, and you’ll be able to change their shape and color.
This is just the tip of the customization iceberg, too. Stay tuned for more Neverwinter news, including more about how you can craft your dream adventurer!
Appearance customization options:
Head Shape
Hair (shape and color)
Eyes (shape and color – some customizable per eye)
Eyebrows (fineness and color)
Facial Hair (shape and color)
Skin complexion and color – old/tan, weathered/black, etc.
(For certain races) Horn alignment
Facial tattoos and their color
Scar shapes
Sliders for your facial dimensions – neck length, cheek size, etc.
Sliders for your body dimensions – hand thickness, leg length, etc.
Read up on all of our recent Neverwinter info: |
Gluten-free products are proliferating like mad, and now merit whole aisles in upscale grocery stores. More and more of my friends and acquaintances are dropping gluten out of their diets and saying how much better they feel. They sleep better, feel more energetic and lose weight. They make such a compelling case for gluten-free life that I end up wondering, when I’m bloated and my pants don’t fit, whether I should consider dropping gluten myself.
There are two well-established conditions that require people to avoid gluten. Celiac disease, an immune response to gluten that produces severe inflammation of the small intestine, afflicts about 0.75 percent of the population. A wheat allergy, sometimes called baker’s asthma, affects about 0.4 percent of the population and is usually characterized by symptoms like breathing problems and a runny nose.
But gluten sensitivity in people who don’t have celiac disease or a wheat allergy is fuzzier. Some websites suggest that 18 million people are sensitive to gluten. Most patients complain of stomach problems and gas. Some add in fatigue, brain fog and depressed mood. There are no confirmed tests for the condition. Many people who say they are gluten sensitive never receive a test for celiac disease, wheat allergy or other sensitivities. They cut out gluten and they feel better. This is often the case for people with irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, a condition characterized by stomach pain, bloating, gas and diarrhea or constipation.
In 2011, Jessica Biesiekierski and colleagues at Monash University in Victoria, Australia, confirmed what is now known as non-celiac gluten intolerance in patients with IBS. In a study of 34 patients published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, the authors showed that gluten, added to a previously gluten-free diet, caused gastrointestinal distress and fatigue in 68 percent of patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
But now, in results published May 6 in Gastroenterology, the same group of researchers shows that gluten had no effect in IBS patients who claimed they had non-celiac gluten sensitivity. The results seem to contradict the group’s earlier work. But the science may simply be a bit more complex than previously thought: People with irritable bowel syndrome may indeed feel better on a gluten-free diet — but gluten might not have been the culprit.
The researchers tested three different diets, controlled by handing out frozen meals to the 37 patients, all of whom had irritable bowel syndrome. The study was designed as a cross-over, so all patients got a week on each test diet (high gluten, low gluten or no gluten) with two weeks in between. The end of the study was a three-day repeat, where each patient got three days of gluten and another three days without. While there were some upset stomachs, no symptoms could be directly attributed to the gluten in the patients’ diets. Instead, the results suggested a nocebo effect: If you think your stomach will be upset, you probably will have tummy trouble, no matter what diet you’re on.
Some might say that this study’s results mean that gluten sensitivity in general is “bogus.” But the study authors propose that something else entirely is to blame for gastrointestinal distress in IBS patients. Instead of gluten, look to fermentable short chain carbohydrates, called FODMAPs. These molecules are in wheat, barley and rye, as well as other foods including apples, cabbage and beans.
FODMAPs are always going to cause some trouble. They aren’t absorbed well in the small intestine, and when they hit the large intestine, they get fermented by bacteria. That fermentation process is what gives us bean farts and cabbage gas. But while the burrito bloat will happen to everyone, study coauthor Peter Gibson, a gastroenterologist at Monash University, hypothesizes that people with IBS are more sensitive to the gastrointestinal stretching produced by FODMAPs, resulting in more pain and symptoms. Since cutting out gluten also tends to cut out some FODMAPs, he says, people with IBS may well assume that gluten was the culprit.
In the new study, the test diet was also carefully designed to be low in FODMAPs. Gibson’s laboratory also reported in the Sept. 26 Gastroenterology that 30 IBS patients cut their gastrointestinal symptoms in half when they spent 21 days on a diet low in FODMAPs.
Gibson has written a book promoting a low FODMAP diet, but more research is needed before the next diet craze takes hold. Other studies have shown positive effects of gluten-free diets in IBS patients. Some patients who self-identify as gluten-sensitive could well have other diagnoses that have not been ruled out, including FODMAP sensitivity, sensitivity to fructose or sensitivity to other proteins in wheat.
Maureen Leonard, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is particularly concerned that a gluten-free diet may not, in fact, be any lower in FODMAPs. “Many foods that are naturally gluten free such as fruits, vegetables and beans are quite high in FODMAPS,” she says. “In patients we see with true gluten sensitivity, gluten or wheat is the culprit causing the gastrointestinal distress.” She also has worries about the patient selection for the new study and the group’s earlier work. The patients were all self-selected as being sensitive to gluten. “Non-celiac gluten sensitivity can be defined as follows: individuals without celiac disease whose symptoms improve on a gluten-free diet after ruling out other conditions,” Leonard says. Because the patients’ symptoms were not necessarily controlled on a gluten-free diet at the start of the study, “the subjects in these studies do not meet these criteria.”
But Reiner Ullrich, an immunologist at Charite University Medicine in Berlin, Germany, says that Gibson lab studies are useful “as pilot studies in need of confirmation. We should consider FODMAP content when examining the gluten-free diet.” But he is also concerned that the studies tested the diets for only a few weeks (at most) at a time. Ullrich would like to see the diets tested for at least eight weeks. “I fear there is no shortcut to establish dietary or drug effect in IBS,” he notes.
And targeting FODMAPs doesn’t mean that gluten sensitivity is off the table. “The story is ongoing,” Gibson says, “we produced a piece of evidence to say that gluten is being overly blamed, but we have patients who we still believe have non-celiac gluten sensitivity.” It’s also important to remember that the study was in people with IBS. Many of the people who give up gluten have never been diagnosed with IBS, and whether they are gluten sensitive or not remains up in the air.
And of course, wheat is made of much more than gluten. Peter Green, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y., says that while FODMAPs and gluten may indeed play a role, there could be other proteins in wheat that cause discomfort in some patients. “People with IBS are a very heterogeneous population,” he explains. “It’s a complex issue, and this study adds to the confusion.” But Green also notes the most important thing is that patient symptoms are not being ignored. “People are doing research on it,” he says. “We are trying to work it out.” |
The recent Veterans Affairs legislation is not the only time socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has found common ground with Republican lawmakers.
He has also backed efforts to revamp the Labor Department's monthly unemployment report. Conservatives like Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., also back this.
Maybe they should get to work on this too.
They certainly have a point: The Labor Department actually releases six different numbers every month. These are called "U-1" through "U-6" and range from a narrow definition of the unemployed population and to a much broader one.
The department's monthly report always uses the U-3 figure as the "official" number though. Virtually all media outlets take their cue from the department on this. That's why this month's U-3 result – 6.3 percent – dominated the news reports.
Why that figure and not one of the other five? Good question – labor economists have told me the designation is basically arbitrary.
U-3 is officially defined as "total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force." A more precise definition would people who are out of work but still actively looking for a job.
U-4, on the other hand, includes those who are out of work but have given up looking. U-5 is a slightly broader definition of the same. Those numbers this month are 6.7 and 7.6 percent, respectively.
U-6 expands the figure even further to include the under-employed, such as people who are only able to find part-time work. The Labor Department put that figure at 12.2 percent this month.
Those would all seem to be a much more accurate reflection of the workforce and the economy since they include people who would be employed if they could only find full-time work. Ask yourself: Does this feel like an economy at 6.3 percent?
As Washington Examiner economics writer Joseph Lawler noted Friday: "Friday's record high number of jobs does not represent anything like a healthy U.S. labor market. Employment remains well below its pre-financial crisis growth trend."
The liberal Economic Policy Institute points out that the economy would have to generate 7.1 million jobs to keep pace with population growth since the financial crisis.
A spokesman for Sanders told the Examiner that the senator still favors a change – "He thinks the 12.2 percent figure is the real number" – but was not certain if Sanders had backed legislation to that effect.
Hunter has backed a bill, H.R. 484, titled "The Real Unemployment Calculation Act." It would designate U-5 as the official number. It has 21 sponsors but hasn't made it out of committee.
Maybe Sanders and Hunter should have a cup of coffee and talk about this. |
Washington (CNN) It was their last, best chance at a big, bipartisan deal: President Barack Obama and congressional Republican leaders all agreed on free trade.
Just a little more than a year ago, that philosophical alignment looked like enough for Obama's signature trade deal and centerpiece of his Asian pivot policy -- the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership -- to clear Congress.
Then the 2016 presidential campaign intervened. Now, as Obama participates in his last Southeast Asian summit to promote the pivot and its massive trade pact, the TPP looks like it's headed to the political graveyard.
Obama tried to sound optimistic Wednesday about the deal's future, while also conveying to leaders in Asia the reality of the obstacles.
"I believe that we'll get it done but it's always going to be hard," Obama said at a news conference in Laos, suggesting the deal's path might be easier after the US election. "Nothing is easy in the US Congress right now. Maybe there was a time when it was but I haven't seen it."
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump roused a populist base with his strident anti-trade message, declaring the Pacific Rim deal "terrible" and a "rape" of American workers. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, seeking to minimize the threat of primary opponent Bernie Sanders, announced that she, too, opposes the TPP. And, sensing the political risk of supporting a controversial deal both presidential nominees oppose, several lawmakers changed their positions.
Trump is expected to call Wednesday for eliminating the sequester on defense spending and bolstering the US' defenses by proposing a "major investment" in US military spending.
As Obama tries to cajole last concessions from partner countries on his final trip to Asia, the same congressional leaders who'd nudged him along on the TPP now say it's unlikely to be ratified.
"The current agreement, the Trans-Pacific agreement, which has some serious flaws, will not be acted upon this year," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell flatly declared at a Kentucky Farm Bureau event last week.
Right now, with even pro-trade stalwarts like McConnell opposed to ratification during Obama's term, advocates of the TPP admit that they don't have the votes necessary to clear the House and the Senate.
The summer has featured a rush of Republicans -- particularly those in competitive races -- bolting from the trade deal.
Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican and long-time trade supporter, wrote in August in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette op-ed : "We should dump the TPP and return to the negotiating table to get an agreement that would create jobs and economic growth here at home."
Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt told reporters he's having second thoughts about the deal . Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, once a Trump challenger, hasn't taken an official position, but he stripped mention of trade -- and his support for earlier steps greasing the wheels for TPP -- from his website, RealClearPolitics recently reported
And Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican who once negotiated pacts as the US trade representative under George W. Bush, opposes the TPP.
Conservative activists who waged a battle to deny Obama trade promotion authority in the first place, meanwhile, say they believe Trump awakened a party that had been ignoring its loyalists on trade.
"I think this will last. Every time an issue comes to the forefront, I've never seen the activists forget about it. Once that issue is in the quiver and activists are paying attention to it, it stays there and activists will fight it forever," said Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler. "The stain is here to stay."
The deal's supporters -- including the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers -- aren't giving up. But they acknowledge the uphill battle on Capitol Hill.
Linda Dempsey, the National Association of Manufacturers' vice president of international economic affairs, said that, "additional leadership is needed in Washington to forge a viable path forward."
The US manufacturing sector "continues to lose foreign sales and access to new customers in some of the fastest-growing markets in the world," Dempsey warned about the deal falling through.
Obama and TPP advocates have a problem with the president's typical allies on the left, too.
Only a small group of Democrats -- mostly members of the centrist New Democrat Coalition -- backed trade promotion authority in the first place, making for the unusual coalition of Obama and congressional Republicans.
Since then, those Democrats have been under pressure from labor unions that argue the TPP, which they've dubbed "NAFTA on steroids," would siphon more manufacturing jobs away from the United States.
Sanders stoked opposition to the TPP among unions and progressives during the primaries, making it a mainstay of his stump speech and his go-to answer about what differentiated him from Obama and Clinton.
That forced Clinton -- who'd declared the TPP a "gold standard" trade deal in 2012 while serving as Obama's secretary of state -- to the left. Her announcement in the fall of 2015 that she opposes the deal made Obama's task of getting Democrats on board even tougher.
Opponents, meanwhile, are declaring victory -- at least for now.
"It won't come up because the votes aren't there," Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, a labor union that opposes TPP, said at a Christian Science Monitor Breakfast Thursday. "The candidates running will have to declare where they stand on TPP and the chips will fall where they may."
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has maintained the deal would need substantial renegotiation -- a tough task since each of the other 11 participating nations have their own political sensitivities and Obama has less than five months remaining in office.
"They have to fix this agreement and renegotiate some pieces of it if they have any hope or chance of passing it," Ryan said in an early August interview with Wisconsin Public Radio. "I don't see how they'll ever get the votes for it."
But McConnell made clear last week that the path to the TPP's passage isn't totally closed.
"It will still be around. It can be massaged, changed, worked on during the next administration," he said.
Even if Congress ultimately does approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the next president will have ways of blocking its implementation -- such as procedural steps like refusing to officially notify other countries of the United States' implementation of the deal or not verifying that those countries have satisfied their TPP commitments.
The hope of trade supporters is that a President Clinton or Trump would drop their resistance to the trade deal once in office. If they did, they'd be following a path similar to Obama, who pledged as a presidential candidate to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement but governed as a trade supporter who entered new negotiations with the European Union and Asia-Pacific countries.
But trade was less of a driving issue in the 2008 race, and neither Clinton nor Trump has left much wiggle room for a post-election reversal.
"I will stop any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages -- including the Trans-Pacific Partnership," Clinton said in August in Warren, Michigan. "I oppose it now, I'll oppose it after the election, and I'll oppose it as president."
Trump -- whose strident rejection of the TPP and other trade deals is a staple of his campaign events -- denounced the pact again on conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's show Thursday.
"It's a terrible deal for the United States," he said. "It's a terrible deal for our workers." |
Microsoft, Apple, and every maker of mobile and desktop apps on the planet all have a problem: The moment they issue a security “patch,” or an update to their software designed to plug a hole that could be exploited by hackers, those same hackers work feverishly to reverse-engineer that patch in order to figure out what vulnerability it’s designed to stop. Armed with that knowledge, malicious hackers can then attack whatever PCs, servers or mobile phones have yet to update their software with the new patch.
“It can take days or months for a patch to reach most of the vulnerable machines,” says Amit Sahai, a professor of computer science at UCLA. And while this wasn’t specifically the problem Sahai set out to solve when he embarked on his latest research in cryptography, it’s one of the many potential implications of the ground-breaking work he and his team have just unveiled.
What Sahai and a team of researchers at UCLA, IBM Research, and UT-Austin have created is a method for encrypting software and running it in that encrypted state. In the past, researchers have known that it’s possible to encrypt messages (this is how all secure communication on the web, bank transactions, etc. work) but it was not known whether or not it was possible to encrypt software in a way that it could still run even without being decrypted. Sahai’s “mathematical jigsaw puzzle” approach accomplishes this and, he says, adds a whole new class of protectable secret to the world of cryptography.
“The basic scientific question here is, what type of things can have secrets?” says Sahai. “People can have secrets—if you don’t tell me something, that’s a secret. And if you encrypt a message, that’s a secret. But can a piece of software have a secret? Can you have a computer agent that goes from one computer to another computer, that is just code, that moves around with its own secrets? Is that even possible?”
Sahai’s software creates what he describes as a “multilinear jigsaw puzzle” that makes any attempts to reverse engineer the software return nothing but nonsense. Regular software can be fed into the system, and the resulting jumbled code can be run on any computer. Sahai and colleagues’ peer-reviewed paper on their research will be presented at a meeting of computer scientists in October. Collaborators included Sanjam Garg, Craig Gentry, Shai Halevi, Mariana Raykova, Amit Sahai and Brent Waters.
Previous research has attempted to obfuscate the code of software to make it more difficult to reverse-engineer, but these efforts could only slow down, not stop, an attacker. Sahai’s method results in software that would take “hundreds of years” to decrypt so that it could be reverse-engineered.
Sahai notes that encrypting software patches is just one of many potential applications for his work, which he describes as very basic science. “This is not something we thought of as being possible before, and we’re only starting to understand some of the implications it might have.” |
US Paving the Way for Massive First Strike on North Korea Nuclear and Missile Infrastructure
The emerging Chinese super powers North Korean Proxy continues to accelerate towards being able to punch a hole through the US Military Empires encirclement of China as every other day brings North Korea a step closer towards it's primary objective of hitting and destroying the US Military base on Guam, home to over 10,000 troops and 160,000 US citizens, and which as the following map illustrates is just 1 of 400 US military bases in Asia for the express purpose of encircling and containing China.
The latest news is that of a successful H-bomb test, though western scientists are reporting that the detonation registering on the richter scale was more on par with a 100k device rather an H-bomb that one would expect to have been several orders of magnitude more powerful. Still a 100k device would more than capable of destroying the US military base on Guam, in fact would be powerful enough to destroy most of the infrastructure of any of worlds major the cities.
In response to which US Defence Secretary James Mattis stated that the US is considering military options towards eliminating the North Korean nuclear threat. Including warning of a 'massive military response' if North Korea attacks any US interests, and that Trump was being briefed on each of the "many military options" for dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat.
"Our commitment among the allies are ironclad. Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam, or our allies will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming."
"We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said, we have many options to do so."
Earlier President Trump had warned of halting trade with any nation that does business with North Korea, which is primarily aimed at the $500 billion of goods imported annually from China.
Ultimately the US objective is for North Korea to be taken over by South Korea, whilst for China it is the opposite objective.
So the trend towards war with China remains in motion as I warned of in my in-depth analysis in the Trump Reset series that concluded BEFORE Donald Trump took office of why the US was inevitably trending towards War with China and therefore to understand why events such as a bellicose North Korea are happening one needs to look through prism of the world’s TWO global military and economic super powers. The United States as the defacto global super power, and the emerging Chinese super power that ultimately seeks to displace the United States with its own military and economic global empire.
So that there is no confusion, a war that will likely involve the use of nuclear weapons is INEVITABLE as I iterated in my latest video analysis that concerned the role that the North Korean proxy was playing as China attempts to punch a hole through the ring of US military bases encircling China and its inevitable nuclear war consequences.
https://youtu.be/a-bS0oWewgw (Note the video is unavailable on some devices such as mobile phones).
In respect of which the US looks set to use at least a dozen tactical nuclear weapons on North Korea to neutralise their missile and nuclear infrastructure.
Other videos in the Trump Reset - War with China series:
Delirium - Why Trump Won the Election
My first video in this series was in the immediate aftermath of the US election and explained why Trump won.
The Putin Doctrine
My second video concerned Trump following the "Putin Doctrine", one of there being no difference between that which is truth and that which is fiction.
Will the CIA Assassinate President Trump?
The prospects of the risk of President Trump going against the interests of the US military industrial, intelligence and corporate complex, such as being friendly towards Russia and dismissive of NATO and US intelligence that risks the CIA moving once more to remove a 'rogue' president from office, the last being 1963.
Trump vs the Deep State that Hides in Plain Sight
The "Deep State" best describes the invisible labyrinth of power which truly controls the United States no matter which party is in power against which a President Donald Trump will find himself doing battle against as his first press conference illustrates where Trump let rip into the mainstream press (CNN) as he reacted to the CIA's leaking of another MI6 dodgy dossier to the mainstream press, calling it all 'Fake News', fake intelligence by something that could have come out of Nazi Germany.
And neither should it be forgotten that there are two other nuclear weapon proxies in the region, India for the US and Pakistan for China. Which as the North Korea theatre continues to escalate then soon could also be engineered towards threatening postures in the interest of each of the super powers interests i.e. India / China border skirmishes etc.
Ensure you are subscribed to my always free newsletter and youtube channel Ensure for my forthcoming vides in the War with China series.
By Nadeem Walayat
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk
Copyright © 2005-2017 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.
Nadeem Walayat has over 30 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of five ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series that can be downloaded for Free.
Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication that presents in-depth analysis from over 1000 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets, thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk
Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.
Nadeem Walayat Archive
© 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. |
Workers Vanguard No. 1116 25 August 2017 Stop Prison Torture of Tom Manning and Jaan Laaman! Over the past several months, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been intensifying its decades-long vendetta against class-war prisoners Tom Manning and Jaan Laaman. As punishment for their unwavering support for the struggles of the poor and oppressed and their opposition to U.S. imperialism, Laaman and Manning, the last two members of the Ohio 7 still in prison, were deprived of necessary medical attention, isolated in solitary and threatened with transfer to draconian “supermax control” units. For the racist capitalist rulers, this is an attempt to silence forever these courageous individuals who continue their political activism from behind the walls of America’s dungeons. Prison officials marked Laaman’s birthday on March 21 by throwing him into the Secure Housing Unit of USP Tucson—i.e., solitary, where he still remains locked up in a six-by-nine-foot box 23 hours a day. Laaman’s “offense” was to issue two statements: his eulogy for radical attorney Lynne Stewart, who died on March 7 (which was broadcast on Prison Radio as “Farewell Thoughts to My Friend, Lynne Stewart”), and a statement of support for the March 8 International Women’s Day protests, “Day Without a Woman Strike” (which was printed in NYC Anarchist Black Cross). The Partisan Defense Committee—a legal and social defense organization associated with the Spartacist League—recently learned that a letter Laaman wrote in May to notify the PDC of the repression he was facing never made it through the prison censors. That month, prison officials cited him for “misuse of phone” and rescinded his phone “privileges” for six months. They are now pushing for his transfer to a Communications Management Unit—lockdown units that severely restrict all communication with those outside. As Laaman noted in a recent letter to the PDC, “As you are aware, I have been observing and speaking on world and national events for decades—so this is a new and unprecedented attack on me and my First Amendment rights.” In June, Tom Manning wrote a letter notifying the PDC that he had suffered a grand mal seizure in March. The first prison “medical” personnel on the scene declared it a drug overdose. The seizure left Manning unconscious for four days. When he was able to request that prison officials perform a forensic trail test to prove it was not an OD, and, more significantly, to find out and treat what caused the seizure, they scoffed, “Do you know how expensive that would be?” Manning was finally given an MRI, which shocked him with the news that he had a second brain tumor. Prison officials never told him that a 2012 MRI had revealed an earlier tumor. Manning also learned that he had two vertebrae compressing his spinal cord. The prison officials’ response to his dire medical condition was to throw him into solitary. The specious reason was that he received a political journal, Flood Gate, calling for prisoners to revolt. As Manning told the PDC, such unsolicited journals are sent to him all the time. On May 24, he was transferred from Butner Medical Center to solitary at Butner Correctional Center. In recent interviews, former Ohio 7 prisoner Ray Levasseur, who was released on parole in 2004, pointed out that Manning is wheelchair-bound and in need of physical therapy, which he is unlikely to get in solitary. Levasseur emphasized the horrific condition facing his comrades: “Solitary is hell in a very small place.” Last week, Manning was finally released from solitary and transferred to a federal prison in Hazelton, West Virginia. The PDC has written protest letters denouncing the cruel and vindictive treatment of Laaman and Manning. The Ohio 7 are committed radicals with a long history of opposition to racism and imperialism. They were involved in civil rights work in the South, defense of prisoners’ rights and solidarity actions against the South African apartheid government. In the early 1970s, they joined neighborhood defense efforts in Boston against rampaging anti-busing racists. They became members of the United Freedom Front, a radical group that in the late 1970s and ’80s took credit for bombings targeting symbols of U.S. imperialism, including military and corporate offices (see “Ohio 7: Fighters Against Imperialism, Racism,” WV No. 741, 8 September 2000). The Ohio 7’s politics were once shared by thousands of young New Left radicals. Despairing of organizing the proletariat in struggle, these radicals decided that the road to fighting this racist, exploitative system was “clandestine armed resistance” by a handful of dedicated leftists. Like the Weathermen a decade before them, the Ohio 7 were spurned by the “respectable” left. As Levasseur bitterly observed in a 1992 statement, “Much of the North American Left suffers from myopia on this issue of political prisoners. It affects their value judgments. They place our value at nil.” In contrast to the New Leftists, we recognize it is the multiracial proletariat, organized behind a Leninist vanguard party, that has the interest and social power to sweep away the bloodthirsty imperialist rulers. Despite our political differences with them, the SL and PDC have long defended the Ohio 7, including during a 1989 trial on trumped-up “seditious conspiracy” charges. In successfully beating back that thought-crime prosecution, the Ohio 7 won a significant victory against government efforts to criminalize leftist politics. One of their defense lawyers was Lynne Stewart. No doubt throwing Laaman into solitary for his tribute to Stewart was payback on the part of his jailers. We have always insisted that from a proletarian standpoint, the actions of these leftist activists against imperialism and racist injustice are not crimes. These courageous fighters should not have served a day in prison and should be freed immediately. Laaman and Manning must not be forgotten. We urge WV readers to send letters of solidarity to the following addresses: Jaan Laaman #10372-016
USP Tucson, U.S. Penitentiary
P.O. Box 24550, Tucson, AZ 85734 Thomas Manning #10373-016
USP Hazelton, U.S. Penitentiary
P.O. Box 2000, Bruceton Mills, WV 26525 |
Activist Post
Every single day carries a new story (or stories) about egregious assaults by police against the citizens who have entrusted (and paid) them to serve and protect. Even the Bureau of Justice Statistics had to conclude recently that police brutality is grossly unchecked across the nation by the political system. Such unchecked power is even more frightening when we see police becoming as militarized as any Third World dictatorship. And of course, to back up this lawlessness is a ready-and-waiting prison-industrial complex that leads the world in caging its own citizens.
Shooting pets, tasering kids, no-knock SWAT raids, raping, pillaging … you name it – and it will only get worse until people have the courage to take action in huge numbers and put a stop to this madness that has been tolerated for way too long.
The October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation has been mobilizing every year since 1996 for a National Day of Protest on October 22, bringing together those under the gun and those not under the gun as a powerful voice to expose the epidemic of police brutality. Please view their videos below and find a location to participate.
The Coalition also works on the Stolen Lives Project, which documents cases of killings by law enforcement nationwide – the second edition of their book documents only the tip of the iceberg with 2,000 confirmed cases. According to the Coalition, 2014 has been particularly bad with 800 documented cases.
Click HERE to enlarge
The full statement from the Coalition is as follows:
The Call for the 19th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization
On the eve of the 19th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, a defiant new spirit is in the air. In Ferguson, Missouri, people continue to rise up in outrage against the killing of Mike Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old Black youth who was just days away from starting college. Despite the rapid and ruthless militarization of the town by racist police and the National Guard, people defied curfews, tear gas, rubber bullets, and calls for a return to business-as-usual—and oppression-as-usual—by protesting and rebelling for ten consecutive, sweltering nights in August. Thousands from around the country gathered in Ferguson this past weekend to stand in solidarity with the brave people of Ferguson. These are the moments where the decades of racist abuse, criminalization, and police terror at the hands of this system came crashing against fearless resistance from the very people it seeks to control, inspiring justice-seeking people not just nationwide, but around the world. The National Day of Protest was founded to oppose exactly these kinds of abuses. This year, in big cities and small towns, in the face of police brutality, repression, mass incarceration and the criminalization of youth we say, Let the spirit of Ferguson ignite hearts nationwide with an uncompromising passion for justice!
In the United States, this year has seen a litany of state violence, with increasing documentation and coverage making these ongoing atrocities more difficult to deny. Over 800 people have been killed by law enforcement nationwide, at least 200 since Mike Brown, and at least 23 people in one week. Although police criminalization of and violence against women and transgender people is nothing new, they have become more newsworthy of late. There seems to be no level too low for law enforcement to stoop in their violence, whether it is against children and young teens, the elderly, the deaf, or those who are emotionally or mentally distressed.
In New York City, the era of mass criminalization of Black and brown communities through “stop and frisk” was supposed to be over thanks to the election of a supposedly progressive mayor. What de Blasio brought instead though, was the return of William Bratton, the architect of Stop and Frisk! Bratton’s highly oppressive “broken windows” style of policing, in which the smallest “crimes” are aggressively policed, has already led to an increase in police brutality and public mistrust. In this year, NYPD’s use of “Broken Windows” has led to the highly publicized chokehold death of beloved community member Eric Garner, the beating of an 84-year-old immigrant man for allegedly jaywalking, a chokehold on a 7-month pregnant woman for barbecuing in front of her home, a young man kicked in the head while lying on the ground handcuffed, numerous people beaten for falling asleep on the subway, a raid of Harlem housing projects, and numerous other atrocities. Even some of the most well-known cultural aspects of New York are under attack, as subway performers are being arrested at astonishing rates simply for trying to earn a living as they have been doing for decades. Meanwhile, the same City Council that voted so strongly for police reforms earlier this year has remained silent in the midst of a new “progressive” administration, lifting their voices only to cry out for 1,000 more cops!
We have seen other attempts at creating some modicum of accountability being thwarted or ineffective, such as the gutting of civilian oversight mechanisms and useless federal investigations of police departments by the U.S. Department of Justice, while those who document police misconduct are under attack. But we applaud the different ways that people have risen up and persevered.
Law enforcement departments across the country have come to use on a routine basis the exertion of military enforcement and control in communities that are deemed a “social disturbance.” Although there has been a long history of the militarization of police, the revelation of just how much military weaponry has been supplied to local law enforcement by the Pentagon and how the uprising in Ferguson was dealt with are a sobering reminder of the capabilities of law enforcement to exert standing army-like control over the population of non-combatant civilians. It also would be a moral crime to ignore the fact that the intensification of police arms and enforcement is borne out of the desire, on behalf of the state, to quell the expression of people of color in their demands for justice.
Through the unabated organizing and pressure from the people, we can rejoice over the release of political prisoners Lynne Stewart and Eddie Conway (and hopefully soon Sundiata Acoli), but we must continue our fight for the many political prisoners who continue to be unjustly locked up, along with the hundreds of thousands imprisoned for non-violent offenses due to discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system. The U.S. has the highest number of prisoners in the world, incarcerating almost one-third of the world’s female prisoners, and having more than 60% of prisoners being people of color – still a minority of this nation’s population. Despite solitary confinement being internationally designated as torture, over 80,000 languish in such conditions, including some as young as 16. Solitary confinement led to a death sentence for some, and more egregious evidence of torture in prisons are now coming to light. This brazen inhumanity is exemplified by border patrol’s abuse of immigrant children seeking safety within our borders, and the warehousing and deportation of literally millions of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under such a corrupt system, no imprisonments are legitimate!
The Call for a Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation declares that this “will not stop unless and until millions of people, of all nationalities, stand up and say NO MORE, in unmistakable terms. The history of this and every other country shows that without struggle, there can be no positive change; but with struggle this kind of change becomes possible.”
October 22nd is a day that people around the nation have mobilized every year since 1996 for a National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. It is crucial that we bring forward a powerful National Day of Protest in cities and towns across the U.S. to challenge the ongoing violence against the people. This October 22nd, stand with thousands across the country to express our collective outrage, creativity, and resistance in response to the crimes of this system.
Learn more about the history and mission of the October 22nd coalition here:
http://october22.org/history.html
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/575298722532007/
Stop Mass Incarceration:
http://stopmassincarceration.net/
Find Your Local Place of Action Below
Last updated 21 October 2014. Information is posted as it is received, so check later if your area is not listed yet – contacts for areas with actions in previous years are included when this year’s details have not yet been sent in. Please email [email protected] if you know of an action that is not listed below or if any corrections need to be made and to send reports of your protest!
ANYWHERE WITH PHONE ACCESS
Virtual Freedom School
8:00PM EST Webinar on “Our Bodies/Our Beings/Our Babies and the Imprint of Police Brutality
559-546-1880, Access Code: 286792#
https://www.facebook.com/events/973367242690046/
ARIZONA
Phoenix, Arizona
*ON OCTOBER 25TH*
8:00PM Assemble for march at Civil Space Park at ASU Downtown Campus
https://www.facebook.com/events/1609974492563066
ARKANSAS
Fayetteville, Arkansas
*ON OCTOBER 25TH*
9:00AM Gather at University of Arkansas Courthyard (in front of fountain) for march to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 224 N East Avenue
After program at St. Paul’s, lining sides of HWY 71 Business in Fayetteville at the major intersections until 12PM
http://fayettevillefreezone.com/fayetteville-marches-in-solidarity-for-human-rights-sat-oct-25/
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/HandsUpNWA
CALIFORNIA
Anaheim, California
5:30PM Assemble at the parking lot of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Anaheim, 511 S. Harbor Boulevard
~ 657-229-4053
~ [email protected] (Quin)
Central Valley, California
~ 209-518-7997 or 209-513-4421
Fresno, California
5:30PM Assemble at the northeast corner of N and Mariposa Street, across from the Fresno Police Headquarters
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=9999
~ 559-250-2434 or 559-942-0708 (Irene)
~ [email protected]
Hayward, California
[no contact provided last year]
Los Angeles, California
2:00PM Gather at Olympic and Broadway
https://www.facebook.com/events/631411423623693
~ 213-840-5348
~ [email protected] or
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/October22ndCoalitionLA/
7:00PM Candlelight Vigil for the 3rd Angelversary of Michael Nida II
12620 Paramount Blvd., Downey, CA
https://www.facebook.com/events/1505238699723839/
~ [email protected]
~ http://www.michaelnida.com/home.php
~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-For-Michael-Nida-II/171901759570991
Oakland/Bay Area, California
1:00PM Rally and march from Oscar Grant Plaza (14th and Broadway), Oakland
https://www.facebook.com/events/366711800154054/
~ 510-984-3648
~ [email protected] or
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/October-22-Coalition-To-Stop-Police-Brutality-San-Francisco/203521866383449
Oxnard, California
~ 805-328-4763
~ [email protected]
~ http://todopoderalpueblo.org/
Redding, California
[no contact provided last year]
Redwood Curtain, California
12:00PM Speakout at the Art Quad on HSU campus in Arcata
3:00PM Rally on Arcata Plaza
4:00PM March to Safeway parking lot near 7th and F Street
5:00PM Critical Mass/group bike ride toward Eureka
7:00PM Speakout at Cesar Chavez Park, 14th and E Street, Eureka, followed by candlelight vigil
https://www.facebook.com/events/379319495556890
~ 707-633-4493
~ [email protected]
~ redwoodcurtaincopwatch.net
Riverside, California
[no contact provided last year]
Sacramento, California
9:00AM-4:00PM Rally at the North Steps of the California State Capitol, with funeral procession through the streets of the Capital
https://www.facebook.com/events/364140490400019
~ 916-546-5FTP (Christina Arechiga, Director of California Campaign to End Police Terror and Justice for Ernest Duenez Jr.)
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/endpoliceterrornow
Salinas, California
6:00PM Rally at Salinas Police Department, 222 Lincoln Avenue
https://www.facebook.com/events/704464579637245/
San Bernardino, California
[no contact provided last year]
San Diego, California
5:30PM Rally at City Heights Park, followed by march
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/capbsandiego
6:30PM Rally at City Heights/Weingart Library and Performance Annex, 3795 Fairmount Avenue
Candlelight march to and rally/vigil at I15
Overpass Light Brigade Message “Stop Police Terror”
https://www.facebook.com/events/1473251772950123
~ [email protected]
~ http://uaptsd.org/
~ https://twitter.com/UAPTSD
~ https://www.facebook.com/uaptsd
San Francisco, California
11:00AM San Francisco State University Die-in – Assemble in front of the library and march to Malcolm X Plaza for the die-in
https://www.facebook.com/events/485185524956482/
~ https://www.facebook.com/blacknbrownsfsu
12:00PM Bay Area-wide Walk Out – Rally at San Francisco City Hall
3:30PM Mass migration to Oscar Grant Plaza
https://www.facebook.com/events/324283454399340
~ [email protected]
4:00PM Spoken Word & Open Mic commemorating the anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality at Auntie April’s Chicken & Waffles, 4618 3rd Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/940216355994484
5:00PM Speakout and Press conference at the SF Police Department Military Equipment Center, Deharo Street and 17th Street
~ [email protected]
6:00PM Join with Alex Nieto supporters to speak out at the SF Police Commission Meeting at Balboa High School, Green Room, 1000 Cayuga Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/378407538984854/
San Jose, California
12:15PM Live art, flash mob, die-in, and live drum circle at De Anza College at the Main Quad (in front of the library), 21250 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Cupertino
1:30PM Public Policy Teach-in in Conference Room A
https://www.facebook.com/events/1476737715947289/
~ [email protected]
Santa Ana, California
~ https://www.facebook.com/ChicanosUnidosOC
Santa Clara, California
~ [email protected]
San Rosa, California
One-Year Anniversary Community Potluck and Sunset Vigil for Andy Lopez
4:30PM Potluck and music at W Robles Avenue and Moorland Avenue
7:00PM Azteca blessing
7:30PM Candlelight vigil
https://www.facebook.com/events/1511862465727774/
~ 707-331-7389 (Ana Salgado) or 305-458-4071 (Terri Carrion)
~ https://www.facebook.com/JusticeforAndyLopez
COLORADO
Denver, Colorado
5:00PM Gather on the West steps of the Colorado State Capital
https://www.facebook.com/events/732260496821238
~ [email protected]
Fort Collins, Colorado
10:00PM (doors open 9:00PM) Hodi’s Half Note, 167 N College Avenue
https://www.facebook.com/events/971887506162149/
CONNECTICUT
Hartford, Connecticut
4:30PM Gather at Keney Park (Woodland Terrace)
https://www.facebook.com/HartfordMassIncarceration/photos/a.1533134666916100.1073741825.1533134246916142/1540865249476375/?type=1&theater
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/HartfordMassIncarceration/
New Haven, Connecticut
5:30PM Rally at New Haven City Hall, followed by march to the police department
https://www.facebook.com/events/604863192973108
~ [email protected]
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Washington DC
5:30PM Candlelight vigil at the Washington Ethical Society, 7750 16th Street NW
https://www.facebook.com/events/386250278199662
~ http://www.ffoip.org/
~ http://www.ethicalsociety.org/
~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-Ethical-Society/39879906039
6:30PM Corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and Howard Road SE
http://thepeacehousedc.org/2014/10/13/protest-against-police-brutality-repression-and-the-criminalization-of-a-generation-washington-dc/
~ 202-842-2873
~ http://thepeacehousedc.org/
FLORIDA
Jacksonville, Florida
4:00PM Assemble at Heming Plaza
Sponsored by: New Jim Crow Movement
https://www.facebook.com/events/934436513238321
~ 904-631-1674
~ [email protected]
Lake Worth, Florida
5:00PM Protest in front of the Lake Worth precinct office of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, 120 N. G Street
Simultaneous online petition/call-in drive
~ [email protected] (Lynne)
Miami, Florida
~ 305-761-6843
~ [email protected]
GEORGIA
Atlanta, Georgia
4:00PM Demonstration and speakout at Woodruff Park (Edgewood and Peachtree), followed by march
~ [email protected] or
~ 770-861-3339
~ [email protected]
HAWAII
Honolulu, Hawai’i
9:00AM-12:00PM Leafletting, banner drops and displays at McCarthy Hall, UH Manoa Campus
6:00PM Assemble in front of Honolulu Zoo (Kalakaua and Kapahulu) for march through Waikiki
http://stopmassincarcerationhawaii2014.blogspot.com/2014/09/events-in-solidarity-with-october-month.html
~ http://stopmassincarcerationhawaii2014.blogspot.com/
IDAHO
Boise, Idaho
~ [email protected]
ILLINOIS
Carbondale, Illinois
10:30AM Vigil at location TBA
http://fergusonoctober.com/day-of-action/blacklivesmatter-day-action-vigil/
~ 803-414-5518
~ [email protected]
Chicago, Illinois
9:00AM Release of the official WCG Shadow Report to the UN Committee Against Torture, “Chicago Police Violence Against Youth of Color” at Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, 800 S. Halstead Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/393181967499789/
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/WeChargeGenocide
12:00PM Rally at Daley Plaza (Washington and Dearborn), followed by march
https://www.facebook.com/events/560615807383459/
~ 312-933-9586
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/October-22-Chicago/302904095656
6:00PM Silent protest at 11th District Police Station/Court Building, 3151 West Harrison Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/1487848628144241/
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/WeChargeGenocide
Rockford, Illinois
5:30PM Gather outside main entrance to county jail (Winnebago and State), then march to the Federal Courthouse (Court and Chestnut)
https://www.facebook.com/events/299085523620612
~ 815-398-6322 or [email protected] (Minister Johnson)
~ [email protected] (Christopher)
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INDIANA
Indianapolis, Indiana
6:30PM Rally at 1 Monument Circle
https://www.facebook.com/events/615188135259181
IOWA
Des Moines, Iowa
6:00PM 251 East 1st Street, across from Des Moines PD
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152858989967780&set=a.10150120472212780.323987.509787779&type=1&theater
Iowa City, Iowa
7:00PM Rally Iowa City Hall, 410 E Washington Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/570347173111473/571810019631855
KANSAS
Wichita, Kansas
[no contact provided last year]
KENTUCKY
Lexington, Kentucky
2:00PM Walkout at all area universities
6:00PM Assemble at William Wells Brown Elementary, 555 E. 5th Street for march to
7:00PM Rally at Fayette County District Courthouse, 215 W. Main Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/787590071299525/
~ [email protected]il.com (April)
Louisville, Kentucky
12:00PM Rally at 6th and Jefferson, across from Louisville Metro Hall, followed by march to 7th and Jefferson
https://www.facebook.com/events/722099337866574/
~ 502-874-7148
LOUISIANA
New Orleans, Louisiana
~ [email protected]
MARYLAND
Baltimore, Maryland
5:30PM Assemble at Baltimore City Hall
https://www.facebook.com/events/862755707068011/
~ 443-928-5533 (Ameejill)
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Baltimore-Bloc/436997373037153
MASSACHUSETTS
Amherst, Massachusetts
[no contact provided last year]
Boston, Massachusetts
Share your story online (via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram) to promote violence awareness (mention @Live4Bo and hashtag your city) – winner to be announced on October 22nd
https://www.facebook.com/Justice4BO/photos/a.1918467531626676.1073741827.144891648984282/2019329368207158/?type=1&theater
~ 617-506-9426
~ [email protected]
~ http://www.live4bo.com/
~ https://www.facebook.com/Justice4BO
12:00PM Gather at Harvard University Science Center, corner of Kirkland and Oxford Street
12:00PM Gather at UMass Boston in front of the Student Center
4:00PM Gather at Ruggles T Station
http://revolutionbookscamb.org/
~ 617-492-5443
~ [email protected]
Cambridge, Massachusetts
~ https://www.facebook.com/PeacefulStreetsProjectBoston
Lynn, Massachussetts
[no contact provided last year]
Springfield, Massachussetts
3:00PM March for Justice: Survival and Resistance from 467 State Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/1478985709042825/
5:30PM Know Your Rights training & potluck at Western Mass Recovery Learning Community, 340 Main Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/289273551279431/
~ 413-734-4948
~ [email protected]
~ http://arisespringfield.org/
~ https://www.facebook.com/ariseforsocialjustice
MICHIGAN
Detroit, Michigan
~ 313-768-7202
~ [email protected]
East Lansing, Michigan
3:00PM Rally at Beaumont Tower, 1206 E Oakland Avenue at the Michigan State University Campus, followed by march
https://www.facebook.com/events/871186929567125
Kalamazoo, Michigan
11:30AM Assemble for march at Red Square on Academy Street and Thompson (at the center of Kalamazoo College Campus), followed by rally on the quad
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153227366323906&set=gm.718729631549290&type=1&theater
MINNESOTA
Minneapolis, Minnesota
October 20-24 Week of Action in and near University of Minnesota
https://www.facebook.com/events/305348296317258
~ https://www.facebook.com/StudentsUnitedAgainstPoliceBrutality
6:30PM Rally at North Commons Park, Golden Valley Road & Morgan Avenue North, followed by march
https://www.facebook.com/events/878060595554684/
~ 612-874-7867
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/CommunitiesUnitedAgainstPoliceBrutalityMN
~ http://www.cuapb.org/
Twin Cities, Minnesota
~ 651-270-7592 (Raees)
~ [email protected]
MISSOURI
Ferguson, Missouri
5:00PM Rally at Canfield Drive, 9300 W. Florissant, followed by march that will proceed through Canfield Apartments to the police station at 222 S. Florissant Road
https://www.facebook.com/1453132474947612/photos/a.1453135334947326.1073741827.1453132474947612/1491251664469026/?type=1&theater
~ 314-282-7087
~ [email protected]
Kansas City, Missouri
12:00PM Panel at University of Missouri-Kansas City Student Union, Room 402 (5100 Cherry Street)
https://www.facebook.com/events/289831277877328
~ 816-777-6574 (Rashad)
~ [email protected]
St. Louis, Missouri
6:00PM Panel on “LGBTQ+ & Black Oppression: Why We Should All Care About Ferguson” at Blank Space, 2837 Cherokee
https://www.facebook.com/events/758024147580248/
~ 314-265-4756
~ [email protected]
Also see ~ http://stlftp.tumblr.com/
NEVADA
Las Vegas, Nevada
~ 678-683-8279 (Cecily)
~ [email protected]
NEW JERSEY
Freehold, New Jersey
~ [email protected]
Montclair, New Jersey
4:00PM Rally at Church Street Plaza, walk to Unitarian Universalist Church Montclair, mobilize for petition-signing and legislative action in Trenton
http://www.uumontclair.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Mass-Incarceration-Postersmall.pdf
~ 973-651-6396
~ http://www.uumontclair.org/social-justice/undoing-racism/
Newark, New Jersey
Leafletting at ten locations throughout Newark by the Newark Communities for Accountable Policing (details TBA)
~ 973-854-1730.
~ [email protected]
Union County, New Jersey
~ 973-801-0001
NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque, New Mexico
4:30PM Gather at Civic Plaza, 400 Marquette Avenue NW, march to 400 Roma APD headquarters
https://www.facebook.com/events/1557863584425122
~ 505-934-2259 (Dyna)
~ [email protected]
~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/October-22-Coalition-to-Stop-Police-Brutality-Albuquerque/417594535009220
Santa Fe, New Mexico
8:00AM First Judicial District Court Building, 225 Montezuma Avenue
https://www.facebook.com/OccupySantaFe/photos/a.283786624982431.81340.283089501718810/921016294592791/?type=1&theater
~ [email protected]
NEW YORK
Albany, New York
1:00PM Rally at Townsend Park, intersection of Henry Johnson, Central & Washington
http://fergusonoctober.com/day-of-action/albany-ny-october-22-solidarity-rally/
~ 518-461-5702
~ [email protected]
Buffalo, New York
~ 716-587-1570 (Lewuga)
~ [email protected]
Long Island, New York
6:00PM Rally at First Universalist Church, 51900 Rt. 25, Southold
https://www.facebook.com/events/745299402231754
~ 631-765-3494
~ https://www.facebook.com/UUSouthold
New York, New York
1:00PM Assemble at Union Square South in Manhattan, march to Times Square
https://www.facebook.com/events/1493373830919151/
~ 866-235-7814 (toll-free voicemail and fax)
~ [email protected]
~ http://nyc.october22.org/
~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/October-22-Coalition-to-Stop-Police-Brutality-New-York/87429681537 |
I recently came to the realization that lately I hadn’t been doing much gaming at all, so I’ve decided to start going to the gaming shop on Sundays. This week, that coincided nicely with the Star Wars Destiny launch event.
If I’m honest, I wasn’t particularly excited by the series of preview articles by Fantasy Flight Games. I think this is because of a mixture of ‘yet another Star Wars game’ and also that I’m still pissed about Warhammer 40,000 Conquest LCG being discontinued (I know I should stop moaning about it, but it was my favourite card game, and I’m still annoyed about FFG’s handling of the news regarding it’s demise).
The first comments from most people looking at this game are regarding the dice. Just in case you haven’t read the preview article (or can’t be bothered to read this link):
“Unlike many games, the dice in Star Wars: Destiny do not use stickers. Instead, the dice are plastic-injected like normal dice and rolled in a tumbler to add a fine, smooth polish to every die. The images on each side are then physically heat-pressed onto the dice, essentially printing the artwork directly onto the plastic. Finally, the die is covered in a scratch-resistant coating, allowing you to roll these dice without their quality deteriorating.”
In short, they don’t have stickers and they’re excellent.
I ended up enjoying this A LOT more than I thought that I was going to, so after I bought the Kylo Ren starter deck, I decided to pick up a second one for extra copies of the First Order Stormtrooper and Mind Probe (along with a load of booster packs). There was lots of deck-building going on during the event, as you can see in the pictures above and below.
After finding the rules text for the cards from the set (courtesy of the very handy site, swdestinydb.com), I started coming up with lots of different team ideas. Basically, I was hooked!
Once the shop had closed (and we’d bought as many packs as we could), a few of us went back to mine to continue playing. We lent each other some cards and dice so that we could get our teams closer to what we wanted them to be, as we’re all shameless optimizers (we also proxied a second die for any character that we wanted to try the two-dice version of).
I also introduced the game to my house mate, who for a long while has left collectible games behind, but was also a Conquest LCG player and might be open to another game to sink his teeth into. He enjoyed SW Destiny, but it remains to be seen if he’s hooked like I am (not long until official release though!).
So far I’ve only mentioned that I really like it, but I should tell you how it plays. The first game people will try and compare it to is Dice Masters, but I don’t think that is a good comparison. I’d be more inclined to compare is to Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, as SW Destiny is a card game that also uses dice.
I think the Ashes comparison is better, because as in that game, players take it in turns to do lots of little actions. The game sequence is very back and forth, meaning that short and long-term decisions are important (do you use up your high value ranged damage die now, or wait until you’ve activated another character/support who has a chance of modifying that ranged damage? However, if you leave that die in your pool, there is a chance that your opponent could remove it.).
Customizing your deck of cards that go along with your characters also has plenty of scope for depth. If your team consists of different classes of character (represented by the different colours in game) then you have a wider variety of cards available, but sticking to one colour opens up other options (some cards reference how many of a particular colour upgrade you have in play, for instance).
I’ve decided that I’m going to collect the Villains in SW Destiny, as a friend of mine is only interested in the Heroes, so we’re going to split a booster box upon release. I’ve got a few teams in mind already (one of them is definitely featuring Jango Fett, as he’s great!) and am very eager to get my hands on some more boosters!
Cheers!
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Right after their "orgy of mutual loathing," also known as the final presidential debate, Clinton and Trump attended the annual Al Smith Dinner in New York. Unfortunately, neither was pleasant for the presidential nominees.
"The event forced them almost as close together as Maria Bartiromo's show stealing ta-tas," joked "Full Frontal" host Samantha Bee.
"Was it awkward, no, not at all," the host added before playing a clip of Trump accusing Hillary of pretending to hate Catholics and getting kicked off the Watergate Commission, for which he was booed by the Al Smith audience.
"Trump shocked a Catholic cardinal, and cardinals have seen some sick sh*t," Bee pointed out.
But while the Catholic church may be a powerful peacemaker, "their big growth lately is in hospital mergers," she revealed.
Catholic hospitals have become the largest non-profit healthcare provider in the US, with 1 out of every 6 patients in the US being cared for by a Catholic hospital.
SPONSORED
Make no mistake, "Catholic hospitals provide excellent care until your medical needs conflict with their dogma," Bee continued.
Unfortunately, this also means that these hospitals can no longer provide abortions even if the mother's life is in danger, perform sterilization or provide contraception.
"Decisions affecting millions of vaginas are being determined by people who have never owned one or touched one," blasted Bee.
The host then revealed a horrifying tale that sounds right out of the Middle ages, in which a nun was excommunicated for saving a life… in modern day Arizona.
Watch: |
We're not alone – but the universe may be less crowded than we think
There may be far fewer galaxies further out in the universe then might be expected, according to a new study led by Michigan State University.
Over the years, the Hubble Space Telescope has allowed astronomers to look deep into the universe. The long view stirred theories of untold thousands of distant, faint galaxies. The new research, appearing in the current issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters, however, offers a theory that reduces the estimated number of the most distant galaxies by 10 to 100 times.
“Our work suggests that there are far fewer faint galaxies than we once previously thought,” said Brian O’Shea, MSU associate professor of physics and astronomy. “Earlier estimates placed the number of faint galaxies in the early universe to be hundreds or thousands of times larger than the few bright galaxies that we can actually see with the Hubble Space Telescope. We now think that number could be closer to ten times larger.
O’Shea and his team used the National Science Foundation’s Blue Waters supercomputer to run simulations to examine the formation of galaxies in the early universe. The team simulated thousands of galaxies at a time, including the galaxies’ interactions through gravity or radiation.
The simulated galaxies were consistent with observed distant galaxies at the bright end of the distribution – in other words, those that have been discovered and confirmed. The simulations didn’t, however, reveal an exponentially growing number of faint galaxies, as has been previously predicted. The number of those at the lower end of the brightness distribution was flat rather than increasing sharply, O’Shea added.
These simulations will be tested further when the much-anticipated James Webb Space Telescope comes online in late 2018. The improved technology will afford astronomers even more-detailed views of space than the amazing images that the Hubble has produced in recent years.
The Hubble Space Telescope can see the tip of the iceberg of the most-distant galaxies, said Michael Norman, co-author of the paper and director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego.
While the James Webb telescope will improve views of distant galaxies, the telescope has a relatively small field of view. As a result, the observations must take into account cosmic variance – the statistical variation in the number of galaxies from place to place.
That’s what makes these simulations pertinent even as improved technology becomes available, O’Shea said.
“A deeper understanding based on theory may be necessary to correctly interpret what’s being seen, such as high redshift survey results,” he said.
In addition to O’Shea and Norman, the research team also included John Wise, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Hao Xu, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of California, San Diego.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA. |
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie will address the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference in Philadelphia this summer.
Rob Gleason, chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania confirmed Tuesday that Christie will make an address sometime during the conference, which will be held June 18-20. Gleason praised his Republican neighbor as "a proven reformer who's not afraid to tackle the toughest issues."
Indeed, Christie made headlines in New Hampshire on Tuesday by touching the "third rail" of politics, entitlement reforms. He called for raising the Social Security full-retirement age to 69, and the early retirement age to 64.
Other potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates slated to speak at the Northeat GOP forum include former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
Christie made six trips to the Keystone State last year during his chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association to fund-raise for the organization, and twice traveled to the state to stump for Gov. Tom Corbett, but couldn't save his fellow Republican from being ousted on Election Day last year.
Gov. Christie Speaks at NH Institute of Politics on Entitlement Reform 10 Gallery: Gov. Christie Speaks at NH Institute of Politics on Entitlement Reform
Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at [email protected] |
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L.A. Confidential arrived in theaters on this day in 1997. The 50s-set potboiler received almost unprecedented universal acclaim, and if you were of a certain age then, it very likely introduced you to film noir.
Film noir was a genre that, like the Western, used to be the most popular style of film for the early movie studios but fell out of favor by the 60s. Like Westerns, film noir was frequently considered a lower class of cinema in comparison to the sweeping adaptations of epic popular fiction. And the immense regard that many of the older films now have, most of that came later as film criticism grew to become more respected and international film embraced the shadowy works of detective fiction.
Film noir itself was an important genre for legitimizing cinema as an artform — the use of shadows for terror, the seductive placement of limbs, glances, and the way someone smoked a cigarette substituted for dialogue. The Hayes Production Code made it harder to convey sex, but film noir coded it by using characters that work just outside the respectability of the police force, but instead are hired in private to unravel mysteries that the people hiring would also like to keep private and out of the police dossiers and headlines. And that distance from societal order opened up narratives to include other perceived lessers: gamblers, alcoholics, burlesque dancers, prostitutes, and desperate men and women. As such, the femme fatale was born to counterpart the brooding and mysterious private detective. Acclaimed film director Jean-Luc Godard famously began his career as a film critic writing for France’s Cahiers du cinema, where he frequently championed this post-WWII cinematic movement for portraying a level of unease and disbelief that the rest of popular cinema was avoiding. Godard famously quipped that all you need to make a movie is a gun and a girl. And that’s partly what made noir so popular at movie studios: it was cheap to make and it could create a movie star out of an actor/actress who was on contract.
Film criticism also shifted in the 40s and 50s to include more artful analysis of movies (suggestion: read some of the early 1940s film criticism from novelist James Agee when he started at Time in 1942; Agee was hugely influential to our big American critics of the 60s onward—like the Cahiers writers, and Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert.) Agee himself was excited by noir and pulp films, and he often fought to include them in Time which boosted their profile in intellectual circles and was extremely formative for elevating many genres decades later, such as horror. Agee also later went on to write the seminal, noir-inspired Night of the Hunter script that attacked the potential for hypocrisy in religion. Attacking convention and the open embrace of the status quo is precisely what intrigued Agee. That and the camera angles and use of lighting that conveyed much more than good vs. evil in it’s heightened black and white status. |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A probe of the 2012 Benghazi attacks may have violated congressional ethics rules, House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday after a top Republican indicated it was aimed at hurting Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy.
U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco, California June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
Angry Democrats called for the Benghazi panel to be disbanded following the remarks on Tuesday evening by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He is campaigning to be the next speaker of the House when the current speaker, John Boehner, retires on Oct. 30.
McCarthy on Thursday voiced regret for making the remarks after some House Republicans said they thought he should apologize for, or explain, them. Others expressed understanding for what they saw as a media stumble.
“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?” McCarthy told Fox News on Tuesday. “But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her (poll) numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.”
Democrats said McCarthy’s comments revealed the truth about the committee and countered the long-standing Republican contention that the panel was set up to find out what happened in the 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans.
Pelosi said political efforts by the Benghazi committee could violate ethics laws that ban using taxpayers’ dollars for political purposes.
“The question is, is this an ethics violation of the rules of the House?” she said. “I think he (McCarthy) clearly, gleefully claimed that this had a political purpose and had a political success.”
McCarthy told Fox News on Thursday he “did not intend to imply in any way” that the committee’s work was political.
Asked if he had apologized to the panel’s chairman, Representative Trey Gowdy, McCarthy said: “I talked to Trey and I told him I regret that this has ever taken place ... and Trey goes: ‘I know it’s not your intention.’”
Boehner, a Republican, said the committee would continue its work. “This investigation has never been about former Secretary of State Clinton and never will be,” he said in a statement that did not mention McCarthy.
McCarthy’s words were widely considered a major gaffe. They were some of his first public remarks after jumping into the race to replace Boehner as speaker. He is the leading candidate for the post.
Asked if his comments could hurt his chances, McCarthy told Fox News: “This is not what you’re going to see as speaker of the House.” |
References to Watergate, impeachment, even Richard Nixon, are being tossed around these days as if they were analogous to the current so-called scandals. But the furors over the IRS , Benghazi, and the Justice Department’s sweeping investigation of the Associated Press, don’t begin to rise—or sink—to that level. The wise and pithy Matt Dowd, a former Republican operative, said recently, “We rush to scandal before we settle on stupidity.” Washington just loves scandals; they’re ever so much more exciting than the daily grind of legislation—if there is any—and the tit-for-tat between the president and the congressional Republicans over the budget was becoming tedious. Faux outrage is a specialty here.
Obama, anxious not to be seen defending everybody’s punching bag, the IRS , quickly ceded ground on what could be perfectly defensible actions. He may come to regret taking what seemed a trigger-happy decision to order a criminal investigation of the Internal Revenue Service, a sure way to drag people who may have—may have—simply made errors of judgment through a long and expensive legal process that is likely also to keep the agency from examining the validity of the application for tax-free status of any group with powerful allies. If, following the Citizens United decision, there is a sudden doubling of the number of new organizations with similar names and missions, and these organizations apply for tax exempt status—and also the right to hide the names of their donors—might it not make sense to use a search engine to find them? This what the just-fired sacrificial acting IRS commissioner, testifying before a congressional committee on Friday, termed a “grouping” of the cases that had already been almost universally condemned as “targeting,” which he insisted it wasn’t. But this simple explanation wouldn’t do, didn’t warrant the term “outrage” routinely conferred on the IRS case. Could it just possibly be that the Tea Party and their allies see a great benefit in making a stink over this? How better to freeze the IRS examinations of these groups?
According to press reports none of the Tea Party groups have as yet been denied 501(c)(4) status, though this has happened to some liberal organizations. The real problem is that the process takes a long time and the questions are excessive, some even ridiculous. Pinning the whole thing on Obama—pinning all that they can of these “scandals” on him—gladdens most Republicans’ hearts. I say “most,” because such prominent conservative commentators as Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol have urged the Republicans to proceed with more caution, fearing that as often happens they will overdo it. And Republican congressional leaders have begun to worry that the troops may go too far, inviting the sort of backlash that smacked Newt Gingrich and his fellow revolutionaries in 1998, following their reckless impeachment of Bill Clinton, losing them seats and costing Gingrich his Speakership. It’s quite possible that some lower-rank government employees did some stupid things, and it’s clear that the agency had poor leadership (under a Bush-appointed director) but there is no evidence that any of this was directly or indirectly on the president’s orders.
Meanwhile, new information about what happened in Benghazi keeps coming in, changing that story. The Talmudic scholarship that’s been applied to the administration’s talking points—what the various agencies urged that a representative of the administration should say on the Sunday talk shows—has led to the conclusion that that mushy and somewhat misleading statement was the typical product of a typical inter-agency struggle over blame-shifting. The omission of some material from an original draft—on the not unreasonable ground that the terrorist groups that perpetrated the attack shouldn’t be put on notice that the US knew who they were—hardly ranks as a cover-up. Was the administration confused or was it anxious to avoid the acknowledgement that the US consulate in Benghazi was attacked by terrorists from the start, by saying that they came in later? The administration later released all of the emails among the agencies to Congress but few members bothered to go to the briefing or read the material. And as it turned out, the White House didn’t play a hand in doctoring what the talking points would say.
In order to stoke the conspiracy theories, Republican congressional aides leaked false versions of the interagency emails and ABC ran with them without checking. Republicans focused the controversy on Hillary Clinton rather than David Petraeus, the CIA director at the time, though Petraeus also agreed to the talking points and was responsible for hiring the local defenders who melted away at the first shot, and the misinformed intelligence on what happened that night was a failure by the CIA. (But Petraeus was most unlikely to run for president in 2016.) That the US presence in Benghazi was essentially a CIA operation was kept quiet. The inability to adequately protect our foreign missions has been a bipartisan failure and Congress’s stinginess with funds for the protection of our assets in foreign countries also bears some responsibility. In any case, the Republicans might be well advised to tread carefully on the matter of ignored warnings. So far, the George W. Bush administration has got by amazingly with their obvious failure to act on indications months before September 11, 2001, that a major terrorist plot was in the works .
The Justice Department clearly overreached—even its own guidelines were ignored—in its effort to gather information about a leak to the Associated Press about the CIA foiling a terrorist plot in Yemen—a leak which the AP delayed publishing at the request of the White House and the CIA, and only ran when it heard that the White House was going to release information. But this doesn’t reflect a crusade against the press—though the news media make a lot of noise about such actions, and perhaps rightly so. It is true that Obama has been especially fierce (if selectively) about national security leaks, but there’s a long history of administrations going too far to stop leaks and intimidate potential leakers. Even if the president urged Attorney General Eric Holder, a close friend, to go after the AP, does anyone seriously believe that he spelled out how it was to do so?
Thus far, not one of these so-called scandals has reached the Oval Office. Even in the event, which seems unlikely now, that one of them does, it still wouldn’t come close to the pattern of actions taken by Nixon and his aides that nearly undid our democratic system of government four decades ago. Barack Obama couldn’t be Richard Nixon if he tried. No one could. Nixon was, fortunately, sui generis. So, what was Watergate about, and how does it differ from what is going on now?
Compared to Watergate, on the basis of everything we know about what are the current “scandals” amount to a piffle. Watergate was a Constitutional crisis. It was about a pattern of behavior on the part of the president of the United States abusing power to carry out his personal vendettas. It was about whether the president was accountable to the other branches of the government; it was about whether the Congress could summon the courage to hold accountable a president who held himself above the law. It was about a president and his aides who were out of control in their efforts to punish the president’s “enemies.”
It was also about, though this has still gone largely unrecognized, an attempt by a sitting president to determine the nomination of the opposition party’s presidential candidate. Potentially strong challengers were spied upon, their offices broken into and files disappeared, their campaign events disrupted by what were diminished by their categorization as laughable “dirty tricks.” It was about black bag jobs and paying criminals to carry out ideas that sprang from the fevered brain of a president who saw opponents, political and otherwise, as enemies, and then trying to hush the whole thing up. The attempt, not unsuccessful though not exclusively their doing, to try to get the opposition party to nominate its weakest candidate was a step along the road to fascism. It was a putsch by a head of state.
Nixon’s extraordinary abuse of his new power started almost as soon as he had put away his Inaugural finery. In February 1969 he told his staff that he wanted private funds raised to establish an intelligence unit within the White House to carry out around-the-clock surveillance of political opponents. This led to the hiring of a group of fanatics, bums, fools, and losers—most of them paid for with private funds but run by White House aides and right out of the Executive Office Building, next door to the White House. Some were of Cuban origin and had participated in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba; to motivate them Nixon instructed that they be told that their mission was to root out Communists in the Democratic Party. (He even ordered that they be required to read the chapter of his memoir Six Crisis that recounts his exposure of Alger Hiss as a spy for the Soviet Union. But Nixon was always telling people, even Mao, to read Six Crises. The shrewd Mao had beat him to it.).
The following year Nixon signed off on a plan (the “Huston plan”) that included not just wiretaps also but break-ins and intercepting mail; the plan was so extreme that even the powerful FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, no civil libertarian, objected; though Nixon said that the plan had been rescinded parts of it were implemented. The list of “enemies” he ordered John Dean to draw up, was considered by many who were on it funny and even a point of pride, but it was a chilling exercise of power: the president used the levers of government, including the IRS , to audit and harass his opponents, a wide swath of people in public and private lives. Nixon was often heard on the tapes telling his aides he wanted them to “get the goods” on this or that perceived enemy. Edward Kennedy, presumably Nixon’s most powerful opponent for reelection, was put under twenty-four hour surveillance for a time by one of the clowns hired by the White House to carry out Nixon’s plan.
Nixon’s most serious problems arose out of his obsession about the leak of the Pentagon Papers, in 1971. This led—shortly after the Papers were first published in The New York Times—to the establishing, four days later, the White House “plumbers” office in the EOB . A sign saying PLUMBERS was on the door. But even before the plumbers office was fully set up Nixon’s aides implemented “Special Operation No. 1”: in a first step toward punishing the leaker, Daniel Ellsberg, the White House sanctioned the gravest offense—a break-in at the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist in order to get the files of this particular patient. A raid of the office of the psychiatrist of a private citizen on the orders of the president of the United States. This clear flouting of the Fourth Amendment protection of private property from searches and seizures was the most disturbing act during this extraordinary period and it shook even conservative senators; Nixon knew that its discovery was the single greatest danger to him, and this was what he was so frantically trying to cover up. As it happened, even though one of the plumbers had cased the place, the psychiatrist’s office contained no files at all.
The obsession over the leak of the Pentagon Papers also led to the mad suggestion by the president of the United States that the offices of the Brookings Institution be firebombed in order to get to the safes in the offices of former Kissinger aides, Leslie Gelb and Morton Halperin, who were suspected of keeping the drafts of some unpublished chapters of the Pentagon Papers. The president could be heard on the tapes instructing his aides: “Godammit. Get in there and get those files. Blow the safe and get it.” You see, Kissinger had ordered up the study. Ellsberg had been assigned by Kissinger to do a super-secret study on the papers and had been given access to them, which were stored at Rand. Though one of the burglars had searched Brookings and reported that the files existed, there were none. In any event, some White House aides thwarted that plan before it was fully carried out.
In this context the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building on June 17, 1972 was almost routine. This one, when the burglars were caught, which started the unraveling of Nixon’s secret plots against his enemies, was actually the burglars’ fourth attempt: in the first attempt they faked a banquet to get into the building but ended up locked in a closet; the second time they couldn’t break the lock on the DNC office door; the third time, on Memorial Day, they got into the DNC office but put a bug on the wrong phone, so on they went back to fix it. Perhaps because breaking in had become so habitual they got sloppy and left the immortal piece of tape on a door. That the plumbers were stumblebums doesn’t negate the sinister nature of what they were told to do.
In October 1973, Nixon rattled through a series of beheadings of those who got in the way of his desperate attempts to prevent the tapes into which he had sealed his own fate—as he was oddly aware—from being turned over to the prosecutors. He first ordered the attorney general, Elliott Richardson, to fire Archibald Cox, the Independent Prosecutor who had subpoenaed the tapes and got a court order that they must be released. Richardson, a Boston Brahmin, also refused and was fired by the president; the next in line, Bill Ruckelshaus, a popular environmentalist, also refused and was fired. Finally, the next in line, Robert Bork, agreed to fire Cox. The prosecutors’ staff was barricaded in their offices trying to protect their files from the FBI , who had surrounded them and told them they could not remove their papers. As the bulletins rolled in, one after another on that dark Saturday night, it felt as if we were living in a banana republic and now there were grounds for fearing a President who was irrational and out of control. There was a run on the bookstores to buy legal scholar Raoul Berger’s Impeachment: The Constitutional Problems (1969). No one knew how to impeach a president.
When the House Judiciary Committee took up its work at the beginning of 1974, trying to impeach a sitting president who still had a fairly strong political base was a daunting prospect. Impeachment had not yet been cheapened by the zealots who conducted a trivial pursuit of President Clinton. The triumphalism came later, spurred on by the myth that Watergate was a victory of the good guys over the bad guys. It was about something far deeper: whether our constitutional system would survive. If the Committee did vote for articles of impeachment by a bipartisan and definite majority it was probable that the House would agree and vote to impeach—indict—the president. Next would come a trial in the Senate. And the president remained defiant. The committee had to get it right.
Almost forgotten is the part played by an obscure New Jersey congressman, Peter Rodino, who had been chairman of the committee for only a year. (Inevitably once the spotlight fell on him, rumors circulated, without any evidence, that he must have ties to the mob.) Rodino was not the most articulate member by far but the miracle of the Judiciary Committee’s adopting on a bipartisan basis three articles of impeachment was due to the fact that ordinary people rose to the task and did extraordinary things; Rodino’s choices made a critical difference.
Showboat attorneys or flashy advisers were turned away. As it was, Rodino had to struggle against some committee members who wanted to conduct a prosecution of the president. The two people who along with Rodino shaped not just the committee’s action but the history of the downfall of Richard Nixon were a twenty-seven-year-old Francis O’Brien, who had no prior experience in such matters but was recommended to Rodino for his uncommon judgment, and John Doar, the counsel whom O’Brien had found. Doar had served in the Eisenhower Justice Department and then was a civil rights hero in Robert Kennedy’s Justice Department. He was methodical and low-key and built the case against Nixon brick by brick, slowly earning the trust of committee members, the press, and the public.
These three men had concluded that if there were to be articles of impeachment that would be accepted by a still-divided country they had to be seen as arising from a fair process, be bipartisan and come from the center of the committee members: those on the right who defended Nixon to the end and the most partisan Democrats on the committee had to be contained, and moderate Republicans and southern Democrats had to be convinced that voting for articles of impeachment was necessary and urgent. James Madison’s writings and the Federalist Papers became as familiar in the discussions as morning newspapers.
The atmosphere in Washington was unlike anything that had gone before or has happened since. We lived in fear. Knowing that the telephones of some of the presidents’ “enemies” were being tapped, we joked in our telephone conversations about our phones being bugged. (No Internet then, but just think of the Nixon people’s probable temptation to trace emails.) One Sunday morning when the newspaper delivery was late, a perfectly sane woman I knew said, “They’ve stopped the papers.” It got to the point where, near the end, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger felt compelled to send a memo to military commanders to obey no command that came from the White House to dispatch the troops to restore order.
This brings us to the strange character of Richard Nixon, probably the most peculiar person to serve as president of the United States. He was also an unlikely successful political figure. He didn’t particularly like people and few people liked him. He had very few friends, trusted almost no one. He was awkward in many ways, from his odd motions at times to his virtual inability to make small talk. Nixon’s confusion of opponents with enemies and his indulging his long nurtured grievances gave us a president who came to office filled with hatreds and was willing to use the instruments of government to “get” them. The president was a dangerous man.
But even then, we didn’t know just how dangerous were Nixon’s personality traits. Not until I was doing research for a book about him for the American Presidents series did it become clear that he was often drunk, barking out orders in after-midnight calls to his aides, his words slurred, and they would have to decide whether to carry them out. Worse still, on the advice of a wealthy backer who kept him stocked, Nixon began to take Dilantin, an anti-convulsive drug, on the grounds that it would lessen depression, though it had never been approved for that. Dilantin served to enhance the effects of too much alcohol: mental confusion, slurring of words, physical clumsiness. Often Nixon was holed up with his best and only close pal, Bebe Rebozo, outside the White House, in Key Biscayne or at Camp David. On the eve of the “incursion” into Cambodia, a disastrous spreading of the Vietnam War, the two men were at Camp David and one or the other would call Kissinger to make sure that the incursion went forward. “It’s your ass, Henry,” said one of them, their drunken voices hard to distinguish.
So contrary to the myths that have been built around it, or the use that later politicians want to make of it, Watergate wasn’t about the mistakes of a bureaucracy, it wasn’t a cops and robbers story, or about courageous journalism. It was about a pattern of acts by a president that threatened the constitution, the law, and the Bill of Rights.
Nothing happening now comes close to that. |
Nearly two weeks ago, ESPN President John Skipper shocked the media world by suddenly resigning from his position at the “Worldwide Leader.”
At the time, Skipper said he needed to resign to deal with substance abuse issues.
In a statement, Skipper said:
I have struggled for many years with a substance addiction. I have decided that the most important thing I can do right now is to take care of my problem. I have disclosed that decision to the company, and we mutually agreed that it was appropriate that I resign. I will always appreciate the human understanding and warmth that Bob (Iger) displayed here and always. I come to this public disclosure with embarrassment, trepidation and a feeling of having let others I care about down. As I deal with this issue and what it means to me and my family, I ask for appropriate privacy and a little understanding. To my colleagues at ESPN, it has been a privilege. I take great pride in your accomplishments and have complete confidence in your collective ability to continue ESPN’s success.
This explanation seemed rather suspicious. Since Skipper had just signed a major contract extension the month before his resignation.
At the time, Breitbart Sports noted:
The timing of Skipper’s resignation seems a bit of a mystery. Skipper had just signed a multi-year contract extension in November. How does one develop a long-term substance problem in a month? Perhaps ESPN just became aware of Skipper’s issue in the last month, though, that too would seem unlikely. Moreover, it’s likely that ESPN would at least attempt to offer some kind of counseling as opposed to compelling Skipper to resign, if they just found out about Skipper’s issue after signing him to a brand new deal. Could there be something another, bigger story behind this announcement?
Well, Clay Travis of Fox Sports Radio and Outkick the Coverage reports that there is something bigger indeed, behind Skipper’s resignation. Travis reports that in the days following Skipper’s announcement, several reports came to him offering a much different explanation for Skipper’s immediate departure.
“In the next couple of days I was told by multiple sources I trust inside ESPN that the reason for Skipper’s “resignation” was because of sexual harassment issues inside the company. In the wake of the Boston Globe story about sexual harassment I was told Skipper’s own issues suddenly emerged and that was why the resignation happened so abruptly.
And ESPN decided to blame substance abuse issues instead.”
Travis also poked a hole in Skipper/ESPN’s “substance abuse” claim by tweeting photos from a tipster, which appear to show Skipper and ESPN radio host Dan LeBatard at a bar in North Carolina:
As Travis writes:
A trip out to have a couple of drinks with your friend would all be perfectly normal and a total non-story except for the fact that Skipper just resigned from ESPN 11 days ago citing his struggles with substance addiction and his desire to get help for that addiction. Now maybe Skipper wasn’t addicted to alcohol — and it was some other drug instead — but if you have such an issue with substance addiction that you need to immediately resign from ESPN should you really be out drinking 11 days later with one of the most prominent employees at your former company? And if you’re Skipper’s good friend, Dan LeBatard, would you let your friend go out drinking with you if you knew he had a true issue with substance abuse and you were crying about it on your radio show 11 days ago? That seems highly unlikely.
That does indeed seem unlikely. ESPN wouldn’t be unique among major media and entertainment organizations, for forcing out high-profile executives or performers over sexual harassment charges. After all, the last few months have seen dozens of actors, journalists, comedians, politicians, and others, face removal for some form of sexual misconduct.
So why lie about it? If in fact, ESPN is lying about the reasons for Skipper’s resignation?
The answer may be found higher up the food chain. Disney CEO Bob Iger is a rumored 2020 Democrat presidential candidate. Considering how crucial the female vote is, especially in a Democratic primary, one would think that Iger would move aggressively to quash any potentially damaging sexual harassment scandal at one of his larger networks.
Would Iger engage in that type of politically-calculated micromanagement?
Well, he’s done it before.
In the weeks after Jemele Hill called President Trump a “white supremacist” on Twitter, Iger personally intervened to prevent Hill’s suspension. Now, why would Iger do that?
Could it be because of Iger’s concern that the optics of suspending Hill, who is black, for criticizing President Trump; could be interpreted as Iger siding with Trump against a black female employee? Which would leave his Democrat primary opponents with a strong and heavy argument that he’s not the right candidate to protect black people from the “cruel and racist” Republicans?
That seems like an extremely plausible theory.
And if that seems like a plausible theory, is it so far-fetched that Iger would concoct a story about substance abuse to conceal a high-profile sexual harassment scandal, which may or may not extend far beyond John Skipper?
Doesn’t seem like that big of a stretch at all, does it? |
How an ER doc became a primary care doc, and developed a talk for new parents.
The Attentive Child
Recently I had a mother come in, 8 month old boy in tow, on social assistance. Child had a minor complaint, something that really didn’t need to see the doctor. You know the type.
No, you don’t.
After checking them in, the clerk came into the office and remarked how alert and intelligent the child was, that he observed her quietly the whole time she was working. She then laughed that when she mugged at him he mimicked her back, making faces the mother had never seen before.
The Read-To Child
I can identify a child who has been read to at 6 months of age, even younger. They are more confident, less fearful, more observant, more in control of themselves, and more curious. I have seen children under a year old, who cried from fear as I examined them, but who nevertheless held themselves still, and even cooperated with my exam, while they continue to cry. This was clearly one of the children who had been read to.
Before I examine a child, I usually try to interact with him/her a bit and chat with the parents, and give the child time to get used to me. As I often do, I asked the mother my standard question, “Are you reading to him?”
She surprised me by saying, “I read to all five of my children.”
I said, “That’s great. How did you decide to do that?”
She gave me a puzzled look, and then said, “You told me to.” She then related to me how all of her children had developed an interest in books, and that her oldest, the 9 year old, was reading all the time. I don’t often get emotional in the ER, but I choked up a little bit when she told me that.
Medical Woes
I don’t much enjoy medicine. I’m a scholar and a writer at heart, but that won’t pay the bills, not yet. And medicine just pays too much money, even in quiet, out of the way places. So I work those quiet jobs, and write and read in between patients.
One of the things that aggravated me for years is that overwhelmingly, emergency room patients aren’t emergencies. Most of the patients I see don’t need a doctor, their problems will go away without medical attention. For a long time, I resented the apparent abuse of the system, but I gradually came to realize that without those people, there wouldn’t be enough patients to justify an emergency room. This is true even of the largest ER’s. There just aren’t enough true emergencies to keep most ERs open.
With that, primary care docs book their days full, there’s not much room to fit in another patient that day, or any time soon. And understandably, doctors aren’t willing to work until all hours of the night to see everyone as we did in the old days. Like everyone else, we want to be home with out families. So their overflow comes to us.
Finally, the ER is the only place many of the poor can get healthcare, particularly the working poor, who often do not have insurance.
The Emergency Room as Primary Care
As I saw these patients over the last three decades, some of them repeatedly, I began to recognize that I am the primary care physician for a lot of them. Since I work quieter ERs, I realized that I often have a few minutes for counseling about their disease, or even about their lifestyle choices, particularly those that affect health.
Which is a pretty scattershot blunderbuss. Everything in our lives affects our health.
Life-Long Health
As I have suggested elsewhere, if our brains function reasonably well, we can deal with a lot of disease and adversity. And as those of you who visit here regularly know, I am a big proponent of reading. I strongly believe that if we engage kids with reading as early as possible, it has an enormous, positive impact later on. So I started urging parents, particularly new parents, to read to their children.
More than one parent has come back to me, told me they had started reading to their kids, and were amazed at the change in their children, how sharp they were, and how well they were doing in school. Some of these people could barely read themselves, but their kids were tearing it up.
So much of medicine is obvious. Or rather, it’s obvious if you’ve studied it; if you haven’t, it’s not obvious at all. Likewise, so much of education and raising children is obvious; if, of course, you had supportive parents, and you’ve read a lot and thought a lot, and if you’ve just watched people go through their lives.
That’s why I think I got choked up. It didn’t take me 60 seconds to talk to that mother about reading; but for the few seconds I gave her, her life, and her 5 children’s lives, were dramatically changed for the better. We think of medicine as saving people’s lives. In this case, maybe I saved several people’s lives; but unlike a more conventional view of medicine, I did not simply restore them to what they were before. Maybe I helped to make them much better, maybe I gave them a life that was larger, and fuller, and happier.
New Parents
Anyway, after I started giving parents my suggestions about reading, with time I began developing a whole little talk for new parents. Follows is the full version, with three basic points. I almost never give new parents the full talk, I usually just give some abbreviated form. I once had a grandmother complain to the administration about this, even though I was speaking to her daughter, the mother; and the daughter certainly listened attentively to what I said. But it’s worth an occasional complaint. Where else do we have the opportunity to create so much progress, with so little time and effort?
1) Screen Time vs Reading Time
Research over the past few years has prompted the American College of Family Physicians and the American College of Pediatricians to recommend that we limit screen time in our children — TV, computer, cell phone, electronic games — to no more than 2 hours a day.
But the less the better. Imagination is critical in the modern world, the abilitiy to ‘see’ something you’ve heard or read. A child won’t develop her imagination if she’s constantly watching a machine that does all of her imagining for her.
Instead of screen time, read to your children, and start as soon as you can sit them on your lap. Read to them every day, as often as you can.
When they get to 3 or 4 years old, begin playing card and board games with them. This helps develop math skills and analytical reasoning. If you do these two things, your children will amaze you when they go to school, and throughout their lives.
2) Losing a Child
Every good parent’s greatest fear is that we will lose a child. But as a new parent, you should know you will lose your child every night; the child who wakes up in the morning is not the child you put to bed the night before. And you will never – ever – see that other child again.
And the day will come that it will be the last time that your child runs to see you at the door, the last time that you hold her/him in your arms, or the last time that you read to him/her. And you won’t even know it’s the last time.
So treat them all as if they were the last time.
And as if it were the first time.
Continued below…
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3) Patience & Faith
I knew a man who would get whipped when he didn’t play well in pee-wee baseball. No good parent would do that, it would only destroy the child’s interest in baseball, and his self-confidence in playing it.
So why do we put so much more importance on learning to handle a pop-up fly, than we do on learning to handle frustration, disappointment, and self-control? I’m 60 years old, I still struggle with those things.
Robert Fulghum said, “Don’t worry that your children never listen to you. Worry that they’re always watching you.” We can never teach true self-control to our children, by losing our own self-control.
Your children love you, they need you, and they will work hard for your approval. When they are misbehaving, you’ll often find out later they were tired, or hungry, or worried; and ‘worried’ is the hard part, because often they won’t tell you when they’re worried, or what they’re worried about. They’re not always aware of what they’re worried or afraid of themselves. But to discipline a child is who suffering is not what any of us want to do.
Children figure out most of what they need to do, and how they need to behave, if we just give them some time, and have a little faith. Give them lots of praise and patience, and discipline them as little as you think you can get away with.
So that’s my talk for new parents. Maybe some of you can use it or share it, or change it and make it better. I hope so.
Peace.
Photograph courtesy of Eugene Kim.
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Gurtej Randhawa in a police mugshot. National Crime Agency
A 19-year-old tried to buy a car bomb on the dark web, but police intercepted his order and gave him a dummy instead.
Gurtej Randhawa, from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, tried to buy a remote-controlled explosive and planned to kill people with it.
Randhawa admitted the attempt in court this week, and now faces life in prison.
According to a press release from the UK National Crime Agency, its officers noticed Randhawa's attempts to order the package earlier this year.
They did not disclose his motive, but said it was not linked to terrorism.
Randhawa made the purchase via the dark web, a difficult-to-navigate network of sites which is inaccessible without special software.
It is often used by criminals to trade in illicit goods.
Police said the device, which could be fixed to a car and detonated from a distance, "had the potential to cause serious damage and kill many people."
However, officers intercepted the package and replaced it with an inert dummy device, which they allowed to be delivered to Randhawa in May.
They watched him testing the dud, at which point they arrested him.
Randhawa pleaded guilty to trying to illegally import explosives, and was found guilty of possessing explosives "with intent to endanger life" after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
He will be sentenced at a later hearing on January 12, where he could be given life in prison. |
MY CROPS WON’T GROW!!!
Capitalists hate the winter time. They hate it because they can’t make as many agricultural profits. This is because, like in real life, you are severely limited in your crop production during the Winter in Stardew Valley. The lack of profits to be earned from crops may be incredibly daunting, but Winter serves as down time. Perhaps Spring-Fall was incredibly breakneck and stressful for you in Stardew Valley? Perhaps there are a lot of things you were unable to complete or do because you were stressed by the ever-looming passage of time. I certainly was, and with this post, I will help guide you through Winter in Stardew Valley, and show you how it can be fun and productive.
Think of the Future
If crops are truly on your mind, then rearrange your farm. You should have a high enough farming level to craft a quality sprinkler. I highly recommend crafting as many of these as you can during Winter. In year 1 of Stardew Valley, there were likely many things you were unable to complete, because your schedule was so packed. You were also likely to have a farm that was a complete mess because you were pressured to make some money in the first few impoverished days in Stardew Valley. Therefore, it is imperative to make a mental map of your farm layout for Spring of Year 2.
A person with a farm like this:
didn’t get this immediately. Clearing your farm out in Year 1, and establishing a massive plot like this is nearly impossible. So don’t be discouraged if your farm isn’t as nearly as profitable as you would like to be! Winter is a time to evaluate your plot, whether you would like to grow grass for your animals, where you would place your sprinklers and your crops, and where you would like trees and decorations. Would you like a farm that’s decorative and pretty? Or would you prefer a farm that maximizes profits? You have options.
What I have done so far, is mine for the materials needed for quality sprinklers, and lay them out on my farm prematurely. This means that when Spring Day 1 rolls around, you can buy as many seeds as you need, and not have to worry about taking the entire day up watering. They will all water themselves automatically, and you can focus on other tasks like fishing, mining, or making new friends!
Save Every Last Dime
So now you know to lay your farm out for a massive Spring harvest. Only, there’s a slight problem: you need money to buy seeds and resources. There is no point to planning your farm if you cannot enact that plan. Therefore, do whatever you can to scrounge up as much Winter money as you can. Forage for Winter crops and sell those. Forage for Winter Crops and bring them to the community center to get Winter Seeds and sell those. You will need that cash to afford the seeds in Spring. Don’t be afraid to sell the not-so-fancy gems you find in the mine. Hold onto the diamonds and emeralds because those make fantastic gifts, but don’t hesitate to sell Jade, Amethyst, or Topaz.
Furthermore, if you missed out on planting trees and the Community Center is mocking you for it, then now is the time to save for them. They take a very long time to grow, so to get them ready on the first day of Spring would make a monumental difference for your profits. Do not go overboard with multiple trees, however. One of each should be fine. Perhaps you have even designated a place on your farm for trees to grow.
It is tempting to buy more animals to generate a profit off of them, but unless you are ready for a long-term investment, I would say hold off until massive profits in Spring. If you already have a few animals, then I believe you should coast on that amount for a while. Because you have to buy a heater, which takes 2000g for the Winter time, buying expensive animals could be costly for the short-term Winter saving plan. Also, I would say hold off on upgrading your Barn and Coop. While they are being upgraded, you can still access your animals, so you don’t have to wait for a specific time to do that.
Homies and Recreation
The Community Center is an integral piece of Stardew Valley that should not be ignored. Not just because completing bundles gets you awesome rewards, but because fully completing the Community Center is how you complete the game’s main quest! Obviously, you can’t complete everything in a single year if you didn’t keep track of it (or use the Wiki). That’s why Winter is a time for you to plan and assess how to fill the center up quickly. Planning will take you 20 minutes, but it will honetly be a life-saver for you. Don’t do what I did, and sell all your pumpkins in Fall, forgetting that you need to give it for the Community Center, and wait three in-game seasons for my chance again.
Also, if you planted tons of seeds in Fall, you should have a decent amount of cash. Don’t be afraid to budget your earnings for gifts. Building relationships in Winter is a great activity, and it can spruce the otherwise dead season with more lively cutscenes and stories. Building friendships and seeing people’s stories are one of the most interesting aspects of Stardew Valley, and seeing their demeanor change from cold and abrasive to warm and welcome is so rewarding. At 0 hearts, Shane says “Do I know you? Leave.” At 5 hearts, he says “I’m surprised anybody wants to talk to me, I appreciate it.”
THE OFFICIAL STARDEW VALLEY CHECKLIST FOR ACTIVITIES:
Make friends
Prepare the farm with Sprinklers and designs
Go to the community center and plan what you need from Spring-Fall
Save dat cash
Never talk to Pierre, the scumbag. |
Godfrey asked the sixth-graders to rate their endorsement of the “American Dream” and system-justifying ideas—namely, that America is the land of opportunity where everyone who works hard has an equal chance to succeed. Youth were then asked to rate themselves on various qualities, including their self-esteem, risky behaviors (“stayed out all night without your parent’s permission,” “cheated on school tests,” etc.), and perceived discrimination (for example: “How often have others suspected you of doing something wrong because of your ethnicity?” and “How often have the police hassled you because of your ethnicity?”).
At three points over the course of middle school, the youth rated their self-esteem, behavior, and experience with discrimination. The results revealed an alarming trajectory. In sixth grade, among students who believed the system is fair, self-esteem was high and risky behavior was rare; by the end of seventh grade, these same students reported lower self-esteem and more risky behaviors—with no significant differences based on race, ethnicity, gender, or immigration generation (youth from newly arrived immigrant families and native-born counterparts).
What’s more, for youth who perceived more discrimination from an early age, system-justifying beliefs were associated with less-risky behavior in sixth grade, but with a sharp rise in such behaviors by seventh grade. Godfrey attributes this spike to a “perfect storm” in which marginalized young people are experiencing more discrimination; beginning to understand the systemic and institutionalized nature of that discrimination; and starting to strongly identify as a member of a marginalized group, seeing that group as one that’s being discriminated against. As for why this leads to more risky behavior, Godfrey points to research that suggests people who really believe the system is fair internalize stereotypes—believing and acting out false and negative claims about their group—more readily than those who disavow these views.
And while it’s easy to attribute the increase in risky behavior to developmental changes such as puberty, the fact that the students’ outcomes started high in the sixth grade and then deteriorated suggests that psychosocial phenomena are at play.
“I do think that there’s this element of people think of me this way anyway, so this must be who I am,” Godfrey said, adding that the behaviors—things like stealing and sneaking out—reflect stereotypes perpetuated about youth of color. “If you’re [inclined] to believe that things are the way they should be, and [that] the system is fair, then you’re maybe going to accept stereotypes about you more easily.”
While the sample was relatively small, Godfrey said the findings are informative and mirror prior research. Indeed, previous analyses have found that system-justifying beliefs are associated with lower self-esteem in black adults and lower grade-point averages for Latino college students—though the same beliefs predicted better grades and less distress for “high status” youth. |
Joe Raedle/Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump
U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump is the top risk to the global markets, according to a new Eurasia Group report released Tuesday.
“The world’s sole superpower was once the international trump card, imposing order to force compromise and head off conflict. Now it’s the wildcard,” the report concluded.
Trump will not be an isolationist and will intervene strongly when he thinks U.S. interests are at stake, the report said. As a result, his policy will be more hawkish and much less predictable.
U.S. foreign policy will be more akin to China, with narrow short-term agreements that are win-win for the two parties and “everyone else be damned,” said Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group’s president, in an interview on Bloomberg.
Financial markets don’t appreciate that “this year marks the most volatile political risks environment in the postwar period, at least as important to global markets as the economic recession of 2008,” he said.
“Allies, especially in Europe and Asia, will hedge. Rivals like Russia and China will test,” the report said. For instance, China’s President Xi Jinping may overreact to the new U.S. stance because he cannot afford to look “weak and irresolute” ahead of next fall’s ruling Communist party congress.
In a separate interview on Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summer agreed Trump’s likely “truculent nationalism” was a leading risk to the global economy.
“The uncertainty premium on everything should go up,” Summers said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will likely win reelection in 2017 but will emerge as a weakened figure, the report said.
“This will leave Europe with no strong leadership at all — at a time when strong leaders are badly needed,” the report said.
Want news about Europe delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Europe Daily newsletter. Sign up here. |
A terrible candidate who won due to the organization of the Muslim Brotherhood but never attained the political support necessary to govern.
The Misadventures of Morsi
Commenting on Reuel Marc Gerecht’s thesis that having Islamists take power was probably a necessary step for political liberalization in the Arab world, Ross Douthat writes:
As I said two years ago, I have serious doubts about whether Gerecht’s thesis — which sees Islamist rule in Middle Eastern countries as a necessary-if-fraught step on the way to any kind of liberal democracy in the region — can serve as a guide for responsible U.S. policymaking. But it has always offered the most plausible script for how the Islamic world might eventually escape from its current cycle of repression feeding extremism feeding repression and so on. The question is whether this week’s events in Egypt are following the Gerecht script or not. Is the failure of the Morsi government an example of how “time moves quickly now,” with the Egyptian public swiftly seeing Islamist rule for what it is and rejecting it decisively, opening the door for more liberal alternatives? Or is this a case where the process Gerecht hopes for hasn’t even had time to get off the ground, and the military’s intervention will just return us to the same old cycle of secular dictatorships pre-empting democracy in order to keep the lid on fundamentalists, whose popular appeal endures and eventually prompts another upheaval down the road? The Morsi government was in power long enough to produce a mass protest movement against the Muslim Brotherhood, but was it in power long enough to actually discredit the Brotherhood (at least in its current form) as the most plausible alternative to military rule? If the military actually holds new elections now, will they produce anything like a viable third way between Islamism and dictatorship, Morsi and Mubarak, the minaret and the tank?
If Douthat’s first possibility is correct, the swift failure of the Muslim Brotherhood was largely Morsi’s.
Jeffrey Goldberg recalls:
A few months ago, King Abdullah II of Jordan told me about his meetings with Mohamed Mursi, the now-deposed president of Egypt. The king wasn’t fond of Mursi, both because the Egyptian was a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and because Abdullah found Mursi exceedingly stupid. “I see a Muslim Brotherhood crescent developing in Egypt and Turkey,” the king said. He despises the movement, partly because it is revanchist, fundamentalist and totalitarian, and partly because in Jordan it seeks his overthrow. “The Arab Spring highlighted a new crescent in the process of development.” The saving grace in Egypt, he said, was that Mursi seemed too unsophisticated to successfully pull off his vision. “There’s no depth to the guy,” he said of Mursi. The king compared him unfavorably to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Islamist prime minister of Turkey. Like Mursi, the king asserted, Erdogan was also a false democrat, but one with patience. “Erdogan once said that democracy for him is a bus ride,” Abdullah said. “Once I get to my stop, I’m getting off.”
(Goldberg notes that Erdogan’s style has now lost some of its luster.)
Eric Trager describes how Morsi became president. He had no charisma and didn’t win based on his charm but on the effective organization of the Muslim Brotherhood. Thus:
Morsi thus won the presidency without having to be liked – thereby making it easy for people to start hating him as soon as his many flaws became apparent. Morsi’s total reliance on the Brotherhood for his political success had another damaging effect: it made pleasing his Brotherhood colleagues a top priority, even though he campaigned promising to govern inclusively. Morsi thus continually expanded the number of Brotherhood ministers and governors with each round of appointments, further alienating non-Islamists.
Trager then goes on to recount how Morsi sought to seize power for himself last November. Though this is slightly off topic, it’s important for another reason.
David Kirkpatrick is the Cairo bureau chief of the New York Times, an thus one of the more influential reporters in the region. He sees no threat from the Muslim Brotherhood as a political party. The other day he tweeted:
@ramielobeidi @sultanalqassemi Morsi was jailed in 2011 for being MB,before that for supporting judicial independence. There are many crimes — David D. Kirkpatrick (@kirkpatricknyt) July 3, 2013
Morsi’s power grab last year was an attempt to bring the judiciary under his control but the reporter for the New York Times didn’t bring it up. (The context of the tweet is important too. Someone had argued that there was no justification for arresting Morsi.) Instead he tweeted that Morsi had been arrested unjustly before.
It’s important to remember that the New York Times’ lead reporter from Egypt is an apologist for the Muslim Brotherhood generally, and Morsi, in particular. |
There are still fences up all over the Splash Park and Issak Kendal Ker Plaza on Princes Island this weekend. These Fences make it impossible for me to do my job. On the busiest weekend of the year celebrating 150 years of Canadain History one tradition was forgotten and several Magicians, Jugglers, Acrobats and Clowns are unable to work.
Ever since the park was built there has been street performance in that plaza. In it’s height there were dozens of entertainers emigrating to Calgary so they could perform on that beautiful amphitheater. For generations there has always been some kind of performance there every weekend. People who saw a one-man band there as a child, bring their kids back to watch the new generation of magicians and jugglers. Especially on Canada Day.
Not this year. The fences wont allow the passing people to step off the path, out of traffic and enter the theatre to sit on the grass or the stones or the 3 tiers of steps for seating. When people walk past and see someone performing on the stage they don’t have the option to stop and watch.
On Canada Day we moved our shows to Stephen Ave because there were all kinds of events and fun things bringing people to the core. The next day we went back to the amphitheater, THE FENCES ARE STILL UP!?! Our permits are very clear about where we are allowed perform. Because we gather crowds and perform full shows we are restricted to ONLY work in side that amphitheater. As soon as we gather a crowd anywhere else Bylaw or the Police shut us down.
Is this just a negative result of bureaucracy? Or is Calgary Parks trying to get rid of us. Because right now they are acting like a partner who wants to break up me but would rather manipulate me into doing it for them. |
Story highlights Sweet shop's servant acknowledged mixing pesticide into sweets, official says
At least nine members of one family have died from eating the confections
(CNN) Twenty-six people, many of them from a single family, are dead after ingesting sweets that had been mixed with pesticide, Pakistani officials said.
Dozens more have been hospitalized.
Dr. Taha Salman, a visiting doctor in Layyah, said the patients need to be transferred to Lahore or Karachi medical centers because the local hospital doesn't have the capability to pump their stomachs.
Umer Hayat bought five kilograms (about 11 pounds) of laddu, a ball-shaped confection of dough and sugar, from Tariq Hotel & Sweet in the village of Karor Lal Esan, said Layyah District Coordination Officer Rana Gulzar. The village, in the Layyah district of Punjab province, sits about 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Lahore.
The sweets were to celebrate the birth of Hayat's grandson, Abdullah, but recipients of the treats began falling ill Thursday, Gulzar said.
Read More |
Talk of machine guns & surveillance spooks hotel guests
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
The Bilderberg Group has launched an unprecedented security crackdown on the eve of tomorrow’s secretive confab of global power brokers, with guests at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles hotel being intimidated by talk of machine guns and high-tech surveillance.
Video streaming by Ustream
Police tell Alex Jones and crew to leave the hotel.
Surveying the scene at the hotel today, radio host Alex Jones described a chaotic picture, with Bilderberg security, including a particularly vocal Swedish woman, stomping around the building announcing that “machine gun nests” were being set up in anticipation of a deluge of protesters arriving over the next few days.
Given the fact that a record number of demonstrators are expected to attend, Bilderberg has been more stringent than ever before in its efforts to get people out of the way, telling customers who had made room reservations for two days before the start of the conference that their bookings would not be honored.
Undercover Fairfax police, secret service, hotel security, as well as diplomatic service personnel are all now rushing to finalize preparations for the arrival of Bilderberg members tomorrow morning.
According to London Guardian journalist Charlie Skelton, conference organizers were also using iPhones to film guests who had arrived for brunch. Regular guests as well as journalists are also having background checks run against their names.
Alex Jones also heard discussions between members of Bilderberg security about how sophisticated surveillance equipment using satellites was being used to tap phones of prominent activists and media personalities set to cover the event.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
{openx:74}
Although well over a thousand people have signaled their intention to attend the protest, Bilderberg only expects around 500 to be in place at any one time.
Alex Jones himself was contacted yesterday by Bryan Stolz, Director of Hotel Operations at Marriott International, who told Jones that his room booking was cancelled and that he and his crew would be banned from entering the premises of the hotel.
People who are already staying at the hotel have had letters delivered to their rooms ordering them to leave the premises before noon on Thursday.
We are also expecting to receive details of Bilderberg’s 2012 agenda within the next few hours. One topic of discussion already confirmed to be up for debate will be ecological issues and Agenda 21 – part of Bilderberg’s efforts to usher in a post-industrial revolution.
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News. |
As if Sweden wasn't troubled enough, The Local reports that another Green Party politician, who ignited a storm of controversy after refusing to shake hands with a female reporter on grounds that it violated his Muslim faith, announced on Wednesday that he was quitting politics. This follows the resignation of Sweden's housing minister following a week of mounting controversy over his contacts with Islamic organisations and Turkish ultranationalists.
During an interview with a female reporter from the TV4 broadcaster on Tuesday, Yasri Khan placed his hand over his heart instead of shaking her hand in greeting. "People can greet each other in different ways. The most important thing is to show respect by seeing each other, to meet each other… to respect each other," Khan said during an interview with state broadcaster Swedish Radio. Khan, also the general secretary of the organization Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice, has faced strong criticism from within his party since the incident. "It is unacceptable. You can't have a man in the party who can't greet women in the same way you greet a man. I'm upset," Stina Bergström, a Green Party parliamentarian, told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet. In interviews with Swedish media, Khan lashed out at his critics and said that the debate, and his fellow Muslim Green Party member Mehmet Kaplan's resignation, had caused him to run out of energy. "In today's political climate, I wonder if politics is right for me, and if I want to be a media circus clown," he told the Nyheter24 news site.
Kahn's resignation from the Green Party follows the resignation of another Green Party member - Sweden's housing minister, Turkish-born Mehmet Kaplan...
Sweden’s housing minister has resigned following a week of mounting controversy over his contacts with Islamic organisations and Turkish ultranationalists, piling further pressure on the country’s already unpopular minority coalition government. The Social Democrat prime minister, Stefan Lofven, said Turkish-born Mehmet Kaplan, a member of the junior coalition partner Green party and former spokesman for Sweden’s Muslim Council, had submitted his resignation and that he had accepted it. Sweden’s centre-left coalition of Social Democrats and Greens has been severely strained by Europe’s migration crisis, with the arrival of about 160,000 asylum seekers in the country last year forcing Stockholm to impose border controls and tighter rules in a U-turn on decades of generous refugee policies. Kaplan, 44, denied any wrongdoing and said he was stepping down because public and media criticism was making it impossible for him to do his job. He said he opposed “all forms of extremism, whether nationalistic, religious or in any other form” and supported “human rights, democracy and dialogue”. The minister, who was born in Turkey and arrived in Sweden at the age of eight, has come under increasing pressure after local media last week published photos of him at a dinner with Turkish ultranationalists, including the Swedish head of the extremist Grey Wolves organisation, and a former leader of the main Turkish nationalist group in Sweden, who was forced to resign earlier this month after calling on Turks to kill “the Armenian dogs”. The minister was further attacked for his links to a number of Islamic organisations, including the international Millî Görü? movement, that some suspect of promoting religious fundamentalism. Kaplan has acknowledged the ties, but said they “don’t mean I agree with them on everything”. The pressure increased at the weekend when Swedish media published seven-year-old footage of him comparing Israel’s policies towards Palestinians to the Nazis persecution of the Jews.
It has not been a good week for the centre-left party, the junior partners of Sweden's ruling coalition. On Tuesday its co-leader and deputy prime minister, Åsa Romson, landed herself in hot water after using the Swedish word for 'accident' (which can also mean 'misfortune') to refer to the September 11th terror attacks. |
Revolutionizing it
I could watch Jensen Huang read the damn phonebook and be enthralled. He’d make me willingly, and enthusiastically believe that not only did Nvidia invent the phone and the phone book, but all the people in it as well. And, as soon as the presentation was over, I’d rush out and buy a phone book, and a phone—but only if it had a little green eye on it.
At SC17 Captain Huang, fashion darling that he is in his latest black leather jacket, armed only with a hand mic, paced the stage and showed us the powerful, but not power consuming DGX-1 replacing six racks of conventional servers, while delivering the same or more TFLOPS
Nvidia is bringing supercomputing to the masses. Not the common folks like you and me, but the masses of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and researchers. Those smart guys struggle with funding, and cycle-allocations to solve big problems. Imagine how fast science and society could progress if researchers could get enough machine time on a super powerful machine? They could either get the job done in their life time, or expand the resolution and accuracy parameters to get even better answers.
What if they could just tap into a supercomputer without even knowing where it was? Well they can now because Nvidia’s Voltas and/or DGXs have been installed in all the major clouds worldwide. Amazon Web Services led the way in late October with an announcement that it would offer Volta in its cloud. Since then, Microsoft announced it would offer it in the Azure cloud. In fact, Nvidia says every major cloud is on board, including Alibaba, Baidu, Oracle, and Tencent Cloud also have announced cloud services based on Volta. Not only that, but you can access to a Volta for as low as $3 an hour, less than a café latte’.
And if you don’t want to use the cloud and want to own your own supercomputer than you can call Dell EMC, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, IBM, Lenovo, or Huawei Technologies, and probably MicroStar.
“We’re in every cloud, every single server, every data center,” said Huang. That’s one hellofa statement.
One of the major applications that will exploit all these supercomputers is deep-learning and AI. AI as you know was just invented last week, and in that short amount of time dozens of specialized training programs have been developed by researchers, some which can only be loaded and run by advanced level researchers because the programs are so complicated. That’s a speed-bump in the road to progress and so Nvidia sought a way to accelerate the process. After all, what good is a supercomputer if it’s just idling while the researcher compiles, links and does other mundane setup operations instead of crunching and then analyzing numbers?
The answer is to stuff it. Yes, stuff it in a container. Nvidia took it upon themselves to collect the most popular, and a few esoteric AI and DL programs and bind them up in a simple to use container, with common I/O and file links. Not trivial or fast work, the effort has been a major investment using expensive engineer time, and a gift to the world from Nvidia. Just as an FYI, I recently participated in a discussion where we were told about a customer who spent six-months getting the software set up that took less than a day to run—that’s a terrible duty-cycle. Containers will take that six months and cut it down to six hours or less. Now extrapolate that – if a researcher could only run two or three analysis a year, now (assuming they have the dataset) they could run two or three a week. What would that do for society?
Jensen explains how containers will speed things up (Nvidia)
Nvidia is offering an end-to-end solution for researchers and scientists. They can take their datasets, stuff them into a container on a DGX or server full of Voltas, crunch the data, and then render a beautiful visualization on an Nvidia graphics board. No other company can, nor is, offering this range of capability to the scientific community—and at prices that are a fraction of what a conventional solution would have cost less than two years ago.
Go get a phone book and you can learn all about it. |
About 10 days ago, his backup point guard situation seemed destined to cause Stan Van Gundy indigestion or insomnia.
Not so much anymore. Van Gundy saw enough from Steve Blake in his only preseason appearance – Friday’s 28-point win over Atlanta in the finale – to feel comfortable going into Tuesday’s season opener with Blake as his backup point guard.
But he also saw a different Spencer Dinwiddie over the second half of the preseason.
“He’s just got a lot of experience. I like the way he moves the ball, passes the ball,” Van Gundy said of Blake after Sunday’s practice. “I thought Spencer, though, has played four pretty good games in a row. I’ve been happy with him. He’s played a lot better. I thought early in the preseason he was not real solid. He was very up and down. But over the last four games, I think he was good.”
Things are falling into place for the Pistons on the health front, it appears. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope threw a scare into Van Gundy when he limped off in the first quarter last Wednesday against Charlotte, but he’s on course to play Tuesday. He missed Sunday’s practice, but was scheduled to run on a treadmill with 100 percent body weight after taking it to 70 percent on Saturday.
Van Gundy expects confirmation on Monday that backup center Aron Baynes will have the conditions under which he played in the preseason – a 15-minute limit per game and a ban on playing in back to backs – lifted by the doctor in charge of Baynes’ rehab from off-season ankle surgery.
Blake and Baynes will play key roles off the bench along with rookie Stanley Johnson, Jodie Meeks, Anthony Tolliver and Reggie Bullock. Blake, in fact, could be used in tandem with Reggie Jackson if Van Gundy sees a need to inject more ball movement. The Pistons spent part of Sunday’s practice with that look, he said. Van Gundy says how deep he does into his bench from game to game will vary.
“It’ll be situational,” he said. “My guess is we’ll use at least 10, maybe 11. All depends.”
Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova will be the starting forwards, Van Gundy confirmed. They started against Charlotte and Van Gundy said last week that unless something caused him to change his mind, that would be the starting combination for the season opener.
Two other bits of housekeeping to note:
The Pistons picked up fourth-year options on both Caldwell-Pope – there was never a doubt about that – and Bullock. That completes a remarkable month for Bullock, who entered training camp competing with Adonis Thomas and Cartier Martin for a roster spot and now has two more seasons of salary guaranteed – a measure of how good he was throughout the preseason. |
Several months after its release, it’s still difficult to track down Nintendo’s amazing NES Classic Edition. The tiny console is everything you want it to be, but it does have one tiny flaw that isn’t related to limited retail availability: incredibly short controller cords.
The cord on the single controller that comes with the NES Classic Edition is only 2.5 feet long, which makes playing far away from the TV a bit of a chore. You can buy extension cables, but everyone knows going wireless is more convenient.
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Right now there are two primary wireless controller options for the NES Classic Edition: the $20 Nyko Miniboss and the $40 NES30 Classic Edition Wireless Controller Set from 8Bitdo. Both cut the cord and let you sit back on the couch, but which one is actually worth the Andrew Jackson or two you’ll need to spend to own them?
Pairing
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Like the NES Classic Edition itself, both controllers are easy to setup. I plugged a wireless dongle into the front of the console and hit a button on the controller to start the pairing process.
While the Nyko Miniboss never missed a beat and always paired immediately, the 8Bitdo was more annnoying, demanding that I press a button on the receiver itself. It also requires re-pairing after restarting the console, which kind of defeats the purpose of going wireless. I didn’t have to re-pair every time I gamed, but even once or twice was annoying.
Winner: Nyko Miniboss
Battery Life
I wasn’t able to exhaust the battery of either controller in my testing—though some customer reviews indicate that the Nyko Miniboss starts to lag a bit when its battery gets low. Nyko promises that you’ll still get 15 hours on a charge while 8Bitdo claims the NES30 will last 20 hours.
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Both units also charge over micro-USB, but the budget Miniboss doesn’t come with a cable. I could have hunted for one of my own, but instead I just charged it with the power cable for the console itself—which forced me into a gaming time out for a little while.
Winner: 8Bitdo NES30
Versatility
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The nice thing about the 8Bitdo NES 30, and one of the reasons it costs twice as much as the Nyko Miniboss, is that its “Retro Receiver” wireless dongle works with more than just the NES30 controller. It should pair with all 8Bitdo controllers and arcade sticks. It also lets you use a PS3, PS4, WiiMote, or Wii U Pro controller with the NES, which is useful if you’ve got huge hands that might cramp holding the tiny NES 30 controller.
But best of all, the NES30 controller can also be used as a standard Bluetooth controller, which makes playing a game on your computer or home-built emulation station much more satisfying.
In contrast, the Nyko Miniboss dongle works with the controller it comes with. That’s it. Though you can plug the dongle into a Wii or Wii U and use it to play all the NES games on the Virtual Console that were never packed into the NES Classic Edition. Like River City Ransom, a key brawler absent from Nintendo’s tiny console.
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Winner: 8Bitdo NES30
Gameplay
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Wireless performance and nice battery life are all well and good, but it means nothing if the controller doesn’t feel right. Neither one is an exact replica of the classic sharp cornered NES controller. For one thing, buttons on both are offset, diagonally, SNES style, rather than being side-by-side like on the classic NES controller.
In fact, the 8Bitdo NES30 controller is actually very akin to a Super Nintendo controller—with an A, B, X, and Y button on the front and two shoulder buttons on top. It’s just in a rectangular NES housing. The Nyko Miniboss just sticks with two buttons and a control pad for gameplay.
Neither had any problems keeping up in Punch-Out!! or Super Mario Bros 3. But the Miniboss’s smaller directional pad just didn’t feel as good under my thumb. The NES30, strikingly similar to an original NES gamepad, felt happily familiar despite those extra buttons.
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The NES30 also squeezes in a real game changer that fixes a major problem with the NES Classic Edition. It has a built-in shortcut for accessing the home screen on the console, fulfilling its promise of true wireless NES gameplay. I never had to leave the couch to to switch games.
Winner: 8Bitdo NES30
Bottom Line
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Both controllers bring the NES Classic Edition further into modern times and out of 1985. Yet the $40 8Bitdo controller is better in almost every way—even if it also costs twice as much. It you’re just there to squeak out a quick game of Dr. Mario, I don’t necessarily think that extra $20 is worth it. Instead you could get a two-pack of Miniboss’s to get your Dr. Mario on with that housemate that keeps begging to know when it’s their turn.
But you’re going to be more satisfied in the long run with the 8Bitdo NES30. It is more comfortable to use, has longer battery life, and it won’t make you get up from the couch to return to the game screen.
Winner: 8Bitdo NES30 |
I notice that whenever we go shopping, Akemi always entrusts me with the heaviest and least fragile items. I find that both complimentary and slightly insulting.
Always, Day #2 of our weekend open house went off without a hitch – if you discount the fact that it rained for the entire two hours we took the dogs out. Apparently, another 12+ groups visited, and two couples were return visitors from yesterday. One of them was even so keen, they floated a lowball offer that our agent respectfully informed them wasn’t gonna fly.
Hmmm. Curious to see how this plays out. As I’ve already said, I’m certainly not a motivated seller but, on the other hand, I can’t say I’m an unmotivated seller either. I suppose it would be more apt to describe me as a disinterested seller. Will I sell the house? Won’t I? If I do, will I get a condo in Vancouver? Or will I get one in Toronto? Or both? Or neither? I suppose it will all depend on whether or not we get that fourth season pick-up and even though I’m in the writers’ room, furiously working away on stories for Dark Matter season 4, there’s not guarantee. Our two-part opener was up against the NBA finals and then, watching last Friday’s episode, I was surprised by the fact that we weren’t trending…until I realized what was trending = the SERIES finale of Reign. Looking forward to those +3’s and +7’s!
Hey, speaking of Dark Matter, Syfy Australia has kindly uploaded the third episode of After Dark. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it cuts out halfway through a sneak peek at next week’s kookoo bananas episode, partway through one of my favorite THRAndroid scenes…
I leave you today with some early work on our Episode 311 (“The Dwarf Star Conspiracy”) security satellites…
Aint he the cutest? I’m calling him Murray!
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But mere 'like' is OK, says Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Merely liking a defamatory tweet will not constitute cyber libel under Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, but reposting or retweeting it may send you to prison.
Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza made the clarification to reporters at the end of oral arguments at the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday.
"Ang [cyber] libel, yung i-republish mo, pwedeng may tama yun, republish -- you share or you retweet. Kung 'like' yun, may depensa ka na opinyon ko lang yun na maganda. 'I like,'" he said.
However, his statement was completely different in front of SC magistrates who grilled him on whether the crackdown on Internet crimes also covers mere approval of other people's opinion.
"A 'like' is an approval of opinion. The approval of the opinion 'Jones is a liar' can cause as much damage as actually saying 'Jones is a liar,'" Jardeleza told the high court.
Associate Justice Roberto Abad, who will write the decision on the case, called the law "bad."
“If ‘liking’ a post considered libelous is also libelous, then this law is bad. It can have chilling effect for those of us who like opinions, which we didn’t author in the first place,” he said.
The 68-year-old high court magistrate said he also has a Facebook account.
Other justices questioned the constitutionality of online libel provision in Section 4 (c) of the cybercrime law.
Carpio: Law on libel unconstitutional
Senior Justice Antonio Carpio said previous Supreme Court rulings have already declared unconstitutional the libel provision in Section 354 of Revised Penal Code, where Section 4 (c) of the cybercrime law was taken.
"Article 354 on libel cannot stand scrutiny of constitutionality," Carpio told Jardeleza.
Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the latest appointee of President Benigno Aquino to the high court, agreed with Carpio.
"Jurisprudence on actual malice has amended the Revised Penal Code. Why is it in the cybercrime law, libel repeats Article 355 and not the jurisprudence? The libel of 1932 is not the libel we know today," Leonen told Jardeleza.
Jardeleza, meanwhile, said it would be "up to the court" to declare unconstitutional the online libel provision in the cybercrime law.
'Strike down take-down clause'
The Solicitor General earlier admitted that the cybercrime law's Section 19, more notoriously known as the "takedown clause," is unconstitutional.
The clause allows the Department of Justice to block access to computer data or websites even without a warrant issued by a court.
“We humbly submit that Section 19 be struck down as it impermissibly intrudes into free speech. We too believe in freedom of speech and expression,” he said.
Jardeleza also admitted during the interpellation that Section 12 of the law that allows real-time collection of traffic data also without court review as "hardly constitutional."
He said "due cause" should first be present.
"Traffic data can be acquired if there is due cause, which is a function of the executive (branch). Rights will be better protected with judicial intervention," Jardeleza said.
Double jeopardy
Jardeleza also told the high court that the Cybercrime Prevention Act does not spell out a different set of penalties for libel committed in cyberspace, rather, it directs that the offense be penalized a degree higher than what is provided for under the Revised Penal Code.
However, the justices pointed out that Section 7 of the assailed law does not contain the Solicitor General's view as it states that "[a] prosecution under this Act shall be without prejudice to any liability for violation of any provision of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, or special laws."
The justices stressed that Section 7 thus allows double jeopardy on the part of the accused.
Questions were also raised by the magistrates in connection with the vagueness of certain provisions of the law, including what constitutes "due cause" for a cyber offence, with some justices pointing out that this may be subject to abuse on the part of law enforcement agents.
Jardeleza, however, maintains that apart from the Department of Justice's "takedown powers" over websites, the rest of the provisions of the law should be upheld as legal by the high court.
The case was submitted for resolution after the end of the 2-part oral arguments that also included the side of the 15 groups that have filed petitions against the law. -- with reports from Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News
* Download and Listen to the audio recording of oral arguments by the Office of the Solicitor General on the cybercrime law, as recorded and shared online by the Supreme Court on January 29, 2013. |
Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness characterised by a distorted body image, an extremely low body weight, and a fear of gaining weight. While anorexia affects all people, it is significantly more prevalent among women. Even though it is relatively rare, its effects are devastating.
Anorexia is notoriously difficult to treat. Across all mental illnesses, it has the highest rate of mortality, so research in this area is crucial.
It is not possible to determine a single cause of anorexia. Nevertheless, risk factors associated with the disease are well known. These include genetics, psychological predisposition, and social or cultural factors.
Increasingly, our social and cultural interactions take place online. It is, therefore, not surprising that online interactions intersect with mental illnesses generally, and anorexia specifically. This is particularly when taking into account that the average person who suffers from anorexia tends to be relatively young.
“Pro-ana” websites endorse anorexia as a positive choice, as opposed to a mental illness. Other variants include “pro-mia” websites, which endorse bulimia. These sites predominantly target women.
They promote a very thin body as the type that women must have. They give advice about how to become anorexic, how to hide an eating disorder from others and how to diet. The websites contain images of extremely thin women, which are sometimes altered to make the women appear thinner.
These websites have a long history. In 2001, Time Magazine noted the existence of 400 such sites. Efforts to eradicate these sites are just as old. AOL and Yahoo tried to ban pro-ana material that same year.
These attempts have not been successful. Rather, the “survival” of such networks has required adaptation.
In practice, this involves these networks “turning inwards”, as “subgroups of ana-mia bloggers will exchange messages, links and images among themselves and exclude other information sources”. Present estimates suggest there may be millions of pro-ana websites.
Like other online interactions, pro-ana websites have become integrated with social media.
The present legal framework
In Australia, there is little regulation of pro-ana material. There are general criminal offences that relate to causing bodily harm. This includes causing a person to have a disease or disorder. It follows that anorexia, while a mental illness, might nevertheless constitute bodily harm.
However, it is not likely that these offences will criminalise the publication of pro-ana material. The causes of anorexia are complex and multifaceted. Criminal prosecution usually requires proof that an action caused a particular outcome. Where many complex factors contribute to an outcome, it is difficult to prove causation in a criminal court.
Some jurisdictions have offences of “hastening death”. These provisions criminalise making a “substantial contribution” to a death. Where it can be shown that pro-ana material contributed to death, by accelerating the progression of anorexia for example, criminal liability may follow. However, prosecution in such a case remains very difficult.
The French legislation
France has been an international leader in laws that relate to body image. In 2015, the French government modified its Public Health Code to include an article that states:
[c]ausing a person to seek excessive leanness by encouraging prolonged food restrictions which result in exposing the person to life-threatening danger or in directly compromising their health, is punishable by one year in prison and a fine of €10,000.
The French MPs who proposed the law, Maud Olivier and Catherine Coutelle, stated that “certain sites known as pro-ana can push people into a vicious circle of anorexia and authorities cannot do anything about it”.
Other countries have also proposed similar bans. In Australia, former federal MP Anna Burke has advocated following France’s lead and banning such websites in Australia.
Issues with criminalisation
Pro-ana websites are commonly interactive. The line between a consumer and a producer of social media is blurry. Laws to prohibit pro-ana material would likely also capture the behaviour of visitors to these sites who interact with them.
A considerable proportion of women who seek out pro-ana websites report suffering from an eating disorder. Visitors to these websites commonly report that they are seeking support in relation to those disorders, often after traditional therapies have been unsuccessful.
Similarly, most publishers of pro-ana websites are women who themselves suffer from the illness. If creating pro-ana websites is criminalised, then it could make it more difficult for the creators to seek the help that they need to recover.
Much of the content of pro-ana websites is shocking. Telling readers to “stop eating until they take you to the hospital” is disturbing. This line might be hyperbole. It might be evidence of the disordered thinking typical of anorexia. In either case it evokes a strong reaction.
Yet, similar material is found elsewhere in the public space. The common pro-ana motto, “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”, is attributed to supermodel Kate Moss. That line, and variations on it, are used in marketing material by clothing retailers.
Images used by pro-ana websites are most often taken from other sources. They include photos from fashion and women’s magazines, celebrities and well-known models. These images – shocking in the context of pro-ana websites – are ubiquitous in the public space.
Public comment advocating extreme thinness in women is also common. Radio shock-jock Kyle Sandilands used his nationally syndicated show to tell a woman: “I like the starving look … 60kgs is pushing it.”
Internationally syndicated celebrity MD Dr Oz’s show is broadcast on free-to-air TV in Australia. It featured Camille Hugh’s book, The Thigh Gap Hack. That book promised women “the shortcut to slimmer, feminine thighs every woman secretly desires” by techniques such as the trademarked “hunger training”. This technique encourages women to skip meals and instead “listen” to their body for signals of “true” hunger.
Proposals to criminalise pro-ana websites would make it an offence to collect and collate images, slogans and “tips” that are commonly used to market to women. These laws would criminalise this behaviour when done by women in a pro-ana context, but not when done to women. This seems deeply problematic.
Alternatives to criminalisation
The alternative to criminalisation is to use online platforms to deliver health information. For example, searching “pro-ana” on social media site tumblr returns the following page:
from www.tumblr.com
Research on internet search habits found that explicit reference to a celebrity’s eating disorder in traditional media reports decreased the rate at which people searched for material relating to anorexia. This suggests that alternative messaging, rather than criminalisation, may have merit.
Another possible alternative is to add some sort of warning on these pages about the dangerous content and the harm that may come from viewing them.
If you, or anyone you know, is suffering from an eating disorder, you can contact the Butterfly Foundation for assistance by calling 1800 334 673. |
Jaipur: A Muslim man from Haryana has died three days after being allegedly beaten up by gau rakshaks in Rajasthan’s Alwar district.
Pehlu Khan (55) was allegedly targeted by the vigilante group after they suspected him of smuggling cows through Rajasthan. Khan succumbed to his injuries on Monday night. No arrests were made in the case till Wednesday morning.
Reports quoted police as saying Khan and at least four others were attacked despite producing documents to show that they had purchased the cows. The incident happened after gau rakshaks affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal stopped their vehicle on National Highway 8 on April 1, alleging that they were illegally transporting cows.
“We have registered a case of murder against six persons and 200 unknown people,” Ramesh Sinsinwar, the station house officer of Bahror, told the Hindustan Times.
These vehicles were coming from Jaipur, and were headed towards Nuh district in Haryana, police added.
Shahbuddin, the victim's uncle, told CNN-News18, "My nephew didn't commit any crime. He had gone to get medicine and had just hitched ride with them. He even had his identity papers with him. The mob destroyed the papers and beat him.""
Reacting to the incident, Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said, "Everyone knows cow smuggling is illegal in Rajasthan. But some still do it. Similarly, there are gau bhakts who will try to stop them."
"Trying to stop cow smuggling is not a crime but taking the law in your hands is not right," he added.
In another incident recently a hotel in Jaipur was sealed within hours by the JMC (Jaipur Municipal Corporation) and its manager and staffer were detained after a cow vigilante Sadhvi Kamal led protests outside the hotel on suspicion of beef being cooked and meat leftovers being dumped outside. |
Here’s an understatement: Mike Will Made It had himself quite a 2013. The 24-year-old Atlanta producer has been steady climbing for a couple years now, attaching his eponymous, otherworldly drop — see here, far right, middle row — to an impeccable string of heaters, from Meek Mill’s “Tupac Back” to Future’s “Turn on the Lights” to Juicy J’s “Bandz a Make Her Dance.” With even Kanye West tapping a sword on the young man’s shoulder when he brought him in to coproduce “Mercy,” there was no doubting his ascendance would continue apace. And then “We Can’t Stop” came along, and the timeline got blown to smithereens. Herewith, Mike Will in his own words breaks down his start, his rise, and how the Year of Miley allowed him to go ahead and toss “super” in front of “producer” on the ol’ business card.
I used to grind. I be telling people, you don’t grind, you don’t sell. I was like 15, 16 getting dropped off in the city by myself, with my own beat CDs. I had met Gucci [Mane] at this studio, Patchwerk. 2005 or some shit. I ain’t even know he was gonna be there. And I had gave him some beats to let him hear, and he just went in the lounge and started freestyling on all my beats and shit. Next thing you know, he saw me again: “Yo, you buddy with the beats, right? Let me buy that beat from you, man.” I got a band. [Editor’s note: A “band” as in the thing that makes her dance.]
“Tupac Back” was the first single I had, but prior to that I already had 20-something songs in the street. I already had mixtapes with Gucci. But “Tupac Back” showed people, He don’t just do mixtapes, he can actually do a single. ’Cause this shit is a fucking banger. It really came in and shook the game up. It had everybody freestyling on it — to freestyle on the “Tupac Back” beat was the thing to do. I was just very consistent after that.
At the end of 2011, Jeezy told me, “Man, you got the beats, you got the talent, but all I’mma tell you is spread that sound out. Don’t put yourself in a box. They been a couple young producers that came in the game and they didn’t do that.” When Jeezy told me that, he said, “People like Kanye, people like Lil Wayne, people like Jay Z gonna wanna work with you, too.”
So I kept doing my thing and around March [2012], two days after my birthday, I was in Louisiana with Ludacris, and I got a call [from Kanye West’s people] wanting to fly me to New York. Kanye is one of my favorite producers and artists. I thought he wouldn’t know who I was, but I got up there, and man, he tells me, “There’s times where there’s a game-changing beat or a game-changing song, someone comes through with the crazy kicks, with the crazy sounds, changing the game to where everybody wants to be like that producer. And right now you that guy. You have what it takes to really take over the game.” It was crazy. He let me hear “Mercy” with no drums. He said, “I wanna go straight to the source. I just felt like, if you come through, you put yo fuckin’ drums on there.” I just did it like that, and in no time “Mercy” came out and took over.
“We Can’t Stop” was [originally] for Rihanna, but she never heard it. I wasn’t in the studio with Rihanna but I had run into Chris Brown and I was letting him hear the stuff I was working on for Rihanna. He heard “Pour It Up” and went crazy. He said to her, “Mike Will got this crazy joint over here for you!” “We Can’t Stop” was really the first song I wanted Rihanna to hear, but it wasn’t all the way laid down yet, and “Pour It Up” was. She heard “Pour It Up,” she got locked on it, and she knocked it out.
The “We Can’t Stop” beat was so pop, I always said, “Man, this shit remind me of a mature version of ‘Party in the USA.’” And then somebody had asked me, “Why don’t you give it to Miley then?” I said, “Man, that’s a good fuckin’ question.” I ain’t run into Miley yet but she hadn’t put out music in a minute. I wondered, What she doing right now? She probably won’t even fuck wit’ me; she probably got too much politics to get to her. At the time, I ain’t know where each artist was signed. I was just doing music.
So I had a meeting with RCA and [CEO] Peter Edge, letting him hear a whole bunch of different songs. And he heard “We Can’t Stop,” and he was just like, “That record might work for Miley Cyrus.” Her A&R liked it too. He took it to [Miley] and let her hear it, and she said she instantly connected with it because it reminded her of parties that she had been to.
Really, that song, it’s written from the perspective of someone that’s in a wild party — it’s never her saying she was in the bathroom doing lines. And really it was from the [N.E.R.D. song “Everyone Nose”] — “All the girls standing in line for the bathroom!”
It just worked for her. So when she heard it, we went in the studio, she laid it down, and that same day, we did [Mike Will’s debut single] “23.” She had never rapped before. I was fucking with her lyrics, keeping her in the pocket, and that ended up dope. She listens to a lot of rap music, and she takes good direction. If I’m like, “You should re-say it like this” or “Use this tone of voice,” she’ll try it a couple of times and knock it out. I ain’t know what kind of chick she was, but she was down to try new things. But it was too early. I ain’t want that to be the first [new] thing from Miley.
The vocals [on the original reference track] were by Rock City, a songwriting group that I work with. The beat was slow, it was real piano-ish. I told them, “If you can make a party record out of this, we out of here.” And then when [Miley] had did it, we had worked on it a couple times. The first version doesn’t sound like the version that actually came out: Rock City, they from the [Virgin] Islands, so the first version had more of an island melody. Miley’s version, we told her to keep her country twang tone instead of trying to sound like the reference, and it came out dope.
On the second session we had, I saw her coming up the street, and a whole line of cars, just people swerving and shit. I was like, “Who the fuck are these people?” And then next thing you know, she turns into the garage, and these dudes, these grown-ass men, is tripping over each other. That was the first time for me seeing the paparazzi like that.
We were recording at this one studio once and she ended up leaving late and they took a picture of her leaving late and they made up a whole story and it was like, “Ohhh so this is how your life goes.”
Her album was pretty much done when we first got into the studio, but we just kept working, making dope records. I told the label, “You should let us keep going till we hit a dud. We need to keep going until we hit a brick wall.” And we never hit a brick wall. Me and her now, we still talk on the phone every day, we still constantly working on music and giving each other different ideas.
I look at her like a friend. She my homey, I love her for life. So I look at it like she was already a huge celebrity, and she already had an idea of what she wanted to do, as far as dancing and twerking and shit like that. But at the same time, I told her, man, look, you already a huge celebrity, grown-ass men chasin’ you trying to take a picture … but if you come out with music that’s dope as shit then can’t nobody tell you nothing. I always had those talks with her. I always told her, “You gotta be just the illest.”
Everything that we planned on, how we wanted to roll up big, everything that we foresaw in January and February ended up being just like that. Being on the cover of Rolling Stone — damn, she a rock star! She really is one of those people that doesn’t give a fuck, but at the same time she’s real smart. Smart as a motherfucker.
We never had any conversation about racism, because I already knew she wasn’t racist. I feel like, “She fuck wit’ me, right?” We didn’t even keep up with a lot of that shit, but one time I was at her house, and we was watching something on TV, and they was talking about me. They was talking about we was dating or whatnot, they was talking about that’s why she twerking. But it was like, man, no, she was already twerking before that. I don’t know how to twerk! How the fuck can I teach somebody how to twerk?
You see a girl that’s coming from Nashville, Tennessee, that’s a big pop artist and she can strictly carry it all the way with the white people. But she’s embracing the hip-hop community, and she’s embracing the urban culture with open arms, and what they wanna do is call that racism. She isn’t crip walkin’. She not making fun of ’em — she embracing it. All kind of girls dance and twerk. Matter of fact, go to the strip club, you see Spanish girls, white girls … She went to New Orleans, they do bounce music down there, they do a lot of twerking, and that’s when she started twerking.
A lot of the time, people who write that stuff are racist themselves. They don’t wanna see white doing black. “That just doesn’t look right, she’s fuckin’ with this urban producer but really he came through with different sounds on her album, she’s on his first single, they hang out all the time, and then she dancing like this and quoting different hip-hop lyrics on her Twitter … ” They don’t wanna see that shit. I don’t even generally understand how you can say someone that’s embracing the urban culture is racist. I never got that.
But you either out there — a “not giving a fuck”–type person — or you a person that’s going with the guidelines. And it’s not really a black or white thing. If Miley was doing all the way pop shit, they would have found something else about her [to get mad about].
I told every label that I had a sound that was gonna change the game. Put me in the studio with any artist that they want and we can take over the game. I’m just trying to stay consistent. I’m working on my own album. “23” is about to go platinum, and it got over 100 million views on VEVO. I been working on different designs for clothes and shit. People already loving the “23” hoodies. Jordan Brand even reached out to me to say they liked the shit. Michael Jordan reached out to me to say he liked the “23” song.
I even scored the LeBron commercial. I came with the whole song and everything and got John Legend to sing on it.
I don’t sleep. I’m drinking fruit juice, keeping all my nutrients, taking vitamins and shit. Making sure I got my energy up. Just exercising, juicing and shit, and just trying to keep my energy up because I know I can’t sleep. I’m trying to balance so much. I just had a show in Atlanta, I brought out Jeezy, T.I., 2 Chainz. I ain’t even promote they was gonna come and it ended up being sold out. I’m just trying to get my following right, get it all the way together. Yesterday, I slept the whole day. I got that one day where you sleep the whole entire day. Then you get back on the grind.
This interview has been condensed and edited. |
One of the greatest mysteries of life is facing the enigma and mystery of death. Ever wonder what your last moments will be like? No one can be sure what they’ll meet in the afterlife, but those final moments are usually filled with somber thoughts and honesty. While not all of us have the luxury or the chance to prepare for death, our final words may be extremely revealing and give a truthful glimpse into our last thoughts and feelings that often reflect on the experience we’ve had throughout life. Last words and quotes from loved ones are always treasured, as it is the last memory that will ever be created by the dying person. Here is a list of the most epic and famous last words (in no particular order).
George Harrison (1943 – 2001) ”Love one another”
Lead guitarist of The Beatles has made many strides in history and revolutionizing rock ‘n’ roll music. His musical inspirations have been credited to Hinduism and traces of Indian culture during the mid-1960s. Many Beatles hit singles like “Here Comes the Sun” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” have exposed the style of sitar melodies and rhythms to mainstream Western music. Always known for his quiet and somber demeanor, Harrison’s last words, “Love one another” reflect many messages from Beatles songs and also reflect how he lived and his philosophies as a person. Battling throat cancer he finally passed away on Nov. 29, 2001 and his last words were recorded by his beloved wife.
Bob Marley (1945 – 1981) ”Money can’t buy life”
Bob Marley was undoubtedly one of the leading songwriters, singers, and guitarists of our time. Who can forget his peaceful philosophy and carefree lyrics that spread Jamaican culture and music to a worldwide audience? He sustained a form of malignant melanoma called acral lentiginous and died at the age of 36. After declining amputation of his toe, the melanoma eventually spread to his lungs and brain, leading to his unfortunate death. The world mourned the loss of a musical genius. Marley’s last words to his son Ziggy were “Money can’t buy life.”
Steve Irwin (1962 – 2006) ”Don’t worry, they usually don’t swim backwards”
This was the last recorded statement from an iconic Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist known as the Crocodile Hunter. Steve was filming in shallow waters for his daughter’s new show, Bindi the Jungle Girl, when a sting Ray pierced his chest, causing fatal internal damage to his arteries. Steve’s last moments were recorded on tape, and confirm that the stingray was swimming backwards, which adds to the sad irony in his death.
Malcolm X (1925 – 1965) ”Brothers! Brothers, please! This is a house of peace!”
Malcolm X, one of our greatest human rights activists, has been described as one of the most influential public speakers in history. He was assassinated while giving a speech about unity and equal rights at Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom. Before he was shot, a disturbance broke out among the crowd of 400 people. Malcolm’s bodyguards moved from his side to tend to the fight that broke out, and a man rushed forward and shot Malcolm directly in the chest with a sawed off shotgun. As if that was not enough, two other men had handguns, and altogether, Malcolm was hit 17 times before his body struck the floor. In his last moments, he was still trying to subdue the crowd and keep peace in his heart. Other sources describe his finals words as “Now, now, brothers, break it up, be cool, be calm.”
Jack Daniel (1846 – 1911) ”One last drink, please”
We’ve seen his bottles of Tennessee whiskey in liquor stores. Fittingly, Jack Daniel’s last words continue to inspire merry spirits and world famous whiskey to be poured. In 1907, due to his failing health, Daniel gave his distillery to his favorite nephew, Lem Motlow, who then passed it down to his children. Jack died from blood poisoning that he sustained from an infection that started in his big toe, a result of kicking a safe in. His last words, “one last drink please,” have inspired a marketing frenzy used primarily on the London Underground transit system in January 2006. His legacy will indeed live on, as Jack Daniels Whiskey is one of the world’s best selling liquors today. |
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Doctors removed a 4-month-old baby from life support Saturday night, and now his father is charged with his murder.App Users: Watch mobile videoFamily members described 4-month-old Jayceon Chrystie as a happy and healthy baby boy.They want to see that his father, Daniel Cox, gets the maximum punishment for the crime police said he committed.Police said Jayceon was beaten by Cox as he drove on South Dixie Hwy.“You just can't imagine someone beating a child like that while they are driving,” Dena Stevenson said.Stevenson, her husband and her daughter were among those traveling behind Cox on Thursday."He would hit the child. Turn around and bounce to his music. Twist his hat and hit the child again," she said.Stevenson and her husband were concerned for the child and so they called 911."He was hitting hard, swinging hard and, you know … he was literally hitting the baby in his head or in his chest or something,” Stevenson said.According to court records obtained by WLKY, Cox dropped Jayceon off in the driveway of the mother's home on Franklin Court in Radcliff, he was not breathing and he did not have a pulse.Doctors said Jayceon's left eye was swollen, he suffered swelling to his head and his right cheek and they noticed bruising on his butt and back.Jayceon was his mother's only child.Family members said Cox did not live with Jayceon.Cox told them he was taking the baby to visit one of his children for about an hour.Cox has been charged with child abuse and murder.His bond is set at $600,000.He will be back in court Monday morning.Read original report here. |
animals mate so that they can procreate and that's it.
Anyone who has actually spent time around animals other than cats or dogs knows this is not true. Monkeys, horses, and dolphins all masturbate, and there are many species of animals that do have sex for reasons other than procreating.
It's possible to raise and kill an animal humanely
True, but the vast majority of food animals are not kept humanely. Surely people are outraged over this, but I rarely see a level of outrage comparable to certain posters in this thread over having sex with them.
And it's not just killing and eating them which animals do not consent to. Animals do not consent to a great number of things, such as being kept in kennels, having their ears and tails docked, or being trained for risky jobs and dying in the line of duty (bomb dogs, police dogs etc) when the animal has absolutely no comprehension of the danger they are being put into for the benefit of humans.
It's not possible to have sex with an animal humanely
Can you explain further? Male dogs and horses will willingly mount females outside of their species, and I'm not just talking about humans either. How does it harm the animal?
Furthermore I'd be interested to know if you or anyone else thinks jacking off a horse into an artificial vagina is rape? Did the horse consent to that? |
The United States is dominated by Hydra, with Captain America at its head, in Nick Spencer, Steve McNiven, and Jay Leisten's Secret Empire #1 from Marvel Comics, May's best-selling comic book. Marvel Comics had six titles in May’s top ten. In addition to Secret Empire #1, Mike Costa and Tradd Moore's Venom #150 ranked #2; Christopher Hastings, Edgar Salazar, and Allen Martinez's Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout #1 ranked #5; Nick Spencer, Andrea Sorrentino, and Rod Reis' Secret Empire #2 ranked #6; Spencer, Sorrentino, and Reis' Secret Empire #3 ranked 8; and Gerry Duggan and Aaron Kuder's All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #1 ranked #9. DC Entertainment had three titles in the top ten: the lenticular edition of Batman #22, the third chapter of "The Button" by Tom King, Joshua Williamson, and Jason Fabok, ranked #3; the lenticular edition of The Flash #22, the final chapter of "The Button" by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter, ranked #4; and King and Mitch Gerads' Batman #23 ranked #7. Image Comics' The Walking Dead #167 by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Stefano Gaudino, and Cliff Rathburn was the publisher's best-selling book at #10. Among the premier publishers, P. Craig Russell and Scott Hampton's Neil Gaiman's American Gods: Shadows #3 was Dark Horse Comics’ top book at #95, while IDW Publishing's top-ranked book was Batman/TMNT Adventures #6, the final chapter of their crossover with DC Entertainment, at #114. TOP 100 COMIC BOOKS Based on Total Unit Sales of Products Invoiced in May 2017 RANK DESCRIPTION PRICE ITEM CODE VENDOR 1 SECRET EMPIRE #1 $4.99 MAR170901 -M MAR 2 VENOM #150 $5.99 MAR171008 -M MAR 3 BATMAN #22 LENTICULAR EDITION (THE BUTTON) $3.99 NOV169207 DC 4 FLASH #22 LENTICULAR EDITION (THE BUTTON) $3.99 NOV169210 DC 5 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY MISSION BREAKOUT #1 $4.99 MAR171072 -M MAR 6 SECRET EMPIRE #2 $4.99 MAR170910 -M MAR 7 BATMAN #23 $2.99 MAR170274 -M DC 8 SECRET EMPIRE #3 $3.99 MAR170915 -M MAR 9 ALL NEW GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #1 $3.99 MAR170937 -M MAR 10 WALKING DEAD #167 (MR) $2.99 MAR170791 IMA 11 BATMAN #22 REGULAR EDITION (THE BUTTON) $2.99 NOV169206 -M DC 12 STAR WARS #31 $3.99 MAR171111 -M MAR 13 JEAN GREY #1 $3.99 MAR170958 -M MAR 14 STAR WARS SCREAMING CITADEL #1 $4.99 MAR171106 -M MAR 15 ALL STAR BATMAN #10 $4.99 MAR170261 -M DC 16 CABLE #1 $3.99 MAR170977 -M MAR 17 FLASH #22 STANDARD EDITION (THE BUTTON) $2.99 NOV169208 -M DC 18 X-MEN GOLD #3 $3.99 MAR171078 -M MAR 19 DETECTIVE COMICS #956 $2.99 MAR170284 -M DC 20 DETECTIVE COMICS #957 $2.99 MAR170286 -M DC 21 JUSTICE LEAGUE #20 $2.99 MAR170308 -M DC 22 JUSTICE LEAGUE #21 $2.99 MAR170310 -M DC 23 FLASH #23 $2.99 MAR170288 -M DC 24 X-MEN GOLD #4 $3.99 MAR171080 -M MAR 25 SUPERMAN #22 $2.99 MAR170330 -M DC 26 ALL NEW GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #2 $3.99 MAR170943 -M MAR 27 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #27 $3.99 MAR171018 MAR 28 SUPERMAN #23 $2.99 MAR170332 -M DC 29 X-MEN BLUE #3 $3.99 MAR171081 -M MAR 30 OLD MAN LOGAN #23 $3.99 MAR171089 -M MAR 31 TITANS #11 $3.99 MAR170338 -M DC 32 GENERATION X #1 $3.99 MAR170967 -M MAR 33 X-MEN BLUE #4 $3.99 MAR171083 MAR 34 OLD MAN LOGAN #24 $3.99 MAR171092 -M MAR 35 WONDER WOMAN #22 $2.99 MAR170348 -M DC 36 STAR WARS DOCTOR APHRA #7 $3.99 MAR171114 -M MAR 37 WONDER WOMAN #23 $2.99 MAR170350 -M DC 38 TEEN TITANS #8 $3.99 MAR170340 -M DC 39 ACTION COMICS #979 $2.99 MAR170257 -M DC 40 ACTION COMICS #980 $2.99 MAR170259 -M DC 41 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #6 $2.99 MAR170312 -M DC 42 BANE CONQUEST #1 $3.99 MAR170354 -M DC 43 HARLEY QUINN #19 $2.99 MAR170302 -M DC 44 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7 $2.99 MAR170314 -M DC 45 HARLEY QUINN #20 $2.99 MAR170304 -M DC 46 SUPER SONS #4 $3.99 MAR170334 -M DC 47 SUICIDE SQUAD #17 $2.99 MAR170324 -M DC 48 SUICIDE SQUAD #18 $2.99 MAR170326 -M DC 49 TEEN TITANS LAZARUS CONTRACT SPECIAL #1 $4.99 MAR170344 DC 50 NIGHTWING #20 $2.99 MAR170318 -M DC 51 WEAPON X #3 $3.99 MAR171087 -M MAR 52 NIGHTWING #21 $2.99 MAR170320 -M DC 53 SECRET EMPIRE UPRISING #1 $4.99 MAR170920 -M MAR 54 STAR WARS POE DAMERON #14 $3.99 MAR171121 -M MAR 55 ALL NEW WOLVERINE #20 $3.99 MAR171084 -M MAR 56 WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #1 $4.99 MAR170352 DC 57 BLACK BOLT #1 $3.99 MAR170984 -M MAR 58 DEADPOOL #30 $9.99 MAR171095 -M MAR 59 CAPTAIN AMERICA STEVE ROGERS #17 $3.99 MAR170922 MAR 60 MIGHTY THOR #19 $3.99 MAR171002 MAR 61 BATMAN THE SHADOW #2 $3.99 MAR170356 -M DC 62 DEATHSTROKE #19 $2.99 MAR170342 -M DC 63 SPIDER-MAN DEADPOOL #17 $3.99 MAR171023 MAR 64 DEADPOOL #31 $3.99 MAR170928 -M MAR 65 TRINITY #9 $3.99 MAR170345 -M DC 66 LUKE CAGE #1 $3.99 MAR170990 -M MAR 67 HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #20 $2.99 MAR170298 -M DC 68 HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #21 $2.99 MAR170300 -M DC 69 GREEN LANTERNS #22 $2.99 MAR170294 -M DC 70 STAR WARS POE DAMERON #15 $3.99 MAR171123 MAR 71 I AM GROOT #1 $3.99 MAR170951 -M MAR 72 GREEN LANTERNS #23 $2.99 MAR170296 -M DC 73 DOCTOR STRANGE #21 SE $3.99 MAR170925 -M MAR 74 STAR WARS ROGUE ONE ADAPTATION #2 $3.99 MAR171124 -M MAR 75 SECRET WARRIORS #1 $3.99 MAR170931 -M MAR 76 DEADPOOL VS PUNISHER #3 $3.99 MAR171100 -M MAR 77 SPIDER-MAN #16 $3.99 MAR171021 MAR 78 AVENGERS #7 $3.99 MAR171000 MAR 79 SEVEN TO ETERNITY #6 $3.99 MAR170780 -M IMA 80 GENERATION X #2 $3.99 MAR170974 -M MAR 81 BATWOMAN #3 $3.99 MAR170276 -M DC 82 DEADPOOL VS PUNISHER #4 $3.99 MAR171102 -M MAR 83 BEN REILLY SCARLET SPIDER #2 $3.99 MAR171016 -M MAR 84 JEAN GREY #2 $3.99 MAR170965 -M MAR 85 GREEN ARROW #22 $2.99 MAR170290 -M DC 86 SPIDER-GWEN #19 $3.99 FEB170852 -M MAR 87 TRINITY ANNUAL #1 $4.99 MAR170347 DC 88 GREEN ARROW #23 $2.99 MAR170292 -M DC 89 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #7 $3.99 MAR171004 MAR 90 ROCKET #1 $3.99 MAR170945 -M MAR 91 PAPER GIRLS #14 $2.99 MAR170767 IMA 92 BLACK PANTHER #14 $3.99 MAR171034 -M MAR 93 AQUAMAN #22 $2.99 MAR170264 -M DC 94 DAREDEVIL #20 $3.99 MAR171051 MAR 95 NEIL GAIMAN AMERICAN GODS SHADOWS #3 (MR) [*] $3.99 MAR170032 -M DAR 96 UNCANNY AVENGERS #23 $3.99 MAR171001 MAR 97 AQUAMAN #23 $2.99 MAR170266 -M DC 98 JUSTICE LEAGUE POWER RANGERS #4 $3.99 FEB170273 DC 99 INFAMOUS IRON MAN #8 $3.99 MAR171003 MAR 100 RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #10 $3.99 MAR170322 -M DC This information may not be reproduced in any format without the express permission of Diamond Comic Distributors. How does Diamond calculate the charts? It all starts at the comic book shop. Data for Diamond’s sales charts — which includes the monthly market shares and all top product charts — are compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors from sales made to thousands of comic book specialty shops located in North America and around the world. Additional sales made to online merchants and other specialty stores may be included as well. Unit and dollar market shares are calculated based upon orders for comic books, graphic novels, and magazines invoiced and shipped to Diamond customers during any given month, which comprises pre-orders, advance reorders, and reorders, minus any copies that are received back from a title marked as returnable. Please note that comics marked with an asterisk (*) have had their reported quantities reduced due to retailer returnability, and thus may rank lower on the charts than their actual sales would reflect. About the Diamond Sales Index: The Sales Index of selected monthly Best Seller Charts is presented as a comparative tool for retailers and publishers. It presents Diamond’s monthly sales for individual titles in relation to Diamond’s total sales for the issue of DC Comics' monthly Batman comic book. (Batman is used as the control title – with a value of 100 – because sales of Batman usually remain relatively stable. This month, as Batman did not ship, Convergence #8 from DC Entertainment was used as the control index.) This allows for easy comparison to other titles and helps retailers gauge their orders for all other titles. This formula is only a guide, other factors may impact a titles’ ability to sell in certain locations and clientele. |
Over the years we’ve done our fair share of tequila shots, but one of the most memorable was at the Casita Bar in London. While we’ve had sangrita (“little blood”), made from pomegranate, red chili, fresh orange juice and fresh tomatoes, to accompany our tequila, it was nothing compared the Verdita (“little green”) that we experienced at Casita.
Casita’s main barman, Will Foster, brought the verdita back from Mexico. ” The tradition comes from the south of Mexico and was created on their flag day. One would take a shot of the verdita, followed by the tequila, and finishing with the sangrita, representing the colours of the Mexican flag,” explains Will.
The recipe is fairly simple (and the spiciness can be adjusted based on how many peppers you use):
Verdita 1 bunch of cilantro (a bunch is basically a handful)
1/2 bunch of mint
3 green jalapenos (this can be scaled back if it’s too spicy)
1 can of pasteurised pineapple juice (Dole’s 46 oz can works perfectly) Blend the mix, and then strain it and chill well before serving.
Unlike the sangrita, which is meant to be sipped alongside tequila, the Verdita is meant to be shot immediately before you drink a shot of tequila. The experience is so tasty and refreshing, once you try it, you may retire your lime and salt accompaniment all together in favor of the Verdita! While not everyone can make it out to Casita to try Will’s amazing Verdita, we encourage you to give it a go at home. It’s a fairly easy recipe and the result is simply delicious. |
If you are a conscientious Pakistani, or if you don’t live under a rock, it is hard to ever forget or ignore the kind of infuriating discrimination and shameful persecution that members of the Ahmadiyya community suffer in our country.
You console yourself by thinking, “at least I personally don’t discriminate or persecute”.
And, if you’re outspoken, you think, “I won’t and don’t ever let it happen in front of me”.
But then, there is a point in time when you are forced by the lottery of birth, and the Constitution of Pakistan, to become party to the state-sponsored discrimination of Ahmadis.
This is the time when you go to perform a simple act of citizenship: get or renew a passport.
Also read: A guide to growing up Ahmadi in Pakistan
The last time I got a passport back home, I was able to duck the question: you know the one right at the end where you have to sign to attest to the accuracy of all information on your application form — and that Ahmadis are infidels.
Passport application form. —Photo by Manan Ahmed Asif
Somehow, through the miracle of bureaucracy where nobody has enough time to go through your application in minute detail, my little act of defiance went by unnoticed and I was handed my passport.
Even as I write this, I weigh the pros and cons of putting this out there. At the risk of sounding self-important, I don’t want a bigot in the government or with any connections to the government to become aware of this loophole.
This time, I had to apply for a new passport at an embassy of Pakistan. With a far fewer number of applications, the officials did have the time to catch my “mistake”.
Here’s how the conversation went:
Official: “You didn’t sign this attestation.”
Me: “Oh, right. I actually didn’t want to.”
Official: “Then you will have to declare yourself non-Muslim.”
Me: “OK.”
Official: “You will have to have that changed in Nadra records.”
Me: “OK.”
We share an awkward moment of silence as I hope in futility that my one-word answer will halt the conversation and I will walk out of there without having to do this.
Official: “So, please sign it.”
Me: “But I didn’t sign it in Karachi.”
Official: “Madam, please don’t create more issues for us. We are just an embassy.”
I am ashamed to admit, I picked up the pen and I signed it.
My hands shook as I forced myself to go through a motion that would go against every belief I dearly hold, every fibre of my being.
An action that would mean I was declaring myself party to causing the anger and the pain I have heard in my friends’ voices, as I sat across hearing horrific stories of growing up in a country that sounded so alien yet, so real.
Also read: Ahmadis, seared to the wall
I did grow up as a member of an endangered minority too, but at least the state considers us full citizens. For now.
A few months ago, I had argued with one of my close friends — an Ahmadi — who said that every person who signs that declaration to get a Pakistani passport is giving his/her consent to the state-sponsored discrimination enabled by the Second Constitutional Amendment.
I disagreed vehemently; I felt offended.
It is not fair, I shot back, to assume that, because there can be no consent where there is force — the state forces me to sign this declaration because it can, it doesn’t make it optional for me.
This is not to deny that most Pakistanis do believe that Ahmadis are infidels, but signing that declaration isn’t the evidence for it, opinion polls are.
Also read: Keep Hajj out of politics — Notes on the ‘Are you Shia?’ form debacle
That conversation went through my head in the seconds that I prepared myself to sign my name on a declaration that I find perverse, discriminatory, and wholly unjust.
I still believe that because I was forced to sign it, I did not give my consent to it.
But that realisation does little to shake away the feeling of disgust and helplessness I felt in the process of establishing my relationship with my country but giving up my conscience. |
Birds of a feather may flock together, but that doesn’t mean they share a genetic background. Though birds were first classified into groups primarily based on appearance, research forthcoming in The Auk: Ornithological Advances by Brett Benz of the American Museum of Natural History, Mark Robbins of the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, and Kevin Zimmer of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History demonstrates that this method isn’t necessarily accurate: in a group of very similar-looking South American woodpecker species, genetic analysis has now shown one to be only a distant cousin of the others, in an intriguing case of visual mimicry. By copying the appearance of larger, socially dominant woodpecker species, it reduces the aggression and competitive interference that it receives from them and has more access to food resources as a result.
The most familiar type of mimicry typically involves warning or “aposematic” coloration, in which a harmless species apes the color patterns of a dangerous or unappealing one to avoid predators; a famous instance is the Viceroy butterfly, which shares the striking colors of the more noxious Monarch. By contrast, the Helmeted Woodpecker (Dryocopus galeatus) represents an example of a different and less well understood form of mimicry, known as interspecific social dominance mimicry or ISDM.
The shy and little-known species shares the red crest, black back, and barred underside of two larger woodpeckers, Dryocopus lineatus and Campephilus robustus, all of which occupy the same habitat and share similar food preferences. The Helmeted Woodpecker’s similarity in appearance makes the larger, more dominant woodpecker species less likely to attack it, due to the costs of aggression between members of the same species. Though they had been previously classified in Dryocopus due to the remarkable similarities in their appearance, genetic analysis by Benz and his colleagues suggests that the Helmeted Woodpecker is actually not closely related to other Dryocopus woodpeckers at all and belongs in a different genus, Celeus. An independent group of researchers using the same data recently reported similar results in a paper published in the Journal of Ornithology.
“Co-author Mark Robbins and I had just finished a phylogenetic study examining species limits and vocalizations in Celeus woodpeckers when Mark, who was attending a meeting in Brazil, had the opportunity to observe a Helmeted Woodpecker at Intervales State Park,” according to Benz. “Upon hearing the bird vocalize, Mark was stunned that its call sounded nothing like Neotropical Dryocopus, and immediately knew we needed to examine its taxonomic status in the context of our recent Celeus study given that the Helmeted Woodpecker calls were most similar to several other Celeus species. Upon returning from Brazil, Mark consulted with co-author Kevin Zimmer, who had independently arrived at the same conclusions about the Helmeted Woodpecker belonging with Celeus, based on his behavioral observations spanning 20 years of fieldwork in Brazil.” As Benz puts it, “The Helmeted Woodpecker is basically a typical Celeus in Dryocopus clothing.”
“After several decades working on the discovery of the avian Tree of Life, it is still amazing what we are discovering! Reconstructing the phylogeny of these woodpeckers has corrected a century-old classification mistake, but more interestingly, it has revealed an unexpected new example of avian mimicry,” adds Richard Prum of Yale University, one of the originators of the ISDM hypothesis. “It has only recently been appreciated that small species may benefit from deceptively mimicking larger species to protect themselves from aggressive attack. This is similar to how a 12-year-old kid walking home from school will look and act tough to try to prevent himself from being harassed by older, bigger kids.”
Relatively little is known about the ecology and natural history of the Helmeted Woodpecker, which is found in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, but it has experienced dramatic population declines and vanished from much of its former range due to deforestation. Hopefully, this new discovery about its evolutionary relationships and visual deception may increase interest in the species, as it provides an opportunity for scientists to further test predictions associated with ISDM. Ultimately, bringing the Helmeted Woodpecker’s sneaky strategy into the light may be what saves it from oblivion.
Phylogenetic relationships of the Helmeted Woodpecker (Dryocopus galeatus): A case of interspecific mimicry? will be published on September 30, 2015, and will be available at http://www.aoucospubs.org/toc/tauk/132/4; a pre-print version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/023663. Contact: Brett Benz, [email protected].
About the journal: The Auk: Ornithological Advances is a peer-reviewed, international journal of ornithology that began in 1884 as the official publication of the American Ornithologists’ Union. In 2009, The Auk was honored as one of the 100 most influential journals of biology and medicine over the past 100 years.
Read more: |
"We estimate that since the beginning of the year, around 45,000 people who have entered [Germany] without permission haven't been processed by the identity service, even though this is laid out in the law on asylum applications," GdP deputy president Jörg Radek said.
The law requires authorities to take fingerprints of anyone caught crossing the border from Austria in to Bavaria – a common route for refugees from Africa. the Middle East and especially the Balkans arriving through southern Europe.
But Radek said that officers and their obsolete computers were massively overloaded in the Freyung and Passau areas of the Free State.
The Interior Ministry rejected the police complaints, with a spokesman saying that it was only at certain times of peak intensity that other authorities had to step in to help.
GdP believes that many refugees simply travel onward without allowing themselves to be registered, although between 250 and 300 people are stopped daily in Passau for identity and criminal record checks, with their details not stored on any database.
Police send them to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, but there's no check on whether they actually report there, Radek said.
Authorities running short of tents
Meanwhile, in Hamburg there were complaints that the whole country is running out of tents and containers in which to house refugees.
"In the whole country, there is extreme demand," Hamburg's interior senator Michael Neumann told the Hamburger Abendblatt on Monday.
Last week, the port city went ahead with setting up tents in an area where local people had protested fiercely against hosting any refugees, with a 3,000-capacity 'container village' planned for the future.
Authorities say that between 200 and 300 refugees arrive in Hamburg every day.
Berlin, Hamburg 'check refugees' genitals'
Hamburg and Berlin remain the only cities in Germany where doctors are asked to estimate refugees' ages based on examining their genitals and breasts.
A survey by dpa showed that all the other German states have put a stop to the practice.
States including Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate have declared the genital examinations to be insufficiently accurate.
"Even the best medical methods have a margin of error of two to three years," a spokesman for the Thuringian youth ministry said.
Hamburg's government says the purpose of the exams is to verify whether or not refugees are minors and that the tests are voluntary.
Authorities have different responsibilities towards minors than they do towards adult refugees under the law – with minors' more treatment being more expensive.
But the president of the city's medical council said that doctors were becoming the "extension of the state,“ and that saving money was no reason to put people through the exams.
Berlin's Charité hospital said that genital exams were not obligatory when forensically determining someone's age and that people were allowed to refuse the test.
Germany's other federal states rely on appearance and conversations with the young people to determine their age. |
The Canadian province of Québec seems to be situated upon some geographically freakish turf that exudes such a phenomenal electromagnetism as to twist and convolute whatever waveforms happen to waft into its borders. Psuedoscientific petrology aside, Dead Brain Cells are one such Canadian faction that reinterpreted the equatorial American sounds of skatethrash and reassembled its raw energy into a hyperborean bizzarerie, with an ambition in expressing the absurd crises symptomatic of a classically Huxleyan, oblivious society lured into the grip of an Orwellian tyranny by the mesmeric attractions of self-pleasure.
Taking aesthetic inspiration from the cruelly intelligent, modern firearms cacophony of Slayer’s ‘Chemical Warfare’ but fashioning riffs over the roguish, bursting structures typified by crossover acts Suicidal Tendencies and Corrosion of Conformity, Dead Brain Cells had paradoxically succeeded in applying scientific methods to truculent vandalism. Vocals, in compliment to the factorial churn and tumble of the instruments, are delivered in a robotic rant like the outcries of a citizen-turned-automaton denigrated by a lifetime of vacuous routine; lyrics are remarkably coherent and incisive considering the band’s Québécois nationality, of course with the mother tongue of French being a perennial obstacle for all aspiring Hessians allied under the fleur-de-lis. However, it is clear from DBC’s rather involved compositional style that their telos was not merely in writing protest music, but in establishing engaging, punkishly dynamic narratives such that every song is represented as its own vignette of dystopia — a sensibility that would be incorporated into the region’s burgeoning death metal movement, with vestiges apparent in such seminal works as Considered Dead and From This Day Forward.
This eponymous debut remains one of the exceptional examples of quality crossover thrash from outside of the U.S.A. and England; it’s also required listening for any avid scholars of Canadian death metal, in order to better understand the music’s gestation from heavy, quirky progressive rock to complex and sublimely dissonant killing noise.
-Thanatotron-
A planet defaced with death and decay
An atmosphere of hate
Cities destroyed
Their meanings forgotten
And fertile lands lay waste
A planet once prosperous
Its future looked bright
But an immature race had evolved
Given time and the knowledge
They soon could destroy
The planet on which they revolved
Not one life would be spared
It wouldn’t happen again
Because there is no second chance
Tags: Crossover, dbc, dead brain cells, review, Science, Speed Metal, Thrash |
Riley MacDonald, the Yarmouth, N.S., teen who snapped a photo of her high school friends posing on a deck at the very moment it began to collapse, wants to set the record straight about the day's events after a flurry of criticism on Facebook.
Riley MacDonald, 17, was at a friend's house on Hanf Road in Brazil Lake for Senior Skip Day 2015 on June 12.
The majority of students at the party were Grade 12 students, including her best friend. But what should have been a day of celebration and relaxation ended with blood and tears in the afternoon. The memory keeps MacDonald awake at night.
She said the day started off on a happy note.
"There was no drama," she said. "Everyone was getting along and stuff. We were just sitting around in camp chairs in a circle, just talking and having a good time."
How it happened
About an hour into the party, one of the graduating students suggested they all pose on the deck for photos since their handmade posters were already taped to the deck's glass.
MacDonald said she stood on the lawn, with another student's phone, and snapped two photos of the group of about 40 students in rapid succession. The homeowner's wife was also taking photos at the time.
"I got one good picture, and I got the picture with the bend in the middle, like one second after," she said.
The first of the two photos MacDonald took. This one was taken just a moment before the deck began to give way. (Riley MacDonald)
In the second photo, the crucial moment was captured: surprised faces, wood splintering and shattering beneath those posing.
MacDonald said by the time she lowered the phone, she was in shock. Her friends were sprawled on the ground, some crying out in pain.
"I can't really tell you what I did immediately after, but I probably stood there for about a minute and then called my mom."
MacDonald said her mother told her to calm down, hang up, and help as many people as she could.
"In my head, one of my first thoughts was, 'Where's (my best friend) Alyssa?' But where she landed, she wasn't hurt," MacDonald said.
"So, once she got up, she was like me. We were just trying to help people … running around frantically with water and paper towels for the blood and stuff."
'We're being bullied'
MacDonald calls the collapse "a freak accident" in which alcohol was not a factor.
About a dozen students were taken to hospital with cuts and bruises and one had a broken ankle.
In the two weeks since the incident, MacDonald said she's had trouble sleeping.
"I just kept hearing the crunch of it collapsing and I just kept seeing it over and over. And I'd wake up every hour through the night."
On June 20, MacDonald's photo was posted to the Facebook page for EMS1, a paramedic news network based in San Francisco. The post was captioned, "Have you responded to a deck or balcony collapse? What are your lessons learned for other EMS professionals?"
Since its posting, there have been 80 comments from multiple users, a large number of whom were critical of how the incident was handled and the common sense of those who were there that day.
MacDonald said the responses have made her angry, and she wants to set the record straight.
"[They] don't realize the damage they're doing to us. All over again. And like, we're being bullied. Everyone just needs to be thankful that everyone is alive today. And that all those students will walk across the stage, come graduation next week," she said.
"I just want people to realize the true story of what happened. I want people to stop judging on what they think they know."
MacDonald said she doesn't know how EMS1 found the photo.
"They must have took it from a share off someone's wall. I never gave them permission to use the picture," she said. |
Paras Khadka: "We have an amazing fan following back home. The number of cricket fans that we have matches any Test-playing country." © AFP
Nepal captain Paras Khadka strode into the press conference room at a Dhaka hotel impressively. He stressed how Nepal have been working for more than a decade to get to this level, and not just to play in this edition of the World T20. They are among six teams to have made it to the first round of the World T20 from the Qualifier tournament held in the UAE last November.
"I think we are here to present Nepal cricket in front of the whole world," Khadka said. "It is a great opportunity for us. It is not like we have only qualified for this tournament and worked for three months. We have been playing for 10-12 years with hard work and playing continuous cricket. We are here to compete and play to the best of our ability. If we play to our potential, things should be good for us."
Khadka said that Nepal's participation in the tournament will boost cricket in the country, as the government has already taken interest. "I think we have been playing cricket since 1996. We have been part of the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) since then. CAN (Cricket Association of Nepal) is one of the oldest sporting associations back home. We are getting there.
"Football and cricket are the two most popular sports. Everybody follows us. Kids love the game. The game is really growing big time. It is very exciting. We have an amazing fan following back home. The number of cricket fans that we have matches any Test-playing country.
"For most people, Nepal came as a huge surprise to be playing at this level. This will be a breakthrough for the country itself. Once we qualified for the World Cup, the government is very keen to find out how to develop cricket further. I hope we can move forward from here."
Nepal shot to fame in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka where they became Plate champions, and Khadka said the senior team is now following up on the younger batch's impressive showing in that tournament over the years.
"There was always the criticism that we only do well at the U-19 level. But the national team is doing well in the last two years. You need the junior structure as well. What we need is a basic structure back home."
After Khadka, Rahul Vishwakarma said how he, like all his team-mates, had aspired to reach this stage since childhood. He met one of his heroes, Shakib Al Hasan, but didn't get a chance to talk to him. Like Shakib, he is a left-arm spinner and left-hand batsman and doesn't lack the confidence too.
"It feels great to be playing at this level, but we belong to this level," Vishwakarma said. "Hopefully we will do well in this tournament."
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. He tweets here
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd. |
Juancarlo Parkhurst, owner of Lina’s Diner and Bar, with some of his crew members in the restaurant’s kitchen. Photo by Mike Diegel.
Silver Spring’s newest restaurant, Lina’s Diner and Bar, will officially open Tuesday, May 30.
“We opened up last Thursday, so this entire run, Thursday through Saturday is what we consider our soft open,” said Juancarlo Parkhurst. “We’ll be closed for the Monday holiday and then we’ll start Tuesday with lunch, dinner as well as happy hour.”
Parkhurst started cooking in college about 20 years ago to pay the bills, he said. He also cooked during a brief stint in law school, which he said he hated. He switched to the front of the house, working in various restaurants in New York City and South Beach, then went back to cooking, eventually moving back to New York City. He’s been living in the Silver Spring area for about 12 years.
“My most recent stint was as a general manager opening up RPM Italian,” he said, an upscale Italian restaurant in Mount Vernon.
The inspiration for Lina’s comes from his childhood experience going to a diner in New York City in the Meatpacking District that he said, “just blew my mind, it was such a cool place. You were seated next to transvestites, prostitutes, business people. It was open 24 hours a day. It was really kind of what I guess New York was in the 80s and 90s.”
What always intrigued him about that restaurant, he said, was that it was a diner but with a strong French influence. By going to other places in the city over the years, the bistro idea just got ingrained in him, Parkhurst said
He’d started looking at the location (8402 Georgia Ave.) and talking to the landlord eight years ago before actually jumping out on his own with Lina’s. He spent about two and half months renovating the space to get ready for the opening.
The diner is named after his daughter, 10-year-old Carolina. The outdoor patio is named Sam’s Garden after his son (which also explains why the section of the menu listing burgers and such is labeled “Samwiches”).
“It’s a very small, kind of recognizable comfort food menu,” he said about the offerings. “Obviously, we have strong classics.”
Those dishes include steak frites, a double cheeseburger, an omelette in the French style (“a little loose on the inside”), pork belly poutine, grilled bratwurst, and a Croque Monsieur or Madame among other items. The restaurant will also start offering daily specials, including a fish of the day.
The clientele during the soft open “has been a really interesting mix,” he said. “I’ve had young families, I’ve had young professionals, I’ve had kind of all walks of life over the last week and a half. It’s kind of what I wanted to go for—very much going back to that experience I had as a child.
“You can’t be everything to everyone,” Parkhurst continued, “but I hope it’s a comfortable space for a lot of people.”
Lunch at Lina’s will run from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and then reopen at 5 for dinner. Monday through Thursday, the kitchen will be open until 10 p.m. and the bar open until 11, and open one hour later for each on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant does not accept cash, only credit and debit cards.
(Editor’s note: Lina’s Diner and Bar’s website will go live next week.)
One of the pieces off artwork on the walls is a caricature by a local artist of Parkhurst’s daughter Carolina, for whom the diner is named. Photo by Mike Diegel.
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BREAKING NEWS: a study by the institute for distributed investigation of technologies (IDIOT) has found that all NoSQL technologies are essentially just a massive text file combined with the UNIX tool ‘grep’
NoSQL has risen in popularity in recent years as a hipster alternative to relational databases. Technology companies tend to move their entire data management system to a NoSQL backend, before moving it back to a relational database management system less than 12 months later.
“This is a huge shock!” said Dr Rick Slowman of the University of Birmingham. “We’ve all written shitty scripts that grep huge files to link them together, but noone thought an entire tech sector would be based on this!” he continued.
In a related report, IDIOT have confirmed that XML is totally shit.
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These structures have always fascinated me.
They were usually built sometime between the 9th and 12th centuries. They were generally part of monasteries and while they were built to stand alone some have been incorporated into later buildings. They are surprisingly uniform in design with circumferences at the base usually between 14 and 17 m and wall thickness from 0.9m and 1.7m. They also almost all have doors raised above the ground at least 3 m and they have at least four windows at the top, each of which often faces a cardinal point, along with more windows at lower levels in the tower. Most stand at close to 100 feet. There is a possibility that the dimensions were determined by the role of certain numbers in christian theology. They also had several levels connected by ladders. Additionally it is worth noting that the surviving conical tops were often reconstructed in later time periods.
Debate still continues as to their purpose. It is possible that they were simply bell towers, part of the system of the call to prayer with the height made necessary by the size of the ecclesiastical sites. They may have also been symbols reaching towards the glory of God and illustrating the importance of the ecclesiastical site, conveying messages of spiritual and temporal power. There is also an argument, though currently thought of as a little less likely, that they were watch towers and were part of defence systems. They may have been built partly as a response to Viking and other attacks. The monks would have been able to climb in, store their treasures, burn the stairs to the door, keep the raiders out and possibly ring bells from the top of the tower to call for assistance. Essentially no one is absolutely certain as to their purpose. It is also plausible that there were multiple purposes, combinations of the possibilities listed above.
They are immense structures though, the tallest at Kilmacduagh stands at 102 feet and is on a slight lean. They are beautiful and a testament to the ability of their builders as there are over thirty still standing in varying states of repair across Ireland.
Below you can see examples from all around Ireland of these beautiful and truly intriguing buildings.
Glendalough Round Tower built between 900 and 1200.
Glendalough Round Tower.
St Canice’s Cathedral and Round Tower. Built c. 1111.
View from St Canice’s Round Tower.
Interior of St Canice’s Round Tower. It’s one of the only Round Towers you can climb.
Kilmacduagh Round Tower c. 10th century.
Kilmacduagh Round Tower.
The taller of Clonmacnoise’s two Round Towers c. 12th century.
The taller of Clonmacnoise’s two Round Towers.
The shorter of Clonmacnoise’s two Round Towers c. 12th century.
Round Tower at Drumlane Abbey c. 10th- 11th century with c. 15th century additions.
Round Tower at Drumlane Abbey.
Kells high cross and Round Tower. The Round Tower dates to 10th century.
Kells Round Tower.
Monasterboice Round Tower 10th century.
Monasterboise high cross and Round Tower.
Donaghmore church and Round Tower 11th-12th century.
Donaghmore Round Tower
Lusk church and Round Tower c. 11th century.
Lusk Round Tower
Cashel Round Tower c. 11th century.
Cashel Round Tower.
You can see the astounding similarity in all these towers. They truly stand as a testament to the immense skill of their builders and will, I’m sure, continue to fascinate people well into the future.
For more information see
This truly excellent article by Russell Ó Ríagáin which also investigates the possible influences in the building of the round towers.
https://www.academia.edu/399978/The_Round_Towers_of_Ireland_Date_Origins_Functions_and_Symbolism
For some more general information
http://www.roundtowers.org/
http://www.catholicireland.net/irelands-round-towers/
all the photos are mine. |
Students from GHumble High School discussing sexual abuse assembly -- (KHOU screen grab)
Officials at a Texas high school pulled the plug midway through a girls-only assembly on sexual abuse when the speaker snapped at several girls who weren’t paying attention and said she wouldn’t feel bad if they were raped, reports KHOU.
A guest speaker was brought in from a local domestic violence and sexual assault charity to speak to 9th and 10th grade girls at Humble High School about healthy relationships and domestic violence. However, when some girls in the back on the room began chatting, the talk on self-esteem and protecting oneself took an ugly turn when the counselor snapped at them.
“She said when she moves the cover from over your face and they start swabbing and combing the hair — she was explaining the rape kit — she said she would not feel bad for us. She said she would tell us, ‘Oh I told you this was going to happen to you,'” explained sophomore Chantranise Lane.
According to multiple girls in the room, teens became upset with some of them crying, including a few who are rape victims.
The school district confirmed that part of the talk had to do with what girls wear and what they post on social media, but the teens said they should be speaking with the boys and telling them not to rape.
“They shouldn’t be telling students that just because you’re posed a certain way, you’re going to get assaulted. That shouldn’t happen. You need to teach the boys not to do that,” said Zaria Rogan,
“If somebody comes at me and I tell them ‘No, you stop what you’re doing,’ that is a no. So if boys are not being taught this and they’re being taught that if we portray ourselves like this then they can do what they want to us, then that’s never going to change.” added Emily Nelson
“I feel like they were degrading us making us bad for being a female,” Lane explained. “They’re making us feel bad for loving ourselves or trying to accept ourselves.”
According to the school, the assembly was abruptly stopped and another planned for later was canceled before issuing a statement saying they never wanted the girls to feel uncomfortable about themselves.
The group that supplied the speaker said that they never had an issue before and weren’t sure what happened, but were looking into it.
Watch the video from KHOU below: |
By Ng Yi Shu
Tired of uncles nagging you and the government in Hong Lim Park?
Several young Singaporeans decided to get together and organise a community picnic at the Asian Civilisations Museum yesterday.
Calling the event “more than a miracle”, Stand Up for Our Singapore (Stand Up) volunteers, dressed in red, helped to set up the various booths around the lawn and explain what the event was about to the public.
About 400 people attended the event. Participants interacted with a mutual stranger with the aid of conversational prompts such as ‘Share an act of kindness that a stranger did for you that touched you a lot.”
So what’s the event about?
“What we’re about is about showing that there are alternative ways to expressing our concern for Singapore,” said organiser Wally Tham, who works as a director at Big Red Button.“We explore themes of how Singapore can be great… how Singapore can be resilient.”
The movement has had different themes throughout its various editions – but it is generally premised upon spreading an alternative response of positivity and goodwill to Singapore through its events.
This is the movement’s fourth edition. Stand Up organised three events previously – on National Day 2012, when volunteers gave out flyers exhorting graciousness on public transport; on Christmas Day 2012, where messages of appreciation was sent out by the public to bus drivers, and on Labour Day 2013, when a community picnic was held at Hong Lim Park.
The organisers – (clockwise from top) Wally Tham (center, holding camera), Tong Yee, Wu Xinyan and Scott Lai (center)
[quipbox float=”right” boxcolor=”000000″ boxhead=”How much does it cost to organise such an event?”]
The organisers received nearly no official funding, except for the first edition, where the National Youth Council supported the movement with a $3,000 Young ChangeMakers grant. That was not enough to cover the costs however; Stand Up’s events have usually incurred an average cost of around $9,000 – $12,000.
[/quipbox]
Said Wally Tham, “(The organisers) see ourselves as very much embedded in Singapore… and when we see sentiment moving this other way, where folks are just angry and folks are being mean, and it almost becomes the only mode of emotion, we feel we have to stand up and say ‘No! There is another way… this is not the only perspective on this matter.’”
The theme this year is gratitude – gratitude to people in service to Singapore. “The event today is our effort to acknowledge the people we have never met, but are simply grateful for anyway,” the organisers wrote in a letter given out to all participants.
“I think… the narrative of gratitude that’s a very important thing to have other people hear… whether it spreads or whether people believe it or not I’m not really sure… but I do know that it’s a very valuable message,” Tong Yee said.
Messages of gratitude to various people of different occupations hang from one side of the lawn.
The organisers added that they intend to have similar events in the heartlands.
On why the organisers chose the slogan ‘More than a Miracle’, Tong said, “we just felt that the Singapore Miracle story has served its purpose… beyond the miracle, the next generation needs another narrative. ‘More than a Miracle’ is about what happens internally (within us) – what we do to continue our sustainability.’
The organisers and participants have different views about what a new narrative for Singapore should be. Heidi Mah, a volunteer, said that she would want people to step out of their own box and express their love for their country. “We are now more stable, (yet) people are getting more discouraged… and I feel that amongst us all there are people who trust and truly love the nation,” she says.
Wu Xinyan, one of the organisers, said that she would stand for the diversities that Singapore represents. “We have several cultures all melding into one, and that makes us distinctly special – and I think that’s something worth celebrating.”
Photos by Ng Yi Shu
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Jacqui Smith has admitted she was not up to being Home Secretary - and should have been given some proper training before she was handed the job.
Ms Smith, who is likely to be remembered for claiming expenses for a porn film watched by her husband, said any success she had was down to luck rather than skill.
She added: "When I became Home Secretary I'd never run a major organisation. I hope I did a good job but if I did it was more by luck than by any kind of development of skills.
"I think we should have been better trained.
"I think there should have been more induction."
When asked by Total Politics magazine if she had worried she was not up to the job, she replied: "Every single time I was appointed to a ministerial job I thought that. I didn't sleep for a week in 1999 when I got my ministerial job."
Ms Smith, who was initially a schools minister, suffered a series of scandals and crises when she became Home Secretary.
She was widely regarded as being very nervous when she had to deal with a terror attack on her first day in the job in 2007.
Ms Smith admitted during the interview: "I'm not sure I understood, I'm ashamed to say, when I first heard it, quite how serious it was."
She was also blamed for the Damian Green affair, when police raided the Tory MP's Commons office while hunting the source of leaks from the Home Office.
The ex-teacher was one of the first MPs embarrassed by her expenses after she listed a room in her sister's house as her main home when her family lived in a detached house.
It was then revealed husband Richard Timney watched a porn film and she put it on expenses. She resigned last month. |
What Is Clean Code?
By Robert C. Martin
Date: Aug 19, 2008
Sample Chapter is provided courtesy of Prentice Hall.
Return to the article
Robert C. Martin introduces his book, Clean Code, and polls experienced programmers -- including Bjarne Stroustrup, Grady Booch, Dave Thomas, and Ward Cunningham -- on what their definition of "Clean Code" is.
You are reading this book for two reasons. First, you are a programmer. Second, you want to be a better programmer. Good. We need better programmers.
This is a book about good programming. It is filled with code. We are going to look at code from every different direction. We'll look down at it from the top, up at it from the bottom, and through it from the inside out. By the time we are done, we're going to know a lot about code. What's more, we'll be able to tell the difference between good code and bad code. We'll know how to write good code. And we'll know how to transform bad code into good code.
There Will Be Code
One might argue that a book about code is somehow behind the times—that code is no longer the issue; that we should be concerned about models and requirements instead. Indeed some have suggested that we are close to the end of code. That soon all code will be generated instead of written. That programmers simply won't be needed because business people will generate programs from specifications.
Nonsense! We will never be rid of code, because code represents the details of the requirements. At some level those details cannot be ignored or abstracted; they have to be specified. And specifying requirements in such detail that a machine can execute them is programming. Such a specification is code.
I expect that the level of abstraction of our languages will continue to increase. I also expect that the number of domain-specific languages will continue to grow. This will be a good thing. But it will not eliminate code. Indeed, all the specifications written in these higher level and domain-specific language will be code! It will still need to be rigorous, accurate, and so formal and detailed that a machine can understand and execute it.
The folks who think that code will one day disappear are like mathematicians who hope one day to discover a mathematics that does not have to be formal. They are hoping that one day we will discover a way to create machines that can do what we want rather than what we say. These machines will have to be able to understand us so well that they can translate vaguely specified needs into perfectly executing programs that precisely meet those needs.
This will never happen. Not even humans, with all their intuition and creativity, have been able to create successful systems from the vague feelings of their customers. Indeed, if the discipline of requirements specification has taught us anything, it is that well-specified requirements are as formal as code and can act as executable tests of that code!
Remember that code is really the language in which we ultimately express the requirements. We may create languages that are closer to the requirements. We may create tools that help us parse and assemble those requirements into formal structures. But we will never eliminate necessary precision—so there will always be code.
Bad Code
I was recently reading the preface to Kent Beck's book Implementation Patterns.1 He says, ". . . this book is based on a rather fragile premise: that good code matters. . . ." A fragile premise? I disagree! I think that premise is one of the most robust, supported, and overloaded of all the premises in our craft (and I think Kent knows it). We know good code matters because we've had to deal for so long with its lack.
I know of one company that, in the late 80s, wrote a killer app. It was very popular, and lots of professionals bought and used it. But then the release cycles began to stretch. Bugs were not repaired from one release to the next. Load times grew and crashes increased. I remember the day I shut the product down in frustration and never used it again. The company went out of business a short time after that.
Two decades later I met one of the early employees of that company and asked him what had happened. The answer confirmed my fears. They had rushed the product to market and had made a huge mess in the code. As they added more and more features, the code got worse and worse until they simply could not manage it any longer. It was the bad code that brought the company down.
Have you ever been significantly impeded by bad code? If you are a programmer of any experience then you've felt this impediment many times. Indeed, we have a name for it. We call it wading. We wade through bad code. We slog through a morass of tangled brambles and hidden pitfalls. We struggle to find our way, hoping for some hint, some clue, of what is going on; but all we see is more and more senseless code.
Of course you have been impeded by bad code. So then—why did you write it?
Were you trying to go fast? Were you in a rush? Probably so. Perhaps you felt that you didn't have time to do a good job; that your boss would be angry with you if you took the time to clean up your code. Perhaps you were just tired of working on this program and wanted it to be over. Or maybe you looked at the backlog of other stuff that you had promised to get done and realized that you needed to slam this module together so you could move on to the next. We've all done it.
We've all looked at the mess we've just made and then have chosen to leave it for another day. We've all felt the relief of seeing our messy program work and deciding that a working mess is better than nothing. We've all said we'd go back and clean it up later. Of course, in those days we didn't know LeBlanc's law: Later equals never.
The Total Cost of Owning a Mess
If you have been a programmer for more than two or three years, you have probably been significantly slowed down by someone else's messy code. If you have been a programmer for longer than two or three years, you have probably been slowed down by messy code. The degree of the slowdown can be significant. Over the span of a year or two, teams that were moving very fast at the beginning of a project can find themselves moving at a snail's pace. Every change they make to the code breaks two or three other parts of the code. No change is trivial. Every addition or modification to the system requires that the tangles, twists, and knots be "understood" so that more tangles, twists, and knots can be added. Over time the mess becomes so big and so deep and so tall, they can not clean it up. There is no way at all.
As the mess builds, the productivity of the team continues to decrease, asymptotically approaching zero. As productivity decreases, management does the only thing they can; they add more staff to the project in hopes of increasing productivity. But that new staff is not versed in the design of the system. They don't know the difference between a change that matches the design intent and a change that thwarts the design intent. Furthermore, they, and everyone else on the team, are under horrific pressure to increase productivity. So they all make more and more messes, driving the productivity ever further toward zero. (See Figure 1-1.)
The Grand Redesign in the Sky
Eventually the team rebels. They inform management that they cannot continue to develop in this odious code base. They demand a redesign. Management does not want to expend the resources on a whole new redesign of the project, but they cannot deny that productivity is terrible. Eventually they bend to the demands of the developers and authorize the grand redesign in the sky.
A new tiger team is selected. Everyone wants to be on this team because it's a green-field project. They get to start over and create something truly beautiful. But only the best and brightest are chosen for the tiger team. Everyone else must continue to maintain the current system.
Now the two teams are in a race. The tiger team must build a new system that does everything that the old system does. Not only that, they have to keep up with the changes that are continuously being made to the old system. Management will not replace the old system until the new system can do everything that the old system does.
This race can go on for a very long time. I've seen it take 10 years. And by the time it's done, the original members of the tiger team are long gone, and the current members are demanding that the new system be redesigned because it's such a mess.
If you have experienced even one small part of the story I just told, then you already know that spending time keeping your code clean is not just cost effective; it's a matter of professional survival.
Attitude
Have you ever waded through a mess so grave that it took weeks to do what should have taken hours? Have you seen what should have been a one-line change, made instead in hundreds of different modules? These symptoms are all too common.
Why does this happen to code? Why does good code rot so quickly into bad code? We have lots of explanations for it. We complain that the requirements changed in ways that thwart the original design. We bemoan the schedules that were too tight to do things right. We blather about stupid managers and intolerant customers and useless marketing types and telephone sanitizers. But the fault, dear Dilbert, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. We are unprofessional.
This may be a bitter pill to swallow. How could this mess be our fault? What about the requirements? What about the schedule? What about the stupid managers and the useless marketing types? Don't they bear some of the blame?
No. The managers and marketers look to us for the information they need to make promises and commitments; and even when they don't look to us, we should not be shy about telling them what we think. The users look to us to validate the way the requirements will fit into the system. The project managers look to us to help work out the schedule. We are deeply complicit in the planning of the project and share a great deal of the responsibility for any failures; especially if those failures have to do with bad code!
"But wait!" you say. "If I don't do what my manager says, I'll be fired." Probably not. Most managers want the truth, even when they don't act like it. Most managers want good code, even when they are obsessing about the schedule. They may defend the schedule and requirements with passion; but that's their job. It's your job to defend the code with equal passion.
To drive this point home, what if you were a doctor and had a patient who demanded that you stop all the silly hand-washing in preparation for surgery because it was taking too much time?2 Clearly the patient is the boss; and yet the doctor should absolutely refuse to comply. Why? Because the doctor knows more than the patient about the risks of disease and infection. It would be unprofessional (never mind criminal) for the doctor to comply with the patient.
So too it is unprofessional for programmers to bend to the will of managers who don't understand the risks of making messes.
The Primal Conundrum
Programmers face a conundrum of basic values. All developers with more than a few years experience know that previous messes slow them down. And yet all developers feel the pressure to make messes in order to meet deadlines. In short, they don't take the time to go fast!
True professionals know that the second part of the conundrum is wrong. You will not make the deadline by making the mess. Indeed, the mess will slow you down instantly, and will force you to miss the deadline. The only way to make the deadline—the only way to go fast—is to keep the code as clean as possible at all times.
The Art of Clean Code?
Let's say you believe that messy code is a significant impediment. Let's say that you accept that the only way to go fast is to keep your code clean. Then you must ask yourself: "How do I write clean code?" It's no good trying to write clean code if you don't know what it means for code to be clean!
The bad news is that writing clean code is a lot like painting a picture. Most of us know when a picture is painted well or badly. But being able to recognize good art from bad does not mean that we know how to paint. So too being able to recognize clean code from dirty code does not mean that we know how to write clean code!
Writing clean code requires the disciplined use of a myriad little techniques applied through a painstakingly acquired sense of "cleanliness." This "code-sense" is the key. Some of us are born with it. Some of us have to fight to acquire it. Not only does it let us see whether code is good or bad, but it also shows us the strategy for applying our discipline to transform bad code into clean code.
A programmer without "code-sense" can look at a messy module and recognize the mess but will have no idea what to do about it. A programmer with "code-sense" will look at a messy module and see options and variations. The "code-sense" will help that programmer choose the best variation and guide him or her to plot a sequence of behavior preserving transformations to get from here to there.
In short, a programmer who writes clean code is an artist who can take a blank screen through a series of transformations until it is an elegantly coded system.
What Is Clean Code?
There are probably as many definitions as there are programmers. So I asked some very well-known and deeply experienced programmers what they thought.
Bjarne Stroustrup, inventor of C++ and author of The C++ Programming Language
I like my code to be elegant and efficient. The logic should be straightforward to make it hard for bugs to hide, the dependencies minimal to ease maintenance, error handling complete according to an articulated strategy, and performance close to optimal so as not to tempt people to make the code messy with unprincipled optimizations. Clean code does one thing well.
Bjarne uses the word "elegant." That's quite a word! The dictionary in my MacBook® provides the following definitions: pleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance or manner; pleasingly ingenious and simple. Notice the emphasis on the word "pleasing." Apparently Bjarne thinks that clean code is pleasing to read. Reading it should make you smile the way a well-crafted music box or well-designed car would.
Bjarne also mentions efficiency—twice. Perhaps this should not surprise us coming from the inventor of C++; but I think there's more to it than the sheer desire for speed. Wasted cycles are inelegant, they are not pleasing. And now note the word that Bjarne uses to describe the consequence of that inelegance. He uses the word "tempt." There is a deep truth here. Bad code tempts the mess to grow! When others change bad code, they tend to make it worse.
Pragmatic Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt said this a different way. They used the metaphor of broken windows.3 A building with broken windows looks like nobody cares about it. So other people stop caring. They allow more windows to become broken. Eventually they actively break them. They despoil the facade with graffiti and allow garbage to collect. One broken window starts the process toward decay.
Bjarne also mentions that error handing should be complete. This goes to the discipline of paying attention to details. Abbreviated error handling is just one way that programmers gloss over details. Memory leaks are another, race conditions still another. Inconsistent naming yet another. The upshot is that clean code exhibits close attention to detail.
Bjarne closes with the assertion that clean code does one thing well. It is no accident that there are so many principles of software design that can be boiled down to this simple admonition. Writer after writer has tried to communicate this thought. Bad code tries to do too much, it has muddled intent and ambiguity of purpose. Clean code is focused. Each function, each class, each module exposes a single-minded attitude that remains entirely undistracted, and unpolluted, by the surrounding details.
Grady Booch, author of Object Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications
Clean code is simple and direct. Clean code reads like well-written prose. Clean code never obscures the designer's intent but rather is full of crisp abstractions and straightforward lines of control.
Grady makes some of the same points as Bjarne, but he takes a readability perspective. I especially like his view that clean code should read like well-written prose. Think back on a really good book that you've read. Remember how the words disappeared to be replaced by images! It was like watching a movie, wasn't it? Better! You saw the characters, you heard the sounds, you experienced the pathos and the humor.
Reading clean code will never be quite like reading Lord of the Rings. Still, the literary metaphor is not a bad one. Like a good novel, clean code should clearly expose the tensions in the problem to be solved. It should build those tensions to a climax and then give the reader that "Aha! Of course!" as the issues and tensions are resolved in the revelation of an obvious solution.
I find Grady's use of the phrase "crisp abstraction" to be a fascinating oxymoron! After all the word "crisp" is nearly a synonym for "concrete." My MacBook's dictionary holds the following definition of "crisp": briskly decisive and matter-of-fact, without hesitation or unnecessary detail. Despite this seeming juxtaposition of meaning, the words carry a powerful message. Our code should be matter-of-fact as opposed to speculative. It should contain only what is necessary. Our readers should perceive us to have been decisive.
"Big" Dave Thomas, founder of OTI, godfather of the Eclipse strategy
Clean code can be read, and enhanced by a developer other than its original author. It has unit and acceptance tests. It has meaningful names. It provides one way rather than many ways for doing one thing. It has minimal dependencies, which are explicitly defined, and provides a clear and minimal API. Code should be literate since depending on the language, not all necessary information can be expressed clearly in code alone.
Big Dave shares Grady's desire for readability, but with an important twist. Dave asserts that clean code makes it easy for other people to enhance it. This may seem obvious, but it cannot be overemphasized. There is, after all, a difference between code that is easy to read and code that is easy to change.
Dave ties cleanliness to tests! Ten years ago this would have raised a lot of eyebrows. But the discipline of Test Driven Development has made a profound impact upon our industry and has become one of our most fundamental disciplines. Dave is right. Code, without tests, is not clean. No matter how elegant it is, no matter how readable and accessible, if it hath not tests, it be unclean.
Dave uses the word minimal twice. Apparently he values code that is small, rather than code that is large. Indeed, this has been a common refrain throughout software literature since its inception. Smaller is better.
Dave also says that code should be literate. This is a soft reference to Knuth's literate programming.4 The upshot is that the code should be composed in such a form as to make it readable by humans.
Michael Feathers, author of Working Effectively with Legacy Code
I could list all of the qualities that I notice in clean code, but there is one overarching quality that leads to all of them. Clean code always looks like it was written by someone who cares. There is nothing obvious that you can do to make it better. All of those things were thought about by the code's author, and if you try to imagine improvements, you're led back to where you are, sitting in appreciation of the code someone left for you—code left by someone who cares deeply about the craft.
One word: care. That's really the topic of this book. Perhaps an appropriate subtitle would be How to Care for Code.
Michael hit it on the head. Clean code is code that has been taken care of. Someone has taken the time to keep it simple and orderly. They have paid appropriate attention to details. They have cared.
Ron Jeffries, author of Extreme Programming Installed and Extreme Programming Adventures in C#
Ron began his career programming in Fortran at the Strategic Air Command and has written code in almost every language and on almost every machine. It pays to consider his words carefully.
In recent years I begin, and nearly end, with Beck's rules of simple code. In priority order, simple code: Runs all the tests; Contains no duplication; Expresses all the design ideas that are in the system; Minimizes the number of entities such as classes, methods, functions, and the like.
Of these, I focus mostly on duplication. When the same thing is done over and over, it's a sign that there is an idea in our mind that is not well represented in the code. I try to figure out what it is. Then I try to express that idea more clearly.
Expressiveness to me includes meaningful names, and I am likely to change the names of things several times before I settle in. With modern coding tools such as Eclipse, renaming is quite inexpensive, so it doesn't trouble me to change. Expressiveness goes beyond names, however. I also look at whether an object or method is doing more than one thing. If it's an object, it probably needs to be broken into two or more objects. If it's a method, I will always use the Extract Method refactoring on it, resulting in one method that says more clearly what it does, and some submethods saying how it is done.
Duplication and expressiveness take me a very long way into what I consider clean code, and improving dirty code with just these two things in mind can make a huge difference. There is, however, one other thing that I'm aware of doing, which is a bit harder to explain.
After years of doing this work, it seems to me that all programs are made up of very similar elements. One example is "find things in a collection." Whether we have a database of employee records, or a hash map of keys and values, or an array of items of some kind, we often find ourselves wanting a particular item from that collection. When I find that happening, I will often wrap the particular implementation in a more abstract method or class. That gives me a couple of interesting advantages.
I can implement the functionality now with something simple, say a hash map, but since now all the references to that search are covered by my little abstraction, I can change the implementation any time I want. I can go forward quickly while preserving my ability to change later.
In addition, the collection abstraction often calls my attention to what's "really" going on, and keeps me from running down the path of implementing arbitrary collection behavior when all I really need is a few fairly simple ways of finding what I want.
Reduced duplication, high expressiveness, and early building of simple abstractions. That's what makes clean code for me.
Here, in a few short paragraphs, Ron has summarized the contents of this book. No duplication, one thing, expressiveness, tiny abstractions. Everything is there.
Ward Cunningham, inventor of Wiki, inventor of Fit, coinventor of eXtreme Programming. Motive force behind Design Patterns. Smalltalk and OO thought leader. The godfather of all those who care about code.
You know you are working on clean code when each routine you read turns out to be pretty much what you expected. You can call it beautiful code when the code also makes it look like the language was made for the problem.
Statements like this are characteristic of Ward. You read it, nod your head, and then go on to the next topic. It sounds so reasonable, so obvious, that it barely registers as something profound. You might think it was pretty much what you expected. But let's take a closer look.
". . . pretty much what you expected." When was the last time you saw a module that was pretty much what you expected? Isn't it more likely that the modules you look at will be puzzling, complicated, tangled? Isn't misdirection the rule? Aren't you used to flailing about trying to grab and hold the threads of reasoning that spew forth from the whole system and weave their way through the module you are reading? When was the last time you read through some code and nodded your head the way you might have nodded your head at Ward's statement?
Ward expects that when you read clean code you won't be surprised at all. Indeed, you won't even expend much effort. You will read it, and it will be pretty much what you expected. It will be obvious, simple, and compelling. Each module will set the stage for the next. Each tells you how the next will be written. Programs that are that clean are so profoundly well written that you don't even notice it. The designer makes it look ridiculously simple like all exceptional designs.
And what about Ward's notion of beauty? We've all railed against the fact that our languages weren't designed for our problems. But Ward's statement puts the onus back on us. He says that beautiful code makes the language look like it was made for the problem! So it's our responsibility to make the language look simple! Language bigots everywhere, beware! It is not the language that makes programs appear simple. It is the programmer that make the language appear simple!
Schools of Thought
What about me (Uncle Bob)? What do I think clean code is? This book will tell you, in hideous detail, what I and my compatriots think about clean code. We will tell you what we think makes a clean variable name, a clean function, a clean class, etc. We will present these opinions as absolutes, and we will not apologize for our stridence. To us, at this point in our careers, they are absolutes. They are our school of thought about clean code.
Martial artists do not all agree about the best martial art, or the best technique within a martial art. Often master martial artists will form their own schools of thought and gather students to learn from them. So we see Gracie Jiu Jistu, founded and taught by the Gracie family in Brazil. We see Hakkoryu Jiu Jistu, founded and taught by Okuyama Ryuho in Tokyo. We see Jeet Kune Do, founded and taught by Bruce Lee in the United States.
Students of these approaches immerse themselves in the teachings of the founder. They dedicate themselves to learn what that particular master teaches, often to the exclusion of any other master's teaching. Later, as the students grow in their art, they may become the student of a different master so they can broaden their knowledge and practice. Some eventually go on to refine their skills, discovering new techniques and founding their own schools.
None of these different schools is absolutely right. Yet within a particular school we act as though the teachings and techniques are right. After all, there is a right way to practice Hakkoryu Jiu Jitsu, or Jeet Kune Do. But this rightness within a school does not invalidate the teachings of a different school.
Consider this book a description of the Object Mentor School of Clean Code. The techniques and teachings within are the way that we practice our art. We are willing to claim that if you follow these teachings, you will enjoy the benefits that we have enjoyed, and you will learn to write code that is clean and professional. But don't make the mistake of thinking that we are somehow "right" in any absolute sense. There are other schools and other masters that have just as much claim to professionalism as we. It would behoove you to learn from them as well.
Indeed, many of the recommendations in this book are controversial. You will probably not agree with all of them. You might violently disagree with some of them. That's fine. We can't claim final authority. On the other hand, the recommendations in this book are things that we have thought long and hard about. We have learned them through decades of experience and repeated trial and error. So whether you agree or disagree, it would be a shame if you did not see, and respect, our point of view.
We Are Authors
The @author field of a Javadoc tells us who we are. We are authors. And one thing about authors is that they have readers. Indeed, authors are responsible for communicating well with their readers. The next time you write a line of code, remember you are an author, writing for readers who will judge your effort.
You might ask: How much is code really read? Doesn't most of the effort go into writing it?
Have you ever played back an edit session? In the 80s and 90s we had editors like Emacs that kept track of every keystroke. You could work for an hour and then play back your whole edit session like a high-speed movie. When I did this, the results were fascinating.
The vast majority of the playback was scrolling and navigating to other modules!
Bob enters the module.
He scrolls down to the function needing change.
He pauses, considering his options.
Oh, he's scrolling up to the top of the module to check the initialization of a variable.
Now he scrolls back down and begins to type.
Ooops, he's erasing what he typed!
He types it again.
He erases it again!
He types half of something else but then erases that!
He scrolls down to another function that calls the function he's changing to see how it is called.
He scrolls back up and types the same code he just erased.
He pauses.
He erases that code again!
He pops up another window and looks at a subclass. Is that function overridden?
. . .
You get the drift. Indeed, the ratio of time spent reading vs. writing is well over 10:1. We are constantly reading old code as part of the effort to write new code.
Because this ratio is so high, we want the reading of code to be easy, even if it makes the writing harder. Of course there's no way to write code without reading it, so making it easy to read actually makes it easier to write.
There is no escape from this logic. You cannot write code if you cannot read the surrounding code. The code you are trying to write today will be hard or easy to write depending on how hard or easy the surrounding code is to read. So if you want to go fast, if you want to get done quickly, if you want your code to be easy to write, make it easy to read.
The Boy Scout Rule
It's not enough to write the code well. The code has to be kept clean over time. We've all seen code rot and degrade as time passes. So we must take an active role in preventing this degradation.
The Boy Scouts of America have a simple rule that we can apply to our profession.
Leave the campground cleaner than you found it.5
If we all checked-in our code a little cleaner than when we checked it out, the code simply could not rot. The cleanup doesn't have to be something big. Change one variable name for the better, break up one function that's a little too large, eliminate one small bit of duplication, clean up one composite if statement.
Can you imagine working on a project where the code simply got better as time passed? Do you believe that any other option is professional? Indeed, isn't continuous improvement an intrinsic part of professionalism?
Prequel and Principles
In many ways this book is a "prequel" to a book I wrote in 2002 entitled Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns, and Practices (PPP). The PPP book concerns itself with the principles of object-oriented design, and many of the practices used by professional developers. If you have not read PPP, then you may find that it continues the story told by this book. If you have already read it, then you'll find many of the sentiments of that book echoed in this one at the level of code.
In this book you will find sporadic references to various principles of design. These include the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP), the Open Closed Principle (OCP), and the Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP) among others. These principles are described in depth in PPP.
Conclusion
Books on art don't promise to make you an artist. All they can do is give you some of the tools, techniques, and thought processes that other artists have used. So too this book cannot promise to make you a good programmer. It cannot promise to give you "code-sense." All it can do is show you the thought processes of good programmers and the tricks, techniques, and tools that they use.
Just like a book on art, this book will be full of details. There will be lots of code. You'll see good code and you'll see bad code. You'll see bad code transformed into good code. You'll see lists of heuristics, disciplines, and techniques. You'll see example after example. After that, it's up to you.
Remember the old joke about the concert violinist who got lost on his way to a performance? He stopped an old man on the corner and asked him how to get to Carnegie Hall. The old man looked at the violinist and the violin tucked under his arm, and said: "Practice, son. Practice!"
Bibliography
[Beck07]: Implementation Patterns, Kent Beck, Addison-Wesley, 2007.
[Knuth92]: Literate Programming, Donald E. Knuth, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Leland Stanford Junior University, 1992. |
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Chelsea's title-winning stars have been handed limited edition watches as a thank-you from owner Roman Abramovich.
Each player received their Hublot watch this week with a note from Blues chairman Bruce Buck, who congratulated the squad on 'creating history' last season.
Willian and Nathaniel Chalobah took to Instagram to reveal their new timepieces which came courtesy of the club's official timekeeper.
A note from Buck accompanying the gifts for both players read:
"On behalf of Mr Abramovich and also on behalf of the board of directors of the club, congratulations on creating history during the 2016/17 season.
(Image: willianborges88/Instagram)
(Image: willianborges88/Instagram)
(Image: willianborges88/Instagram)
"It's been a campaign to remember. Keep the blue flag flying high."
While neither player showed off the actual watch on social media, they are likely to be similar to a £9,000 timepiece from Hublot that is limited to only 200 units.
Last summer Leicester gave their title-winning players £100,000 BMW cars as a special bonus.
Antonio Conte's men kick off their title defence when they host Burnley on the opening week of the season. Before that they face Arsenal in Beijing on July 22, with pre-season friendlies against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan following, before they again meet the Gunners in the Community Shield.
(Image: hublot)
(Image: hublot)
The Blues kicked off their summer transfer activity last week when they landed defender Antonio Rudiger from Roma.
(Image: hublot)
A striker is expected to follow after the club missed out on Romelu Lukaku, who joined Manchester United in a £75million move. |
NEW YORK — Shares of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. fell on Monday, after one of the company’s employees, Edward Snowden, stepped forward as the person who last week leaked information about secret government surveillance programs to several news media outlets.
Shares fell 61 cents, or 3.4%, to US$17.39 in midday trading, a slight recovery from a 5% drop earlier in the session. That’s closer to the high end of the stock’s 52-week trading range of Us$11.85 to US$19.23.
In a statement Sunday, the McLean, Va.-based company said it has employed Snowden for less than three months on a team in Hawaii. It added that it is working with clients and authorities to investigate the leaks.
“News reports that this individual has claimed to have leaked classified information are shocking, and if accurate, this action represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm,” the statement said.
Booz Allen Hamilton is a consultant to government and corporate clients. About 23% of its revenue, or US$1.3-billion, came from U.S. intelligence agencies last year. The company has said in SEC filings that security breaches could materially hurt results.
Private equity firm The Carlyle Group took the company public in 2010 and owns 67% of the stock.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst William Loomis said in a note to investors that the incident is “embarrassing” for Booz Allen, but not likely to have a lasting impact, since it was just one employee who was employed there only briefly.
He kept a “Hold” rating on the stock.
Associated Press |
Kansas City is getting super high-speed Internet thanks to Google, but the state with the fastest connection speeds may surprise you.
It's not California, home to Silicon Valley, or New York, with all of its research institutions. It's tiny Delaware.
Delaware had an average connection speed of 10.2 megabits per second in the first three months of 2012, according to Internet provider Akamai's quarterly State of the Internet study, released on Thursday.
Delaware has "historically been a very strong performer in the years we've been covering," said David Belson, director of market intelligence at Akamai. "One key reason is that it's fairly small state, which likely makes it easier to bring higher speed connectivity to a larger percentage of the population."
Delaware clocked in nearly 9% faster than the average speeds in New Hampshire, the state with the second-fastest Internet connections.
Vermont, Utah and Rhode Island round out the top five U.S. states.
At 3.6 Mbps, Arkansas is the state with the lowest average connection speed, Akamai (AKAM) found.
If it's any consolation to the Natural State, it's still moving faster than Libya, which averages a sluggish 0.5 Mbps. Other laggards include Montenegro (2.8 Mbps) and Australia (3.5 Mbps).
At an average speed of 6.7 Mbps, the United States ranks 12th in the world. Here's the good news: Connections are getting much faster. Each state's average speed increased by at least 9% compared with the fourth quarter of 2011.
"There's continued investment being made by both the telecoms as well as by the government," Belson said.
South Korea boasts the fastest Internet in the world, averaging a whopping 15.7 Mbps. That's actually down 1.5% from the last quarter of 2011.
Runner-up Japan and Hong Kong, in the number-three spot, trail far behind South Korea, with speeds of 10.9 and 9.3 Mbps, respectively.
Globally, the average Internet speed hit 2.6 Mbps, increasing 14% from last quarter. |
Republican lawmakers are threatening to put the nation’s financial health at risk over a ritual vote to raise the debt ceiling, but they don’t actually object to throwing away money. Case in point: they seem to relish spending taxpayer dollars on the plainly unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act.
The 1996 law prohibits federal recognition of marriages between people of the same sex. It was signed – to his shame – by President Bill Clinton, and for years the government defended DOMA in court against lawsuits. But in 2011 President Obama instructed the Justice Department to relent – after Justice concluded that the law was not constitutional.
Cue the budget-conscious Republicans on Capitol Hill, who authorized the spending of up to $2.75 million in public funds to hire lawyers to defend DOMA on their behalf. Apparently, that was not a big enough check, so on Jan. 4, the House Republicans raised the fee ceiling to $3 million.
On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner protesting the spending, which the G.O.P. leadership somehow forgot to mention at any of the dozens of press conferences they’ve held to preach the gospel of fiscal responsibility.
“This clandestine commitment of taxpayer funds is highly irregular and objectionable, and it must end now,” they wrote, pointing out that defending DOMA is futile since it violates Constitutional guarantees of equal protection.
The Defense of Marriage Act is perhaps the last example of officially sanctioned discrimination in the United States. Until Congress repeals it or the Supreme Court strikes it down, a select group of Americans will be denied the benefits and recognition provided to all other married Americans, and state laws that allow gay unions will have only limited effect. |
On reporting homophobia, as a gay man
Rick Morton Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 17, 2016
I once walked out of a pub with a friend who joked: “I’m an eastern suburbs Jew, I think I know a bit about anxiety.” I couldn’t help myself: I’m an Outback Queensland raised gay, welcome.
It was a joke, and not, as many things often are.
This morning I wrote a news report based on two interviews I did with two Islamic imams I spoke with on Friday, June 17, 2016. One imam said the punishment for being homosexual is death. The other, more cautious, said he’d “have to check”.
Perhaps I was naive but I did not expect these comments to be defended by people, some of them straight, who admonished me for ignoring the Christian right, our politicians, other church leaders in my 800-word article.
Ignore them? They have been my atmosphere for almost every one of the 29-years I have been alive. To be born gay in this country, even today, is to grow up in an environment in which your growth is not assured. The character of those around you, as a child, is overbearing. This is the case for better or worse.
For precisely seven years in my late teens and early 20s I spent most of every day in fear. I received messages filled with hate in my hometown. I had friends try and convert me. They were not malicious. They just didn’t understand. How could they? At my 18th birthday drinks in my first proper job as a cadet at a Gold Coast newspaper I wore a pink sweater. And then agonised over whether I would be found out. Disowned. Banished. My father does not “agree with my lifestyle”. Thankfully, my mother is a hero.
I am no longer afraid in the same way, though the anxiety has never left. You grow crooked in this world. That’s the way of it. I had my first panic attack at the age of 21, after I had come out, while attending a party with high school friends in my hometown. There have been many since. I don’t talk about it because, really, that’s for me and not for you.
I am almost 30 and I am still boxing at shadows that sometimes materialise. The hate-filled faggot yelled on the street by drunk men, the commentary dripping with either disdain or hurtful ignorance. The word faggot is a gun shot. I hear it everywhere. I remember it. You never forget the sound of a gun shot.
There are fault lines in your soul, to be gay in this world.
It taught me other things, things that I often think I could not have learned growing up where I did. Compassion for others on the outer. To be careful with my words. To have consideration for where people have come from, for what they have seen and heard, how their families treated them. I know the things that set like concrete if they happen early enough. People are accountable for their actions but their pasts, too, should be held accountable for creating the people that take the decisions they do.
Yesterday I calmly listened as an imam told me unequivocally that the Islamic law punishment for homosexuality is death. I was gentle and curious in my questioning. I asked how the process worked, after he explained there is no way religion allows an individual to just go around “bashing and killing people”. It wasn’t until the interview ended that I realised how deeply desensitised I had become to such forms of hate. I’ve never spoken directly with someone who so resolutely believes acts of homosexuality should be met with death. Sure, plenty of angry people have told me I should kill myself but that’s old hat now.
Now, I am a reporter. We all hear things we would rather not. I take no issue with it. But then came the people who were angered by my story. Angered by my paper’s stance on other issues.
This is not the first time I have been held to account for working at The Australian. Gay men have recently taken to calling me a traitor for working where I do. One said the LGBTI employees, all of us, are morally culpable. They said look at what the paper is doing to “our community”, as if I had never been a part of it. I would find no dramatic tension working in a newsroom where everybody thought the same things.
I am proud of my reporting. Proud of the time I broke the story about the Catholic Church’s intervention in corporate support for marriage equality, proud of the stories I have written about equality in all its forms throughout my career. And when I spoke to the imam it did not occur to me for one second that I should keep it quiet. To what end?
To ignore Islam’s role in homophobia is paternalistic and a form of privilege. Who cares about the thousands of gay and lesbian and queer Muslim kids? Do we only care about the Christian ones? I’m not Muslim, so that is the extent to which I should speak of it. Others have and will continue to have that conversation.
I resent explaining myself through the prism of my own sexuality, which is as much a part of me as my elbow is. It might sound like a sob story but it is my story. I resent being told by people how to qualify and rank hate. Being told that my contribution to equality can only be measured after I overcome the perception of the handicap of my employer.
Not by my design, my life has been ruled by my identity. And it continues to be shanghaied into the work I do as an adult. This is worth the price of admission, to write about things that matter.
At a certain stage, you become used to the noise. |
Yes I'm apart of the Overwatch bandwagon now! I am in love with all the characters and wanted to make my own! Since I am a writer and not a drawer I obviously went to my good friend to help bring my ideas and design to reality. She literally went to hell and back trying to draw this lmao Again pleeaaasssseeee go check out her page! she's an amazing artist. Her full lore, personality, and inspirations are below. This was just a fun thing I wanted to do quickly to take my mind off school and stuff. If you have any questions about her please feel free to askLore: Dorothea Giannidis grew up in a wealthy life and only lived with her father in addition to various omnic butlers and maids. Her father, Hugo Giannidis, worked for Overwatch as a scientist and he was revered in his work with Mercy and her healing technology. When the topic of using the healing tech in unethical ways came about, Hugo supported the idea which caused strife between Mercy and him. He went behind her back and started selling the tech for profit. He was exposed and excommunicated from Overwatch and had a warrant for his arrest out. He went into hiding and changed his last name but when Overwatch disbanded, he could sell his tech without opposition and became insanely wealthy. Dorothea disputed with her father a lot because of her fiery nature and often wandered off most of the time. She wanted to explore the world but because of her family's deeds, her father kept her on tight lockdown in their hometown of Illios, Greece. One day, she came back to her family home to see all of her friends(butlers and maids) destroyed and a T insignia spraypainted on the wall. She searched for her dad but could not find him. This caused her to start her journey of finding out what happened to her father. She stole various techs from her father's lab and began her quest. Along the way she saved a puppy from a fighting ring in Dorado and trained her to help her on her journey.Personality: Hecate loves to perform and is very lively and theatrical on stage. She often transfers this energy into her off-stage personality and is very dramatic in her ways. She's warm and kind with all of her fans and puts on free shows for them from time to time. Because of her rich upbringing, Hecate can be vain and cares about her appearance and social status. She can also be stubborn, hotheaded, and prideful often rushing actions without thinking. She is driven by her need to learn the truth about her family history, TALON, and her father. Hecuba is fierce and vicious on the battlefield but dopey, dumb, and cuddly outside of it.Gameplay: Her primary role is to support allies and debuff enemies. She should be in the fray do to her close range healing and close/mid range primary fire.Strengths- Great AOE abilities, does good damage, high utility, good sustainabilityWeaknesses- low mobility, inconsistent escape, long-ranged heroes,IdeasHighlight Intros:Good Girl- Hecuba runs up to Hecate and licks her face repeatedly causing Hecate to laugh.Easy as 1, 2, 3- Hecate summons her two illusions and does a variety of cute poses with themAbracadabra- Hecate performs her ult on Hecuba and rides on top of him as they rush towards the camera.Skins:Hecate as Queen of the Underworld and Hecuba as CerberusFashion Forward- Hecate and Hecuba in fashionable outfitsSummer Games-Synchronized Swimming outifits with HecubaHalloween- Hecate as Medusa and Hecuba as a stone GargoyleChristmas- Hecate as a Snow Queen and Hecuba as a Winter WolfInspirations:Greek Goddess Hecate, Mismagius, Little Witch Academia, Tangled Floating Lanterns, The Sun, |
About
Hello Kickstarter,
We’re GoPole. The original third-party GoPro accessory brand. Since 2010 we’ve been making innovative accessories for the world's top athletes and filmmakers. As we kick off our sixth year we are excited to bring you our first kickstarter campaign ever — A versatile mount that offers protection, stability and accessory mounting options for your GoPro® camera. We call it Triad Grip.
Triad Grip is a do it all mount that is perfect for underwater use or professional video production. Featuring two rubber grips and a rubber glide handle, Triad Grip can be used for two-handed or single-handed filming. Two ¼"-20 threaded inserts and three integrated shoe mounts are provided for connecting mics, lights and other camera accessories.
Multiple Mounting + Configuration Options
Attaching multiple cameras allows you to capture photos and videos simultaneously or use different frame rates and settings on each camera.
Camera 1: 4k30 - Camera 2: 1080p120
Camera 1: 2.7k60 - Camera 2: Continuous Photo (5 SPS)
The three main components to Triad Grip are:
1. The Camera Slide System
Allows you to attach one or many cameras to Triad Grip. Attach anywhere within the slide in any orientation or location.
2. Three Rubber Matrix Grips
Perfectly integrated into the frame of Triad Grip are three rubber matrix grips. The two grips on the side are made to be used when filming with two hands. This gives the filmer a solid grip and helps stabilize footage when shooting follow cams. The third grip is a rubber glide handle to be used when filming low angles with one hand. Hanging the camera below the center of gravity produces ultra smooth footage.
3. Accessory Attachment Points
Consisting of 3 shoe mounts and 2 ¼"-20 threaded inserts for connecting a variety of attachments.
Together, these three components allow for many different setups:
A pro setup with a mic and light attachments mounted to a tripod. (see Pro Backer package)
A production setup with an LCD monitor to review and record footage externally
An underwater setup with adjustable arms and dive lights
+ Many more setups
Compatible cameras:
All GoPro Cameras: HERO4 Session, HERO4, HERO+LCD, HERO, HERO3+, HERO3, HERO2, HD HERO + Any Camera With a Standard Tripod (1/4"-20) Connection
Details:
Dimensions: 10.5" x 6.0" x 1.0"
Weight: 11oz
Materials: Plastic, Rubber, Stainless Steel Hardware
The top grip is a rubber glide handle to be used when filming low angles with one hand. Hanging the camera below the center of gravity produces ultra smooth footage.
The two grips on the side are made to be used when filming with two hands. This gives the filmer a solid grip and helps stabilize footage when shooting follow cams.
From professional video production to capturing footage beneath the surface, Triad Grip is a versatile mount that can be used in many different applications.
When developing Triad grip, we wanted to get the details just right and think outside the box on how useful and versatile this product could be. We chose to manufacture the body out of polycarbonate, which is strong, rigid and lighter than aluminum.
We started off with sketched concept generation and fleshed out the main components and rough dimensions of the product. Our industrial designers then fine tuned, dimensioned and stylized everything in CAD. Once we were happy with everything, we produced a 3d printed prototype.
3D Printed Prototype (left); Production Prototype (right)
We need your support
We are now at the point where everything has been engineered and working prototypes have been produced. We are ready to move forward with manufacturing and just need your support to bring Triad Grip to market.
Thank you backers!
In The Box: 1x Triad Grip, 2x GoPro® Mounts, 2x Hi-Torque Thumbscrews, 1x Wrist-Strap Attachment
Retail Packaging |
The National Capital Commission’s (NCC) request for proposals to redevelop part of Ottawa’s long-barren LeBreton Flats calls for a “memorable capital landmark” of the “highest quality of architecture and sustainable design.” One bidder had “proposed multiple cultural institutions around a grande allée as its anchor attraction,” the Ottawa Citizen reported recently. But mysteriously enough, sources tell the paper that proposal now revolves around “an NHL-calibre arena” — as does the only other bid submitted, by a consortium that includes the company that owns the Ottawa Senators.
Assuming an arena could meet those terms of reference and the NCC is willing to choose amongst just two options, the table could be set for the Senators to move from the Canadian Tire Centre in suburban Kanata, Ont., to a location on a planned light rail line that’s a mere 25-minute walk from Parliament Hill. And that could be news for hockey fans (assuming they don’t live in Kanata).
But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redevelop prime, long-neglected land in the nation’s capital. It is perplexing that it should come to only two proposals — and the fact the non-Senators bid now suddenly proposes an NHL arena smacks of motives rather different than architectural excellence.
If would be one thing if the Senators’ current building were falling down. But on Jan. 15, the Canadian Tire Centre will celebrate its 20th birthday. If it went to a Senators game at Madison Square Garden, it would be too young to buy a beer. Lots of NHL teams manage to tolerate arenas of that vintage — and even older, if you can believe it. The Senators do not “need” a new arena. They sell plenty of tickets where they are. It is perfectly understandable that they wish not to be in Kanata, a legendary game-night traffic jam away from the city centre, and if private interests want to blow several hundred million dollars remedying their buyer’s remorse, then it’s none of anyone else’s business.
LeBreton Flats is owned by the Canadian taxpayer, though. Any deal that might sign it over to a billionaire for the use of his millionaire hockey players must be closely scrutinized both for below-market favouritism and for the opportunity costs of forsaking a different kind of redevelopment.
Subsidizing Canadians’ leisure activities is a perennial debate. Doctrinaire conservatives would turn up their noses at any, be it a symphony or an art gallery or a hockey team. Others might distinguish among them: the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra is a registered charity, and flautists aren’t known for flamboyant wealth. ESPN estimated the Ottawa RedBlacks 2014 payroll at just $4.1 million. Perhaps the sort of grassroots Canadiana the CFL offers deserves a hand if it needs it.
If there is one policy that ought to unite Canadians across the time zones and the political spectrum, however, it should be not subsidizing megabucks league like the NHL in any way, shape or form. It should be thumbs down to any undeserved perks for the Senators, on the ice just as in the upper chamber. The prudent course for the NCC is probably to consider why its RFP yielded such little interest, seek some more diverse and creative bids — and then choose.
National Post |
Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2017 July 25
Int-Ball Drone Activated on the Space Station
Image Credit: JAXA, ISS, NASA
Explanation: What if you were followed around by a cute floating ball that kept taking your picture? Then you might be an astronaut on today's International Space Station (ISS). Designed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the JEM Internal Ball Camera -- informally "Int-Ball" -- is a bit larger than a softball, can float and maneuver by itself but also be controlled remotely, can take high resolution images and videos, and is not related to Hello Kitty. Int-Ball was delivered to the ISS in early June and is designed to allow ground-control to increase the monitoring of ISS equipment and activities while decreasing time demands on human astronauts. Int-Ball moves by turning on small internal fans and sees with a camera located between its two dark eyes. |
There are many types of lizards for sale online, but what should you watch for when you buy these animals using the Internet? There are some steps you should take before you ever buy any reptile from an online source, and this is true whether you want to buy chameleons for sale or another type of lizard. Online purchasing means that the animal must be shipped to you, and if the animal is not in excellent health or the shipping is not handled properly then you could end up buying lizards for sale which may die or become ill after you receive them.
If you are searching for bearded dragons as pets or you want to find an iguana you may not be able to go to your local pet store. Many stores do not specialize in lizards and other reptiles, and in some cases it may be necessary to buy lizards for sale online instead. The best option is to use a reputable breeder, one who has been in business for a while and has a reputation for healthy high quality reptiles. Online purchases means that the animal must be shipped, and this is normally done using FEDEX since UPS no longer allows for the shipment of pet geckos for sale or other live reptiles.
Finding online lizards for sale is easy, but you will want to make sure your reptile stays comfortable and has as little stress as possible during the shipping process. Experienced reptile suppliers who provide live shipping in the cooler months will usually add some hand warmers to the package, to keep the lizard warm and prevent any health problems. Check out the breeder you use carefully, and ask questions to ensure you are getting the healthiest reptile possible. Most breeders specialize in certain species, and this can give you reassurance. A good tip is to ask about the care of your animal before making the purchase. A water dragon breeder who can not explain water dragon care is probably not the best choice. The breeder should know all about caring for the reptiles offered, and if they do not this can be a sign that you should find another breeder instead. |
Introduction
dlib is a C++ machine learning library that is used to create powerful real world application. It is used in many computer vision and machine learning applications, it can be used to detect facial landmarks such as eyes, nose, lips etc which is how snapchat lenses work. Since its a C++ library it might seem a little hard to get it working with you iOS project. This post aims to explain how to add dlib to an existing iOS project. The process involves a bit of work so its important that one follows all the steps in order.
Building dlib
Assuming we already have an iOS project setup we will begin by downloading and building dlib from the dlib website. Start by downloading dlib from here and save it in a directory you can work from. We will need to have X11, and CMake installed on our system. If you do not have cmake you can istall it via homebrew.
brew install cmake
Navigate to the examples folder inside the dlib folder via your terminal.
Create a new folder called ‘build’
mkdir build && cd build
Run the following commands
cmake -G Xcode ..
cmake --build . --config Release
An Xcode project will be created under build/dlib_build
Now that we have dlib built and setup lets start adding it to our Xcode project.
Adding dlib to your xcode project
In the root of your Xcode project create a folder called ‘lib’. Copy the ‘libdlib.a’ file from the dlib xcode project and paste it into the ‘lib’ folder. Copy the ‘dlib’ folder from the ‘dlib-19.2’ folder and paste it into the ‘lib’ folder.
Drag the libdlib.a file from the ‘lib’ folder and drop it into ur Xcode project. Once that is done it should show up in your linked libraries and frameworks section of ur Xcode project. This is all the files thats required to add dlib to your Xcode project but if you try to compile, it will not work because we need to set up some compile time flags and add library search paths for xcode to be able to compile the dlib library along with your app.
Configuration
In your Xcode project open ‘Build Settings’ tab and add the following under ‘Library Search Paths’ and ‘Header Search Paths’
$ ( PROJECT_DIR ) /lib
This will let Xcode know where the dlib files are.
Next we need to add some preprocessor macros to help Xcode xompile the dlib files properly.
DLIB_NO_GUI_SUPPORT
DLIB_JPEG_SUPPORT
NDEBUG
DLIB_USE_BLAS
DLIB_USE_LAPACK
That is all you need to do to add dlib to your project. In some cases you might get ‘BITCODE Error’ in that case just set enable Bitcode to ‘NO’ in the Build Settings.
Conclusion
This post assumes that the reader is using XCode 8+ and Swift 3+ results may vary for older versions of xcode. To use dlib in your swift projects you would need to write a wrapper class. A great example is this github project. It uses dlibs facial feature detection. The author has created a ObjectiveC++ wrapper that he is then able to use with swift. I’ll probably do another post later on how to go about writing a wrapper class. |
Mr. Schumer, poised to be the incoming Senate Democratic leader, and the current leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, met with Mrs. Clinton’s top campaign aides in Washington last month and pressed them to offer financial support for the Senate races, according to a Democratic official briefed on the meeting. And Mr. Schumer has not been shy since about his hope that if Mrs. Clinton clearly appeared on her way to winning the race, she would redirect some money to congressional races.
“This is one of many things that the Clinton campaign is doing to help us win a majority in the Senate,” Mr. Schumer said through a spokesman.
While party strategists are glad to have the money that Mrs. Clinton is directing from the Democratic National Committee to voter-turnout efforts in Indiana and Missouri, they have little appetite for Mrs. Clinton to visit those states, where she is likely to lose, because that would make it easier for Republicans to tie Democratic Senate candidates to her.
Mrs. Clinton is also pouring money into two congressional districts, in Nebraska and Maine, that both apportion their own presidential electoral vote and have competitive House races. And she is sending an additional $6 million to seven presidential battleground states with hotly contested Senate and House campaigns.
Democrats are also attempting to unseat Senator John McCain of Arizona from the seat he was first elected to in 1986, but Mrs. Clinton’s late decision to swoop into that state is not related to his race, which few Democratic leaders believe they can win. Her incursion there is about her own campaign — and the Democrats’ desire to focus attention on the damage Mr. Trump has done to Republicans with Hispanics.
In particular, Democrats hope to make an example of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an ardent Trump supporter, by defeating the Phoenix lawman, whose incendiary comments about Hispanics and aggressive tactics with immigrants have garnered attention far beyond his jurisdiction in Maricopa County.
“If Democrats were going to win in Arizona in 2016, you’d need a Republican who turns off Republican women, who really energizes Latinos, and you’d need other races on the ground that can really drive engagement — and we have all that,” said Andrei Cherny, a former state Democratic chairman. |
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - Alabama Governor Robert Bentley resigned on Monday after pleading guilty to two misdemeanors related to campaign finance violations and linked to his relationship with a former adviser, ending a year-long scandal that has enveloped the state’s government.
The guilty pleas were part of an agreement with prosecutors that called for him to step down, said Ellen Brooks, special prosecutor appointed by the state Attorney General Steve Marshall to investigate Bentley.
“I have decided it is time for me to step down as Alabama governor,” said Bentley at a news conference in the state capital of Montgomery, adding that his service “was a calling that God placed on my life.”
He said he would work with his replacement, Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey, who was sworn in as governor about an hour after his resignation.
Ivey, a Republican, becomes the second woman to serve as Alabama’s governor after Lurleen Wallace, wife of George Wallace, who served from January 1967 until her death in May 1968.
“The Ivey administration will be open, it will be transparent, and it will be honest,” Ivey said during a short speech after her swearing in by the minister at her Montgomery Baptist church.
“What we have done today is to put an end to this administration,” Brooks told reporters. “It states to all of us that no one is above the law, even the governor.”
The Alabama Ethics Commission last week found Bentley probably violated ethics and campaign finance laws after it completed an investigation into allegations that he used public funds to conceal his relationship with Rebekah Mason, a senior adviser who later resigned.
It accused Bentley of ordering law enforcement officers to track down recordings that suggested he had had an affair with Mason and accused him of retaliating against an official who discovered the relationship.
Bentley has denied having a physical relationship with Mason, who is married, and had repeatedly vowed not to resign, saying he had done nothing illegal. His marriage of 50 years also ended as the scandal unfolded.
In his statement on Monday, Bentley apologized for his actions, but did not mention a relationship with Mason.
He was charged with misuse of campaign funds and failure to file campaign financial reports on a timely basis.
Slideshow (10 Images)
After his guilty pleas, an Alabama judge ordered Bentley to serve one year of unsupervised probation, make restitution and give up his retirement benefits from the state. He also agreed not to run for another political office, Brooks said.
After Bentley agreed to the deal, the Alabama House Judiciary Committee suspended hearings which began on Monday that could have led to his impeachment.
During the hearing, Bentley told several top aides “what happens in the governor’s office stays in the governor’s office,” Jack Sharman, the committee’s counsel, said regarding allegations regarding his relationship with Mason. |
Artist's illustration of an asteroid that has been turned into a giant mechanical spacecraft, which could fly itself to a mining outpost.
A few decades from now, asteroids may be flying themselves to mining outposts in space, nobly sacrificing their abundant resources to help open the final frontier to humanity.
That's the vision of California-based company Made In Space, which was recently awarded NASA funding to investigate how to turn asteroids into giant, autonomous spacecraft.
The project, known as RAMA (Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata), is part of Made In Space's long-term plan to enable space colonization by helping make off-Earth manufacturing efficient and economically viable. [How Asteroid Mining Could Work (Infographic)]
"Today, we have the ability to bring resources from Earth," Made In Space co-founder and chief technology officer Jason Dunn told Space.com. "But when we get to a tipping point where we need the resources in space, then the question becomes, 'Where do they come from and how do we get them, and how do we deliver them to the location that we need?' This is a way to do it."
Diagram of an asteroid that has been converted into a mechanical spacecraft by a robotic "Seed Craft." (Image: © Zoe Brinkley
The plan
Made In Space's idea involves sending an advanced, robotic "Seed Craft" out to rendezvous with a succession of near-Earth asteroids in space.
The Seed Craft would harvest material from the space rocks, then use this feedstock to construct propulsion, navigation, energy-storage and other key systems onsite with the aid of 3D printing and other technologies. (Made In Space has considerable 3D-printing expertise; the company built the two 3D printers that were installed aboard the International Space Station in the past year and a half.)
Thus transformed into autonomous spacecraft, the asteroids could be programmed to fly to a mining station in Earth-moon space, or anywhere else they were needed. This approach would be much more efficient than launching a new capture probe (or probes) to every single space rock targeted for resource exploitation, Made In Space representatives said.
The converted asteroids wouldn't resemble the traditional idea of spacecraft, with rocket engines and complex electronic circuitry. Rather, everything would be mechanical and relatively primitive.
For example, the computer would be analog, akin, perhaps, to the Antikythera mechanism invented by the ancient Greeks to chart the motion of heavenly bodies, Dunn said. And the propulsion system might be some sort of catapult that launches boulders or other material off the asteroid in a controlled way, thereby pushing the space rock in the opposite direction (as described by Newton's Third Law of Motion), he added.
"At the end of the day, the thing that we want the asteroid to be is technology that has existed for a long time. The question is, 'Can we convert an asteroid into that technology at some point in the future?'" Dunn said. "We think the answer is yes."
Project RAMA is not starting from scratch. Autonomous 3D printers that use mechanically driven systems already exist, Dunn noted, as do mechanical computers made of 3D-printed parts.
Still, making it happen will require significant advances in a number of areas, including in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) — the art of living off the land. Made In Space is counting on NASA to push ISRU technology forward, Dunn said. (Advanced ISRU tech will be vital for supporting astronauts on Mars and other off-Earth outposts, NASA officials have said.) [What Technology Will Humans Need to Explore Mars? (Video)]
Early days yet
Made In Space's larger vision won't be realized for a while, because RAMA is still in the very early stages.
In April, the project received a Phase 1 grant from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which aims to encourage the development of potentially revolutionary space-exploration technologies.
Phase 1 NIAC awardees get $100,000 for nine months' worth of initial feasibility studies. (Recipients can then apply for a Phase 2 NIAC award, which is worth about $500,000 and funds two years of further concept development.)
Any discussion of Project RAMA timelines is therefore incredibly speculative, Dunn stressed. Still, he estimated that the effort might require 20 years or so of technology development and other work. If that's the case, the first Seed Craft may get off the ground in the late 2030s — perhaps just as asteroid-mining and off-Earth manufacturing are coming into their own.
"The anticipation is that the RAMA architecture is a long time line, and when it becomes capable is about the same time that people really need the resources," Dunn said.
Project RAMA could also have applications here on Earth, he added, saying that machines similar to Seed Craft could do a variety of jobs around the planet.
"You could build infrastructure in remote locations somewhat autonomously, and convert resources into useful devices and mechanical machines," Dunn said. "This actually could solve some pretty big problems on Earth, from housing to construction of things that make people's lives better."
You can read more about Project RAMA at Made In Space's NIAC page and in a piece that Dunn wrote for Medium.com.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. |
Jammu: PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will be the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister after his party reached an agreement for forming a government with the BJP, top party sources said Saturday.
Sources close to PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, who returned to winter capital Jammu on Friday after spending a week in Mumbai, told IANS that an agreement had been reached on all contentious issues between the PDP and the BJP.
"Yes, main agreement has been reached on the draft of the CMP (common minimum programme) on contentious issues like article 370, armed forces special powers act (AFSPA) and the plight of West Pakistan refugees.
"It has been agreed that without any written reference to it, both the parties would respect the wishes of the people of the state in consonance with the constitution of the country with regard to article 370," a top party source told IANS.
As per the agreement, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will be the chief minister for the full six years.
The PDP insider who is engaged with the BJP in the dialogue process on government formation on behalf of his party also said instead of accepting the demand that the AFSPA should be revoked from the entire state within one year, it has now been agreed by the two parties that a committee would be formed which would recommend gradual, but timely, revocation of the act from areas in the state.
Sources in the BJP said: "The PDP has agreed to the BJP demand that the CMP should accept that the problems faced by West Pakistan refugees should not be politicized, but treated as a humanitarian issue that needs to be addressed on humanitarian grounds."
When asked to comment on media reports that government formation in the state was imminent because the PDP and the BJP had agreed on the draft of the common minimum programme (CMP) for governance, party chief spokesman Naeem Akhtar told IANS in winter capital Jammu: "I am meeting Mufti Sahib today and if anything has been worked out, we will hold a briefing about it during the day."
Unlike his steady dismissal of any agreement with the BJP during the last nearly two months when he maintained the "structured dialogue between the BJP and the PDP had not even started", Akhtar sounded less circumspect Saturday about his lack of knowledge regarding an agreement on the common minimum programme with the BJP.
West Pakistan refugees are those over 25,000 families who came to the state after the India-Pakistan wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971.
Since these people were not citizens of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir as it existed before accession to India in 1947, they cannot vote in the state assembly elections, nor buy property in the state.
These refugees cannot apply for government jobs since all the state government jobs in Jammu and Kashmir are reserved for permanent residents of the state.
As an anomaly, the West Pakistan refugees can vote in the parliament elections, but not in the state assembly elections since the state has a constitution of its own in addition to the country's constitution and both apply concomitantly to the state.
With regard to the PDP demand on return of NHPC owned hydro-electric power projects in the state to state ownership, the sources said it had been agreed that the two would work together for central assistance for state ownership of these projects.
"The nuts and bolts job has been completed. All that now remains is an announcement on the agreement between the two which could be made within the next two to three days," said sources.
The sources added that Mufti Mohammaad Sayeed would formally call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the PDP and the BJP announce having formalized the draft of the CMP.
IANS
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Today, Lana Del Rey revealed that her new album will be titled Lust For Life and that it’s “coming soon.” The announcement came in the form of a fascinating black and white trailer, which was stuffed with symbolism, vintage sci-fi visual effects, and a monologue from Lana that addressed creating a new album in “these dark times.” Find the full transcript for the video here. Director Clark Jackson—whose previous credits under the name Constellation Jones include visuals for Lady Gaga, Miguel, and others—is behind the new trailer. He talked to Pitchfork via email about how Lana recorded that monologue on her phone, the overall concept behind the new video, creating that Hollywood sign out of papier-mâché, what to expect from her next single, and all the “hidden tie-ins” to her forthcoming album.
What was the concept for this video?
We wanted to play with the idea of old 16mm instructional videos mixed in with ’50s and ’60s era sci-fi shows. We loved the idea of playing with magic, something slightly noir which is very her, something a little playful which is also very her. And of course we did it because of the reveal of the album title which she’s really excited about. We also wanted to tie in this idea that Lana was talking about the power of positive vibrations and the idea that positive thoughts can make a difference...that's why she wanted to send little hearts out to the world. We also wanted to put in a whole bunch of hidden tie-ins to the rest of her album. In the end there are not very many items represented there, but each of them means something—each thing was placed on purpose. We want people to ask, “Why a ladder? Why the seven planets?” As songs and the rest of the album are released, they will become more clear.
Last month, Lana tweeted about a nationwide occult effort trying to remove President Trump from office through witchcraft. How does the occult factor into this video?
That’s actually kind of funny, we never talked directly about witchcraft or the occult, we were more having fun with the idea of the zany world of old TV shows and noir etc. Maybe that idea of positive vibrations, and the idea of if we can put positive out into the world that maybe we can make a positive difference ties in there somewhere, but truthfully I don’t know.
The video features a bunch of symbols. Most people recognized the Weeknd's XO logo, but what you can tell me about the other symbols?
I can’t tell you what all the images were for. Each was important and I think in time, each will be revealed.
How did the monologue come together? Any particular inspirations there?
You will have to ask Lana directly about where the monologue came from. She pulled up to a meeting with me and it was something that she had recorded on her cell phone. She said “let’s do something like this,” but it was so perfect that we didn’t edit a word of it and used it as is.
Vevo lists Benny Blanco, Emile Haynie, and Rick Nowels as co-producers, with you, on this video. What did they contribute?
Vevo does that—they don’t always differentiate between the video producer and the producers of the record, the music, etc. I am just happy to be in their fine company, some of the finest music minds in the industry.
Any standout memories of working with Lana on this?
Lana is amazing to work with. She has a real vision but lets you get in her head and see if you can add to it. It is the best case scenario. She knows what she needs, but wants you to add your own spark to it, too. There is this sense when I work with her that she gives everything of herself, and that comes out in just how powerful her music is.
There are a lot of visual effects here: the ghostly Lana, the flickering stars over Los Angeles, the Statue of Liberty’s torch being snuffed out. What was the most challenging part about directing this?
The hardest part of this whole video was the Hollywood sign. We wanted a night shot of the Hollywood sign as it looked, all lit up in the 1950s. Of course, the sign is not lit up anymore. So I and a few friends built the sign and the mountain out of papier-mâché, foam, chicken wire, and old school Hollywood-style model-making in my garage. The neighbors thought I had lost my mind when they saw me knee deep in papier-mâché. Blink and you will miss it, but all of that from the tower to the sign to the bushes and trees were all made by hand. Probably would have been so much easier to have someone build it in 3D, but it was so much fun playing in mud, glue, and paint for three days.
What was your involvement on the “Love” video? Anything you can please tell us about the visual aesthetic there?
I produced the “Love” video. Rich Lee is this amazing director, so any time I can work or play with him, I jump in. As a producer my job is to try to come up in real space all of the amazing ideas that the director has in their head. We had a couple of main shoot days, then we ran all over Southern California for several days to shoot all the cool otherworldly landscapes.
What can we expect, visually or sonically, from Lust for Life?
Just like on the clues in the video, I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but I think I can safely say that the first single is going to be rather Hollywood-centric. It ties in for sure. |
The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.
Back in September, Joshua Knobe of Yale University, writing here at The Stone, outlined a new experimental approach to doing philosophy in his post, “Experiments in Philosophy.” Philosophers, he argued, have spent enough time cogitating in their armchairs. Knobe described how he and a group of like-minded colleagues in the discipline have undertaken a more engaged approach, working with cognitive scientists and designing experiments that will “test” people’s intuitions about traditional philosophic puzzlers such as the existence of God, the objectivity of ethics and the possibility of free will. The result: new, empirically-grounded insights available to philosophers and psychologists.
Field philosophers leave the book-lined study to work with scientists, engineers and decision makers on specific social challenges.
The experimental philosophy movement deserves praise. Anything that takes philosophy out of the study and into the world is good news. And philosophy will only be strengthened by becoming more empirically-oriented. But I wonder whether experimental philosophy really satisfies the Socratic imperative to philosophize out in the world. For the results gained are directed back to debates within the philosophic community rather than toward helping people with real life problems.
Another group of philosophers, myself included, is experimenting with an approach we call “field philosophy.” Field philosophy plays on the difference between lab science and field science. Field scientists, such as geologists and anthropologists, cannot control conditions as a chemist or physicist can in the lab. Each rock outcrop or social group is radically individual in nature. Instead of making law-like generalizations, field scientists draw analogies from one site to another, with the aim of telling the geological history of a particular location or the story of a particular people.
“Getting out into the field” means leaving the book-lined study to work with scientists, engineers and decision makers on specific social challenges. Rather than going into the public square in order to collect data for understanding traditional philosophic problems like the old chestnut of “free will,” as experimental philosophers do, field philosophers start out in the world. Rather than seeking to identify general philosophic principles, they begin with the problems of non-philosophers, drawing out specific, underappreciated, philosophic dimensions of societal problems.
Growing numbers of philosophers are interested in this kind of philosophic practice. Some of this field work in philosophy has been going on for years, for instance within the ethics boards of hospitals. But today this approach is increasingly visible across a number of fields like environmental science and nanotechnology. Paul Thompson of Michigan State has worked with and challenged the food industry on the application of recombinant DNA techniques to agricultural crops and food animals. Rachelle Hollander, now at the National Academy of Engineering, worked for years at the National Science Foundation to integrate ethics and values concerns with the ongoing work of scientists and engineers. And at my own institution, the University of North Texas, we have worked with the U.S. Geological Survey and the small community of Silverton, Colo., on problems of water quality, the legacy of 19th- and 20th-century gold mines; helped the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission develop a management plan for the Great Lakes; and assisted the Chilean government in creating a UNESCO biosphere reserve in Cape Horn.
Sometimes what is needed is not the 7000-word scholarly article but rather a three-minute brief or a one-page memo.
Note further that “field” areas also include government offices in places such as Washington, DC and Brussels. So, for instance, my research group is in the midst of a three-year study funded by the National Science Foundation that is examining the process of peer review for grant proposals. Science agencies around the world are struggling to bring assessments of the larger societal impact of proposed research into the peer review process. In this study we meet regularly with the users of this research — the federal agencies themselves — to make sure that our research helps agencies better address societal needs. The “field” can even include the lab, as when Erik Fisher of Arizona State speaks of “embedded philosophers” who, like embedded journalists of recent wars, work daily alongside lab scientists and engineers.
Field philosophy has two roles to play in such cases. First, it can provide an account of the generally philosophical (ethical, aesthetic, epistemological, ontological, metaphysical and theological) aspects of societal problems. Second, it can offer an overall narrative of the relations between the various disciplines (e.g., chemistry, geology, anthropology, public policy, economics) that offer insight into our problems. Such narratives can provide us with something that is sorely lacking today: a sense of the whole.
Field philosophy, then, moves in a different direction than either traditional applied philosophy or the new experimental philosophy. Whereas these approaches are top-down in orientation, beginning in theory and hoping to apply a theoretical construct to a problem, field philosophy is bottom-up, beginning with the needs of stakeholders and drawing out philosophical insights after the work is completed.
Being a field philosopher does have its epistemological consequences. For instance, we take seriously the temporal and financial constraints of our users. Working with government or industry means that we must often seek to provide “good-enough” philosophizing — it often lacks some footnotes, but attempts to provide much needed insights in a timely manner.
The willingness to take these constraints seriously has meant that our work is sometimes dismissed by other philosophers. Across the 20th century, philosophy has embraced rigor as an absolute value. Other important values such as timeliness, relevance and cost have been sacrificed to disciplinary notions of expertise. In contrast, we see “rigor” as involving a delicate balance among these often competing values. To put it practically, field philosophers need to learn how to edit themselves: sometimes what is needed is not the 7000-word scholarly article but rather a three-minute brief or a one-page memo.
Related More From The Stone Read previous contributions to this series.
Make no mistake: field philosophy does not reject traditional standards of philosophic excellence. Yet in a world crying out for help on a wide range of ethical and philosophical questions, philosophers need to develop additional skills. They need to master the political arts of working on an interdisciplinary team. Graduate students need to be trained not only in the traditional skills of rigorous philosophical analysis but also in the field rigor of writing grants and framing insights for scientists, engineers and decision makers at the project level.
Finally, a field approach to philosophy may also help with the challenge facing the entire academic community today. Underlying the growing popular distrust of all societal institutions lies a social demand for greater accountability for all those who work in the industry of knowledge production. This is most obvious among scientists who face increasing demands for scientific research to be socially relevant. But with budgets tightening, similar demands will soon be made on philosophy and on all the humanities — to justify our existence in terms of its positive and direct impacts on society. Field philosophy, then, serves as an example of how academics can better serve the community — which after all is said and done, pays the bills.
Robert Frodeman is professor of philosophy and founding director of the Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity at the University of North Texas. He is author of “Geo-Logic: Breaking Ground between Philosophy and the Earth Sciences (2003), co-editor of the “Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy” (2008), editor of the Oxford “Handbook of Interdisciplinarity” (2010). |
Nomadic photographer Gianluca Pardelli hitched his way around the former Soviet Union, searching for identity in a cultural vacuum.
Nomadic photographer Gianluca Pardelli hitched his way around the former Soviet Union, searching for identity in a cultural vacuum.
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Gianluca Pardelli has travelled to over 70 countries across four continents, but one region has beguiled him more than most: the territory once known as the Soviet Union.
“I grew up in a family with strong political ties to the former Eastern Bloc,” says Gianluca, who’s from Tuscany in Italy.
“I developed a strong love for Russian literature, cinema and fine arts but I have always been interested in remote places and far-away cultures.”
Between studying Slavic languages in Berlin and photojournalism in London, Gianluca travelled widely as a student, falling in love with the former USSR and its heritage after first visiting there in 2008.
“On one hand, the USSR brought undeniable social and economic developments to the region,” he says.
“On the other, however, local cultures and traditions have been uprooted, leaving locals with a complex identity problem – especially after the fall of communism, which left an ideological vacuum.”
Gianluca decided to explore that search for identity through a photo project called Tabula Rasa Electrified.
The photographer couchsurfed his way through two trips: one taking in post-Soviet Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan), the other working through the Southern Siberian States (Mongolia and the republics of Tuva, Altai, Buryatia and Khakassia).
Speaking fluent Russian helped Gianluca get close to people – many of whom regarded him as a novelty – and absorb the nuances of how they saw themselves.
“A lot of these countries try to dig into an almost mythological past of nomadic warriors and conquering kings to forge a renewed national identity,” he says.
“Some of these figures are real – if somewhat remote and definitely controversial, such as Genghis Khan in Mongolia – while others are more characters from folk legends.”
“Language also plays an important role in re-creating a national identity: Russian is still widespread in the region, but all these countries and republic have their own national language, which they are trying to revive more or less successfully.”
Contrasts could be found everywhere. In southwestern Kazakhstan, Gianluca hit it off with a bus driver who had a surprisingly in-depth knowledge of Italian medieval literature thanks to the Soviet education system – one of the things that people in the region are most nostalgic about.
In the Siberian republics, he connected with a former police officer who had become the leader of a local opposition party in Kyzyl, building his campaign on a curious (but not uncommon) mix of Soviet nostalgia and anti-Putinism.
In Mongolia, the synergy of the Gobi Region – with its blend of nomadic herders and jeep drivers servicing rich tourists – embodied the past and present trying to fit together.
But asked what he learned about himself along the way, the photographer simply shrugs the question off.
“There is a Chinese saying: if an idiot leaves for a long journey, when he comes back he’ll still be an idiot,” says Gianluca, who is loosely based between Berlin and the Caucasus, where he spends most of his time pursuing “photographic, linguistic and gastronomic discoveries”.
“I think that the influence travel has on one’s own personality is a hackneyed and overrated concept.
“There is a undeniable enrichment – a huge one, even – but one’s own roots still play the most important role. Everything else is ‘just’ branches, flowers and leaves.”
Check out the portfolio of photographer Gianluca Pardelli or follow him on Instagram.
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We often just read books and never think about how or why they were written, especially children’s books. Sometimes, the reason is obvious (a book about children with diabetes, for example), but most of the time, we just think that authors are very creative and come up with a book out of thin air. If you’ve ever written anything creative, you’ll know this isn’t true at all. Many times, authors have been influenced by a story in the news, a world problem or just a simple picture and an idea is born out of that. What about one of the most creative children’s authors of our time, Dr. Seuss? It turns out that there are some interesting facts behind his books.
Bennett Cerf, Theodor Geisel’s (Dr. Seuss) editor, challenged him to write a book using 50 words or less. He actually made this challenge when Seuss was writing The Cat in the Hat (which used 225 words) but Geisel never backed down from a challenge and wrote Green Eggs and Ham with exactly 50 different words. Those words are:
a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.
Do you think you could write a book in 50 words or less? Although the effort seems enormous, the beautiful simplicity of this book is what has made it timeless to generations of readers. You can find out a lot about Dr. Seuss and the ideas behind his books at Mental Floss. If you’d like to know more about the life of Dr. Seuss, Wikipedia has some great information as well as plenty of great links. Or you can visit the official Dr. Seuss website for some fun and games here.
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SCOTTISH scientists have developed a solution to rid Cuba of an aggressive alien weed while restoring land for farming and helping to ease the country’s energy crisis.
The once affluent Caribbean island fell on hard times when the collapse of the Soviet Union ended beneficial trade agreements and hit its sugar cane industry.
Julian Bell, Senior Business Consultant with SAC Consulting (part of SRUC) has been involved with the project from the start. Picture: Contributed
Many plantations were abandoned, clearing the way for a fast-growing and virtually indestructible non-native plant to grow out of control.
Today tall thickets of thorny marabu, an ornamental shrub originally imported from Africa for its attractive white flowers, have invaded millions of hectares of prime arable land. Its woody roots are as dense as teak with fierce thorns that will pierce a boot.
But now, after four years of work in the country, energy and agricultural specialists from Scotland have succeeded in producing green electricity from the invasive weed as well as devising a viable method for clearing the ground and returning it to a condition suitable for planting food crops.
Julian Bell, senior business consultant at SAC Consulting, part of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), has been involved in the project since its outset.
“Imagine gorse 20ft high with stems as hard as mahogany, growing 6ft a year, and you quickly appreciate why the Cuban farmers armed with hand tools and old Soviet tractors have been overwhelmed,” he said.
“We need to harvest it cheaply enough so we can get the land cleared and returned to agriculture for no cost, using the energy value in the marabu to pay for harvesting and transport and things like that.”
There have been many challenges to overcome, not least the outdated and underpowered Soviet-era machinery, which was not fit to tackle such tough vegetation.
Paul Fotheringham, a forestry mechanisation lecturer at SRUC, said: “The workers are capable and enthusiastic, with some excellent mechanics. What they lack is experience of modern equipment.”
Havana Energy (HE) recently signed a £500 million investment deal to build five renewable power plants that will generate more than 300 megawatts, supplying sugar mills and feeding in to the national grid.
During harvest time the plants will run on bagasse, the leftover pulp from sugar cane production. The rest of the year they will be fuelled by marabu, with all power going into the grid.
“It’s a win-win situation, turning a massive problem for Cuba into a valuable asset,” said HE chief executive Andrew Macdonald
The 15-year project is a joint venture with Cuba’s state sugar monopoly and is part of a move by the communist government to reduce dependence on subsidised oil imported from socialist ally Venezuela.
The deal is expected to save around £135 million a year in diesel.
But for Cuba this project is not just about alternative energy. The country once held a 35 per cent share of the global sugar market, but this has fallen to 10 per cent. Now there is a new drive to boost production, cashing in on higher prices and a rise in demand from countries like China.
Almost a dozen old mills have been reopened and foreign investment has been allowed into the sector for the first time since the 1959 revolution.
President Raúl Castro has also begun agrarian reforms to increase food production.
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Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” White House aide Kellyanne Conway pointed to the negative political discourse on social media playing a role in the shooting at a Republicans practice for a congressional charity baseball game earlier this week.
That shooting critically injured House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), who is recovering in a Washington, DC hospital.
Conway said, “I really would ask people to think about the hateful rhetoric. This man, this shooter the other day, didn’t hate baseball, He hated Republicans, and his social media feed was a complete anti-Trump, anti-Republican screed. For those particularly in the media who are so obsessed with the president’s social media postings, why isn’t everybody looking inside a little bit at what they’re posting and what they’re saying? Nobody is responsible for this shooting except the shooter. There is no question about that. But at the same time you can oppose policies, but with some such hateful charged rhetoric that active resistance becomes armed resistance in the case of this lone gunman.”
She continued, “Look at Twitter, If I were shot and killed tomorrow, half of Twitter would explode in applause and excitement. This is the world we live in right now. It’s terrible. Again it is one thing for people to say I disagree with you on the health care repeal, on taxes or national security plans, but you can’t attack people personally in a way and think that tragedies like this won’t happen.”
She added, “This is also the natural by-product you have after images of the president being shot in rapper’s video, or being assassinated in a production there in New York City, or a picture of a severed head. All of that is a toxic stew. Again there is no one to blame but the shooter here, but the calls for tamping down, there should also be some introspection there.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN |
Much like Mayor Ed Murray before him, King County Executive Dow Constantine has expressed a willingness to support a modification in the MOU between the city of Seattle and arena investor Chris Hansen. Constantine echoed Murray's openness to an NHL-first amendment to the current agreement but, like Murray, reiterated that the numbers would have to pencil out financially.
In a statement released late Wednesday evening, Constantine said "The opportunity to bring NHL hockey to King County is one we should not miss. I am open to modifying the arena MOU if there is a proposal that is self financing, protects the public from financial risk, and does not rely on any new taxes. These principles guided the development of our existing MOU, and I remain committted to securing both an NBA and NHL team for our region, regardless of the order in which they arrive."
This is similar to what Mayor Murray said to KING5 last month, when he said "I believe there could be an adjustment for an NHL team first if there if a financial plan that pencils out for the city." The current agreement will only allow the public funding mechanism to go into effect if an NBA team is secured.
While Constantine has long been an advocate for the SoDo arena project, this is the first time he has vocalized support for an NHL-first modification. The more political support the better, and it's clear that both Constantine and Murray want to see this project through to the end. |